What's a French laundry?

Around here there are several dry cleaners that describe themselves as “French laundries.” What does that mean? Is there some French style of dry cleaning?

I could say any laundry in france but… A french laundry is one that does delicate fabrics as linnen or lace.


Spelling and grammer subjeck to change without notice.

French laundries have people who clean the clothes with their tongues.

Hot & Steamy?

The French Laundry is a celebrated restaurant not far from here that’s so popular, they take reservations months in advance.

As for getting clothes clean, what’s primarily getting cleaned is your wallet. Some Googling found descriptions of how “French” laundry is nothing more than items being ironed by hand, rather than on a press. Same washing and drying (or dry cleaning) but personal attention to the finishing.

Thanks. I was aware of Thomas Keller’s restaurant, but meant the actual dry cleaning establishments. The building that the restaurant is in was a “French Steam Laundry” at one point, so that explains its name. The restaurant website said of the name that it was called a French laundry “because of the high degree of skill associated with the service.”