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2005-07-10

The French Laundry

hi. if you're not a food lover, no reason to read this entry. i'll write another one later about finding the perfect wedding location and other nice things non-food related.
i only have approx 7 minutes of pizza dough rising before i have to go and attend to it.
i'm making mushroom and smoked cheese pizza from scratch. very exciting!
tomorrow is monk's birthday and i'm making my sausage/butternut squash/honey/cream/parmesan pasta
mm yummy.
ok, so last weekend my friend from vermont was here and we went to the sierras with my famly and friends. we ate delicious meals under the sun every day and we hiked a good 6 - 8 miles for a good part of each day. my mother was blissed out happy to have us all. i was blissed out happy to have a few of my favorite people there that weren't family (but are) and my family too.
we got back tuesday and woke up early on wednesday so jess and i could go to the city. we sat in the baths at osento.. in the sun outside, naked. it was lovely. we ate dim sum. (i don't know what i was thinking, eating on that day)
she went back on bart to monk and a ride to the airport later
and i met up with my ride to Yountville where we headed to the French Laundry
we were all a little giddy just at the idea that we were going..
the weather was beautiful and sultry in yountville (napa, basically). 80 degrees at 7:30. we sat outside the french laundry (if you don't know anything about this restaurant, google it. it's listed on some sites as hte best in the world. on others as just the best in north america. either way, not bad)
two of our group of 7 were late (turns out to not be a big deal, as they only fill your table once. with you. because your meal can take between 3.5 and 5 hours depending on how you linger)
so we sat out on the patio drinking champagne (which we ended up getting complimentary for no reason we could think of) and peeking in the window of the kitchen
finally our final 2 found their way and we were brought into our table upstairs...
The French Laundry is a very unassuming (very easy to just pass it by on the street) small stone building. a smalll sign stating what it is, and not that many tables actually.
We were seated and within a few minutes a waiter had come by to explain the 3 different menus. a regular 'Dinner' menu which is 7 courses, teh Chefs Tasting Menu which is 9 courses or the Vegetable Tasting Menu which is also 9 courses.
each is $175 per person.
some gruyere cheese bread puffs were brought by , which were simple and tasty. soon followed by some 'amuse bouche' .. which were little cones (like ice cream cones) of a savory cone (with a spicy cheesy flavor) filled with some form of creme freche cheese mixture and topped with shavings of smoked salmon and spices. (sorry, it wasn't on the menu so i can't recall it well enough to describe it perfectly)
we took awhile deciding what we would each do as far as menus. i was sure, before getting t here, that i'd be most attracted to the Chefs Tasting Menu but it turned out the Dinner Menu had a lot more that appealed (the chefs tasting menu had lamb and i'm not a lamb fan.)
I will mention a few things on the chefs tasting menu, as i shared with ari to my right.. but not all.
mostly i will talk about my own dinner:

our sommelier came by and we told him that without breaking the bank, we'd like enough wine for the 7 of us to last throughout the meal . (this ended up being about.. 7 bottles, i'd guess)

First Course:
Chilled Watermelon "Gazpacho"
red radishines, english cucumbers, pickled watermelon rind
and haas avocado "mousse"

This was a lovely pink creamy concoction that was at one taste sweet and refreshing like watermelon and at the other.. creamy and rich. i imagined it would be tasty, but it actually surprised me with its cool duality of simplicity while a little complex. if that makes sense.
our first course was accompanied by a rose champagne that was dry enough to not be the overwhelming sweet that a rose can sometimes be. .(i'm becoming more and more of a fan of the rose. i think maybe i thought it had the white zinfandel taint). (god i sound like a snobhead)

the chefs tasting menu first course was:
"Oyster and Pearls"
"Sabayon" of Pearl Tapioca with beau soleil oysters and russian sevruga caviar

my first taste of this was oystery and fishy and dense. very good, but not as good as my gaspacho. my next taste had more of the cream and caviar as well as a touch of the more earthy oyster. that second bite totally burst with salty creamy earthy goodness on my tongue and my eyes rolled up in my head just a little.

second course:

