A Visit to the Coolest Culinary Garden Around
Yahoo Food is proud to present a new weeklong series called “Master Class.” Throughout the year, we’ll visit with some of America’s top culinary talents and share a behind-the-scenes look at the worlds they’ve created. First up, the country’s most revered chef, Thomas Keller. Below, Yahoo Food visits the chef’s amazing culinary gardens in Yountville, Calif., and talks with manager Aaron Keefer about what makes this place so special.
The gardens of The French Laundry. (Photo: Drew Altizer)
When is a tomato more than just a tomato? When it’s grown in The French Laundry Culinary Garden in Yountville, Calif. This summer, more than 50 varieties of tomatoes planted in the garden will be transformed by The French Laundry kitchen team in ways that will make you question the very nature of the fruit. The chefs will dry them into sheets, press them into tomato water to use as a stock, make them into jam, and can them whole. Don’t forget the tomato vine, which will be simmered into a braising liquid for clams. Taking something ordinary and making it extraordinary is what the world-class restaurant is known for, and it all starts in the garden.
The three-acre space, arranged in neat, picturesque rows across the street from The French Laundry, is a chef’s playground and a site to behold. “People forget this, just the natural beauty of food growing,” said Chef Thomas Keller, while touring the grounds one afternoon.
Everything on the small farm is planned, planted, and cultivated according to the season and the kitchen’s needs. Nothing exists randomly — not even a weed. What started as four garden beds when Chef Keller first opened his restaurant in 1994 has now almost doubled in size. (The garden even has its own Instagram account.) Aaron Keefer, manager of culinary gardens and landscaping for Keller’s restaurant group, joined The French Laundry team in 2010 and oversees every square inch. Beds of vegetables and herbs, fruit trees, four beehives, a hoop house, and a chicken coop provide a continuous supply of ingredients to Keller’s Yountville restaurants, which also include Bouchon Bistro, Ad Hoc, Ad Lib, and Addendum.
Bright carrots from the garden. (Photo: TFL_culinarygarden/Instagram)
Visitors are welcome to stroll along the grassy footpaths that run between the rows, but if you stop by, stick to those paths. Keefer was quick to point out a large footprint among the carrot tops — the quickest way to put a farmer in a bad mood is to stomp on his vegetables. Mercifully, it doesn’t happen often as the garden has become a Yountville tourist attraction. “People walk through all the time,” said Chef Keller. “They sit here, have lunch, paint, bring their kids. They love the chickens. And when the goats were here, it was like Disneyland.”
Ah, the goats. Last year, some baby goats were introduced to the property for weed abatement and were an instant hit — not to mention wildly effective at removing the poison oak. But spoiler alert, the goats are no more. They were eventually butchered and eaten, proving that nothing on the farm ever goes to waste.
Baby goats were brought into the garden to help manage weed growth. (Photo: TFL_culinarygarden/Instagram)
Keefer uses succession planting at the organic garden to ensure a constant supply of staple French Laundry vegetables, such as turnips and radishes. Beyond that, you’ll find a staggering variety of produce, from the more familiar (tarragon, kale, strawberries, and leeks) to the more obscure (green garlic, kohlrabi, cardoons, and purple asparagus); brightly colored lavender bushes and vibrant patches of nasturtiums provide a natural border.
The philosophy behind the garden is what sets it apart from other farm-to-table experiences: Chef Keller is committed to using every stage of the plant, from seed to flower, and values every plant in the same way.
“The stalk, the flower, the seed — they are all equal,” said French Laundry Chef de Cuisine David Breeden. He views the farm as an extension of the kitchen and appreciates all the work that goes into bringing the fresh produce to his kitchen. “I’m the last guy in the line,” Breeden said. “If I squander this carrot I’m wasting all this energy.”
A young visitor admires the chickens that live in the culinary garden. (Photo: TFL_culinarygarden/Instagram)
Keefer brings a unique perspective to his role as farmer; he was a chef for 20 years before gardening full time. “I can speak their language,” he said of the kitchen teams. “There are not many farmers who know what goes on behind the door where they drop the food.”
Farming is in Keefer’s blood; both his grandfathers were farmers and his first job was picking Japanese beetles off raspberry bushes for a penny each. Wearing a blue French Laundry baseball cap and a constant smile, Keefer oversees the entire operation, from seed to harvest. Keefer’s crew includes three team members who help maintain the garden year round, with a few more helping in the summer.
Aaron Keefer, manager of Culinary Gardens and Landscaping, with two members of his team, Kate Olen, right, and Marlon Cruz. (Photo: Meg Smith)
Collaboration is at the core of the garden. Keefer’s team and the kitchen staff work in tandem to plan and edit as needed. This isn’t just one person planting, harvesting, and handing a crate of vegetables to a chef in the kitchen. It’s a complete cycle that begins with Keefer joining the chefs at their weekly menu meeting. Keefer tells the cooks what he has available for harvest, which might be 200 to 300 items on a summer day. The chefs pick out what they’d like for their stations, and the ingredients are delivered the next day. Keefer tours the farm with Breeden every week, letting the chef know which ingredients are at their peak. “Walking with Chef Breeden through the garden, he’ll say, ‘Wait two weeks’ or ‘Pick it all now; I don’t want to squander it,’” Keefer said.
Details matter to maintain the yield and the quality, and even the harvest is timed down to the hour: “A sun-warmed fig in the afternoon is perfect, but lettuce picked at that time is more bitter,” Keefer said. “Most everything is better if you pick it in the early morning before the sun starts doing its work.”
A bright bunch of radishes, just picked from the garden. (Photo: TFL_culinarygarden/Instagram)
Ad Hoc Chef Katie Hagan-Welchel’s favorite thing about the garden? Its proximity it’s rare for a chef to be literally steps away from some of their ingredients. “A cook will say to me, ‘Chef, I’m out of tomatoes’ and I can say, ‘Let me run outside and pick some more,’” Hagan-Welchel said.
The sense of order that Keller’s restaurants are famous for extends to the far-reaching corners of the garden. The toolshed is spotless, the metal tools and gardening equipment are lined up just so. A pitchfork leans on the wooden fence, next to the clock with a blue plaque underneath it; an identical one hangs in all Keller kitchens. It reads: “Sense of Urgency.” This is gardening, French Laundry-style.
More stories from the Keller universe:
Why Thomas Keller is America’s real top chef
How a 32-year-old came to run one of the most famous bakeries in America
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