Charles V. Pollack, MD - The French Laundry in Yountville, CA

An established Pennsylvania physician, Charles V. Pollack, MD, is board-certified in emergency medicine and has decades of experience, including hundreds of publications in peer-reviewed medical journals. In his free time, Charles V. Pollack, MD, enjoys travel adventures, food, and wine.

One iconic region that combines noteworthy wineries with celebrated restaurants is California’s Napa Valley. At the top of the list for many visitors is The French Laundry (TFL) the triple-Michelin-starred local institution created by Thomas Keller. With his restaurant regarded by many critics as America’s finest, Chef Keller is also the driving force behind New York’s Per Se.

Set in an historic building with a garden in downtown Yountville, The French Laundry has a rustic ambience. Its roots date back to the early 1990s, when Keller was in search of a toehold for French cuisine in the Napa Valley. He found the perfect venue in a 1,600-square-foot, two-story river rock and timber cottage built in 1900 by a Scottish stonemason as a saloon. The building was later a residence, and in the 1920s, became home to a French steam laundry, from which the current restaurant takes its name. In 1978, then-Yountville Mayor Don Schmitt and his wife Sally renovated the building, turning it into a restaurant. The couple offered a single daily four-course prix fixe (fixed price) menu that featured seasonal ingredients from Napa Valley.

At this time, Keller was an up-and-coming culinary presence. He’d grown up in Oceanside, California, as part of a family that included a Marine Corps drill sergeant father. When his parents divorced, Keller moved to Florida and started washing dishes at age 15 in his older brothers’ restaurant. There, he learned the fundamentals of a successful hospitality operation: repetition, rituals, teamwork, efficiency, feedback, and organization.

In the early 1980s, having cut his teeth as chef de cuisine in New York City and Florida, Keller moved to Paris and immersed himself in the traditional eight stages of unpaid kitchen apprentice training. He opened his own restaurant, Rakel, in New York and launched an imported olive oil brand. This enabled Keller to purchase the Yountville eatery and open The French Laundry alongside general manager and life partner Laura Cunningham.

Keller and Cunningham have maintained the same connection with the land as the Schmitts. Much of the fresh produce is sourced from The French Laundry’s three-acre culinary garden, which is located across Washington Street. An underground geothermal loop enables consistent temperatures across refrigeration, heating, and water systems, while the kitchen runs on solar panels and batteries, which limit exposure to the municipal power grid.

As for the menu at the reservation-only establishment, it alternates between a pair of seasonal tasting menus, which include a vegetarian option. These require around three hours for diners to work through and are paired with wines. Diners are given the option of ordering wine by the glass or bottle.

Signature dishes include the menu constant “oysters and pearls,” which consists of oysters and caviar atop pearl tapioca. The Salade Lyonnaise combines compressed garden escarole, wild mustard blossoms, deviled quail egg, and Hobbs' bacon. Main dishes range from Wagyu beef to lamb prime rib, accompanied by braised collard greens, sweet potato puree, preserved black walnut jus, and cornbread custard. This attention to quality, detail, and traditional French techniques elevates the restaurant way beyond the ordinary and makes The French Laundry a “must visit.”