Mike's French Laundry trip

Sunday, July 23, 2006

At Last, The Food.

Dinner took about 3 hours to complete, but it went by so fast. We never felt like we were waiting for anything. I did go in with extremely high expectations. So my review reflects that mind set. I didn't take any pictures of the food as it was such a gentle and quiet evening that I didn't want the interruptions and just wanted everything to flow and to just go with the experience as we went along.

The menu lists what amounts to a 9 course meal. Well, in reality it was closer to 12 courses!
To start, we were brought 2 tiny Pate a Choux Gourgette Canapes. Filled with a dollop of gouda cheese. They were a warm and tasty bite.

They were followed by Cornets. Mine was a salmon tartar and Cathy's was a red pepper one. They looked like tiny ice cream cones. The cone of the cornet was filled with a creamy cheese filling that went well with the scoop of the main ingredient on the top of the cone. The cone was nice and crunchy and flaky.

Ok, now to the first "official" dish on the menus.
I ordered the "Oysters and Pearls". It was a tapioca sabayon with tiny Beau Soleil oysters and Russian Sevruga caviar. Very delicious. The sabayon was a bit tart and played well with the saltiness of the oysters and caviar.

Cathy ordered the "Ajo Blanco" soup.
It's a chilled garlic soup garnished with slivered almonds and green grapes. The bowl arrives with the almonds and grapes in it and the waiter pours the soup from a carafe into the bowl in a swirling motion around the almonds and grapes. Cathy really liked it.

We both ordered the "Tagliatelle of Hawaiian Hearts of Peach Palm".
The hearts of palm are sliced lengthwise instead of the traditional across wise. So they looked like ribbons. The dressing was a Persian lime gelee with an avocado sauce and cilantro shoots. The lime was perfect with the palm. And the creaminess of the avocado was a nice contrast to the sharp lime flavor.

After this course one of the waiters came around with 2 kinds of butter (salted and unsalted) and a bread that is baked at the Bouchon Bakery that Keller also owns. The bread was a french style bread with a salty top. Tasty.

Next came the fish dish.
Cathy ordered the Sauteed Filet of St. Peter's Fish. (AKA John Dory Fish)
It comes on a bed of pearl onion leaves, globe artichokes and sweet basil emulsion. The bed of the veggies is shaped into a disk and the fish is placed atop it. I sampled it and it was perfect for Cathy. She does ok with very mild fish and this was perfect. She's not a big artichoke fan but the flavor was such that she easily ate it right down.

Ok, now for the first service error of the evening! I ordered the Moneterey Bay Sardines "En Escabeche". They brought me the John Dory dish. Oops! The waiter was mortified. But the correct dish was there in an instant. I think he just grabbed the wrong plate on the way out.
Anyway, the sardines were very good. Something Cathy would not have cared for. As our waiter put it, it's a more advanced dish. The very mild sardines are split in half lengthwise and then poached with the warm pickling liquid. Sort of like Ceviche, but with a warm pickling liquid. The dish is allowed to cool before serving. The vinegar was a champagne vinegar. Not too strong and went well with the oily fish. There were some fine diced peppers and carrots, called "Picalilli" on the dish as well for color and flavor and a bit of crunch.

The waiter who brought us the first bread came by again this time with a basket of 4 breads to choose from. Be careful! You can easily fill up on bread. Anyway, this time we chose a sourdough wheat and a ciabatta to try. Both yummy.

My next dish was the Sweet Butter Poached Maine Lobster "Mitts".
Served on a bed of spinach leaves, toasted almonds, sunchoke puree and madras curry sauce. Let's see. Lobster and butter! What's not to like. Perfectly cooked, the lobster was as tender as the butter. Deelish.

Cathy had the Hand Rolled Garden Basil Agnolotti.
Basically little bitty ravioli. Thin ravioli dough filled with a polenta, basil and pinenuts filling. Served with an heirloom bean ragout. Another delish dish. The filling was basically a delicious Pesto but with the twist of some polenta in the filling too.

We both ordered the Sirloin of Devil's Gulch Ranch Rabbit.
It's wrapped in applewood smoked bacon that didn't compete with the mild rabbit one bit. It was a great compliment to the rabbit. Served with the tiniest 3 bone rabbit rib and half a rabbit kidney. It comes with a polenta cake and a Sweet 100 cherry tomato ragout. The meat was slightly pink and moist. Kidney was very mild. Cathy isn't an organ meat eater so I got her kidney too!

