The consensus among professionals today is that the best restaurant in the country is the French Laundry in Napa Valley, California.

By extension, their chef/owner Thomas Keller is number one in the kitchen world. He has been named best in California and in the nation by the James Beard Foundation more than once, and such accolades don’t come easily. How did this come about for a man with no formal culinary training?

Keller started out after high school as an apprentice in Palm Beach, Florida. He soon rose from pot-scrubber to cook and salad maker, and he became a snowbird, dividing his time between Florida and New England. He worked in New York and spent time in France, and finally wound up in a Los Angeles hotel. He recalls that this was the third job from which he was fired, due to being too demanding in the restaurant and costing the owners money. It was obvious that Keller needed his own environment.

By then he had many years in the field, and was broke and living on credit cards. It was then that he heard of the French Laundry being for sale, and fell in love with it at first sight. The lovely old stone and timber building actually once housed a laundry, as well as a residence, a saloon and a brothel before becoming a restaurant. It reminded him of the tiny jewels tucked away in the French countryside, and he determined to buy it. It took him 19 months to raise enough money for the asking price, and he moved in and opened the restaurant in 1994.

They had eight pots to cook in, he recalls — no skillets, sauté pans, roasters. Somehow they made it and very soon they were attracting crowds to the 16 tables inside. Napa Valley is not much on tourists in the winter, but Keller changed that completely. His restaurant is always full.

It takes two months to get a reservation and a nine-course meal is $240 plus wine, so don’t expect average fare. Diners usually start with a tiny ice cream cone filled with salmon, dill and onion crème fraiche. A blade of lemon grass tops this.

Four of the soups normally on offer are in vivid colors: green pea, watercress, squash and carrot. Keller is so attracted to colors that he pioneered a method of creating “powders” from various foods such as carrots to dress up other dishes. He likes lobster and oysters, and often serves the latter with tapioca which reminds him of tiny pearls. He uses truffles and truffle oil a lot, two items we seldom see at the market.

The most famous dessert at the French Laundry is doughnuts and cream, sounding prosaic. However, the doughnuts are made fresh daily as is the ice cream, with heavenly fudge sauce on top.

The menu changes almost daily, depending on what’s fresh and what appeals to Keller that day. Here are some of the dishes he’s offered in the past.

French bean salad

For two servings:

2 ripe plum tomatoes

2 tablespoons shallots

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt, pepper, fresh chopped basil

¼ pound small green beans

Bed of baby greens

2 ounces red wine vinegar

4 ounces slightly whipped heavy cream

Peel and seed tomatoes, then chop fine. Add finely minced shallots and sauté briefly in olive oil, adding salt, cracked pepper and basil to taste. Set aside to chill.

Remove ends from green beans and cut into 1” pieces. Blanch in boiling salted water until just tender, then drain and chill.

To assemble, spoon the tomato-shallot mixture onto salad greens and place beans on top. Make a dressing with red wine vinegar and slightly whipped heavy cream, seasoned with salt and fresh pepper. Pour over salad and serve with hot, crisp rolls.

Lemon grass custard

If you have no lemon grass, use instead some strips of lemon zest.

1 cup rich milk

1 cup cream

6” lemon grass, cut into 1” pieces (or 4 strips lemon zest)

½ cup sugar

3 beaten egg yolks

Scald a combination of rich milk and cream with the grass or zest in it. Strain the mixture and add sugar. Pour some of the hot liquid slowly into a bowl containing the egg yolks, whisking all the while. Then return to main mixture and place in the top of a double boiler.

Cook over boiling water, whisking constantly, until custard is thick and smooth. Pour into crystal dessert dishes and chill thoroughly. Garnish with lemon leaves or other suitable greenery to serve.

Rhubarb shortbread tart

This is a good spring dessert when fresh rhubarb is available. Otherwise, use the frozen type. Rhubarb can be cut into small pieces and stewed quickly on high in the microwave, then sweetened to taste. The recipe serves four.

For the tart:

1 pound rhubarb, cooked as above and sweetened to taste

1 cup butter

1 cup powdered sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons milk

2 cups sifted flour

8 ounces whipped cream

Sugar and vanilla to taste

1 tablespoon powdered buttermilk

Cream butter with powdered sugar, packed tightly. Add salt, vanilla and milk. When all ingredients are well mixed, add sifted flour. Mix thoroughly, then place dough on lightly floured surface. Pat dough into six rounds about ½” thick. You may score each circle with the tines of a fork for a decorative effect if you wish. Bake on lightly greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Before cookies are cooled completely, carefully cut in half horizontally.

To serve, place bottom half on a dessert plate, spoon over it some stewed rhubarb and top with other half. Add a spoonful of faux crème fraiche, made by whipping heavy cream, adding a dash of vanilla and sugar and thickening with powdered buttermilk. Garnish as desired.

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Keller has published The French Laundry Cookbook (Artisan/Workman Publishing, New York, 1999, $50) which is full of his philosophy, recipes and stunning photographs.

“A recipe has no soul,” he writes. “You must add your own soul to cooking it.” He repeats several times that you must love cooking and serving food, that you must respect the food you serve as you respect life.

It’s an approach that has served him well.

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Marion Nicolay is a regular contributor to the Marco Eagle. Contact her via e-mail at marion387@earthlink.net.