Before snow peas and young carrots make their way into classic French dishes at the three-Michelin-star French Laundry restaurant in Yountville, they are carefully cultivated at a 3.5-acre farm just across the street.
Starting this month, that farm is open to the public for 75-minute guided tours that offer an immersive look at the current harvest and how it inspires menus at renowned chef Thomas Keller’s local restaurants. Returning for its second annual season, the $100 culinary garden tour experience will be available through September.
The French Laundry Culinary Garden is home to more than 150 varieties of fruits and vegetables, microgreens, flowers, a chicken coop and European honeybee hives. During the small group tours, guests will walk through the farm and observe the garden beds where estate gardener James Costello and farm manager Teresa Kao’s team cultivate a diverse range of crops in small amounts. This gives the chefs a wide variety of ingredients to experiment with and integrate into the restaurant menu.
As part of the tour, guests will experience the spring abundance of sugar snap peas, turnips, Swiss chard and early spring brassicas. They will also be able to pick strawberries or oxalis and interact with the garden.
This year, the tour has been updated to include a look at the beverage programs at Keller’s Yountville restaurants that include Bouchon Bistro and Ad Hoc, among others. Guests will explore corridors of mint, lemon verbena and rosemary, and discover botanicals such as rue, which are grown to supply the cocktail program.
At the end of each tour, guests will walk through the woodland garden and sample a seasonal garden sorbet made by pastry chef Jamie Houghton to capture the flavors of the day’s harvest. Guests will also receive a small parting gift from the team, the company said in a news release.
Reservations for the Culinary Garden Tours can now be booked online through The French Laundry‘s official website.
Dining and Cooking