The French Laundry

To begin, if my pictures look a little ridiculous in all of these posts, it's because they're all iPhone pictures. Timothy's mom graciously lent me her super fancy digital camera and I forgot to buy a USB cord before we left. Amazon is shipping me one on Tuesday, so I'll have way cooler pictures then! 

Now, the post you’ve all been waiting for…our night at The French Laundry. It was nothing short of perfection, with genius sprinkled into every course.

Before I begin, I will give you the run-down on this restaurant and the chef. Thomas Keller is an American chef who has won multiple culinary awards, including Chef of the Year, the Best California Chef, and the Best Chef in America. Thomas Keller is the ONLY chef in the WORLD with two 3-Michelin-Star restaurants at the same time. The French Laundry is always included in the Top 50 Restaurants in the World, and has actually won Best Restaurant in the World multiple times. Finally, The French Laundry was awarded three Michelin stars. Basically, it was a dream to come here.

They clamp the napkins with these adorable clothes pins!

So you get the restaurant, now let’s discuss the reservations. The French Laundry hosts one party per one of their 60 tables per night. When you reserve a spot, it is your table for the night. That means they aren’t rushing you out to seat a new party (ahem, Restaurant August). When you leave, your table remains empty for the entire night. Very cool, but reservations are extremely limited.

Now, The French Laundry only takes reservations two months in advance, and the infamous reservation hotline opens at 10AM from Monday-Friday. I began calling on a Tuesday, two months to the day I wanted a reservation. After 1000 phone calls, I didn’t get through. I am not exaggerating. I called 1000 times to hear a busy signal every. single. time. 

The next day, I tried again. After about 900 phone calls, we got through. Alas, no reservations available. I checked online, tried message boards, begged various credit card holders...no help to get a reservation at this hotspot. 

As you know, we finally got a reservation. My method? I can't tell you. If you already know, you're welcome; if not, good luck on the hotline. The only thing I can say is that sometimes, complaining gets you places. 

So it's July 13 and our day has come. The French Laundry is located in Yountville, CA, a 5-mile drive from Napa. Our reservation was at 8:45, but we wanted to check out the famous garden beforehand. 

When we pulled up, there were about 100 people taking pictures out front in casual wear. It was exciting to see how many people wanted just a picture in front of this place, and we actually had reservations. Luckily, I was able to get a few good shots of the garden without people in the picture...

The French Laundry garden

Now, this garden was HUGE. My picture does not do it justice. Most of the food at the restaurant is grown right here, 10 yards from the front door. In the back, there are chickens for eggs and bees for honey. Amazing, right? 

Finally, it was 8:30. As we checked in with the maitre d', he let us know it would be a few minutes. He led us to the garden, sat us down, and apologized about 100 times. Five minutes later, he came back, and with an adorable French compliment ("I love your last name so much, I had to bring you a bottle!"), he had a bottle of Champagne Grand Cru. Pouring us big, hearty glasses, we were perfectly fine waiting. 

Champagne with champagne!!!

After only a few minutes, we were seated. Our adorable table sat directly next to a beautiful fireplace, and we were home for the night. 

As a side note, please realize that I am not a genius writer, nor a chef. I do not know the names of half of the stuff I ate last night and I don't have the vocabulary to do this meal justice. Please bear with me, and enjoy the pictures. Ah, on that note, the pictures might seem a little dark, and that's because I took them with my iPhone sans flash. I can't be flashing cameras in The French Laundry, yall!

Our menu

So there's The French Laundry menu for July 13th. It is a set menu with the exception of four choices. When there are two items between lines, we had to choose.

Let's discuss the experience. We were seated by the maitre d', who seats all of the guests. Next, our waiter took our wine order, accompanied by the sommelier with fantastic suggestions. In that time, another waiter poured our water and one waiter set our silverware. Now, these waiters were ours for the night. My water never fell below 75% full, my silverware always perfectly shaped for my course, my napkin properly folded, and my wine fresh and cool. I felt like royalty the entire 4-hour meal.

Another cool point...there was a period of time between when the sommelier first greeted us and when he actually assisted us...five minutes max. So what did The French Laundry do? Apologized profusely and refilled our $50/glass champagne glasses for free. So, four glasses of champagne, on the house, because we waited 5 minutes to talk to the sommelier. Amazing.

