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The French Laundry’s bong course is a brilliant act of artistry

1 comment

  1. cptcobalt
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    For those not in the know, The French Laundry is a restaurant in Napa Valley, CA, owned by chef Thomas Keller, and is rated with three Michelin stars—generally accepted as highest acclaim a...

    For those not in the know, The French Laundry is a restaurant in Napa Valley, CA, owned by chef Thomas Keller, and is rated with three Michelin stars—generally accepted as highest acclaim a restaurant can achieve. That's what makes this so interesting:

    “When Pete Wells reviewed Per Se, he compared the mushroom bouillon to dirty bong water,” the server said as he pulled the bowl and stem out of the instrument with the same flourish he’d surely use to uncork a bottle of wine. “So this is a play on that review.”

    He winked at us as he poured porcini mushroom broth — indeed, the color of rancid bong water — into my bowl. I marveled as it cascaded over the vegetarian “pot-au-feu” of carrots, oxheart cabbage and a layer of leeks wrapped around black winter truffle confit, made to look like a beef bone. It was a brilliantly executed in-joke.

    I couldn't imagine the spectacle of being served this, or watching this being served. It would just be so genuinely unexpected.

    TFL is on my list of must-visit restaurants sometime in my life, and at this point I'm pretty much just waiting for the right group of friends to be ready at the same time.

    1 vote