The Road to the French Laundry

In the spring of of 1992, I came to Yountville in the Napa Valley on the advice of a friend to look at the French Laundry. The grounds were enclosed by honeysuckle, and climbing roses covered an arched trellis leading into the courtyard. It seemed as if I’d been heading there my whole working life.

The French Laundry is a sixteen-hundred-square-foot structure, built in 1900 with the valley’s river rock and timber. It’s been many things to many people throughout its history—a residence, a French steam laundry, a saloon and brothel, and then a residence again before it became a restaurant: its best self, I think. The natural stone modesty comforts people who come here and helps us to focus on our work.