The French Laundry is an upscale French-American restaurant owned by award-winning Chef Thomas Keller. The restaurant, located in Yountville, California, in Napa Valley, features two nine-course tasting menus daily.
Before the Restaurant
The building, which is now The French Laundry restaurant, was a saloon in the late 1880s, according to the French Laundry website. The building was converted to a brothel when alcohol was banned within a two-mile radius of Yountville and became a French-style steam laundry facility in the 1920s.
Restaurant Beginnings
The French Laundry became a restaurant in 1974 when Yountville Mayor Don Schmitt and his wife, Sally, purchased the building, according to the French Laundry website.
Thomas Keller
The man who made The French Laundry famous, Thomas Keller, purchased the restaurant in 1994. The restaurant earned a five-star rating by the end of the year, according to the French Laundry website. As of 2010, Keller still owns and operates The French Laundry, as well as several other fine-dining establishments.
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