For the first time in its 20 year history, the French Laundry, Thomas Keller's revolutionary restaurant of note, will undergo a redesign. The Yountville institution's kitchen will get a makeover care of international design firm, Snøhetta. The renderings show a sleek and airy new space, one that brings to mind a freshly-erected SoMa loft. The restaurant itself will remain untouched, but the kitchen and other spots on the grounds will get an overhaul.
"The French Laundry is being redesigned to be a backdrop worthy of the restaurant's history," Thomas Keller tells Fast Company. "With the Louvre Pyramid as my inspiration, we wanted to find a way to juxtapose the historic and the modern while maintaining the high quality cuisine and service our guests have come to expect from The French Laundry. The new design will be an innovative and functioning space that will allow us to continue to evolve as a restaurant and develop new standards."
Most notably, the kitchen's breathtaking new ceiling will signify a tablecloth being "gently unfurled across a table, while also hiding the ceiling’s functional elements." The three-Michelin starred restaurant will also get a new entry courtyard and an auxiliary building to house offices and a 14,000-bottle wine cellar.
While the new kitchen and yard will open by year's end, the crew at the French Laundry will now operate out of old shipping containers—i.e., the Mason jars of live/work spaces—fine dining at its most modern.
