French Laundry
Two months ago I was fooling around on OpenTable. It was about 11:30 at night, and I remembered that French Laundry's tables are open for reservation two months ahead at the stroke of midnight. So I thought what the hell I might as well try it. Not thinking I would get a table because I had tried unsuccessfully a few months before, I wasn't expecting much. But I got a table for 2!
Later I realized that because the reservation was for the day after Thanksgiving, probably not too many other people were waiting on OpenTable vying for the coveted tables.
Too bad my restaurant buddy, the only person who could afford the $200+/person (without wine) tab because he used to work for The Man, is heading home for Thanksgiving. So I cancelled the reservation a couple of days ago lest I get charged $100/person for a no-show. (On a side note, now that he's not working there anymore, Mike has been working on making some movies. Check out his blog).
For those of you who don't know, French Laundry is considered one of the best, if not the best restaurant in the U.S. While no doubt the food is probably really good, it is probably the whole experience that makes it so highly rated. But given that it is easy to spend more than $400/person including wine, people probably deceive themselves into thinking they're having a good time. How idiotic would people think you were if you told them you spent that kind of cash on dinner and didn't enjoy it? It's probably for the best I'm not going there next week. Maybe I'll wait till when I make some money and can actually afford it.
Restaurants I've liked in the Bay Area
MICHAEL MINA
Jardinière
China Village (Sichuan food in Albany)
Disappointing ones
Slanted Door
Gary Danko
Later I realized that because the reservation was for the day after Thanksgiving, probably not too many other people were waiting on OpenTable vying for the coveted tables.
Too bad my restaurant buddy, the only person who could afford the $200+/person (without wine) tab because he used to work for The Man, is heading home for Thanksgiving. So I cancelled the reservation a couple of days ago lest I get charged $100/person for a no-show. (On a side note, now that he's not working there anymore, Mike has been working on making some movies. Check out his blog).
For those of you who don't know, French Laundry is considered one of the best, if not the best restaurant in the U.S. While no doubt the food is probably really good, it is probably the whole experience that makes it so highly rated. But given that it is easy to spend more than $400/person including wine, people probably deceive themselves into thinking they're having a good time. How idiotic would people think you were if you told them you spent that kind of cash on dinner and didn't enjoy it? It's probably for the best I'm not going there next week. Maybe I'll wait till when I make some money and can actually afford it.
Restaurants I've liked in the Bay Area
MICHAEL MINA
Jardinière
China Village (Sichuan food in Albany)
Disappointing ones
Slanted Door
Gary Danko
posted by Tran at 2:00 PM
1 Comments:
restaurant buddy here although I went to only 2 of those places that Bob mentioned. Sadly, both were on his disappointments list. Perhaps I'm not such a great buddy.
Anyway, my rationale on The French Laundry is this: 3 great meals in SF (which is closer to both of us) vs. 1 meal in Yountville? Then again, those actually going to TFL probably wouldn't give a damn about bang for your buck anyway
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