Michael Grimm
It's been called "the best restaurant in the world, period" by Anthony Bourdain. But a stunning renovation of the French Laundry shows there's always room for improvement.
Chef Thomas Keller's iconic Napa Valley restaurant has finally wrapped up a remodel that cost $10 million and began four years ago. The crown jewel is a new kitchen designed with special attention to ergonomics and acoustics, in order to make life easier for its award-winning chefs.
Take a look inside.View As: One Page Slides
The French Laundry, located in Yountville, California, looks like a humble stone cottage from the street.
But behind those shrubs is one of the world's best restaurants. For $310 a head, guests choose between two prix-fixe menus that change daily and never repeat ingredients.
Source: Business Insider
In 2014, Chef Thomas Keller set out to remodel the wine cellar. But his ambitions grew even larger.
The renovation includes a state-of-the-art kitchen, a 2,210-square-foot office annex, 9,000 square feet of landscaping, and a wine cellar capable of housing 16,000 bottles.
When guests arrive, they can peer into the kitchen through new wrap-around windows.
A "before" photo of the kitchen shows a drab, cramped space with dated finishes.
The kitchen has been completely redone in order to better accommodate chefs.
Architect firm Snøhetta sent designers into the kitchen to better understand the chefs' needs. New countertops were raised several inches higher so chefs won't have to hunch over their work stations. Walls and surfaces were covered with an easy-to-clean anti-microbial finish.
The typical noisy overhead hoods have been replaced by infrared sensors embedded in the ceilings, which gauge the appropriate speed for the vents rather than running all day long.
Guests now have the option to dine indoors or outdoors, but courtyard seating is limited.
The remodel puts new emphasis on the landscape design. The kitchen has mirrored glass walls that reflect the outdoors, while cut-outs in the fence perfectly frame the interior.
The annex includes a conference room, test kitchen, and a butchery.
Keller looked to one of the world's great museums, the Louvre in Paris, for inspiration. He reportedly gave architects photos of I.M. Pei's glass pyramid, which was added in 1989.
Source: San Jose Mercury News
The Louvre was "iconic. It was historic. Everybody knew it," Keller told the San Jose Mercury News in 2017. "And the French Laundry kind of represented that for me."
French Laundry fans will be pleased to see that the restaurant's iconic blue door remains.
Source: San Jose Mercury News
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