The French Laundry  The French Laundry is a French restaurant located in Yountville, California, in the Napa Valley. The chef and owner of the French Laundry is Thomas Keller. The restaurant building dates from 1900 and is in the National Register of Historic Places. The building was built as a saloon in the 1900s by a Scottish stonesman for Pierre Guillaume. When a law was passed in 1906 prohibiting sale of alcohol within a mile (1600 m) of a veteran's home, Guillaume sold the building. In the 1920s, the building was owned by John Lande who used it as a French steam laundry, which is the origin of the restaurant's name. In 1978, Don Schmidt, the mayor of Yountville, renovated the building into a restaurant. He and his wife Sally Schmitt owned the French Laundry for much of the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1994, Keller bought the restaurant. In 2004, the restaurant installed a geothermal heating and air conditioning system. In July 2014, the Napa Valley restaurant celebrated its 20th anniversary with a "six-hour feast for friends, locals, and luminaries" and temporarily closed for renovations before the end of the year. In December 2014, while being temporarily closed for renovations, The French Laundry wine cellar was robbed of an estimated $500,000 of wine. Most of the wine was subsequently recovered. On April 7, 2015, the restaurant reopened following demolition of a number of buildings on the site. During the remainder of the renovation project, the staff worked out of a temporary kitchen. Every day, the French Laundry serves two different nine-course tasting menus, none of which uses the same ingredient more than once. During the holiday season, the restaurant may offer special dishes. As of October 26, 2015, the "prix fixe" menu was US$310 per person, including gratuity for the base meal, although not including additional supplements such as Russian caviar and truffles. The food is mainly French with contemporary American influences, giving rise to such unique specialties as "Cuisse de grenouilles sur un bâton" (frog legs on a stick). Notable alumni of the French Laundry's kitchen staff have included Grant Achatz of Alinea, Eric Ziebold of CityZen, Corey Lee of Benu, Jonathan Benno of Lincoln Ristorante, René Redzepi of Noma in Copenhagen, Clay Miller of Trummer's on Main, Ron Siegel of The Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton, and Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes.