I know people have been talking down TFL for years and I’ll admit I wasn’t wowed by my last visit 10 years ago, but last night was splendid. All the dishes were spot on, executed to perfection, great balance and very interesting as well. I daresay they are back in terms of the best dining experiences available.
As far as wine service, I shipped a couple of bottles last month. I presumed they open world class bottles every day so whatever I sent wouldn’t mean anything, so I was surprised when the somm was truly excited to see and open the wines, mentioned multiple times the wonderful lineup and was more than willing to accept a taste.
So in terms of the stories we hear around here about collectors being disappointed when the somm doesn’t know their wine or have any interest in a taste, perhaps the factor is more the wines themselves rather than a naturally jaded disposition of somms.
2017 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru (5/20/2025)
Decanted 4 hours early. Floral bouquet with lemon and white flowers. Palate has effortless power with a finish that drives on. One of the best showings of the '17 recently.
2006 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Tâche Grand Cru (5/20/2025)
Decanted 5 hours early. Lighter frame with classic DRC stem influence on the nose. Ethereal, weightless palate with a finish that lingers. Drinking in a beautiful place right now.
Funny, former food critic here, and I thought that was a terribly written hit piece, showing a severe lack of self awareness and honesty on the part of the writer. Way too click-bait.
I’ve been recently and thought it was great. I think both reviews in sf chronicle and NYT weren’t very good. Many more clicks in taking down institutions.
Yeah IDK if I had been treated that way I would have asked my editor if we could publish a two paragraph summary of what happened on the front page of the relevant section of the paper and left it at that. It was absolutely appalling behavior on Keller’s part and the long narrative to tell the story was superfluous. And Keller absolutely deserved to get hit over it. What an absolute jackass.
I don’t have a problem with how Keller handled the situation. The chronicle and NYT both have new, mediocre restaurant critics that are somehow even worse than the mediocre critics they replaced. The only way they can generate headlines is by writing poorly written click bait hit pieces. I wouldn’t want to serve them either, and it seems like the critic knew that by giving a fake name.
I’ve been going back and forth with a friend over this…I really don’t know what to say about the whole thing other than it’s an incredibly bizarre interaction on both their parts. Keller could have been more gracious. That said, I don’t feel bad for her in the least bit. She was disingenous at best and a liar at worst and Keller called her out on it and she didn’t like it any more than Keller likes being criticized. This is displayed first when she cried when confronted and second when she chose to write about the experience despite saying she wasn’t there (under an assumed name) to write a review.
As to the idea that she would get in trouble for the comped meal…that’s entirely her problem. The fact that the dinner went late which affected her companions is also her problem when she enlisted them to dine with her under her false name.
Not taking sides, but as with everything, there is one side, the other side, and what really happened. I have no reason to doubt her reporting of the night, and assuming that is pretty much what went down, it seems that Keller came to the conclusion that he handled it poorly and tried to make up for that behavior. Everyone can have a bad day, but maybe people expect experiences at TFL to be perfect for the price of admission.
Idk, he could have just accepted that she might not be who she says she was and served her like Joe Shmoe. His interrogation tactics would have blown up in his face if she was there to review or not.
Would have been funny if he carded her instead of the espionage by his staff.
I hear you and I don’t disagree. That said, if the reporter wanted to enjoy her meal uninterrupted, don’t lie about your identity and give the chef/owner reason to question your intentions.
My friend who I’ve been discussing this with wondered if TK might have been better off by just asking her and her party to leave and dealing with the fallout rather than having a chat in the garden, disrupting the meal, then cooking for them and comping them which felt like an odd emotional rollercoaster for both parties.
He would have been better off doing his best job, maybe being a little more gracious without being over the top, and discussing his feelings after the meal.
