Got a reservation this morning for Nov 27th noon… Was thinking of going down during Thanksgiving.
Anyhow I had a few questions, and hope people who’ve gone can help me understand.
Any tips on special request for seat locations? Outside/inside, up/downstairs, etc? I didn’t have any now but i can always call to add it
We reserved for 4, and the reservationist says they won’t downgrade it to 2 (i asked for 2 originally). if we showed up with 2 people are we just out of luck?
How flexible is the menu? i.e. we don’t want terraine of foie, but seared foie, don’t eat celery, etc…
I wouldn’t have a seating preference - been upstairs and down - food tastes the same!
Not sure how they’d handle that, other than to charge you for 4 heads - which is how I would imagine they would do it. Some friends recently went for lunch and said 4 or 5 people, TFL said “Table is for 5, if you are 4 no lunch for you.”
My experience, again, has been that they are very flexible, but this isn’t uniform, and I have some friends that will never return because their requests for no oysters was ignored and they were served Oysters and Pearls, in the hopes that they’d like these oysters. I don’t think you can realistically demand seared foie, however, as they have a foie option and a nonfoie option at that course, and it would be difficult for the kitchen to accomidate you. That written, their cold foie preparations are INCREDIBLE, both for the eyes (totally uniform appearance) and taste buds, and I’d prefer torchon/terrine to seared foie there any day of the week.
Find a special bottle of wine that’s not on their list and bring it with you and suck up the corkage - their list is very very very expensive.
Yah, it’s a destination to check out. and you know what… $250 or $25, you’re always gonna find people who love it, and people who have had a bad experience. .
Thanks for the responses so far. I guess I’ll have to find 2 more go then.
Oh re: the wine comment - what’s ‘not on their list’ in terms of wine+vintage or wine only?
i.e. if they have a 2002 and i have a 1997, can i bring it, though it’s the same wine?
what’s their rule?
I don’t know, but give them a buzz. I am willing to bet they realize that '02 is not the same as '97 in anything except Diet Coke though.
Krug MV is a relative buy at $50 a glass.
BP or Rare Wine Co can probably have something sweet sent there for you ahead of time.
Shouldn’t be hard to find another 2! Are you staying at one of the hotels/resorts up there? If you need to, just let the concierge know you have room for 2 more.
I will say that if you look over the menu and go “ew, we don’t like X and Y and Z” just cancel. It’s the kind of place where you really want to be able to put yourself in the chef’s hands and just let them take you on a trip. It’s not the kind of place to ask for a bunch of substitutions. It DOES have a dress code - you need to wear a jacket if you’re male. If you don’t like that and want to be able to show up in jeans and a T-shirt, again, go elsewhere.
F–k that s–t. I would have, in clear voice, said, “I am the paying customer, if you are requiring a jacket, it is your responsibility to make certain that I am comfortable.”
And then, if they required me to put the jacket on, I would have sat there. Are they going to call the police? Are they going to stop serving me? Are they going to spit in my food? If they do, any way, Amex would hear from me very quickly.
I would think that Mr. Keller, if on premise and presented with this situation, would lean toward “happy customer”.
It drives me crazy that some folks will go to experience the epitome of culinary arts and start asking for substitutions but whatever…
FL is a small place. Showing up with only half our party would be a no no
You can bring that wine NP since it’s from an older vintage
I have not eaten there in a few years because like someone said I’d rather go to manesa, buchon or because of the price and FL was “cheap” last time at only $450/person. Id love to eat there once a season to really experience FL but i dont want to spend that kind of cash. Don’t know anything about FL jumping the shark.
I’m definitely not asking for substitutions… more like if someone really disliked one ingredient etc… (i.e. some people just don’t eat oyster?)
but otherwise yah i won’t go asking for dishes. that’d be pointless
I think if someone really really hates an ingredient it’s an issue if they don’t want to switch menus (there’s a vegetarian menu too). However, I’d really recommend people try things. For example, I don’t really like fatty meat and was very unsure about the braised pork belly in one course (this was several years ago). However it was exquisite. Just amazing. I’d encourage people to stretch themselves and, if they dislike a course it’s not like there aren’t more coming.
