Weekend Roundup: French Laundry Debuts New Kitchen While Rain Pounds Bay Area

After four years of renovations, Thomas Keller debuted The French Laundry’s new $10 million, 2,120-square-foot kitchen at dinner service on Saturday night. Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta (the same team who renovated the SFMOMA) designed the new space, which includes a 16,000-bottle wine cellar, an office, and 9,000 square feet of landscape design.

However, the biggest news this weekend was the weather. A massive storm brought rain and flooding to the Bay as well as lots of snow to Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada mountain range. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the city’s total rainfall has surpassed normal for a full season. Considering that we’ve been in a drought for the past five years, the rain is a welcome nuisance with the state’s reservoirs brimming with water.

HBO’s Big Little Lies miniseries premiered last night. The seven-part show stars Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, and Laura Dern and takes place in Monterey. The show’s opening credits depict the gorgeous coastal views of Big Sur and the areas surrounding Monterey. Last year several of the actors were spotted filming at the Monterey Regional Airport and at Lover’s Point in Pacific Grove. In the opener, Dern’s character, who is already on the board at the aquarium, boasts that she recently joined the board of PayPal. More references to the Bay Area are sure to come and we will be watching.

Josey Baker, the owner of The Mill, a bread factory and Four Barrel Coffee shop on Divisadero that slings delicious toast and perfect cappuccinos, has announced that the bakery will expand its evening pizza offerings. The pizza night, where Baker makes the dough and one type of vegetarian pizza along with seasonal salads, started as a one-time pop-up. It turned into a weekly special which morphed into a Monday-and-Wednesday night event and today over Instagram, the chef announced that they will be making pizza every night, except Tuesday. Fans of The Mill’s savory pies can start to get them six nights of the week, from 6 to 9 p.m. beginning next Saturday.