the laundry in france

On Thursday 10/6/2011 I got to check off the first item from my new 101in1001 list: #36 go to the French Laundry.   I think it was only a handful of years ago that I didn't even know what the French Laundry was, so here's an excerpt from the wikipedia entry:

The French Laundry is a perennial awardee in the annual Restaurant Magazine list of the Top 50 Restaurants of the World (having been named "Best Restaurant in the World" in 2003 and 2004), and since 2006, it has been awarded three stars in the Michelin Guide to San Francisco. It has also been favorably reviewed by The New York Times and called "the best restaurant in the world, period" by Anthony Bourdain.

Summary: Fantastic French Food.  We went with our fabulous friends Christina and Jack.  Here we are in front of the "signature" blue door:

someday I'll learn to stand in a flattering way...

 The next morning Rob and I had lunch at Bouchon, a related restaurant, then headed home.  We were tempted to go wine tasting since we were already in Napa, but we'd had enough wine the night before and were happy to come home.