by Sam Tackeff | Jul 9, 2010 | Restaurants
Sometimes we are creatures of habit.
We don’t go out to dinner very often, but when we do, we tend to go back to Ad Hoc, Thomas Keller’s down home establishment in Yountville, right down the street from the French Laundry. This time, we were there to celebrate – both the 4th of July, and Devon’s graduation – a gift from my family in his honor. Lobster rolls were on the menu, and we were not prepared to pass these up.
We headed down without a reservation, and so we made a pit stop to Bouchon Bakery while we waited. Yes, imaging that – enforced waiting means that you have to walk down the street in the beautiful weather and gorge yourselves in a sugar rush “amuse-bouche”.
A TKO (Thomas Keller Oreo).
And a Bouchon:
By the time we came back from our little stroll, Julia, the ever lovely beverage manager had scored us a spot at a table in the dining room. She gets so many bonus points in life for remembering my name, having not seen us since March. With a cursory glance at the menu, and assurance to our server that we indeed had no dietary restrictions, we held up our hands and said “Feed Us!!”.
A small amuse arrived from the kitchen: fresh nectarine wrapped in a cured pork product. Can you think of a better way to start?
The first course was a Frisee and Melon Salad, made with yellow and red watermelon, sharlyn, galia melon, d’avignon radish, black olives, and a tondo balsamic vinaigrette. At some point, I tasted some gelatinous morsel of goodness, and the melons, I believe, were compressed? In any case, it was so refreshing to have melon served in a nice savory salad. And I must say that I was just as entranced by the Heath Ceramic bowl it was brought to us in. Covet!
It looked like something from Michel Bras’ Essential Cuisine.
The main course were Maine Lobster Rolls, possibly my favorite food in the world. The generous lobster was nestled in these beautifully crispy buttered rolls from Bouchon bakery, and topped with pickled red onions and shaved celery. They were served with a side of refreshing savoy cabbage cole slaw, and a dish of new potatoes which had been cooked sous vide, and Brentwood corn on the cob with an outrageous amount of butter slathered on.
I was tempted to eat the entire contents of our table – the lobster rolls were sure to go bad if we didn’t eat them right away, right? But under the sage advice of Julia, we ended up saving half of our dinner for midnight when we came home. (This is a brilliant tactic.)
And so we still had some room for the cheese course:
A slice of Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Co-op’s ‘Dante’, served with a little salad of white nectarines, shaved endive, and toasted marcona almonds.
And a close-up of those nectarines.
As we sat for a while to digest, I ordered a pot of my favorite Jasmine tea, and sat, blissfully, until we ended up sitting agog (yes, agog I tell you) as we listened to the table of city folks next to us argue with the server about the lack of meat option on the menu. Really folks? It’s Fourth of July! The ultimate summer food, the lobster roll is on the menu! There is one menu, every day, and you are not vegetarian, or even, in this case, allergic to sea food!! It reminded me, just briefly, of the fact that I wish that I could own a rambling farm in Napa and avoid the city in it’s entirety. Fortunately, dessert brought me back to my fantasy world.
Red Velvet cupcakes, served with a bowl of strawberries, blueberries, and buttermilk sorbet. We ate our sorbet and fruit, and saved the cupcakes for our impending second dinner at midnight. (Again, thanks to Julia for her wisdom and forethought!)
It was an agonizing wait as these babies sat in the car with us on the drive back.
But it was worth it.
Cue up a mental image here of me stuffing this thing in my face at midnight in a gleeful frenzy.
Oh Ad Hoc, how I love thee.
Ad Hoc Restaurant
6476 Washington Street, Yountville, CA
707-944-2487
Ad Hoc has a daily pre-fixe menu, which is updated in the morning on their website.
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 4, 2009 | Books, Restaurants
My mom was in town this weekend, and this being her first trip to San Francisco in over twenty five years meant only one thing – GLORIOUS FEASTING! My parents are to thank for my love of fine dining. Some of my earliest memories are eating at great restaurants – as a toddler I whisked away into the kitchen by smitten waiters on a trip to Germany, as a preschooler I impressed the kitchen staff in Montreal and Paris with my french ordering skills and passionate love of escargot, who often sent me Amuse and samples of desserts as rewards. Then there the day that I asked for the *second* lobster with my family in Ogunquit, Maine (I was five). And those few years of obsession with filet mignon before the age of ten ensured that I wasn’t a cheap date – but I can’t thank them enough for indulging me.