Ok, now for my absolute fave part of the meal so far!
We both ordered the Snake River Farm "Calotte De Boeuf Grilee"
Basically the cap of the prime rib. It's the thin section of meat that is separated from the rest of the rib eye by the layer of fat in the ribeye. So it's the best part of the best part. So full of flavor. I asked for seconds. Laugh. The beef is a hybrid Black Angus and New Zealand Kobe. Extremely tender and very flavorful. Prepared a bit rarer than Cathy cared for but she ate all but one bite. (which I gobbled right down) She liked it anyway. The meat is served with a Fricassee of corn, mushrooms, peas. With a black truffle oil jus reduction and a Yukon Gold potato mousseline. These had to be the smoothest potatoes I've ever eaten.

Ok, now to my least fave dish of the meal. The cheese course.
"Pleasant Ridge Reserve"
I don't know why, but sometimes extra sharp cheese has crystals in it. I don't want crunchy cheese. Anyway, this cheese was very sharp and was served with peach slices and a marinated savoy cabbage salad. This was also the second service error. It was supposed to be served with a slice of a sweet type quick bread. The waiter who was bringing breads around got to us about half way through our cheese course. We chose the walnut quick bread and it really helped with the sharpness of the cheese. But it was kind of late. Another minor thing in the scheme of the meal though. My bigger disappointment was the crystals in the cheese.

Then the palate cleanser.
Silverado Trail Strawberry Sorbet with Pavlova and Chantilly Cream.
This is what strawberries are made for. Such an intense strawberry flavor in the sorbet. Delish and perfect to clear all those rich flavors of the beef and cheese. I've had Pavlova before and it's been weepy. I've asked a guy at my work who knows about Pavlovas and he said they should be weepy. This one was hard and crunchy like a meringue crisp. I'm not a Pavlova expert, but this was just egg whites with sugar baked until pretty hard. The chantilly cream was perfect.


Dessert, and the last "official" item on the menu.
Valhrona Araguani Chocolate Tart.
Served with a caramel ice cream and Butterscotch crunch.
Now the birthday part comes into play. He put a candle in my tart and allowed me to blow it out before describing the dessert. Wow! What an intense chocolate. 72% bittersweet chocolate. Yum! The ice cream and crunch were a nice counterpart to the chocolate.

Then..........
Just when you think you are done and can't eat another bite.......
More stuff!!!

Coffee was offered and accepted. Of course!

Then a group of 4 items were presented at the table. Cathy got a Creme Brulee. I got a Peach Pot de Creme. Both in tiny dishes. Also there were some chocolate coated WHOLE macadamia nuts and the same pate a choux as the beginning of the meal but shaped like butterflies (Papillon) and dusted with coarse sugar.

Then, he brought a tray of chocolates. I tried the licorice one. The chocolate was delish, but the licorice flavor was too subtle for me I think. I think I convinced myself it had some anise flavor but I can't swear to it. The chocolate itself was silky and delish.

Then, to send us on our way he brought 2 packages of 4 pieces each shortbread cookies and one package of 4 chocolate bars with the same butterscotch crunch in them as what was on the plate with the tart. He said the bars were also for my birthday. How cool!!

So, was I satisfied and were my expectations at least met? Absolutely! An amazing meal. Delicious food. Service was great even with the 2 hiccups. In the big scheme of things they meant nothing but did deserve to be mentioned. The crystals in extra sharp cheese may be a normal thing as I've had it in other brands of extra sharp cheese, but then again I've had extra sharp without crystals in it. Just a preference thing on my part.

All in all a wonderful birthday present. I have the best wife ever!!!!
Thank you and I love you.

And Away We Go!


We left the Inn around 5:30 and drove over to the restaurant because the weather was blazing hot. We took a couple pictures next to the sign and went into the courtyard of the restaurant. .



Cathy looked great!
As we walked into the courtyard a waiter asked us if we wanted some ice water while we waited. I said yes and went in and let the hostess know we were there. We sat in the courtyard for a bit and then just got too hot and decided to go inside and wait a few more minutes for our table.




