New Year's Eve is always more special for our family because Jan 1st is our mother's birthday. This year it was a particularly memorable milestone and my sister and I wanted to treat our family to a very special experience to commemorate it.
We didn't tell our parents where we booked, but head up to wine country and we'll have a great time. The night before we surprised them with the news we'd be celebrating NYE and our mother's birthday at The French Laundry! Of course they were ecstatic and we made sure to only do one wine tasting earlier in the day.
After lunch at R+D Kitchen down the street, we walked over to TFL to check out the garden and grounds while the sun was still up. The gardens are directly across the street from the restaurant and is where they grow many of the vegetables used in the menu.
Beautiful grounds and people can wander around to check it out.
The view across the street from the gardens of the restaurant itself.
The famous TFL sign and Relais & Chateau plaques.
After you walk into the main courtyard are nice seating areas and the new building they built as part of their expansion.
The famous blue door!
The expanded kitchen with windows for everyone to look in and see the quiet precision.
We headed out as the sun began to set which provided a beautiful view over the garden.
Back at 9pm for our reservation, we were ready for what would hopefully be a fantastic experience!
And through the blue door we go.
We had to wait a few minutes to be seated, so we sat in the lounge, took in the decor and loved the dichotomy between the formal vibes of the place with the classic rock and jazz music.
A beautiful wine glass area, look at all those Zaltos!
We were soon escorted upstairs and saw the really festive and beautiful atmosphere, great start!
The table, set simply and elegantly.
With the classic TFL clothes pin.
And to commemorate the occasion!
To start off and part of the NYE dinner were glasses of 1995 Pommery from an Imperial bottle.
The 1995 Pommery was wonderfully elegant, fresh yet rich nose with lemon notes and brioche. Body was medium-full with a levity, tiny bubbles, lite lemon notes along with brioche and melon.
We were then presented with the menus.
A nice letter from Chef Keller and the menu itself for the evening.
A true leader and inspiration.
The extensive menu followed a similar layout to the usual TFL menu, but with all the supplements included, plus extras.
To kick things off, we didn't have the usual salmon coronet, but a modified version that was more like bagel and cream cheese with lox.
Then kicking things off with sunchoke soup with black truffle and parmesan cream. Very rich, yet lite for what it is.
Also small bites of what I think they called BLT, but it was really more like a brisket/sausage in brioche.
Then the famous oysters and pearls.
So beautiful and to me, the quintessential Keller dish.
Perfect as the other times I've been lucky to try it. A nice sabayon custard, slight vinegar, tapioca paired amazingly well with perfectly poached oysters and fantastic Kaluga caviar.
Then for the first wine of the evening, we went with the 2013 Lucien Le Moine, "Champ Canet". It had a nose that was both rich and fresh with lemon peel, citrus and cream. The body was beautiful, a darker color with rich lemon curd, rich, creamy, slight citrus and nice acidity to keep it fresh and not being too heavy. It paired fantastically with the richer style of foods to come.
Spiny lobster was poached and served cold with an avocado mousse, citrus cream and slice of mandarin. A great way to start things off, however I do wish we had one of the more classic warm lobster preparations.
The red star was a radish and provided a nice "bite", but not being a huge radish fan, didn't do anything for me.
Next up was a classic of the hen egg custard.
The beautifully cut egg shell had a warm egg custard that is mild on the bottom. On top is the party with a ragu of black truffle on top and together really comes together. The chive is impressively stuck between two super thin potato chips to create one and is fantastic for scooping the custard and sauce.
For the next course we were given mini epi baguettes with poppy seeds. They gave MsFlamingo some gluten free bread which she appreciated.
Hearth roasted beets with slices of Peking duck. The beets were mild which was nice since none of us are huge beet fans. The duck was good, but a bit smokey for my tastes.
Then they grated foie gras over the dish.
The richness of the foie gras and the smokey duck and beets went well together.
Next up was probably my favorite dish of the night. It was John Dory fish done in a roulade style and wrapped with what I think was truffle. It sat atop a bed of swiss chard and surrounded in an absolutely wonderful black truffle sauce that was creamy, full of umami and super tasty.
And then the black truffle shaving team arrived and did not skimp.
In fact I thought they were done, but they weren't...
Even more truffles to finish it off and so wonderful with the woody notes of the truffle, the richness of the sauce and perfectly poached fish.
Next up for the wine was the 2013 Bruno Clair, "Clos du Fonteny - Monopole”. It had a beautiful floral nose with violets, slight earthiness and red berries. The body was light/medium but silky, crimson, pure red berries, slight earthiness/mushrooms as well, balanced acidity, slightly tart finish, a wonderful red Burgundy that was fantastic with truffles.
