The dinner of a lifetime

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July 7, 2009

Robert St. John The Meridian Star Tue Jul 07, 2009, 11:21 PM CDT

In 2006, I invited three friends to join me at The French Laundry, in Yountville, CA, for what would turn out to be the dinner of a lifetime.

The French Laundry is widely considered the nation’s finest restaurant, a reputation it has earned over the course of the last 15 years. I wrote about the meal and the subsequent column turned out to be a piece that I am still asked about, today. Looking back through my notes from the meal, I wrote, “I have just eaten the best meal of my life. Hands down. Period”

In the column I stated, “At The French Laundry, excellence seeps from of every nook and cranny and percolates from every personality. It exists— actually thrives— several strata above even the finest restaurants in New York. Nothing compares.”

The meal was served in 32 courses, actually 16 rounds of 32 dishes.

Following the dinner I wrote, “After eating a meal such as this, a food writer runs the risk of using overly flowery verbiage and exaggerated adjectives to describe the experience. The problem with this restaurant is that any description I would commit to paper couldn’t do justice to actually sitting in the dining room and experiencing the actual meal. From the maitre d’ to the servers, to the kitchen staff with whom we visited after the meal, everyone was at the top of their game. I couldn’t find one single negative in the entire experience, a rare treat, indeed.”

I didn’t plan for 32 courses, Chef Thomas Keller— the nation’s most talented chef— just kept sending out food, course after course, of the most amazing dishes I had ever eaten. The meal lasted five hours and fifteen minutes, and stands, to this day, as the most amazing culinary experience I have ever been associated with, in a long, food-filled, 47-year dining career. It’s also the only meal I’ve ever eaten that needed a halftime break.

I would print the 32-course menu here, but it comes in a 468 words, which is close to my weekly allotment for the entire column. The menu can be found on Facebook, my blog www.nobodyspoet.blogspot.com, and on the newspaper’s website.

On July 15th I will return to The French Laundry with the same three friends for a meal I have been looking forward to for two years. I don’t know how many courses the kitchen will send out this time, but I know that when left in the hands of Thomas Keller and his staff, culinary magic happens.

I will be blogging live from The French Laundry, uploading a photo of each course as it is served. Those who follow me on Facebook will be able to follow the meal, in real time, course-by-course. If you don’t yet follow me on Facebook, look me up, and sign in. The meal will start at 7 p.m. Pacific Time on July 15th and will hopefully last long enough to need another halftime break.

Robert St.John is an author, chef, restaurateur, and world-class eater. He is the author of seven books including the newly released New South Grilling. He can be reached at www.robertstjohn.com

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