After we ordered, our waiter brought us a first complimentary course.

The baby biscuits in the middle were little buttery puffs stuffed with melted gruyere cheese. The puff melted in my mouth faster than I could chew it. So tiny, yet so delicious, and I craved more. The stick-thing in the middle was basically an ice-cream cone, stuffed with fluke crudo. Fluke crudo is a raw-preparation of a fish and it was ground to taste like a paste. We have no idea what was on top, and I didn't write it down. Just know the top was crunchy, like a light fry, but sweet. Fantastic.

I began my actual meal with the Royal Ossetra Caviar.

Now, I'm not really crazy about the fishiness of caviar, but these sauces and mousses really highlighted the light, cool, and not-so-fishy taste of the caviar. The course included Japanese sea urchin, jidori egg mousse, pickled onions, nasturtium leaves, and a crispy dill lavash. The little squares between the mousse tasted like sweet jello and perfectly balanced the caviar. There were so many different textures, flavors, and temperatures, but it worked perfectly. Paired with my glass of champagne, this was fantastic.












My next course was a salad of Hawaiian hearts of peach palm.

I initially thought this long stringy white thing was cheese, due to the creamy consistency. However, it's actually heart of palm, a vegetable. That is an adorable radish next to it, as well. This course included hadley orchards medjool dates, radishes, finger lime relish, and cilantro. The sauce tasted herby and creamy, bursting with intense cilantro.

At this point, I moved on to a Sauvignon Blanc. The sommelier suggested that this crisp white would really emphasize the veggies and cilantro in this dish. Boy, was he right. At $40/glass, this white paired perfectly.

Now, let's discuss Timothy's course.

See that black stuff? Shaved truffles!

Instead of the heart of palm, he enjoyed a Brentwood corn and carnaroli rice risotto, with sauce saubise and shaved Australian Black Winter TRUFFLES. The only reason he opted for the $100 supplement was the truffles. Now, this isn't a chocolate truffle, but instead, it is something that grows on fungus. Yes, a fungus baby. Well, he received his risotto, and our waiter brought another man over with this fancy red box. Opening the box, I saw three HUGE black nuggets, followed by the strongest earthy smell.

After we "approved" (or really just nodded our heads in enthusiasm), our waiter grabbed a truffle and shaved it onto Timothy's risotto. One pound of fungi later, the waiters left, and Timothy and I just stared. Nervous to taste at first, I finally succumbed to curiosity. Truly, the truffles had an earthy flavor that I generally shy away from, but were sweet enough for me to ask for another bite. Australian truffles are extremely rare in the US, apparently, and it was a real treat to try them.


For our third course, we enjoyed slow-cooked belly of wild king salmon. As my favorite dish, I finished this thing in record time.

It combined sicilian pistachio "financier," poached brooks cherries, endive "emince" and ruby beet puree for a fabulous dish. The salmon was slow poached, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture,  perfectly cooked, moist, and sliceable like butter. The pistachio financier had a creamy top and crunchy bottom, perfectly paired with the beer puree. I ate this too quickly, and gave Timothy "puppy eyes" until he gave me the rest of his salmon.

The next course was butter-poached Alaskan king crab, with applewood smoked bacon, marinated la ratte potatos, pickled pearl onions, cornichon lamelles, and whipped grain mustard.

I must admit, I finished this quickly, as well. Slow-poached again, this crab was as delicious as the salmon. Easy to cut, melt-in-your-mouth courses seem to be the norm at The French Laundry.

Anyway, the crab was buttery and moist. The potatoes, tiny, crunchy, and flavorful. The whipped mustard was light, airy, spicy, and very similar to foam. The bacon...crunchy, smoked, and fatty...just the way I like my bacon.

Now, we are about halfway done with the meal. These portions look small, but the flavors are so big and rich, it is hard to keep eating. But then I remembered I was at The French Laundry, and not eating was NOT an option.

It is also here I moved on to a big Pinot Noir. As a recent red-wine-drinker, this is a bold move for me. But the sommelier was insistent I enjoy a red for the next few courses...




















