property. But Per Se became the benchmark for professional kitchens in America, and it kind of eclipsed the French Laundry because we were able to design that as a complete kitchen. Where this was never designed as a complete kitchen, this was designed as a building which we continued to modify, which we continued to renovate, continued to add to every year.” Keller was quick to point out that didn’t mean the French Laundry’s kitchen isn’t modern. “It is a modern kitchen, it just wasn’t a complete kitchen in the same way Per Se is complete. This is a kitchen where we continue to add to, where Per Se was built as a complete restaurant. It’s not had any addition to the kitchen, the functionality was set, the size was set, and that’s the way it’s been for eleven years. This one is very different because we have a lot of flexibility, we’re very dynamic here. We certainly have property that we can build on, where Per Se’s size and footprint is defined. So what this allows us to do now is to redefine a Thomas Keller kitchen in 2014. Where this was built in 1995, Per Se was built in 2004, the new French Laundry is a 2014/2015 version. So with that said, it’ll be somewhat similar to Per Se in its sophistication, but it’ll still have the intimacy that the French Laundry has today. So the working relationships are not going to change. In fact they may become a little more compressed. What’ll expand more or less are the public areas. The circulation will be much more fluent, much bigger, so as opposed to having a thirty-inch aisleway, we’ll have a five foot aisleway for staff to walk through. But the working environment around the stoves will be as intimate as it is today.” When asked if there has been anyone who has awed him in the past twenty years, he had to think for a moment. “That’s an interesting question, but I don’t think so. I’ve been in the business for 45 years, so I’ve had a lot of different experiences with a lot of different guests. There’s nothing that we can’t accommodate for our guests. So we’ve never been thrown a curveball that we haven’t been able to handle. “We’re happy to have everyone here. I mean, we’re just blessed with a restaurant that, after twenty years, continues to be of interest and attraction to all of our guests, who continue to come back, and of course we always get the good guests. Everybody has their fair share of celebrities, but they’re just people who wanna eat.” After all was said, he finally admitted that Julia Child was one chef who took his breath away. Keller said when he was younger he would often go dine by himself because he wanted the best experience, but couldn’t afford to bring someone else. He wanted to create that experience himself and was encouraged by his mother. “I think my mother, Elizabeth, was my inspiration when I started out,” said Keller. “She was the one that really taught me so much about paying attention and being aware. She taught me the good quality of the experience, whatever it may be, is in the details. You know, whether it’s cleaning a salmon, setting a table, building a restaurant. It’s all so much embedded in details. And I think that, for me, was and is the foundation of what we do. We’re always trying 16 www. n A PAVA L L E Y L I F Emagaz ine .com to do a better job tomorrow than we did today, just in little ways. It’s always about continuing to drill down. Once you reach a certain level, you know that there’s a better way to do it, and you continue to drill down to that better way. You know, the work ethic, you set the example for the people around you by what you do and making sure that you continue to be a part of the process in any way that you can. You need to have an impact in any way that you can. Over time, those impacts, and the way that those impacts happen, or are expressed, are different. But nonetheless it’s still an impact.” The French Laundry’s most iconic dish, the Cornet, has been on the menu since day one. “It’s been on the menu here, it was on the menu at Checker Hotel; it was developed in New York in 1991. So that’s been on our menu here every day, where our famous beets and leeks comes and goes. Beets and leeks evolved. Cornet has primarily remained the same. It’s a cracker with sour cream and chopped salmon. We refine it, but from a visual view, I think if you look at the cornet twenty years ago and the cornet today, they will pretty much resemble each other.” Keller believes the success of the French Laundry has been more than just about the food. “I think it’s always based on... the experience is the complete package,” he said. “You can’t have a great experience without having great service, a great environment, a great wine list, great people, a great kitchen, I mean, you just can’t. Food, you understand, is maybe the fourth or fifth most important part of someone’s dining experience.” That complete package was evident just three months after opening in 1994, when San Francisco Chronicle writer Michael Bauer
NVLife_SeptOct_2014
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