I never been to the French Laundry or a Thomas Keller restro nor will I ever get resos there, not because I don't want to but because I heard it was near impossible! So what to do? Settle for his other nearest restro- Bouchon!
Bouchon is not a Vegas flashy restaurant and it won't cost you an arm and a leg. The price is very reasonable. You also get that great customer service (as we did). Bouchon is located in a weird hidden spot and we actually made resos 2 months in advance, we didn't really know how busy it'll be... so we decided not to risk it. FYI it wasn't that busy when we went, but then again it was a Sunday night.
We started off with the table bread- which was delicious and homemade as they have their own bakery. My BF couldn't find a beer he liked and the server was nice enough to let him taste several. We decided to feast and ended up ordering the charcuterie plate, dozen oysters, mussels, steak frites, and bouchons dessert. Man they were all delicious! The charcuterie board came with patay and it was the best thing ever. I would love to have that to put in my Vietnamese banh mi! My entree was the mussels and they were cute small mussels but there were literally over 50 mussels! It was more than plentiful and delicious. The saffron broth was amazing. The steak was good too and the oysters were very fresh. The dessert- 3 bouchons, a pretzel ice cream and a marshmallow thing with a salted caramel bar inside was amazing. It had crazy flavors from sweet to salty to savory.
We were VERY happy that we got to try Bouchon. It also didn't cost too much like other celebrity chef restaurants AND Thomas Keller delivered! Amazing, we'll come back next time! Totally impressed.