Thomas Keller seems to be battening down the hatches at the Michelin three-star French Laundry after a string of less-than-stellar reviews. And recently he went so far as to tell the Chronicle's MacKenzie Chung Fegan that she wasn't welcome there.

In the Chronicle today, Chung Fegan tells the fairly harrowing story of being pulled away from a table at the French Laundry on recent a visit with three friends, and asked to have a sit-down with a nervous-seeming Keller in the courtyard outside the restaurant's kitchen. Having been recognized, and despite using the alias "Margaret," Chung Fegan was faced with a confrontational Keller who did not, in fact, want her dining there and potentially filing another negative review. And while he softened after a talk, he was ready to send her and her three friends home with just a snack.

There may be a war afoot between the old guard of chefs and restaurateurs and a new generation of critics — the few that remain employed at major US newspapers and magazines anyway, whose job is solely to review restaurants, at a time when the economics of owning a restaurant are grimmer than ever. Or, maybe, there is just a localized tension between a newly installed critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and a Bay Area restaurant ecosystem that enjoyed a certain amount of deference and respect from the previous regime that they aren't receiving anymore, at a time when the economics of owning a restaurant remain grimmer than ever.

In the case of Thomas Keller, and his much respected, acclaimed, and long adored fine dining meccas, The French Laundry and Per Se, Keller has been taking criticism not only from the Chronicle but from the New York Times — from the latter now twice — and it begins to feel a bit like piling on. And whether or not this criticism is warranted, and whether or not you agree with the points made, the man appears to have had it with seeing his empire tarnished, and he's about done being gracious about it.

The critiques and bad press have been ongoing now for a decade. First there was Eater New York saying that Per Se was "showing its age" back in 2014. Then there came the Times' Pete Wells infamous takedown of Per Se in January 2016, and his referring to a mushroom soup as "murky and appealing as bong water." Then came the Chronicle's Soleil Ho, who struggled to dine at the famously hard-to-get-into restaurant three times in order to write a review before ending their tenure as critic, and then filing that middling 2022 review in which she noted, despite some small delights, there's a "lack of surprise" in the food that one should expect when paying top dollar for such an experience — the general gist being that Keller's relying on all his old recipes and repect to a fault and failing to take chances or switch things up anymore. (He did, however, send out a bong filled with mushroom soup on one visit.)

Following Wells's decision to step down from the critic role, the Times' Melissa Clark has been pinch-hitting, and she published a double review of Per Se and the French Laundry in November that echoed much of what Ho had said — essentially that they aren't "worth the splurge" anymore. She concluded that both restaurants are "stuck in a bubble of complacency that formed in their early years," and that the vibe over time had grown snootier, more staid, and less fun. (Anecdotally, Clark was also recognized and also received the bong course.)

It seems it was Clark's recent review, more than Ho's from two and a half years ago, that has pushed Keller over the edge. He posted to Instagram shortly after its publication, with a quote from Ratatouille — the Pixar film he consulted on, years ago — which is clearly taped up in one of his kitchens, "In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work... The bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."

And Keller reportedly complained to Chung Fegan in person that, just as she had used an alias to enter the restaurant, Clark had put on a wig and lied about who she was, claiming to be from Santa Monica. Keller essentially said he's done with this charade, and he's in this business to feed and nurture people, not to serve them food for them to later complain about — to the detriment of his businesses at that.

The French Laundry was left off the Chronicle's Top 100 this year, along with a number of other restaurants that would have, in the Michael Bauer era, easily made the cut. It's not clear whether this French Laundry visit she describes happened before or after that list was published. Chung Fegan admitted that she has not made it to some of the fanciest restaurants around the Bay, for reasons of time and budget, which may be part of the reason why they were omitted from that vaunted list.

After Chung Fegan told him her whole story, and that she grew up in a restaurant family and always admired his restaurants, Keller ended up trying to be gracious, sending an entire 11-course tasting menu with add-ons and wine to her table. Chung Fegan said she balked at the zero-dollar check, because the Chronicle insists she can take nothing for free, and they ended up paying the whole $1800 back as gratuity. (The gratis meal might have even been some insurance against a formal review.)

The ensuing article doesn't do much to burnish the French Laundry's rep, and Chung Fegan says she basically agrees with Ho's review. It also probably didn't help that she left there "vibrating" and feeling humiliated.

Will there be further battles in this possibly brewing war between established chefs and critics? Chung Fegan says there was backlash from elsewhere over the Top 100 — like Chef Brandon Jew of Mister Jiu's pointing out that the inclusion of so many counter-service restaurants was an insult to all front-of-house workers. And there are most certainly more sour grapes out there among chefs and restaurateurs who may have been expected a possible boost from the updated list that they didn't get. We shall see.

Previously: Chronicle Critics Admit Some Top 100 Snubs Were Because They Didn't Make It to Every Nice Restaurant

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