The entry is framed with lots of beautiful greenery. It felt good to get inside though and into the air conditioning. We only waited about 2 minutes and our table was ready. We chatted with the hostess and she told us that weather there was as unusual as it has been here in San Diego. They even had snow there in the winter and they rarely have snow.








The table was just the right size and was simply dressed. We snagged our French Laundry clothespins right away! We had some time to talk a bit before our waiter for the evening came to talk about wines, the menu, those kinds of things. Cathy took the opportunity to tell him it was my birthday as well. More on birthday stuff later. As there are really only 2 menus to choose from it made the ordering process very easy with only a couple of options on each menu. Cathy didn't want any shellfish and so she ordered a couple of the items from the vegetarian menu. We weren't sure which wines to order so we told our waiter our likes in wines and he made some recommendations that were spot on.
Ok, next post is the food experience.

July 20th.


Cathy and I went for the breakfast buffet in the lobby area of the Inn. Awesome spread! Cereals, bagels, pastries, eggs, fruit, meats, cheeses, fresh vegetables, champagne, juices, milk, coffee, tea. And on and on and........ We went ahead and had a heavy breakfast so we could mostly skip lunch to save a little room for the exciting dinner ahead this coming evening.
So, we set out around 9:30 in the morning to take a drive north to check out some wineries, the CIA, some stores (including Dean and Deluca), and just to sight see and drive around for a bit.


The CIA is in the former site of The Christian Brother's Winery. The CIA got the building for a song as it was a "fixer upper". There is still quite a bit of the history of the winery in the building including some old barrels, collections of corkscrews, information about the school and the winery. Among other things. They have a pretty neat gift shop/store there too. They also have cooking demonstrations although none were scheduled while we were there.




It's quite a beautiful building inside and out. There were tons of swallow's nests under the eaves and in the window sills. Signs were posted all over saying how sorry they were about the swallow's messes, but to be sure not to disturb the birds or the nests.
Yeah, that's me in the red shirt in the foreground.







We drove along some roads checking out some of the wineries and the shops along the way. We stopped in St. Helena and visited the St. Helena Olive Oil Co. store where we picked up a couple of goodies. And we also tasted several olive oils and balsamic vinegars. That was fun!

We went into Dean and Deluca as recommended and that was a fun place to browse around. For you Chuao chocolate fans, they even have the Chuao hot chocolate mixes there. That was pretty neat to see. And there were lots of different samples of things to try while browsing.


Well, we ended up at V. Sattui Winery. They don't sell outside of the winery. So you must buy the wines there at the winery. Well you can order them through their website. We sampled some wines and ended up buying the off dry Reisling and a brilliant red colored Gamay Rouge. Both sweet "ish" wines. Cathy and I liked them both.





We found our way back to the Inn around 1pm and realised we were a bit hungry, so we went over to the Bouchon Bakery and picked up a grilled vegetable sandwich. We shared that along with a couple of peaches we had snagged from breakfast.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, showering, shaving, etc, etc to get ready for dinner at 5:45.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

The Vintage Inn

Just a few minute's drive away from Mustards is The Vintage Inn.
Our home away from home for the next few days. What a beautiful Inn. Colorful landscaping. Very well manicured lawns. A beautiful destination. We went to the counter in the well air conditioned lobby and were checked in about 5 minutes. We were told where to park and a bellhop met us at our car and took us and our luggage to our room.

The Inn is a 5 minute walk to The French Laundry. Also there are lots of other great restaurants nearby. It also has a wonderful breakfast buffet every morning and a great tea service every afternoon. All included in the room rate.

Our room is #200. A ground floor, inner courtyard room. Nicely appointed with a table and chairs, fireplace, window seat, king size bed, tv and fridge and a welcome bottle of Chardonnay. Chardonnay was Beringer. So so, but not bad for a nice extra in the room. Bathroom has a 2 person whirlpool tub and a double sink vanity. There was also a seperate chair with a reading lamp.

Another nice feature of the room was that it had a semi private patio with 2 chairs and a table. The weather was just too hot to sit outside, but it was nice to know it was available if we wanted to use it.







Outside of our room was a nice water feature. There was a fountain at one end that then ran in regular rectangles along the length of the courtyard next to our room. Little fountains were in the rectangles.















