Thomas Keller - The French Laundry, Per Se

TWO YEARS AGO, in what now seems like another lifetime, I began working on this book. My intent at the time was to celebrate two restaurantsThe French Laundry and per seby telling their stories within the broader context of the evolution of fine dining. Though I knew there would be wrinkles in the narrative (there always are), I could never have imagined how dramatically its arc was destined to change.

As I write today, the world is in the midst of a pandemic that has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands, sickened millions, and brought the global economy to its knees. While few sectors have been spared the devastation, fewer still have been hit harder than the profession I know best. The COVID-19 crisis has shuttered restaurants and their suppliers around the globe (many of them permanently) while upending countless lives and livelihoods. The depth of the damage is difficult to quantify yet impossible to ignore. One of the many truths the current crisis has revealed is the value of restaurants as a social force. Every single onefrom sandwich shops to pizza parlors to chains that employ millions of people to the hundreds of thousands of independent restaurantsis more important than any of us realized. At some level, many of us recognized this all along, but we see it now more clearly than ever before.

Since July 1994, when we opened The French Laundry, Ive spent the majority of my time there. Often, Ive asked our guests, What brings you here? Are you celebrating anything? A common reply I hear is: Were just celebrating being together. To me this is the most gratifying answer of all. It underscores what these places are all about: making memories.

That starts, of course, with friends and family gathered at a table for a meal. But it is more than that. It extends outward in a web of community and connectivity. Just as we feed our guests, they, in turn, feed us. We are joined in a symbiotic relationship that also helps sustain the farmers who grow our food, the fishermen who catch our lobsters and harvest our oysters, the foragers who gather wild mushrooms and mulberries, the wineries who supply our cellars. And on and on. Those who choose to have a meal at our restaurants support the cleaners who wash our linens and the artisans who make our porcelain, the florists who fill our rooms with beauty, the truckers who deliver our food, the manufacturers of our culinary tools, the companies that recycle our boxes and cans. The nourishment provided by a meal does not begin or end with the food served on a plate.

We are all in this together. That we hear this phrase so frequently does not make it any less true. Never has it resonated with me more profoundly. In the midst of this pandemic, our team would like to recognize the heroic work of healthcare professionals and first responders who put their lives on the line to tend to others. Wed also like to express our gratitude to essential employees everywherefrom the grocery store clerk and postal carrier to the pharmacist and delivery driver to the barista who makes your morning coffeewho ensure that we receive our daily necessities and sometimes small comforts.

In every disaster and national emergency, the restaurant community has stepped up. After 9/11, after Hurricanes Sandy and Maria, after wildfires and floodswe were there. We continue to do our part today, even as our own lives and businesses have been so critically affected. Now it is time for everyone who cherishes their time in a restaurant, whether at a French Laundry or that local pizzeria or taqueria or family-owned diner, to join us in supporting this community and do what they can to make sure that its workers stay safe, its businesses stay healthy, and its intricate network of farmers, artisans, suppliers, and more remains intact. When this pandemic recedes, we want to be ready to open the doors and say, Welcome.

Much has changed in the world over the past two years. What remains unaltered is our shared humanity, our need for community, and our capacity for generosity. This book, like the two restaurants at its center, is meant as a tribute to these traits.

April 2020

Also by Thomas Keller

Bouchon Bakery
with Sebastien Rouxel, along with Susie Heller,
Matthew McDonald, Michael Ruhlman, and Amy Vogler

Ad Hoc at Home
with Dave Cruz, along with Susie Heller,
Michael Ruhlman, and Amy Vogler

Under Pressure
with Jonathan Benno, Corey Lee, and Sebastien Rouxel,
along with Susie Heller, Michael Ruhlman, and Amy Vogler

Bouchon
with Jeffrey Cerciello, along
with Susie Heller and Michael Ruhlman

The French Laundry Cookbook
with Susie Heller and Michael Ruhlman

THOMAS KELLER

David Breeden, Corey Chow,
and Elwyn Boyles

with Susie Heller and Michael Ruhlman
Photography by Deborah Jones

Copyright 2020 by Thomas Keller
All photographs copyright 2020 by Deborah Jones,
except for (photograph by Andrew Southam)

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproducedmechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopyingwithout written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data.

Names: Keller, Thomas, 1955- author.

Title: The French laundry, Per Se / Thomas Keller.

Description: New York : Artisan, a division of Workman Publishing Co., Inc., 2020. | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020019707

Subjects: LCSH: Cooking, French. | French Laundry (Restaurant) | LCGFT: Cookbooks.