oh man, this is the first picture in this thread I can actually taste (i’m sure my imagination doesn’t come close to how good it actually was). That looks perfect.
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Sometimes it’s necessary to infiltrate the circles of the vieux and nouveau riche to formulate an optimal plan of attack. I’ll allow it.
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I’m reading this while eating chicken tenders and potato wedges I grabbed from under the heat lamp at the supermarket.
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Is Thomas Keller insanely wealthy from this or is it just expensive b/c it’s in Napa Valley and he uses expensive ingredients? Too bad I have insane shellfish allergies. I can’t even be in the room when there’s shellfish being consumed.
I’m sure he’s done pretty well for himself, but the reason dining at this level is so expensive is because it costs outrageous amounts of money to deliver the experience. It’s not just the ingredients, it’s the equipment and labor required to make the dishes. This is an entirely different world from the restaurants most of us frequent, including whatever the average person considers to be a nice or high end place.
It’s expensive because of ingredients, because of location, because of reputation, and because of the skill that goes into making it all. They actually have windows into the kitchen so you can see the small army working away on the numerous dishes being put together. It’s expensive, but there are actually a lot of other more expensive restaurants in the world.
Fourth dish!
New wine, too. A white Burgundy served in a fishbowl that definitely is not what people think of when they think of a white wine glass. Probably my favorite wine on the night, and this was my favorite dish on the night. Three chunks of Alaskan king crab that were buttery and delicate and just melted in your mouth. The texture was so much softer than any crab I’ve had anywhere else, but I’m not sure how much of that is king crab vs. snow or dungeness crab, and how much is due to superior technique (seems like it might have been sous vide or something to get it that soft). A few crunchy, buttery croutons and rind-on bits of lemon for acid, all in a rich, creamy, foamy cauliflower sauce.
And we’ve reached halftime.
“Laminated brioche” is practically a croissant but not quite, and the fancy butter they went to great lengths to describe pretty much just tasted like good butter and not much more than that. There was no sweetness to the chocolate layered in. It was just bitter and rich. MrsWookie actually thought the fancy butter was unnecessary.
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Dumb question: how did you eat that croissant thing? To me the correct way would be to just tear a piece off with my hands, spread some butter, and pop it in my mouth, but I would be a ball of stress in a fine dining place thinking I was doing it all wrong.
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I went to a 2 star Michelin restaurant in NYC and had absolutely no idea what was going on with the silverware. They kept bringing and taking away random sized and shaped spoons and knives; I mostly just used the regular ones and accepted my rube status.
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Sixth course!
New wine, too, a Barolo served in what looked to be a decapitated erlenmeyer flask but which was actually a hand blown glass specifically for this style of wine. The quail could practically pass for duck, and the sauce and flavors were similar to those that are frequently found with duck. Sunchokes are something I don’t think I’ve eaten before despite seeing them at the farmer’s market all the time. If it were easy to make a puree this good at home, I’d eat them a lot. Narrator: It’s not easy to make this puree at home.
On the subject of the mac and cheese, the couples on either side each got one order between the two of them to share, so we got to see the spectacle. One person prominently carrying a large wooden box came out with the waiter, who took out the truffle and using a dedicated wooden tool with a metal blade, shaved off cross sections of the truffle, eventually covering the entire plate. We didn’t spend the $175 to try it, but for $0, we got to smell the incredible truffle aroma wafting our way after each shaving session. It smelled amazing, but I’m not sure it would be $175 amazing.
Looking it up, this is actually the 100% correct way to do it. I was apparently boorish and bit off bites rather than tearing them off.
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That delectable crust on top of the fish could have stood some sharp slicing, even if the rest of the fish didn’t need it.
Seventh courses!
And new wine, a Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, and this one I remember the winery because it was in English: Gemstone. Amazing wine. Most amazing thing about the venison here is that as good as that plump, medium rare round of venison loin was, I actually liked the bit of venison kielbasa better, and MrsWookie liked the pierogie better.
Not exactly sure which cut of wagyu this was, but it was super tender and rich and delicious. The rectangle on the top of the plate was sort of reminiscent of some preparations of foie gras I’ve had, but this was beef. This might have been one of the only disappointments on the night, though. As @spidercrab said, you end up worrying about VORF. Was it $100 better than the venison? I don’t think so, because the venison was about equally delicious. But, when you think about the added novelty of getting to try one extra amazing thing, it’s closer.
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8th course!
This might have been MrsWookie’s favorite course. That’s eclair dough stuffed with a soft cheese, probably buttered and heated to get that brown color, and then nestled in a dollop of a rich melty cheese sauce specked with black truffle. None of this “Here’s a bunch of cold cheese on a plate” bullshit for a cheese course. This was an ooey gooey, mega melty, fatty truffle bomb. We weren’t sure if it would be considered uncouth to lick our plates, so we settled on merely doing our best to scrape up every last trace of the sauce with that silver spoon.
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All of them, I think. But whatever macro balance the above had that might have been somewhere in the realm of the reasonable, it’s about to be shattered. It’s dessert time. “Assortment of desserts,” to me, a poor, sounds like you pick something. We were starting to get full anyway, so picking something sounded good.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPE.
https://i.imgur.com/OAhqbVk.jpg
Let’s start at 4 o’clock and work clockwise. That’s banana ice cream with bruleed banana slices, delivered first. Then poached apple with a puff pastry “crust,” sort of a deconstructed apple pie (my favorite), delivered second. Then some sort of cake, the cake layers were kinda crunchy like ladyfingers and between them was chocolate ganache, buttercream, and hazelnut buttercream, delivered 3rd. Then we got a mug of espresso ice cream with a toasted foam dollop, delivered 4th. After those had been set down, we got a brief respite before the donut hold arrived. And then the bowl of macarons and French-style chocolate truffles arrived. Not pictured, is the round of Belgian-style chocolate truffles that arrived in a huge box where we were invited to take as many as we liked. It took two, the dark chocolate and salted caramel. MrsWookie took 3, the dark chocolate, smores, and hazelnut. Also not pictured, a bag full of like 4 tins of cookies I guess to take home or to continue stuffing into your face (we chose the former). Dessert wine was a late harvest sauvignon blanc from I believe Napa, allegedly on the house per our server, but Keller ain’t sweating it after what we doled out tonight.
The total:
https://i.imgur.com/ITrgyPq.jpg
Service included, but there was still a line item for additional not really a gratuity on the credit card receipt. No idea what would be remotely customary there, so I threw an additional $50 away, probably like a stingy poor.
Our server did invite us to go see the kitchen after we were done. There wasn’t much to see, as they were mostly cleaned up for the day. I did spy this, though:
Looky there, there’s more than your month’s salary’s worth of food just sitting out in a box on the counter.
It was about 2.5 hrs there, and a very satisfied walk home.
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Not knowing anything about anything about fine dining, 560 for 2? seems like a lol steal of a life time for a meal like that. And that’s mostly on wine, which I care next to nothing for.
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LOL @ U (read the receipt again)
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Add the $700+ he prepaid.
lol, well played, sir.
Though, The French Laundry seems to be the only place in the world where that might actually be the right way to eat a croissant 
The most highly regarded restaurant in the world and the receipt is handwritten with a sharpie? Wat?