Restaurateur and celebrated chef Thomas Keller scolded a small Napa Valley town council this week, reprimanding the Yountville Town Council for poor communication and spending too much money on a proposed affordable housing project.
Keller owns several restaurants in Yountville, including the three-Michelin-star French Laundry. The housing project is planned for a site two blocks away from his luxury restaurant.
Keller attended Tuesday’s Yountville Town Council meeting wearing a crisp, white chef’s coat. He appeared frustrated at times with council members as well as Mayor Margie Mohler and complained that despite his attempts, no one had contacted him to discuss the housing project.
“I have reached out to each one of you; none of you has reached out to me,” Keller said during the meeting. “I’ve reached out to each one of you to have a conversation about this. I welcome conversations as you do. So, I’m available. Each one of you has my phone number; you know where I am every day.”
Keller also accused the politicians of saying he was opposed to the project when he was not.
“I am all for employee housing,” Keller said. “Because I know some of you have been sending out the wrong message about, ‘I’m against employee housing.’ I am not. I am for employee housing, but I am for employee housing that is actually going to work.”