The next course was a "Fleur de Courgette Farcie au Lapin." This mixed summer squash confit, toasted pine nut butter, black olives, opal basil, and salsa verde.

I first looked at this and thought, "Too much green"...how wrong I was! This squash blossom was plated on a black streak of sauce, and we later found out it was actually black olives (mind blown). The sweet corn balanced the spicy salsa, and the stuffing almost tasted like a sausage. When you cut into the squash, the stuffing overflowed in every direction, showing off all of the ingredients. Finally, the blossom was lightly fried, giving everything a light crunch. Amazing.

Next, our waiter brought Marcho Farms' nature-fed veal ribeye, along with compressed garden cucumber, wild fennel, greek yogurt, and charred eggplant "bechamel."

Swiss chard wrapped this veal, sitting atop a heavy sauce. Under the cucumber, there was a light grey sauce that truly tied the entire meal together. It was an intense roasted eggplant puree. Remarkable.

On our third-to-last course, our new best friend brought "Cabot creamery's clothbound cheddar", with crispy padron peppers, tomato marmalade, and wild argugula.

Let's focus on the cheddar. As a cheese-lover, I harp on cheese constantly. When I go to cocktail parties, I like to pair the wines with a cheese. I even bought Timothy a super fancy cheese cutter when we first started dating, so you know cheese is my thing. This cheddar was intense...cheddar. There really is no other way to explain it. If you'd had a very, very strong, sharp cheddar, this was it. It was nutty, dry for a cheese, and buttery. Mixed with the peppers and tomato, the flavors clashed, clashed again, then finally, balanced on our palates. After an exciting ten courses, it was time for dessert.

We began the two dessert courses with a delicious Santa Rosa plum sorbet with Jacobsen Orchard's compressed plums and candied oats.

The sorbet was very sweet, simple, and aromatic. The dish tasted like a super ripe plum, with the sorbet icing the entire course over. The candied oats added a little crunch to the icy dish, with a very sweet coating that neutralized the intense plum. Although I was extremely full at this point, I finished this dish and wished for more.

Finally, our last course arrived. It was about 11:30PM, and we had enjoyed our meal for three hours. Our waiter brought "dark treacle," a devil's food, valrhona chocolate marquise, lyle's golden syrup, and Marshall Farm's burnt honey ice cream.

This was a dream come true for me...chocolate, chocolate, and chocolate. Again, baby squares of sweet jello covered in a sweet icing, mixing with chocolate drops, a very sweet syrup, and a light devil's food cake bottom. The little chocolate wisp was light, crunchy, and melted in my fingers before I could get it to my mouth. This dish was put together with expert fingers, and truly amazed me.

After our meal, our waiter brought yet another treat: a box of house-made chocolates. Seven different types, he said, "Choose whatever and however many you'd like." As a chocolate-lover, I sure did. Seven truffles later, I was full, chubby, and satisfied. Also? These chocolates were free. Whoever said The French Laundry was expensive!?

Chocolate box

Of course, we ended our fantastic night out with espressos. They even had those adorable little sugar cubes that I came to love in Europe, and miss so dearly here.

So, we were ready for the bill, right? Wrong. Our waiter brought us one last dish, the dish they "end every meal with." 

It was an coffee...ice cream almost, but it wasn't, with whipped milk on top, similar to a cappuccino. I don't know what exactly this treat was made of, but it was just very similar to coffee ice cream. Ice cold, creamy, easy to scoop, sweet yet tart like coffee, covered in whipped-cream-or-maybe-milk, with shaved espresso beans on top. Truly a remarkable treat. 

So our meal was over. I'll spare you the cost because it was astronomical, shocking, and so, so worth it. I would advise anyone in the Yountville area to check out The French Laundry, and good luck with getting a reservation. It's an experience, one that not many can claim to have had, and I was thrilled to share it with Timothy. 

We LOVEEEE The French Laundry!

Stay tuned for my next update, where I show you awesome pictures of Chef Keller!

I felt like Elin Woods (during her good days) on our trip to Torrey Pines!

Thanks for checking back again, friends! :) 

This adventure started last Saturday, July 6th, on an 8-hour drive from Walnut Creek to San Diego. Specifically, we were to end at Torrey Pines.

