The French Laundry - overrated?

Last Saturday, set aside the hype, food and service is really excellent.

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^how much?

 

I ain't paying that much for a meal unless it comes with a happy ending for desert.

 

We had a private room which comes with the executive menu, $539 pp (normal is $350?), but did a bunch of add-ons, truffles, caviar, wagyu and wine pairing that pushed it over $1K pp.

 

$1k pp
God blessed you. congrats and happy holidays.

 

That pic of the table brings back a lot of glutinous memories! I reserved that table several times back in the day, but haven’t been to FL in many years now.

Does it still have the doors to outside deck right there? We used to get the room for lunch and would wander out in between courses. Great way to spend a day and then we could all get back home to the Bay Area.

Interestingly the $1000 per person hasn’t changed since we used to do that coming on 20 years ago (we had the somm’s match wines for each course and they kept it moderate).

Getting that room was one of 3 insider tips on how to get a reservation that I learned back then. You could book that room far into the future rather than the 60-days out for the rest of the restaurant.

edit: shout out for the pic of oysters and pearls, one of the greatest dishes I’ve ever eaten.

 

Yes, the doors still opens up to the balcony. Funny thing, one of our friends parked in the back somehow makes his thru the kitchen, where he wasn't supposed to be, was told the room was upstairs, then he uses the backstairs from the courtyard to get to the balcony, taps on the doors and we were like wtf you come from...

 

Really? Thought it was mediocre to good at best. Snow's in Lexington is much better!
T

 

Call ahead and cut the line...T

 

yummm... oysters and Pearls - what was the main course? looks like you were up stairs, which is nice closer to the restroom... all that wine, ya have to go sometimes.

 

I dunno Tom...did you and I go there when we BBQ'd around Austin that day? (I think not iirc?)

I went (iirc) on either that trip the day prior, or on my other BBQ Tour around the same time...and it was fantastic. Actually, all of their meats were way above average and their sauces were outstanding (blasphemy I know!).

I'll chalk this one up to something I usually say about beef: "there are not always-great beef suppliers, only great individual cows." Same goes for anything, including BBQ, some briskets are outstanding, next one off the pit, not so much.

Oh -gotta say not being as good as Snow's puts a BBQ place in good company with pretty much every other BBQ place in the country!

Should stop there (or earlier) since this thread is about FL and not BBQ...

 

I opted for the Wagyu, iirc it was either Pekin Duck, Lamb or Scallop.

 

I was going to ask if a French Laundry was like a dirty Sanchez.....which is NOT overrated.

 

Been going there at least once a year for the last 15 years. TFL is fantastic and always consistent. They know what wines we like, what food we prefer, and what price range we like our wines in. I haven't seen a menu in ten years there, just serve it up, rarely do I look at the wine list. We just go, enjoy ourselves, make no decisions and always have a great time. We don't revere it, or treat it in hushed tones: It was always meant to be a restaurant for celebrations, special times. The more fun you have the more fun they have, just a higher price point but commensurate with the service, food and wine.

Now is it worth it? To us, absolutely.

We've been to many of the world's great restaurants and many more than once, we always go back to the French Laundry.

Hubert keller's place in SF was a special place as well, I miss that one. They always had delicious eppoisses available to finish a meal. We had scrambled eggs at Robuchon's place that I still talk about. But the best dish I ever had was a consumee at TFL. Perfection.

 

Trying to get a reservation early April for my bday, been tough.


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did you try amex concierge? (I've tried and not succeeded with this, but I'm told it does sometimes work)

The other "trick" that sometimes works, if they like your phone voice or if they know you...

Call and beg with the special occasion reason for the dinner...and ask about "maybe is there a table possible very late?"

I learned this one years ago - they don't plan and book for every table to turn each night. So they might take say 17 resys at 6pm ish and then only 14 at 9pm ish.

(At least I should say they used to do this at both FL and Per Se. Its worked for me in the past and we did this 3 times, 2x at FL and 1x at Per Se - we ended up leaving Per Se around 1am that time after having half the kitchen staff to our table to finish up bottles 6-8 of the night...the next day was a total write-off.).

Speaking of which, I have to add, doing the late seating at FL is great if you must, but we really stopped doing it because we were so damn full that we couldn't sleep all night. I'll never forget the first time we ever got in at FL (which by the way was the same "trick" - I showed up at their doorstep at 3pm and begged and they said come back at 9:30 that same day...we were staying there in Yountville and we were so absurdly full that we ended up walking around Yountville before going to our hotel, and then got up and again walked the town at 3am for an hour or two because we couldn't sleep).

Edit: gotta add, the people that say they didn't get enough food at FL are doing it wrong! They serve a ton of food...and you can (and should) add courses as you desire...I'd say the Top 10 times I've eaten the most food in my life, has a few FL entries on it. But, that doesn't mean you can't create awesome 2-fers with FL. My favorite is lunch in the "private room" followed by Inn-and-Out burgers for dinner (iirc we were still drunk from the lunch wines) on our way to bowling. Yup, FL, IAO and bowling in a day. Memorable!

 

What I like the most about Thomas Keller and the French Laundry is how they make you feel... its effortless, but not snooty, or stiff. at Per Se - we were late and had to drop off a rental car and not enough time to make it to the hotel to check in... so we showed up with our luggage and some stuff we bought ( we were up in Hyde Park the weekend before ) and when we showed up with suitcased in tow - they made us feel so welcome... "Its' not a problem, dont worry, etc... we know you like Bollinger so have a glass and we;ll take care of it all" which they did... That is HOSPITALITY and SERVICE.

 

Update on the thread, we had the board room with friends this time and Chef Keller came to say hi, signed our menu, took pics with us and gave us a bottle to commemorate our 25th. Food and service is absolutely impeccable.

Wifey was fangirling...
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may we ask how many people and cost?

 

8 people and with all the add ons, wine pairings and bottles of bubbly pre-dinner $1K per person.

 

I feel like you can do so much better in the Wine Country at that price point.

 

for 3 people, we spent $600 at Guy Savoy in Paris. $600+ for lunch.
complete waste of money.

 

If that included the gratuity, not a bad deal for being well taken care of. Congrats on such a great night.

 

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