What It's Like To Eat At The French Laundry In Napa Valley

We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to eat dinner at the French Laundry in Napa. Check out our photos to see why this Napa Valley restaurant is so famous.

2foodtrippers at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — 2foodtrippers at The French Laundry

We’ve eaten everywhere from food trucks to destination dining at Michelin rated restaurants and so many places in between. We pride ourselves on our sophisticated yet down-to-earth palettes, and it makes us happy when friends ask for our opinions and recommendations.

When planning our a 2013 California adventure, we managed to score a reservation to The French Laundry in Napa Valley, and of course we had to go. How could we not jump at the opportunity to dine at one of the most famous restaurants in the country, if not the world?

Table of Contents

Photos From Our Dinner At The French Laundry In Napa Valley

This brings us back to our French Laundry dinner. We documented the march of multiple courses with our handy camera. Without further ado, here comes the parade!

Salmon Tartare Cornet at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Salmon Tartare Cornet – A French Laundry Classic

Gougeres at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Gougeres – Even Better with Schramsberg Champagne

Oysters and Pearls at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Oysters and Pearls – “Sabayon” of Pearl Tapioca with Island Creek Oysters and White Sturgeon Caviar – We’ve Heard about this Dish. We’ve Read about this Dish. Now We’ve Eaten this Dish.

2011 Massican Annia Wine at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — 2011 Massican Annia – The blend of ribolla gialla, tocai friulano and chardonnay grapes was a unique and fresh melding of Italian and Californian wine traditions.

Hen Egg Custard at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Hen Egg Custard with a Ragout of Perigord Truffles

Salad at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Salad of French Laundry Garden Potatoes with Heritage Buckeye Hen, Egg, Radishes and Cornichon Relish

Pretzel Roll at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Pretzel Roll – From the Bread Service Selection

Butter Two Ways at the French Laundry in Napa Valley — Butter Two Ways

Columbia River Sturgeon at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Columbia River Sturgeon with Ruby Beets, Dill “Gnocchi à la Parisienne”, Mizuna and Horseradish

Maine Lobster at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Sweet Butter-Poached Maine Lobster with Globe Artichoke, Mokum Carrots, Red Pearl Onions, Italian Parsley and “Mousseline Barigoule”

Four Story Hill Farm Poularde at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Four Story Hill Farm Poularde with K&J Orchards Yellow Peaches, Tokyo Turnips, Komatsuna and Mustard Seed Vinaigrette

Lamb Rib-Eye at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Herb-Roasted Elysian Fields Farm Lamb Rib-Eye with “Croquette de Petit Salé”, Garbanzo Bean Purée, Jingle Bell Peppers, Arugula and Lamb Jus

Andante Dairy “Legato” with Caper-Sultana Condiment, Dark Raisin Purée, Celery Branch and California Red Walnuts

Toasted Oat “Glace” with Santa Rosa Plums and Japanese Plum Jam – A Fine Segue from Savory to Sweet

Delta Blueberry Cheesecake at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Mindi’s Dessert – Delta Blueberry Cheesecake with Compressed Blueberry Muffin, Lemon Ice Cream and Puff Pastry “Arlette”

Dark Treacle at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Daryl’s Dessert – “Dark Treacle” with Devil’s Food, Valrhona Chocolate “Marquise”, Lyle’s Golden Syrup and Marshall Farms Burnt Honey Ice Cream

Selecting Hand Crafted Chocolates at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Selecting Hand Crafted Chocolates

Hand Crafted Chocolates at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — The Chosen Hand Crafted Chocolates

Macadamia Nuts at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Macadamia Nuts

Doughnuts at the French Laundry in Napa Valley — Doughnuts for ‘Coffee and Doughnuts’

Coffee and Doughnuts at the French Laundry in Napa Valley — ‘Coffee and Doughnuts’ part II. In this scene, the doughnut is dunked in an ice cream-like cappuccino semifreddo.

2foodtrippers in Front of the Kitchen at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — 2foodtrippers in Front of the Kitchen

Inside the Kitchen at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Inside the Kitchen

Boxed Chocolates at The French Laundry in Napa Valley — Boxed Chocolates a/k/a French Laundry Swag

Thoughts About Our Dinner At The French Laundry In Napa Valley

The restaurant’s attentive focus toward every last detail of the dining experience separates it from all other American restaurants. It’s not even a close competition. Compared to other high-end dining establishments, The French Laundry’s service is like Secretariat at the Belmont or Michael Jordan on the basketball court.

Seriously, the service is impeccable to the extreme. In fact, we quietly commented on not liking one server as much as the others, and we never saw her up close again. It’s as if our table was under surveillance. We’re still wondering about that.

