Chef/owner
The French Laundry, 6640 Washington St. (at Madison), Yountville, 707-944-2380, www.frenchlaundrycom

Bouchon, 6534 Washington St. (at Madison), Yountville, 707-944-8037

Ad Hoc, 6476 Washington St., (at Madison), Yountville, 707-944-2487

Per Se, 10 Columbus Circle (at 60th), New York, 212-823-9335

Upcoming projects: An inn across the street from The French Laundry; possibly turning his “temporary restaurant,” Ad Hoc, into a high quality burger restaurant modeled after his favorite burger company, In-N-Out.

Fun fact: Growing up, Keller’s older brother was the cook in the family as well as his mentor in the kitchen. He now has two restaurants in Las Vegas, Como’s and Bistro Zinc, both in the MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas Resort.

“Hey, do you want to see Per Se?” Chef Thomas Keller says as he heads through the front door of his Yountville restaurant, The French Laundry. Our photographer, Elizabeth, and I follow behind, curious as to how he plans to show us his New York restaurant without loading us on a Concorde jet. We enter the large pristine kitchen where his staff of cooks is prepping for lunch service, and find ourselves before a large flat screen television that broadcasts a continuous live feed from the kitchen of Per Se. “It has audio, too,” Keller explains, “but that can get confusing – these guys hear, ‘Fire two duck,’ and we don’t even serve duck.”

From the kitchen, we walk into a small office where a photograph of The French Laundry’s 10th anniversary hangs, dotted with the faces of chefs who have gone on to receive culinary accolades themselves, including Gregory Short (Masa’s) and Ron Siegel (the Ritz-Carlton Dining Room). “This is Octavio,” Keller says, pointing to a young man in the photo. “One of the proudest moments for me was seeing him rise from a dishwasher here to sous pastry chef, and now he is the pastry chef at the El Dorado.”

There is no doubt that 2006 has been a big year for Keller, winning the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant for The French Laundry while his sous chef, Cory Lee, took home the award for Rising Star Chef. Keller was also the only chef to crack the top 10 when the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy announced their 2006 selections – and he did so twice, with The French Laundry at number four (also named Best Restaurant in the Americas) and Per Se at number eight. He achieved bicoastal award nirvana again when Per Se received three coveted Michelin stars (along with three other New York restaurants) last November, and just last month when The French Laundry became the only Bay Area restaurant to receive three stars.

Relaxing on the sunny patio at The French Laundry, Keller says the key to his success is simple: “People come here because the staff is great and we execute well.”

As far as the food he produces, he says the formula is also simple. “The menu is what I like, flavor profiles I like – very traditional flavor profiles that align well with the Napa Valley and the wines we’re producing.” He smiles, “French flavor profiles, because I’m a Francophile. The truth is, haute cuisine Italian doesn’t exist – some of the world’s greatest food comes from Italy, but it’s simple. Why does it have to be fine dining?” The wait for a reservation at The French Laundry can top six weeks and at Per See, eight weeks, but Keller is pragmatic. “Either I continue to make wonderful food and people wait to get in or I can make lousy food and you can get in any time you want. El Bulli (in Spain) only takes reservations six months out of the year – any good restaurant is hard to get into.”

Keller’s relationships with his purveyors are important to him. “When it comes to my purveyors, I don’t ask about cost. I’m not going to nickel and dime them – I know what food costs, and I expect quality. Diane Sinclair makes butter only for us and recently she had to raise her prices. Okay, fine.”

With the nine-course Chef’s Tasting Menu at The French Laundry costing $210 per person (inclusive of gratuity), I asked if he ever had people quibble over the price. “People who come through the door need to respect prices. A restaurant can’t be about the money, but at the end of the day, we need to make a profit. I have great respect for the quality of the experience, and I am trying to give value to that experience. The more we expand and grow, the more pressure is put on me to analyze these things … no, my intent is to make people happy. That’s what it’s all about.”

Keller tells his staff there is commitment and there is investment. A chicken is involved – she lays eggs – but the pig is committed, giving ham and bacon.

“What is passion?” Keller asks as he walks through the restaurant’s herb garden. “I love it if it’s about a girl, but passion is short-lived. What drives a person to do the same thing for 30 years? Desire.”