Category Archives: Thomas Keller/French Laundry/Et Al

Gourmet Getaway to the Mendocino Region, Part IV: The Boonville Hotel and Offspring Restaurant

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Sun Gold tomato Margherita pizza at Offspring.
Sun Gold tomato Margherita pizza at Offspring.

Offspring is a fitting name for Chef Perry Hoffman’s second restaurant, an inviting pizza and pasta joint in teeny Boonville in the Anderson Valley.

After all, it was the success of the Boonville Hotel and Restaurant across the street, where he’s also chef, that gave birth to it.

Yet it’s also a name that applies profoundly to him, too, as this descendant of veritable culinary royalty knows a thing or two about the creating a lasting legacy.

Chef Perry Hoffman.
Chef Perry Hoffman.

His grandparents were famously, Don and Sally Schmitt, who bought an old stone building in sleepy Yountville in 1978, the French Laundry. They worked hard to turn it into a true destination, a process Hoffman witnessed from the time he was 5 years old when he’d roast peppers and cut baguettes to help out at the restaurant. It was the tender start to his own storied career that culminated in becoming the youngest chef in the United States to receive a Michelin star when he was 25 at the helm of Domaine Chandon’s Etoile restaurant in Yountville in 2009.

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A Visit to Thomas Keller’s Burgers & Half Bottles

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Lunch is served at Burgers & Half Bottles.
Lunch is served at Burgers & Half Bottles.

Two and a half weeks after opening, Thomas Keller’s Burgers & Half Bottles continues to draw lines of hungry and curious diners to his playful pop-up.

So much so that last Thursday, when my husband and I showed up at the opening time of noon to queue up behind about two dozen people, there were already plenty of diners eating burgers on the front patio. Turns out that the line that morning was already growing so rapidly, that the restaurant decided to open a little early, the manager told me.

Such is the allure when a legendary Michelin three-starred chef decides to build a concept around one of his favorite foods, the In-N-Out burger. When his Mexican restaurant Calenda closed in December 2024, it provided the perfect space for him to realize it, too.

Located in the building that was formerly home to Calenda.
Located in the building that was formerly home to Calenda.
The brew bus with beer taps.
The brew bus with beer taps.

On a torrid morning when it was already close to 90 degrees, a server passed out cups of ice water to those in line. This is a Keller restaurant, after all.

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The Napa Valley’s Newest Patisserie Is A Stunner

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The beautiful pastries at Under-study.
The beautiful pastries at Under-study.

As if the Napa Valley didn’t already boast an overabundance of fine eats, along comes the new Under-study patisserie and cafe, which opened with a splash in St. Helena at the end of May in the former Dean & DeLuca building.

It’s from the team behind Michelin-starred Press restaurant just a few yards away, which includes its Chef-Partner Philip Tessier, former executive sous chef at The French Laundry and the first American chef to ascend to the podium of the prestigious international Bocuse d’Or Competition; and acclaimed Executive Pastry Chef Frank Vollkommer, a former pastry instructor at the Culinary Institute of America. So, you know this isn’t your run-of-the-mill bakery, but one with some of the most exquisite pastries around.

Executive Chef-Partner Philip Tessier (left) and Executive Pastry Chef Frank Vollkommer (right).
Executive Chef-Partner Philip Tessier (left) and Executive Pastry Chef Frank Vollkommer (right).

I finally had an opportunity to visit a few weeks ago, when I was traveling through the valley. Under-study is right off St. Helena Highway, though, it’s not easily spotted from the road. When you see Press, you know you’ve landed in the right place. To the restaurant’s left is the new MAC, the Napa Valley Museum of Art & Culture, with its very thoughtful and creative Julia Child exhibit that shouldn’t be missed. Head around the left-hand side of the MAC, and you’ll find the entrance to Under-study.

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Michelin Three-Starred Benu Celebrates 15 Years

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The unforgettable mussel at Benu.
The unforgettable mussel at Benu.

Just before you’re escorted into the kitchen at Benu in San Francisco, you’ll spot a formidable column decorated with autographs from a who’s who in the culinary world: David Kinch, Michelin three-starred chef of now-shuttered Manresa in Los Gato; Chef Sang Yoon of Father’s Office and Helms Bakery, both in Los Angeles; Fuchsia Dunlop, James Beard Award-winning food writer and Chinese cuisine expert; the late-Charles Phan, founder of the Slanted Door restaurant in Napa and San Ramon; the late-Chuck Williams, founder of Williams Sonoma; and so many more.

Because since its opening in 2010, this fine-dining, tasting-menu restaurant has attracted everyone who’s anyone to its minimalist dining room for its elegant fare that blends East and West with incredible finesse.

It was the first San Francisco restaurant to receive three Michelin stars in 2014. It has maintained them ever since, too.

Opened by Chef Corey Lee, former chef de cuisine of Michelin three-starred The French Laundry in Yountville, Benu is also the first restaurant that Thomas Keller ever invested in that wasn’t his own.

The courtyard entrance.
The courtyard entrance.
A view into the kitchen.
A view into the kitchen.
Crocks of house-made soy sauce.
Crocks of house-made soy sauce.

While I’ve dined several times at Lee’s casual Korean restaurant, San Ho Won in San Francisco, which has a Michelin star, it’s been many years since I’d last been to Benu. And since my cousins, who are huge fans of San Ho Won, had never been to Benu, I figured it was high time we all went together.

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Fried Chicken Sandwich Bliss In A Napa Auto Lot

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The epic fried chicken sandwich at Joella's Deli.
The epic fried chicken sandwich at Joella’s Deli.

Chef Ian Rosenstrauch has a thing for fried chicken. And we should all be grateful for that.

A former line cook at New York City’s Rainbow Room, who then worked for three years as a butcher and gardener at The French Laundry in Yountville, he would go home at the end of his shift and crave fried chicken so much that he’d fry up a batch to eat. Even at 2 a.m. — when he had to be back at work at 7 a.m.

One day, he got the notion to come up with the ultimate fried chicken sandwich. And that was that. He jumped all in, quitting his job a month later, and buying a used food truck that he tricked out, himself, after watching YouTube videos.

He knew he was on to something when he was asked to cater the holiday party for the staff at Michelin-starred Press in St. Helena.

He served the fried chicken sandwich, of course. “They lost their minds!” over it, he recounted proudly. That was no easy feat when you consider that tough crowd included former colleagues of his from The French Laundry.

Chef Ian Rosenstrauch
Chef Ian Rosenstrauch

That’s how Joella’s Deli was born two years ago. He named it after his grandmother, whom he jokes, never cooked anything in her life, but nevertheless whose love had a profound impact on his life.

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