A Four-Year-Old Reviews the French Laundry

She is the youngest person to eat a full tasting menu

Photos: Isla Bell Murray

By Jessica Saia

Reviewing notable restaurants via the simple yet extremely judgmental palate of a four-year-old has kind of become a “thing” here at the Bold Italic. Back since our second restaurant, whenever anyone has asked how I plan to end the series, I’ve always said that if we were ever able to get a four-year-old to review the French Laundry, that would be it. Looks like I’m going to have to eat my words (or have Isla take photos while a four-year-old eats them), because here we are, already, and these things are WAY TOO CUTE to stop now.

For our fifth installment, extreme fanciness edition, we took Lyla Hogan (favorite food: “good ice cream in a hard cone”) to what Anthony Bourdain has called “the best restaurant in the world, period.” (It won that title officially in 2003 and 2004 and is still the #1 restaurant in California and #3 in the country). Lyla is the youngest person to eat a full tasting menu at the French Laundry. With all the widespread and well-earned prestige of the restaurant, it’s not difficult to find countless multiple-syllable reviews from professional critics. Here we prove that there is no purer critique than the facial expressions of a teeny tiny child.