Kurt + I have safely made it back from Cali! We had such a BLAST + are excited to share our adventures with you! During the first part of our week we were fortunate to dine at the acclaimed French Laundry.  The French Laundry is nestled within the charming, quaint town of Yountville…actually three Thomas Keller restaurants + bakery are located in this small town.  We were fortunate to grab some pictures of TFL during the day while the sun was still shining before our evening reservations.

TFL has their own garden across the street.  The garden is filled with beautiful vegetables + herbs all used within the restaurant.

Our reservations were in the evening, so we didn’t exactly have the best lighting for pictures (as we didn’t want to carry flash units + tripods into the restaurant ).  We tried our best with the small candles we had on our table… We were also in a room dining with about 15 other people, so I’m sure pulling out our massive cameras for each course was pretty humorous for the other diners. 

We started off our meal with an amuse-bouche, Gruyére Gougéres (a.k.a.cheese puffs), which were so light + airy.  We also were given Salmon Cornets…which was Thomas Keller’s play on a savory ice cream cone (not pictured).

Our official first course was “Oysters + Pearls,” a “Sabayon” of pearl tapioca with island creek oysters + white sturgeon caviar…which was absolutely divine! We have both never tried caviar before + we were pleasantly surprised with the outcome! Apparently the caviar is a signature dish of TFL + has been on the menu from the very start.

For our second course, I had the “Sacramento Delta Asparagus”, essentially mustard beignets, pickled onions, frisée, garden blossoms, + a hen egg emulsion.  Kurt had the foie gras (though I had about half of it!), which was absolute perfection! Kurt + I LOVE foie + jump at any opportunity to have it The foie gras was so buttery + it just melted in your mouth.  His foie was served with three different types of salts from the Philippines, France, + Montana…all different strengths of saltiness. We were also served brioche at this point in our meal…which was the flakiest brioche I’ve EVER had…amazing!

For the third course, I chose the Japanese Hamachi, while Kurt had the Fluke

Our fourth course was the same…a Scottish Langoustine “Boudin” (a fancy name for sausage ) with English peas.  The next course I had the quail with black trumpet mushrooms, while Kurt dined on the “Rouelle de Tete de Cochon” (pigs head)…not pictured

We both dined on the “Calotte de Boeuf Grillée,” which was probably the most succulent piece of beef we’ve ever had.  We finished our meat courses with a “Pisco Sour”–Persian lime sorbet, frozen marshmallow, + Angostura bitters  to cleanse our palates for the final courses.

The next course was the cheese plate…one of our favorites, we LOVE LOVE LOVE cheese.  This particular cheese was a Manchester, with apricot membrillo, fennel bulb, pistachios, arugula, + a 12 year balsamic vinegar (Kurt asked the guy who clears the crumbs from the table the balsamic age + he knew!)

We were then offered coffee + tea for our remaining courses.  The coffee was some of the best I’ve EVER tried, they probably have a special place where they grow TFL coffee beans They served my coffee with steamed/frothy milk + white/brown sugar cubes.  Oh…and each course’s plates + utensils were completely different from the next + are designed with the food in mind.  The utensils were especially notable, as they are handcrafted in France.

Our dessert courses were glorious! Kurt had the Peanut Butter “Bavarois,” which included a crunchy feuilletine, maralumi milk chocolate “whip,” + banana sorbet.  I had the Bakewell Tart, which was a tart with huckleberries, marcona almonds, + crème fraîche sherbet.

They brought out some additional desserts + treats for us to finish our lovely evening.  We couldn’t remember what the first complimentary tart was as it wasn’t on our menu, but we finished our evening with a plate full of candy truffles. The colored/chocolate truffle (in front) is citrus flavor.  To the left we have the white/red truffle, which literally tasted like Big Red gum .  The rest of the truffles included green tea, chocolate with gold (yes! real edible gold!), peanut butter, + hazelnut.

Finally, they left us with some parting gifts, little bags filled with the BEST shortbread (we snacked on these the rest of the week) + of course, our tab…an actual laundry ticket (I love the wit!)

And if that wasn’t enough…our head waiter asked if we wanted to see the kitchen, knowing Kurt was a HUGE Keller fan + a culinary buff! We got a little more insight into TFL + found out 15 chefs work in the kitchen each night.   We watched them hard at work + snapped some shots of the pristine kitchen (one of the cleanest kitchen’s I’ve seen!).  They even have a TV mounted to the wall that is connected to Keller’s Per Se restaurant in NYC so he can communicate with both restaurants + make sure everything is running smoothly…so we saw those chefs hard at work as well! What a treat!!

The French Laundry was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.  We were thoroughly impressed with everything from the exquisite food, to the artistic plating, to the service (we had about 10 people waiting on us throughout the evening + they all knew everything about TFL + the ingredients in each course). We are so grateful for beautiful food!