Thomas
Keller: What's Next for the French Laundry
By FBWorld Team
It
would seem Chef Thomas Keller would have reason to be
satisfied.
His flagship restaurant, The
French Laundry, has been called the best
in the world (twice), he's created an
empire but maintained his impermeable brand
and he's the only American chef to have been simultaneously
awarded three Michelin Stars at two different restaurants.
But
even the mighty are not without their critics, however
unwarranted. Anybody who has ever worked side by side
with Keller, knows the depth of his dedication to his
craft.
In
a
recent feature in Vanity Fair, famed food journalist
Corby Kummer assaulted Keller and chefs like him, calling
his lengthy tasting menu and its required time commitment
"tyrannical." The illustration featured Keller
as a dictator, menacingly holding a whisk and wooden spoon.
But
still, Keller marches on, dazzling diners from New York
to Napa and recently launching a gluten-free flour, Cup
4 Cup, with Lena Kwak, the French Laundry's
Research and Development Chef. (Yes, The French Laundry
has an R&D Chef.)
Keller
sat down with HuffPost SF on a recent afternoon to talk
about the Vanity Fair critique, his endless pursuit of
perfection and what's next for America's most famous restaurant.
Chef,
you bought the French Laundry in 1994 when Yountville
was a ghost town. How has it been to watch the area change
over the years? I think that's pretty much common knowledge;
you can find that on the website. Did you do any research
on me whatsoever? I'd rather just talk about what you
really want to know.
Alright,
alright. In a recent
Vanity Fair piece, Corby Kummer condemned the
several-hour tasting menu experience at French Laundry,
calling it "a form of torture." How do you respond
to this critique? It's fine. I can't control what people
write and Corby has to make a living. I'm not sure what
the point of the article was.
Corby
sent me two emails before that piece came out and when
was he here last? 1997? His argument was that diners don't
have a choice when they come to French Laundry, but as
[San Francisco Chronicle Executive Food and Wine Editor]
Michael
Bauer pointed out, you make the choice when
you make the reservation.
The
tasting menu exists to make things easier for the guest.
Coming to a restaurant like the French Laundry and having
too many choices truly creates anxiety. Here you are coming
into a famous restaurant and the last thing you want to
do is make a mistake.
At
the end of the day, I disagree with Corby's critique.
From my point of view, if you come into my restaurant
and you want a bowl of Corn Flakes, my job is to give
you a bowl of Corn Flakes. I have no ego attached to what
we do.
Does
criticism like this make you rethink what you're doing?
As chefs, we are our own worst critics, and we criticize
ourselves to death. We don't often champion our successes
so sometimes we have to take a step back, have a glass
of champagne and say, "look at what we've done."
For
the Rest of the Story, click here.
Reprinted
first in the Huffington Post
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