So when my mom finally planned her trip out here, it was my greatest pleasure to plan a weekend of voracious eating and drinking some of my favorites in the city. This included:
:: Coffee at Philz – one of the best caffeine injections in the city (I favor the Mocha Tesora)
:: Salted Caramel Ice Cream with Fudge (berry sorbet for me) at Bi-Rite Creamery
:: Shrimp and pork wonton soup, crispy imperial rolls, and grilled tiger prawns over rice noodles at the Slanted Door
:: a Macaron from Miette (I chose pistachio, she had rose)
:: a trip to Cheeseboard Pizza in Berkeley for some live jazz, the last heirloom tomato pizza of the season, and a gingerbread cookie
:: An animal style cheeseburger, fries, and a vanilla shake from In-N-Out.
The most exciting meal however, in retrospective honor of his new cookbook, was an impromptu trip to Thomas Keller’s “casual eatery” Ad Hoc, in Yountville. Or shall I say, and Ad Hoc trip to Ad Hoc? Sorry guys, I had to. Ad Hoc is the perfect spot to eat Keller’s phenomenal food, with limited negative effect on your piggy bank. The four course meal comes in at $49 a person, and you certainly don’t leave hungry. Our dinner at Ad Hoc was one of the few meals I’ve had in the past several years that I’ve enjoyed so thoroughly from start to finish, down to the smallest details. The food was impeccable, the waitstaff (all of whom have been on staff for two years or more) were kind, attentive, and with good humor, and our fellow patrons were all entertaining as well.
Our first course was Polpettini Soup – with veal meatballs, broccolini, celery root, pickled red onions, sweet carrot coins, and a crostini with bellwether farm’s ricotta on top. To say I’m a soup lover would be an understatement, and this was perhaps my favorite course of the evening. The broth was rich and well developed, and the meatballs were shining stars – moist, balanced in flavor, texture, and really perfect in every way. Shucks, just thinking about this makes me tear up with longing.
Next came the Roast Colorado Lamb Leg, topped with a mint salsa verde, alongside romanesco potatoes, with a side of black and pearl barley, with braised autumn squash, pumpkin seeds and brussels sprouts. Lets talk about this barley dish. It was texturally exciting. It was well balanced flavor. If only everyone could eat brussels sprouts like these ones, I swear they would be the nations’ favorite vegetable. I’m going to try to recreate this one at home, because it’s a killer combination.
And the lamb and potatoes – perfect. Perfectly cooked. The potatoes, oh god the potatoes – crisp on the outside, perfectly soft on the inside. I know it’s rude to stare at other customers, but one of my favorite moments of the evening was watching the woman across the way eat her first potato cube – and a wave of complete ecstasy passed over her face, her eyes widened, and it was like she had experienced culinary nirvana. After further inquiry, we learned that the technique for these involved a primary fry in peanut oil, a secondary fry in canola, and a final treatment of butter and herbs. Well, that explains it!
The cheese board was a trio of cheese – including a sheepsmilk cheese, the Humboldt Fog (in the middle), and possibly old chatham blue, although, at this point I was still so enamored by the potatoes that I promptly forgot when we were told… The cheeses came with marcona almonds and Marshall’s farm blackberry honey – which I ended up eating on the cheese, almonds, bread, and stirring into my jasmine almond tea.
Last but not least, came dessert – brownie trifle with huckleberry sauce and vanilla diplomat cream. A light and flavorful ending, that left me completely fulfilled. Leave it to my camera to focus on the surroundings and not those perfect brownie bits, but I thought I’d include this anyway.
We were sad to leave Ad Hoc, and have been dreaming about it all weekend. Fortunately, the Ad Hoc cookbook is out, and filled with brilliant recipes, beautiful images, and plenty of inspiration for my own table until I can get back to eat at theirs. I’ve been reading through it at work, and it, like the restaurant, is not to be missed. It’s the perfect gift to yourself or any food lover on your list.
