The French Laundry & Other Great Dining Experiences

Sundry Chitchat
88

Any chance that the concierge services dont run on New Years Day?

89

Hey, id love to know what the feb menu looks like before we go. Would you post yours when you go?

90

I wonder why French Laundry got this mythical status even when compared to near by similarly expensive and even higher ranked restaurants.

I’d love to eat there of course, it looks amazing. But so does Benu or SingleThread or Atelier Crenn (which I did get to eat at). Feels like going to the French Laundry is more of a rite of passage type of dinner than the other three.

91

you’ll spend more than that.

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92

Sure its evening of 2/7 for us. We’re not big food picture people so I’ll just get the menu. This will be our 2nd 3*, we’ve done other 1 & 2 which while great food of course was much less of an experience then the 3* in paris.

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93

I was going to get French Laundry as a gift. It couldn’t really have been a surprise obviously, so I had to discuss it beforehand. They had been there before and it was obvious they really had no interest in going back, so we just picked a different place.

94

My only 3* experience was at 24 or 25 years old, at Louis XV in Monte Carlo with an 18 year old Timex, Ansky and some dude called ActionJeff. One of the weirdest experience of my life. Only time I ever wore a tie (Timex had to put it on for me).

I can’t even imagine that experience as myself as it feels so surreal now (and felt surreal in real time)

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95

Thanks!

Which 3* in paris did you do?

96

You’ve never been to a wedding or funeral? Or is the dress more casual in Israel?

97

Casual. Ties do not exist outside of lawyers maybe. I also bought a blazer for that trip and used it twice (once for that dinner and again when I was “representing” 888 in a PokerStrategy high roller event in Munich, which would probably rank 2nd in surreal experiences I had after that dinner).

98

I’m pretty sure that every male guest at my NYC Bar Mitzvah in 1976 was wearing a jacket and tie.

99

stealing from @microbet, pastrami jews and hummus jews are nothing alike.

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100

You don’t have pastrami in Israel? That’s a shame*.

*I was contemplating going with shanda here, but I wasn’t sure if that would be correct.

101

i feel like i turn every thread to be about jews and israel, which would annoy me if i weren’t me. sorry about that. no, pastrami in israel is actually turkey meat and is a type what you guys call lunch meat i suppose. you’d be very disappointed.

also shanda seems to be an yiddish word. also not a thing.

102

Lmk if you need a couple seat fillers :drooling_face:

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103

I feel like this thread is the appropriate place to put this:

There is only one 3* I’m truly interested in trying, whenever I can get back to Spain. Arzak has ben on my list for a long time.

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104

I feel like you’re mostly pretty cool about it, which is part of the reason why it happens. I think it’s a huge plus in terms of my forum experience.

We’ve got turkey pastrami here. It’s OK.

Yeah, I think that is what it is. I didn’t realize hummus Jews considered it not a thing.

105

AllĂ©no Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen – Paris - a MICHELIN Guide Restaurant right in the middle of the champs. Might have been first michelin for us actually. Wife was trying to order wine and I’m like “uh just let them do it”. Her favorite thing about it was that she got a couch just for her purse. Purse sized obviously.

107

I did the fat duck when it was at its peak.

All very fun. Including “the sound of the sea” which came with an ipod with literally beach/waves crashing sounds to listen to while you ate.

I think the molecular stuff was great and moved food forward, but I think you lose something in the over preperation and prefer something that really highlights the best natural and fresh flavors more.

108

Haha I actually ate here the night I got engaged.

Things I loved (or found interesting) about it:

  1. They had separate menus for women where the women’s menu didn’t have prices

  2. The cheese cart was incredible

  3. They had a dessert that was incredible. They basically hollowed out a passion fruit, filled it with milk or some other dairy, blow torched the husk tableside, let it ferment and absorb the acidity while you were eating, then served it. One of the most interesting dishes I’ve ever had.

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