The French Laundry is a three-Michelin star

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and Californian cuisine restaurant located in Yountville, California, in the

Napa Valley Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in Napa County in California's Wine Country. It was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) on January 27, 1981. Napa Valley is considered one of the premier ...

Sally Schmitt Sally Schmitt (February 28, 1932 – March 5, 2022) was an American restaurateur who helped launch California's farm to table movement. She was the original chef and co-founder of the French Laundry. Biography Sally Schmitt was born Sarah Elizab ...

opened The French Laundry in 1978 and designed her menus around local, seasonal ingredients; she was a visionary chef and pioneer of

California cuisine California cuisine is a food movement that originated in California. The cuisine focuses on dishes that are driven by local and sustainable ingredients with an attention to seasonality and an emphasis on the bounty of the region. The food is hi ...

. Since 1994 the chef and owner of The French Laundry is Thomas Keller. The restaurant building dates from 1900 and was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1978.

History

The building was built as a saloon in the 1900s by a Scottish stonesman for Pierre Guillaume. In the 1920s, the building was owned by John Lande who used it as a French steam

laundry Laundry refers to the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with ...

, which is the origin of the restaurant's name. In 1978,

and her husband Don purchased the building and renovated it into a restaurant. They kept the name, the French Laundry, because locals still referred to the building as such. The French Laundry was one of the first restaurants to offer what would become known as

. The Schmitts ran the restaurant nonstop for seventeen years, before selling it to Thomas Keller in 1994. In 1999, Keller published ''

The French Laundry Cookbook ''The French Laundry Cookbook'' is a 1999 cookbook written by American chefs Thomas Keller, Michael Ruhlman, and Susie Heller; illustrated by Deborah Jones. The book features recipes from Keller's restaurant The French Laundry. It won the 2000 Int ...

'', which he considers his definitive book on cuisine. That year it won three

International Association of Culinary Professionals The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) is a United States-based not-for-profit professional association whose members work in culinary education, communication, or the preparation of food and beverage. History The organizati ...

(IACP) awards for Cookbook of the Year,

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, '' ...

"First Cookbook" Award, and Design Award. In 2004, the restaurant installed a geothermal heating and air conditioning system. In July 2014, the Napa Valley restaurant celebrated its 20th anniversary with a six-hour feast for friends, locals, and luminaries and temporarily closed for renovations before the end of the year. In December 2014, while being temporarily closed for renovations, The French Laundry wine cellar was robbed of an estimated $500,000 of wine. Most of the wine was subsequently recovered. On April 7, 2015, the restaurant reopened following demolition of a number of buildings on the site. During the remainder of the renovation project, the staff worked out of a temporary kitchen. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, The French Laundry closed and re-opened several times, and faced restrictions such as limited seating. In November 2020, Governor

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California f ...

attended a private party at the restaurant, and was photographed not socially distancing, nor wearing a

protective mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment and often they have been employed for rituals and rights. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and prac ...

, despite guidelines issued by his administration ahead of an expected holiday COVID-19 surge. Newsom received widespread criticism as a result, and the incident attracted support for the recall effort against him, which nonetheless failed by a wide margin.

Cuisine

Every day, The French Laundry serves two different nine-course

tasting menu A tasting menu is a collection of several dishes in small portions, served by a restaurant as a single meal. The French name for a tasting menu is ''menu dégustation''. Some restaurants and chefs specialize in tasting menus, while in other case ...

s, one the Chef's Tasting Menu and the other the Tasting of Vegetables, which is

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

. During the

winter holiday season The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late November ...

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

, and other holidays, the restaurant may offer special dishes. Both menus are US$355 per person, including

gratuity A gratuity (often called a tip) is a sum of money customarily given by a customer to certain service sector workers such as hospitality for the service they have performed, in addition to the basic price of the service. Tips and their amount ...

for the base meal, although not including additional supplements such as

caviar Caviar (also known as caviare; from fa, خاویار, khâvyâr, egg-bearing) is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread. Traditionally, the te ...

and

truffles A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the many species of the genus ''Tuber''. In addition to ''Tuber'', many other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including '' Geopora'', '' Pe ...

. The food is mainly

with contemporary

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

influences, for example specialties such as

smoked salmon Smoked salmon is a preparation of salmon, typically a fillet that has been cured and hot or cold smoked. Due to its moderately high price, smoked salmon is considered a delicacy. Although the term lox is sometimes applied to smoked salmon, t ...

cornets, which were inspired by a trip to

Baskin-Robbins Baskin-Robbins is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake speciality shops owned by Inspire Brands. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin (1913–1967) and Irv Robbins (1917–2008) in ...

