Dinner at The French Laundry is more than just a meal. It's a courtside seat at a Lakers game as Lebron drives up the center for a game winning buzzer beater to take the playoff championship. It’s a backstage pass to the Red Hot Chili Peppers as the first bars of “By the Way” begin to play to a sold out arena. It’s a confirmation that you can fly… that magic exists… that life is so much more.
Anthony Bourdain once claimed The French Laundry as “the best restaurant in the world, period”. For a man who loathed “fine” dining… that’s pretty high praise. But does it live up to the hype?
The French Laundry is a study of precision. The entire institution is a well oiled machine, with every surface immaculately manicured and every entrée coming out with perfect timing and tempo. Chef sets the tone of the meal with a smoked salmon mousse enveloped in an “everything bagel” cornet. The salmon was fresh and rich, while the crème fraiche and mousse were sweet and decadently creamy against the savory cornet.
Paired alongside it was a cheesy cracker filled with cream cheese and crusted shallots. The carmelized onion flavor carried nicely against the cornet and would continue as a recurring theme throughout the meal. There’s something wonderfully whimsical and almost subversive about this pillar of fine dining… opening its tasting with what was essentially bagels and lox with a Ritz cheese cracker.
The next course of “Oysters and Pearls” consisted of a pair of butter poached oysters in a sabayon of tapioca and caviar. This was a massive punch to the face with flavor. The bold, buttery, creamy custard played against an almost bacon-y rich caviar, partly balanced by lighter and more delicate oysters.
Here, the precision takes stage as the dish almost borders on being too intense… but is balanced enough and portioned to instead, become transcendent. The metaphor of a punch rings true here… The perfect punch doesn’t just bulldoze forward through an opponent, but is instead snapped like a whip. Explosiveness just barely bound and contained by restraint.
The olive oil panna cotta sounded unusual, but I found myself devouring the entire dish… entranced by the bright herbaceousness. The Nova Scotia lobster makes it onto the list of most memorable things I’ve ever eaten with its complex Beurre de Choucroute essentially being liquid crack.
At some point, I had to stop to recompose myself, as I was so distraught that this may be our first and only experience at The French Laundry. I was so full by the end that I could barely sample the desserts, which was a shame because each was masterful in its own right. The short bread cookies they sent us home with at the end are the best ones I’ve ever tasted. I could wax on for a dozen pages about how amazing this meal was… but we’ll just let the pictures do the talking.
Behind the Scenes at The French Laundry
After dinner, we were escorted through the kitchen of The French Laundry where all the magic happens. The back of the house is clean and surprisingly quiet with all the precision of well oiled clockwork. Everyone knows exactly what they need to do at any given moment. The shouting you would hear in a typical kitchen is not necessary in the face of overwhelming competence and confidence.
Final Thoughts
Not only was the food amazing, but the service and wine pairings were excellent. This restaurant is great for those who love French cuisine, want to be smacked in the face with flavor bombs, and are not opposed to being carted away from a meal with your seams bursting. We look forward to our next meal at The French Laundry!
