The French Laundry

Thomas Keller · Yountville, Napa Valley, USA

6640 Washington St, Yountville, CA 94599

The French Laundry is, by almost any measure, the most important restaurant in America. Thomas Keller opened it in 1994 in a converted stone laundry building in Yountville, Napa Valley, and has held three Michelin stars for as long as Michelin has awarded them in California. It is the restaurant that defined American fine dining for a generation.

Thomas Keller's The French Laundry has shaped American cooking more profoundly than any other single restaurant. Its two tasting menus, the Chef's Tasting and the Tasting of Vegetables, each run to nine courses of precise, elegant cooking that draws on classical French technique and California's extraordinary produce. The restaurant sits in a stone building surrounded by a kitchen garden, in the village of Yountville, a 90-minute drive from San Francisco in the heart of wine country. Keller has described the act of eating here as an act of consciousness: awareness of the farmer, the season, the technique, and the time.

What to know

• —Three Michelin stars since 2006, the first year Michelin rated California
• —Two tasting menus: Chef's Tasting and Tasting of Vegetables
• —Nine-course menus showcasing California produce with French technique
• —Kitchen garden adjacent to the restaurant
• —Within walking distance of some of Napa Valley's finest hotels