Great food deserves great wine. Not surprisingly, the wine list was extensive, sophisticated and accessible. The sommelier gave us the perfect recommendations, especially the Retro Cellars 2009 Petite Sirah from Napa Valley. We liked the red wine so much that we hunted it down the next day and bought some bottles to bring home to enjoy later.

The food, you ask? Of course, it’s excellent. Though it’s a shame that California passed the arcane foie gras ban. Every other great luxury meal that we’ve eaten has featured the rich, buttery delicacy, and its the one thing that would have propelled the food experience into the highest stratosphere. (The restaurant does offer a $100 upcharge for truffles, but that was a little too steep for our wallets.) Even still, the food was memorable, albeit in a somewhat predictable way.

Dinner at The French Laundry in Napa Valley Californiav

You see, for Daryl especially, the eating experience felt like a movie where we already knew the major plot points. Daryl idolized Thomas Keller long before he met Mindi. Like many people, we own the cookbooks, we’ve enjoyed Chef Keller’s appearances on TV and in person, and we’ve perused more than our share of critically fawning articles.

Daryl knew that Oysters and Pearls would be on the menu along with Salmon Cornets, Butter Poached Lobster, and, of course, the restaurant’s play on ‘Coffee and Doughnuts’. These are all great, classic dishes. However, the lack of surprise muted some of the electricity that we experienced last year at Maison Lameloise in Burgundy, France.

In addition to asking how the meal was, people keep asking if we’ll go back. Though one should never say never, it’s fairly unlikely. There are so many great restaurants to try in Napa and Sonoma, and most don’t cost as much as The French Laundry.

But we shouldn’t complain about the meal too much. It’s not every day you have the opportunity to eat filet of luxurious, flaky sturgeon served with a classic sauce reduced to the nth degree or a wonderful chicken roulade that is silky smooth in texture with flavors that evoke the comforting essence of a grandmother’s kitchen. It’s also not every day that a favorite cookbook is brought to life in a way that pleases all five senses.

At the end of the day, it really comes down to the food. And the pictures of the food.

The French Laundry is located at 6640 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599, USA.

Napa Valley Planning Checklist

Buy discounted travel insurance from Heymondo.
Find a great Napa Valley hotel via Booking.com, Expedia or Hotels.com.
Find an apartment in Napa Valley with a kitchen.
Buy a Napa Valley travel guide from Amazon so that you don’t miss any bites or sites.
Buy a universal travel adaptor from Amazon so you can charge your laptop, cell phone and camera in the USA.
Arrange a rental car for your trip.
Book a fun Napa Valley tour via GetYourGuide or Viator.

Hungry For More Top Restaurants?

Check out our dining experiences at Belcanto, Brennan’s, Commander’s Palace, Florilege, Frenchie, L’Arpege, Maison Bras, Maison Lameloise, Noma, Pepe in Grani, Septime and Willie Mae’s Scotch House.

About The Authors

Daryl & Mindi Hirsch

Saveur Magazine’s BEST TRAVEL BLOG award winners Daryl and Mindi Hirsch share their culinary travel experiences and recipes on their website 2foodtrippers. Since launching the site in 2012, they’ve traveled to over 40 countries in their quest to bring readers a unique taste of the world.

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Disclosures

Article Updates
We update our articles regularly. Some updates are major while others are minor link changes and spelling corrections. Let us know if you see anything that needs to be updated in this article.

Funding
We self-funded our dinner at the French Laundry.

Original Publication Date: August 1, 2013

Wednesday 5th of May 2021

It's Palate. Palettes are used by painters.

Daryl and Mindi Hirsch

Sunday 11th of July 2021

Noted and fixed. Thanks for catching the typo!

Megan

Tuesday 19th of May 2015

Sounds like such an amazing experience. It was great to see all the photos and hear your thoughts. I only live an hour away but haven't had the chance to try it. I do agree though that there are so many amazing culinary experiences at lower prices in the area that it can be hard for us average folks to want to splurge. Thanks for sharing.

Michelle Dunner

Thursday 21st of August 2014

You had a very different menu from the one we had at lunch. Some good-looking dishes! I loved the experience but because I'd also been to Per Se earlier in our trip there wasn't too much of a surprise factor. Still it's a very special treat.

spanishwineguy

Saturday 7th of September 2013

I worked at The French Laundry in the late 90's, during its real heyday. Glad to see this post about how things are going there now. No surprise about the "classic" dishes that you refer to (Oysters and Pearls, Coffee and Doughnuts, Sturgeon, etc). That's a bit disappointing. However, it sounds like you had a good experience. When you spoke about your wondering about the server that you didn't like, they probably didn't hear you. The service style there (providing it hasn't changed since Laura Cunningham left) is a team service. Meaning, you never see the same person twice at your table. Hope that clarifies some things. Cheers!

yummcha

Friday 9th of August 2013

I am hoping that I will try the restaurant one day, it reminds me a little bit of Melisse in LA, which I did not find as good as expected.