Staff

Notable alumni of The French Laundry's kitchen staff have included Grant Achatz of Alinea,

Eric Ziebold Eric Ziebold (born 1972) is an American chef and restaurateur with two Michelin Star restaurants in Washington, D.C., Kinship and Métier. He was executive chef at CityZen from 2004 to 2014, where he won several awards, including a James Beard A ...

of Kinship and Métier, Corey Lee of

Benu Benu may refer to: People * Benu Dasgupta (1928–2010), Indian cricket player * Benu Gopal Bangur (born 1931), Indian businessman * Benu Malla (8th century), 3rd king of the Bagdi Malla dynasty of Bishnupur * Benu Sen (1932–2011), Indian ph ...

, Jonathan Benno of Lincoln Ristorante,

René Redzepi René Redzepi (born 16 December 1977) is a Danish chef and co-owner of the three-Michelin star restaurant Noma in the Christianshavn neighborhood of Copenhagen, Denmark. His restaurant was voted the best restaurant in the world by ''Restaura ...

of Noma in Copenhagen,

Ron Siegel Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe A ...

of The Dining Room at the

Ritz Carlton The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational company that operates the luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 luxury hotels and resorts in 30 countries and territories with 29,158 rooms, in addi ...

, and

Duff Goldman Jeffrey Adam "Duff" Goldman is a pastry chef, television personality, and cookbook author. He is the executive chef of the Baltimore-based Charm City Cakes shop, which was featured in the Food Network reality television show '' Ace of Cakes'', ...

of Charm City Cakes. Previous

Chef de Cuisine A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads and manages the kitchen and chefs of a restaurant or hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities ...

Timothy Hollingsworth Timothy Hollingsworth (born, January 30, 1980) is an American chef and restaurateur. In 2012, he left his post as Chef de Cuisine at Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry and moved to Los Angeles, where he opened Otium. He has won multiple awar ...

won the

Bocuse d'Or USA The Bocuse d'Or USA is a biennial chef championship, where the winner is selected to represent the U.S. in the international Bocuse d'Or competition. Following 20 years of American representation in the competition, in 2008 Paul Bocuse asked Dani ...

semi-finals in 2008,Cowin, Diana, ''Food & Wine'' (February 2009)
Competing at the Bocuse d’Or: Team USA's Unbeatable Recipes
/ref> and represented the U.S. in the international finals in January 2009, placing sixth.

Other locations

In February 2004, Thomas Keller opened the East Coast version of his Yountville restaurant, which he named

Per Se Per se may refer to: * ''per se'', a Latin phrase meaning "by itself" or "in itself". * Illegal ''per se'', the legal usage in criminal and antitrust law * Negligence ''per se'', legal use in tort law *Per Se (restaurant), a New York City restauran ...

. The kitchens of both restaurants are connected via a real-time video feed on a television screen. Thomas Keller opened a

pop-up restaurant A pop-up restaurant is a temporary restaurant. These restaurants often operate from a private home, former factory, existing restaurants or similar space, and during festivals. Various other names have been used to describe the concept of settin ...

in the Silverado Resort & Spa during the renovation of The French Laundry. The restaurant, which serves American classics, is called Ad Lib. This is not the first pop-up restaurant that Keller has helmed, previously popping up at the

Mandarin Oriental Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group International Limited (MOHG) is a Hong Kong hotel investment and management group focusing on luxury hotels, resorts, and residences, with a total of 33 properties worldwide, 20 of which are fully or partially ...

in Hong Kong and at Harrod's in London.

Awards and accolades

Since 2006, it has been awarded three stars in the

Michelin Guide The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of ...

to San Francisco. It received a favorable review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and was called "the best restaurant in the world, period" in 2005 by

Anthony Bourdain Anthony Michael Bourdain (; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian who starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition. Bourdai ...

. Since 2007, the restaurant has been the recipient of the ''

Wine Spectator ''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture, and gives out ratings to certain types of wine. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general enterta ...

'' Grand Award. * 2012,

Culinary Hall of Fame Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs or ...

Induction * 2007, ''

'', Grand Award * 2006,

, Three Stars

References

External links

*
Archive of French Laundry Menus
{{DEFAULTSORT:French Laundry, The 1978 establishments in California Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in California Companies based in Napa County, California French-American culture in California French restaurants in California James Beard Foundation Award winners Michelin Guide starred restaurants in California National Register of Historic Places in Napa County, California Restaurants established in 1978 Restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area Restaurants on the National Register of Historic Places Tourist attractions in Napa County, California Yountville, California