Hello Forumners
By coincidence I came across a highly enthusiastic review of a restaurant called The French Laundry in Yountville, California. The author describes the "tasting menu" they ordered which consisted of the following courses (simplified description):
crepes with onion and salmon tartare
celery soup with crab salad
roasted shallot soup with crab
fennel sorbet with olive tapenade
red pepper sorbet with olive tapenade
blinis with cod roe
oyster and caviar in tapioca sabayon
cauliflower panna cotta with caviar
salmon with gnocchi on truffel butter
bass cheeks with artichoke salad
cod cheeks with New England clam chowder
bone marrow custard
white truffel oil custard with black truffel sauce
risotto with fresh white truffel
agnolotti with fresh white truffel
striped bass with mint sauce and carrots
turbot with spinach and mushrooms
Maine lobster in honey sauce with onions
Maine lobster with bordelaise sauce
Maine lobster with Parmesan cheese
wing of skate with caramelized parsnips
roasted capon with mushrooms
duck leg confit and lentils
pork shoulder with wild rice
two kinds of cheese with pear relish, prunes and walnuts
white truffel ice cream
pomegranate sorbet
small donuts with coffee
chocolate fondant with coffee cream sauce
Obviously each dish was served in small portions but still I find this a bit overdoing it. It goes from fish to pasta back to fish to meat and some of main the "flavor-givers" are repeated several times (truffels, marrow, onions). I also think a dish can't really be appreciated if one only can try a forkful.
I wonder if anybody has visited the place and can comment on their experience.
The entire review can be read
here
Regards
Hans