I agree with this approach. When we were there some years ago, there was something my wife tried but didn’t finish (I don’t recall exactly what it was). Our server noticed immediately, asked her for her thoughts on it, and when she explained that it wasn’t one of her favorites but she wanted to try the FL presentation an alternative/replacement was brought for her.
FL is easily defended. At their prices, disappointments are strongly felt. But the formula there is too strong, too well thought out.
If you really don’t like something, and you tell them ahead of time, I’d be amazed if FL declined your request.
But you can’t ask for sauteed foie gras. I mean, you can try, but I wouldn’t. The terrine is an option to begin with.
And a dress code is for us at the next table. I want to sit in a civilized room at these prices. I don’t want to see your elbows.
(not you guys, your elbows are lovely… I mean OTHER peoples elbows.)
So, if it was really warmer in there than it ought to be, I sympathize and agree completely that you should’ve walked out. But I suspect, really humbly, that it was the same temp it always is if some individual there erred and took a hard line.
And yeah, Manresa is easily my favorite restaurant around here too, maybe anywhere. But it’s function of price. I’d rather be at FL.
haha saw a lot of comment on this.
That was purely an example i pulled from looking at the menu. I would not ask for this substitution… but wanted to give a (bad) example
In my opinion a rigid dress code is generally silly and quite old fashioned in a stuffy irrational way…particular in the countryside, far outside a big city, let alone in CA. So a very elegantly dressed man in a beautiful dress shirt and slacks, the height of fashion, but without a jacket is a worse sight then some guy wearing a ratty old sport coat, crummy pants and shoes with a Hawaiian shirt? So, men need to wear a jacket, but a woman can pretty much wear whatever they want regardless of how well it fits or becomes them? If it isn’t a business restaurant, where most people are dressed in suits regardless of coming to the restaurant, really doesn’t make sense in my opinion. That said, sure request/recommend at least business casual, but be flexible if the customer isn’t comfortable…works for *** in France in the countryside, not sure why it can’t for FL in Yountville, CA. Sure, they also want to keep appearances up overall and maybe they are afraid of what people would wear if they didn’t have the jacket requirement but I really do wonder if they would have a problem just based on the customer base anyway…
While I would wear a sportcoat to the FL regardless of the dress code, I would feel no hesitation whatsoever to remove it, if I were warm - was at Lemeloise a couple months ago, it was too warm for us so we all removed our jackets, most of the other men weren’t wearing jackets but were generally dressed well - didn’t bother me in the least and hopefully my lack of a coat didn’t bother them - would have made the meal intorerable to have kept my coat on. When eating/drinking at a long big dinner, even regular room temp starts to feel warm (when we do major wine dinners and have a private room, my group asks the restaurant to cool the room to nicely under 70, if not 65). No question they should permit coats to be removed.
On a different note, I would also recommend bringing wine and paying the corkage…as for food, I always like to put myself in the hands of the chef, particularly as expert as Keller is.
6 of us visited FL for dinner about 3 years ago, women in dresses, men in jackets and ties. Sat upstairs and it was very hot/stuffy. Started to remove my jacket and was told “they would prefer that I keep it on”.
One member of our party who refuses to eat oysters had to go through a pretty serious negotiation to get a substitution made.
As the evening progressed, a very nattily dressed older French gentleman who was also dining in the upstairs room began visiting tables and introducing himself as Thomas Keller. Somehow this broke the ice and in short order most of the room had removed jackets, and the entire atmosphere became much more relaxed and jovial.
All that said…glad we did it, but don’t plan to return unless it’s on someone elses credit card.
I would guess/hope downstairs was cooler, but can’t attest to that.
Almost forgot, while we were there someone downstairs had an allergic reaction to something (perhaps the oyster they were reluctant to substitute? ). So suddenly the upstairs room began blinking red every 3 seconds. The ambulance had, very thoughtfully, arrived without sirens. However it was parked directly below the upstairs window with its flashing lights on the entire time it was there. I’m not complaining, as the person’s saftey was, of course, top priority. But it seemed evident the staff was squirming when everyone upstairs couldn’t help but be vividly aware of the event.