Behind the scenes at The French Laundry | Secret Table

Thomas Keller opened French Laundry in Napa Valley 25 years ago with the idea that an American-born chef using American ingredients with precise cooking techniques could rival the best foods in Europe but still be a truly American experience if you go back 100 years. in the time. I would feel at home walking through the kitchen the same way I feel at home today. Join me for a

secret

behind-the-

scenes

look at a day in the life of French Laundry. Here it will change to say "I will show." you are a black winter truffle we will find you here we are in our new kitchen we have raised many of the

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s off the floor 18 inches so we don't have to bend as low for Jurgen Amelie to greet everyone. this is a foregone conclusion there's nothing about this that was a foregone conclusion no and there still is I mean every day we have to come to work you know and do the work a meal at French Laundry starts in the three acre culinary garden Al Across the street, chefs make the menu that changes daily based on what's available that day.

This is my office. It's a great office. I can look outside every day and look beautiful. It's about three acres and we're about two arable acres, but we also have several other plots that we grow we'll harvest from 6:00 in the morning until when we're done with the harvest, they'll cook with it before it hits the refrigerator and that's it. how we bring the taste of the garden directly to diners erin tells us what they're cooking for dinner if the carrots are ready to light the surroundings and the peas are ready the terms the peas and carrots are on the menu pea shoots we have bronze fennel It's like the most beautiful shopping list you could ever ask for.

It's like, do you want to check off bachelor buttons? you want marigolds you want small and beautiful mastery is this man. Shue, you think cilantro yes, they could make a lot more money growing wine grapes on these three acres when Keller's friend, chef Jonathan Waxman, first told him about a property for sale in Napa Valley. Keller was in his late 40s and had started as a dishwasher. the restaurant his mother ran when he was a child and honed his skills as an apprentice in France Keller had a reputation for being a good chef but he was broke, I was very poor, I had lost my job at the hotel I worked at, I was selling olive oil olive at Gelson's or Bristol Farms I was the guy standing at the end of the hallway with a little

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in front of me and pieces of bread with toothpicks a little cup of olive oil there was an article in The New York Times that said a dream is hard to come by live, it's harder to resonate with me, so I cut it out and it said on my little makeshift desk and it had people's names and phone numbers.

I started calling over 400 people, eventually reaching out in the community to about 51 who actually wrote checks. I mean, I'm so grateful for them, just knowing that they trusted me to put their name on that check. They gave it to this middle-aged guy who was kind of a lady working on ladies. He would ruin the beer today. It's interesting that you say this about perseverance and doing something over and over again until it works because that's what you're known for. Hi, Keller is intense about raising the professional standards of being a chef, it's not about my restaurants, it's about our profession.

We need to help raise the standards of our profession and by raising the standards of our profession we are raising all of our restaurants by hiring the right person with the right training and trainings in two weeks or four weeks or six weeks. then guide them and if you do those three things correctly, what happens is that person is better than you, as if not better than you, the new job is true, so each of these young people is the opportunity to be better than I. Am I really proud to say that when I was a young cook in order to learn what the guy next to me was doing I needed to have a sense of urgency so that when the chef said oh, we need someone to think of the hottest sauce? space I said I'm ready I've been looking at other jobs with him I know what he's doing let me take the place you have to be the person before they offer you the job well that's interesting I saw your copy of my gastronomy back there and the idea that if you try something like it's yours, you'll eventually write like many restaurants the

french

laundry

runs its kitchen using the brigade system a more than century old way to ensure everything runs smoothly the chef the parts returned blue aprons we can tell the sous Chefs are a difficult disease because they wait for Don during service, a very pleasant imposter during the preparation time of all the portable aprons.

We're always trying to create these efficiencies in our workspace so people can do their jobs without interference. Can you imagine you are a doctor? You're performing surgery and suddenly someone needs to come in to get something in your way and that just doesn't work for restaurants that use the brigade system. This precision is necessary to serve guests at the level everyone expects and French Laundry is a place diners dream about four years before eating here. Our guests have very high expectations and we have to deliver every night. We talk about all the Super Bowl times every day.

In the last 25 years, American expectations about cooking have changed a lot. Nowadays we want perfect food and service and to feel as comfortable as at home. Something really very important that we always do for each guest. There is coffee and donuts. eBay is so good it makes us happy, how can you deliver that to every table when every table has a different idea of ​​what is comfortable? The server treats it with equal series. The busy ones and I always do 12113 tables at 5:00 5:30 4:11 terms is a lot of big tables as you can see, so keep in mind that the first course will be a crudité of garden vegetables with cherries, radishes , window bowl, crispy chickpea panisse and pea tendrils, then like Angela said, call your style Tennessee, is that right? you know, or the whole record of what's going to happen tonight, the number of guests who arrive at different times than usual, a good number of people at the table, the total number you have, you know the birthday number , the anniversary issue and Thomas Keller. has opened other restaurants since French Laundry, the most famous per se in New York City and of course we have per se here you know this idea of ​​connectivity and this idea of ​​sharing it's about knowing that and Daniel and the whole team They realize that they are part of a bigger team and they are part of a bigger family and that is the wonderful land in their pass, you can see mr. first meow mr.

Firman has been there since the day we opened there is a bit of a show off. I have a nice dish that I show on the plate. The rivalry between brothers. I'm sure you have the Cake Department on this side and then the garma J that makes all the cold first. The courses or second courses that happen here become so beautiful and as we can see outside, there are not many kitchens when you look out the window, in fact we can have a lot of collaboration with the salty team that we don't want to be in. our own little island, so just the fact that we see each other we can work in the same kitchen, it's super collaborative for French laundries. 20th anniversary.

Keller decided to create a new kitchen and wine cellar inspired by the Louvre pyramid in Paris. You go through the same kind of dismay that some people had when the Louvre was first revealed, as they are still stunned. I still go through this moment of I don't know if it's buyer's remorse oh yeah no I mean I think I think it's Fantastic they might be able to get you a down payment on exactly one condo. You know that luxury items should be used in quantities and what's the point if you use truffles. I mean music. Who could replace Thomas Keller at French Laundry?

He's asking the Same thing, this batch of dresses not only needs live ovens, but it needs to thrive and, you know, it needs to be taken by a young chef or a young, you know, young chef, maitre d' and Darryl, manager, whoever. that has the same type of visions and the same. types of values ​​the same types of ambitions these represent my core values ​​and I hope you know that if you work for me you can also adopt them, but there are some that you may have differences with, but maybe there is another value that is more important, what we do Managing a restaurant is not that difficult.

I guess calling you and getting a reservation if you boil it down to the basics: escorting me and someone to our house. Mug you made for mom. Do you make everyone happy? I'll give you a Hug to them, I'm getting older so I try to make sure that the younger generations understand these people who change our lives, yeah right, and make sure that we have that sense of respect and understanding of what What Jolly Paladin did, what Michelle Rashard did, delicious. That's the perfect word I want to hear when someone eats food that's not extraordinary or surprising.

I just want you to know what was really amazing.