Now, as a non-golfer-I-just-go-to-the-golf-course-to-support-my-boyfriend-and-go-to-the-spa, I've never heard of Torrey Pines. But what/who I HAVE heard of is the US Open and Tiger Woods (mostly his scandalous past, of course). Tiger Woods won the 2008 US Open here in 2008, for a little background.

Anyway, the Torrey Pines Lodge is built directly next to both the North and South Torrey Pines golf courses. This lodge was our home for the next 7 days (I know, right?). 

The halls of the Lodge are sided with a deep chocolate wood. Each piece is handmade by some famous California designer. Everything in the rooms, work out facility, spa, and even the patio is this same wood, but a different color. The entire resort's decor just flows effortlessly. 

My room's patio

Anyway, the decor was just a side item. Let's focus on the real reason we came: golf. 

Torrey Pines has two golf courses: The North and The South. Tiger won on the South course in 2008. Timothy played both courses a few times each (lucky, right?) while I spent my days at the onsite spa.

The South course 

In front of the tee boxes on the North and South courses!

On our first morning, I was surprised with in-suite room service. At around 7AM, I heard a knock at the door, and there was a butler with a HUGE rolling table, covered in breakfast items. As a serious breakfast lover, this was the greatest thing ever. Timothy shortly followed, and we began our vacation.

Breakfast on my patio! We could see the golf course from here!

Oh nom nom

The cutest Tabasco bottle ever!

At around 8AM every day, Timothy left to play golf. So I had about 5 hours a day for some fun. 

On the second day, I found this great little hike down to the beach. The front desk told me 2 miles, but when I recored it on my phone, it was actually 6 miles total, with 3 miles being a HIKE down a mountain.

I didn't tell anyone I was going, except the front desk. My life literally almost turned in to 127 Hours. 

After two hours, I finally made it to the bottom. It was...semi worth it.

A real crab!

Real cactus!

My feet in the Pacific Ocean, yall!

The Pacific Ocean

After such a long and treacherous day, I could only think of one thing to do: spa. A 50-minute massage later, I was relaxed and ready to restart my vacation. 

Relaxation Lounge in the Torrey Pines Spa

Also during this trip, Tim and I celebrated our almost-one-year-and-five-month anniversary. What better way to celebrate than with some Italian?

We found this great little place in La Jolla Shores, a great town about 5 minutes away from Torrey Pines. The restaurant, named Piatti, was about 20 yards from the beach. The place was small and modern, with only about 30 tables. 

First thing we ordered: a prosecco and glass of red wine, of course. I haven't had prosecco since Italy, so this was a real treat.

Since we were at a seemingly-authentic Italian restaurant, we began our meal with an antipasti: beef carpaccio. This is raw meat, sliced extremely thin, and usually served as an appetizer. It sounds gross, but it's actually delicious when served with high-qualify olive oil and parmesan. We learned that this dish was originated in Venice, Italy. It was delicious.

For our main dish, I ordered the lasagna and Timothy had a stuffed ravioli. I didn't take pictures (Sorry, Dani), but rest assured, it was fantastic.

The next few days were spent lounging, golfing, visiting the spa, and shopping. We found a few great hole-in-the-wall places, where I had this AMAZING pizza. Overall, San Diego/Torrey Pines/La Jolla is an amazing part of California, and I hope to get back soon.

As a sidenote, thanks to everyone for the amazing suggestions of things to do in California. We are determined to check out everything while we're here! :) 

Stay tuned next time for another Torrey Pines post, plus tomorrow's trip to French Laundry! 

Our Adventure in Napa Valley, Maybe Infused with a Little Wine

Welcome back! I'm sorry it's been a while, but our stay at Torrey Pines mostly revolves around me at the spa, so I've been a very busy girl! #firstworldproblems 

So our next day trip is to Napa Valley on July 5th. It really has been both of our dreams to come to Napa Valley. We spent much of last summer visiting random Italian and French vineyards, so although we are well-versed in Bordeaux, Chablis, and Chianti wines...we really don't know American wines. I mean, how well can you really know a wine if you don't actually go to the vineyard, see how it's made, experience different years, then discuss the differences with the winemaker himself? It gives you such a deeper appreciation of the wine, and we never tire of these adventures. 