"Saute" of moulard duck "foie gras"
cream of arrowleaf spinach, "oeuf de caille poche au vinaigre de champagne"
frisee lettuce and applewood smoked bacon "gastrique"

ok. this might have been one of the best things i ate all night. i know i'm going to hell for loving foie gras. but oh it was so amazing. the applewood smoked bacon 'gastrique' (or sauce, ,if you were) with champagne and creamed spinach (the simple way of saying it) over the sauteed foie gras. the outside of the foie gras was smokey and crispy while the inside was sinfully rich and creamy and decadent.
the chefs tasting menu had a cold foie gras with peach jelly and pickled peaches and it was lovely, really it was. but mine... blew it out of the water with its absolutely amazing texture and flavor. oi.
so fucking good.
I believe i had more champagne with this course, but partway through a white wine that i dont' remember the name of was delivered. i don't remember the name because i wasn't incredibly enthused by it.

ok, next course.:
Pan Roasted Fillet of Saint Peter's Fish
caramelized fennel bulb, over roasted roma tomatoes, baby leeks and saffron scented onion vinaigrette

ok, this was tasty, especially the saffron creaminess of the sauce. but I wasn't entirely blown away. dont' get me wrong, it was better than most fish you'll get most places. but compared to all the wonderful things i tasted, this was of the 'french laundry' average ilk. the fish by itself was nice. with teh sauce.. which was a yellow rich creamy thing, it was mouth melty. and with it a new wine. i don't know how to spell it so i'll just wing it. it's like...chateauneufpop. haha. ok, it was sweet and buttery and golden and i loved it.


next course and on come the reds:
the first bottle of red was very good and i wish i remember more beyond that. but the second bottle of red was a syrah that was so peppery i felt like somebody had ground fresh pepper right int othe bottle. and that is a flavor i LOVE in wine
the course:
Snake River Farm "Calotte de Bouef Grillee"
yukon gold potato puree, cepe mushrooms, fine green beans and a sauce bordelaise.

this was kobe beef with creamy buttery pureed potatoes.. (there was A LOT of butter in this dinner), rich mushrooms and perfectly crispy soft green beans..
this was the second best thing i ate all night. or it might be tied with a course that i'll mention in a second from the other menu.
my eyes definitely rolled back in my head and it was pretty much absolute pure joy in a little dish of melty perfect beef.
only rivaled by the maine lobster tail that had been butter poached for the other menu. this lobster tail was in a beet essence (mm beets) with melted leeks and creamy potatoes as well. i've had lobster. yea its' good. but this was something entirely new. it's butter poached in a sealed bag for a long long time in a little jacuzzi of sorts that keeps the water at a constant temperature for the entire time.
it was incredible.

next. the cheese course
Ricotta gnocchi
shaved roquefort and 50 year old sherry vinegar

this seemed simple.. little clouds of potato pasta dense with ricotta cheese and soaking up the shaved roquefort on top. but it was all kinds of cheesey and creamy and smokey cooked flavors.

Napa Valley Red "verjus " sorbet

szhecuan pepper "gelee", raisin puree, white verjus emulsion and vanilla marinated muscat grape

ok. so i just finished my first ever pizza from scratch. it had tomato sauce, shiitake mushrooms, portobellos, smoked gruyere and mozerella ..basil and was drizzled with truffle oil. it was damn good (although a little strong in flavor and the dough could have been thinner). so i got sidetracked.

that there sorbet was a great palate cleanser. it was an interesting tart flavor.. not like raisins or pepper or wine exactly..but at the same time, a definite combination of them all.

after the sorbet (which had no wine course). they brought us a port and the chocolate course.
i had a bitter chocolate souffle with bing cherry marmelade and mascarpone sorbet which (the sorbet) melted into the center of the souffle.
were i more of a chocolate person, i think this would have been a divine wonderful thing.
as it was, it was damn good. but the surprise not-on-menu course of little mini creme brulees put me over the top and made me happy again
what i didn't realize about french laundry is..if i'd said "i don't really like chocolate" .. they would have gone out of their way to create something ON THE SPOT that was equally delicious and better fit my palate.
i like that about a restaurant. i've never heard of one doing it before.

the port was smoky sweet delicious.

oh, a forgotten course from the other menu. their sorbet was a mango sorbet with yuzu scented genoise, goma nougatine and black sesame coulis. and it was pretty much divine.
and their chocolate course looked like a little white and milk chocolate mice sittng on their plate with curly tails.

food comes with a lot of funny silly lingo
but i can't help it. i'm a whore for beautiful presentation combined with out of this world tastes. and the service was the best ever. and it should be for the amount we ended up spending
we got to take our menus home in a little folder and we also got a small tour of the kitchen, which was very exciting. apparently i saw thomas keller and didn't even realize it.



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