Episode 15: Thomas K's Nightmare

Thomas Keller -- owner of The French Laundry restaurant, and famous the world over for excellence in his preparation of food and the maintenance of standards of excellence -- was infuriated by the constant harping of Snooks against Keller's "vertical creations."

Thomas K, as friends and patrons liked to call him, had nightmares of Snooks and his insistence of the "flat" school of food presentation. He would roll over in bed and dream nightmares of pancakes, rolled tortillas, pounded veal, crushed pecan rolls, ground peppercorns, bread crumbs, and the like.

The stress became so great he sought professional relief. He contacted his friends Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. They held a series of meetings in Yountville, California at The French Laundry. The conclusion from those meetings was the famous -- some say infamous -- salad war campaigns against Snooks.

Snooks got wind of this arrangement and developed his own response.

Of course, the opening salvo was the launch of the famous giant salad which was delivered to Cutter's newspaper office and subsequently eaten by Bebop.