Bouchon Bistro
French restaurant · Yountville
6534 Washington St, Yountville, CA 94599
Highlights
French bistro with traditional fare from Thomas Keller
French bistro with traditional fare from Thomas Keller
"Thomas Keller’s Bouchon features a poolside setting in the Venezia Tower of the Venetian. Adam D. Tihany designed the interior that features a French pewter bar, a mosaic floor, deep blue velvet banquettes, antique light fixtures, and an expansive hand-painted mural by noted French artist Paulin Paris. It all makes for a stellar setting in which to take in leisurely mornings and evening dinners. A must-order is the classic salade Lyonnaise with endive, heaping spoonfuls of bacon lardons, with a poached egg." - Janna Karel
"While it may be set smack dab in the midst of quaint Yountville, Thomas Keller's take on the lively French bistro paints a scene that may as well be straight out of Paris. Picture red velvet booths, marble tables, polished brass, and that iconic tiled floor. Then throw in a buzzy scene dominated by bon vivants, a next-door bakery that ensures bread here reigns supreme, and the result is spot on.The kitchen keeps the mood upbeat thanks to a litany of well-crafted plates. Start by slathering butter onto a hunk of pain d'epi, before moving on to crispy roasted chicken over corn with bacon lardons and oyster mushrooms. Seasonal bites, like the rustic tomato, are worth a second look; while desserts like a lemon tart exude all things luxe." - Michelin Inspector
"Thomas Keller’s Parisian-style bistro offers a seasonal menu of French staples—roast chicken, leg of lamb, trout amandine and chilled demi-homard—prepared with meticulous attention to technique. The dining room evokes a classic Parisian atmosphere with tall windows, exposed brick, wooden beams and a bustling patio, and its seafood and richer dishes are frequently recommended alongside a vibrant Chardonnay to complement buttery, sweet flavors." - AFAR
"Bouchon is a very worthy, more casual spot from the same chef as The French Laundry, featuring the best steak frites in the valley. It’s every bit the buzzing, loud, tightly-seated French bistro you’d expect, which is another one of the reasons we love it here. It’s also where we come for “late night” (that’s after 9pm in Wine Country) snacks, oysters, and classic cocktails. The expertly crisp truffle fries, onion soup, and escargots sitting on top of Bouchon Bakery’s puffed pastry are all absolute perfection, as you’d expect." - christina julian, jasmine alexandra
"The author singles out this bistro’s French onion soup as the best they’ve ever had, so much so that they bought the restaurant’s cookbook to try to reproduce it at home. The restaurant version is remembered as deeply satisfying and richly beefy, but the official recipe proved extremely labor-intensive and fussy in practice—calling for many pounds of sliced onions slowly caramelized over hours, long-roasted bones and vegetables for a gelatinous stock, careful straining, and specific serving bowls and cheese slices to achieve the intended presentation. The author found the end result at home tasty but demanding (onions can lose texture, the house absorbed strong roasting aromas, and the whole process can take 12+ hours), which underscores why the bistro’s finished dish made such an impression." - Ivy Manning