Next up was poularde which must have been sous vide and then roasted. It was super flavorful and had a perfect texture and taste. The sauce was a sort of cranberry gastrique it seemed with a rhubarb type vegetable on top and cranberries themselves.
It was like a modern Thanksgiving on a plate and went great with the red Burgundy.
Next up they brought a croissant that was layered with bitter chocolate and of course perfect.
It accompanied the creamy polenta which didn't have a strong flavor I think to help accentuate the truffles that would be shaved. With that being said, I would’ve preferred some cheese in it like Parmesan or Comte. On top were crispy cauliflower that was almost like nuts, we thought they were pecans, not sure that was needed, but fun for some texture.
Then the big bad boys of the Alba white truffles!
Not skimping around here!
Such a beautiful dish and so indulgent, again the Burg went fantastically well with it.
I brought a bottle of 1996 Opus One, it had an amazing nose with cedar, cigar box, menthol and was deep, you could spend an entire evening just sniffing these aromas! The body was medium/full, slight bricking at the rim, velvety with well integrated and silky tannins. Dark berry fruit like boysenberries, blackberries, dark cherries, bit of earthiness and light acidity to keep everything fresh and in balance. Probably my favorite wine of the year for me, just in time!
The final savory course was the perfect A5 wagyu that must have been sous vide and roasted with a nice crust. The dumpling had braised brisket and was tasty. There was a brussel sprout and a nice demi glace.
Stunningly rich and tasty.
A few minutes later our waiter came by to let us know as soon as we were done to head downstairs to the kitchen for the NYE festivities. On our way to the kitchen we go!
As soon as we entered the kitchen, we saw the 18L of champagne and sabre ready to be used.
The famous Finesse quote.
And the camera that normally connects the Per Se and TFL kitchens, but tonight it was the ball drop from TV show.
Checking out chef and the cool decanters intended for the 18L of champagne soon to be sabred.
The Sense of Urgency clock.
And it's time to get the bottle dried off and Michael the GM getting ready to handle the sabre.
The prep continues.
And ready to get going, everyone get their cameras out!
Attempt 1
But no cigar. So some more trying...
And...
Oops!!
What a perfect action sequence.
Everyone's reaction.
And the entire kitchen, guests and staff went nuts.
Chef capturing it live for Insta.
While it definitely put a light hearted tone to the rest of the night with everyone going c'est la vie, the staff jumped into action to find replacement bottles of bubbly.
Meanwhile some pics of the kitchen stations.
And someone having a great bottle of wine.
The staff pouring everything they could find.
Chef Keller made an appearance and was light hearted at least outwardly at the clean up going on.
Everyone spread out throughout the kitchen. Chef Keller was awesome and made sure all his staff was having a good time, I really appreciated he started with the dish crew and didn't let anyone feel left out. Then he braved the crowd for pictures and we were glad to be able to have him take a picture with our mother for her birthday, but she didn't let me post it.
And much champagne was passed and drunk, with the NYE clock striking midnight and everyone celebrating. A truly memorable experience and we were super glad our parents really enjoyed it.
My sister stepped outside to snap a really awesome pic of the action in the kitchen.
Soon after, we all headed back to our tables or for those who finished their meals, left the restaurant. On our way back up the stairs, a picture of the downstairs.
And then into the cheese course with a layered savarin and truffles, along with the lightest madeline. The last of the Opus had opened up even more and was fantastic to finish off the cheese.
Then wrapped up with the final wine of the night being a 1988 D'Olivera Terrantez. It had a nutty, hazelnut nose and body, acidity, and slight tart berries.
Then the desserts were brought out along with a small birthday cake for our mother!
The main dessert being the Fireworks! A beautiful and festive presentation with all sorts of goodies. Passion fruit, yuzu jelly, pineapples. Really refreshing and tasty.
The last of the other desserts with the famous coffee mousse and donuts (huge props for gluten free donuts for MsFlamingo), a pear and mango sorbet with vanilla ice cream.
Then macarons, candies and caramels.
What an amazing meal and experience, it was truly as memorable as we had hoped and the family had a fantastic time. With that we called it a night and headed back to our hotel, but not before getting our gift bag to go.
A great gift bag including a really nice ceramic tea pot, black tea, sugar cookies, caramels and a chocolate-gingerbread loaf.
And like that our fantastic NYE dinner was complete. It was a truly memorable experience and I'd definitely recommend doing the later seating if you can, we certainly hope to in the future!