Our first view of Napa Valley!!! You can see the grapes growing on both sides of the road, and the mountains on both sides! AMAZING!

In front of the Opus One entrance.

We began our day at Opus One winery. If you haven't heard of it, here is a quick bio. The winery was founded as a joint thing between Baron Rothschild and Robert Mondavi. (The only reason I know who these people are is because when Timothy and I first started dating, I broke one of his Robert Mondavi wine glasses, and had to buy new ones.) Their wine is a Bordeaux-style blend, and the winery only serves one wine per day.

I would describe Bordeaux as full-bodied, complex, layered wine. The Opus One had an extremely long finish (up to 20 minutes for me). Each sip was bursting with fruit, with a serious side of smokey. It tasted like an extremely ripe black cherry, teetering on maybe too sweet, until you come to that finish, when it tastes like you just inhaled second-hand smoke.

It must be noted that everyone has a different palate. Timothy usually disagrees with my descriptions of wine, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. :) 

Anyway, for the whopping price of $40/glass, you can try a glass from Opus One winery. It was exciting and certainly a great experience. After we were finished, I wanted another. But wait, we had 5 more wineries to visit that day...

After Opus One, we were prettyyyy hungry. Of course, we had a list of places we HAD to visit. TImothy is a HUGE fan of THomas Keller, so much so that my parents bought him all of Keller's cookbooks last Christmas. During our time in California, we are visiting all of his restaurants in Yountville.

So we make it to Addendum, a THomas Keller restaurant. Really, it's a little shack in the back of his other restaurant, Ad Hoc. The building reminded me of a snowball stand: you walk up, order, and wait.  There are two things on the menu at Addendum: Fried chicken and BBQ. I ordered the chicken, TImothy the BBQ. We sat at picnic tables, waiting for our nomnoms to be brought out. 

After about 15 minutes, I ate the most delicious fried chicken of my life. The batter was super light, the chicken extremely moist, and the outside crunch was to-die for. The chicken came with potato salad (fantastic) and literally, the best cornbread ever. I don't know how they did it, but the cornbread was super moist the entire way through, and really, really buttery. ...I can't even handle it. 

Another Thomas Keller restaurant! 

So after lunch, we had about an hour until our Beaulieu reservation. We strolled around Yountville, and found this adorable little wine shop. And SURPRISE! They had tastings. 

This is really only notable because on our first glass during the tasting, the guy said, "Now, no one has ever guessed what two grapes we used for the wine. Taste it, think about it, and let me know." So we did. I told Timothy, "It takes like a muscat grape, but it smells like a chardonnay." Timothy, of course, did not agree with my assessment, and named two grapes that I can't even pronounce. The guy came back, and BOOM! It was a blend of muscat grapes and chardonnay. Easily the proudest moment of my life. 

Super cute little wine shop, with tasting!

Our next stop was Beaulieu winery, which was okay. We took a tour with a group, and one couple brought their child. As noted, I'm really not that good with kids. I don't have that maternal instinct yet, and I don't know how to properly talk to children. It just adds to my overall awkward life. 

After Beaulieu, we made it to Silver Oak. On Timothy's birthday last year, I bought him this great bottle of Silver Oak, so this has a special place in my heart. And the best part? Silver Oak pours you whole glasses during the $20/person "tasting." And it was 5 glasses, plus 1 to "finish with." *Swoon!*

Timothy, at Silver Oak!

The most amazing Bordeaux blend!

I, of course, fell in love with this amazing Bordeaux Blend, which was wine #3. Now maybe, it was the 2 full glasses of wine at Silver Oak, plus the 5 before at the other wineries, but this wine was DELICIOUS. I had to have a bottle immediately. (See to the right)

Our day ended with a quick walk around Yountville and Napa, where we took a few more pictures!

My main squeeze!

Reservations on Saturday!

It was a longg day in Napa Valley. We were tired, I had a littttttttttle too much wine, and it was getting late. After a quick 30 minute drive, we were back in Walnut Creek.

Stay tuned for a great blog post on our stay at Torrey Pines!