As a restaurant repeatedly counted among the best in the country, the French Laundry in Yountville, CA is notorious for its hard-to-come-by reservations. Just Google the restaurant, and you’ll find myriad message boards and blogs trading tips for scoring tables, as well as just as many tales of woe from those who’ve tried and failed.

Last night, my husband and I scored a reservation for 4. It wasn’t that difficult. Of course, we were trying for a Monday night table – I expect there’s a lot more competition for Thu-Sun reservations. But I’ll stand by this method.

A few caveats:

- We skipped calling and went straight for the online reservation route. You obviously can call the restaurant, but we’ve read that it gets something insane like 400 calls a day. Neither of us wanted to spend the time calling and redialing to get through.

- We live on the West Coast. Our method for scoring reservations required staying up until midnight, which may be a bit of a tall order for East Coasters.

- We wanted a table for 4. OpenTable only offers tables for 4. You’ll have to call the restaurant to book at table for 2.

The background:

- The restaurant will take reservations up to two months in advance.

- Two tables for four become available at midnight PST each day on OpenTable, one for the early seating, one for the second seating.

Making the reservation:

- Decide which day you want to visit the restaurant. You will need to make your reservation at midnight exactly two months from the day you wish to visit the restaurant. For example, we wanted a reservation for Oct. 30, 2006. We made our reservations at exactly 12am last night, technically Aug. 30.

- At about 11:30pm, go to your computer. Open one browser window to the OpenTable French Laundry reservation page (use this link, it’s hard to find on the web site). Enter the date you wish to visit. For the time, select 7:15. According to our sources, OpenTable offers a 5:30pm table and a 9:00pm table. Choosing 7:15 puts you in the running for both of them.

- Open another browser to the official U.S. time clock, which matches the time for the OpenTable server.

- Get a credit card ready. If you are lucky enough to get an available reservation, you’ll want to fill out all the information asap.

- When the clock hits 11:59:56, click the red search button on OpenTable. If you get a page that offers a time, you’ve gotten in. Last night, my husband and I were using separate computers, but followed this method. He got the 5:30pm time, and I got the 9pm.

- Choose your time, fill in the customer information, including a credit card number, and you’re done.

- If you click before the time hits midnight, you will see a message that says something like, your time exceeds the acceptable date range. Keep refreshing your browser until you get an available time or a message saying there are no reservations for your requested date.

A few other tips:

- The restaurant serves lunch on weekends. These reservations are rumored to be easier to snag.

- If you are staying in a wine country hotel, contact the hotel’s concierge. Many Napa Valley concierges will try to make reservations for you.

- If possible, stop by the restaurant in person to make a reservation.

- For tables of two, you’ll have to make reservations via telephone or in person. Both tables on OpenTable are for four.

- You can also hire this guy to get a reservation for you.