Outside of the room were some beautiful flowers that the bees also were enjoying. So we were sure to keep our door closed. But with the A/C in the room running, keeping the door closed was no problem. A nice treat from the hotel were 2 187 ml bottles of Napa Mumm sparkling wine for my birthday.

July 19th. Lunch at Mustards Grill


Mustards Grill is a fun place. Chef is Cindy Pawlcyn. She of Top Chef fame who called Top Chef contestant Dave a "Pepper Monkey". The restaurant is described as "Truck Stop deluxe" in the Napa and Sonoma book we borrowed from Jen. That's accurate. We walked in without a reservation and got the very last available table for 2. Everyone after us was told the wait was 20 to 30 minutes! Of course it was right at lunch time. The place was very busy. Tables are somewhat close together, but it made for a nice ambience. Slightly loud but we could easily carry on a conversation. The menu is the same all day. No lunch or dinner menus. They have a standing menu and also a large chalkboard with lots of specials. Blues music, my fave!!!, was playing in the background.
It took a while, 10 minutes?, for someone to finally come to our table and take our drink orders. Cathy ordered iced tea, which is just Tejava brand tea poured from the bottle into a glass. Brewed tea is so much better than any bottled. Minor disappointment. I ordered Lemonade. It's made fresh when ordered. So, Cathy's tea and both of our glasses of water came right after ordering and I ended up waiting about another 5 minutes for my lemonade. Once service got started it went pretty well. Just waiting for drink orders took awhile.
They brought a nice crusty loaf of what seemed like a sourdough bread and some firm but spreadable butter. The loaf is sliced and it's just put right onto the table cloth. No basket or anything. Different kind of presentation.
We heard about their famous onion rings so we ordered an order of those. Extremely thin sliced rings. Literally paper thin. Coated with a thin, light batter. Fried and piled high on a plate and garnished with green onions. Served with an apple/tomato ketchup.
Cathy ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. It had the grilled breast, a green chile relish, guacamole and a melty white cheese. She wasn't sure of it's heritage. LOL. Sandwich also had some finely shredded cabbage and carrots. Like a coleslaw shred but without the dressing.
Her plate came with french fries. As did mine. More on the fries in a bit.
I ordered the slow smoked bbq pork sandwich. It came on a 6" sub style roll. Roll was a dark reddish color. Kind of different but tasty. Pork was absolutely perfect. Tender and juicy and lightly smoky. BBQ sauce was both sweet and spicy with neither dominating the other. Plate came garnished with the same kind of cabbage and carrot shred Cathy had on her sandwich, but mine had a light vinagrette dressing on it. Plate also came with a pile of shredded raw red onions and the ubiquitous fries. The fries were pretty average. We both sampled them and that was that. Besides we had those fab onion rings! I didn't even bother with the red onions on my plate because we had the onion rings.

The specials chalkboard was interesting. They had at least one special for each course of a meal. We were mostly interested in the "Root Beer" float for dessert. It's root beer frozen into a sorbet. Then layered with vanilla ice cream in a tapered glass. Served with long spoons for getting all the way to the bottom of the glass. It also came with a shortbread cookie. Very buttery and delish. It was a very refreshing dessert. They also do that dessert with orange soda. But today it was root beer. So, lunch was tasty. Service was great once it got going. Fries were just fries. And the tea should be brewed and not bottled. Definitely order the onion rings!!

July 19th, 2006. Travel Day.


We arrived at Lindbergh with plenty of time to get through the check in process and to our gate with about an hour to hang out.
We only checked the suitcase. Suit bag and carryons were carried on. Don't want to lose the dressy clothes and have to find some at last minute! Flight left a couple minutes late, but time was made up in the air. Oakland airport was a disaster. Under construction and rental car agency was a bus ride away from the terminal. Once at the rental agencies, no one had any cars! We found an offsite rental agency that had cars. So we got out of the endless line and took a ride to the offsite agency. It was fine. They had Toyota Corollas which was just fine for the 2 of us. Once away from that scene, the drive was uneventful up to Yountville.

Monday, July 17, 2006

July 17th

Monday of the week we go to French Laundry. I'm so excited! My stomach is a mess. Laugh. Probably just due to the anticipation.