Ad Hoc: Thomas Keller's Comfort Food

My trip up to the Northern Cal so I can have my first meal at The French Laundry turned out to be the best food weekend ever (so far). The night before, we tried out Ad Hoc, Thomas Keller's 'comfort food' restaurant (most well known for their fried chicken!).

Ad Hoc was originally meant to be a temporary restaurant, to be opened while they're designing a different restaurant to be opened in that space (hence the name, and the motto "for temporary relief from hunger").
5 nights our of the week, Ad Hoc offers a different 4-course menu for $49, served family style and meant to be shared.

I was putting this post off in the hope that I one day will find the menu that I seem to have misplaced somewhere. But not long after I posted the review (a few hours only), a Chowhounder immediately noticed that I was there on 1/31 and posted the menu! The awesomeness of the internet.

Our meal started off with the TFL Garden Broccoli Salad, white cauliflower, toasted almonds, sweet vidalia onions, cara cara oranges, shaved brioche croutons.
There aren't mere broccoli (blogger is telling me that 'broccolis' isn't grammatically correct), people, these babies came straight from The French Laundry garden down the street. And my god, these are the best broccoli ever. It's very juicy, moist, and sweet, unlike other broccoli I've ever had which are typically boring and bland.
At Ad Hoc you can always ask for seconds, but my friends told me not to get seconds yet, since we have a lot more coming ...

Our main course was Roasted Beef Skirt Steak, braised hearts of romaine, tomato-pepper soffritto
Now, the thing I love about this particular cut is how flavorful it is. On the other hand, it tends to be tougher than most cuts which is why some people don't like them. But not these babies. Somehow they've managed to turn these skirt steaks into some amazingly tender pieces of meat, yet still retain the flavorfulness that is skirt steak. Amazing!

The main entree came with a side dish of spiced sweet carrots and shiitake mushrooms.
The carrots were again tender and sweet. Delicious. I justified myself getting seconds of this because it's healthy and carrots are good for my strained eyes :P

Next dish is the cheese course, Silver Mountain Clothbound Cheddar.
It was firm and smooth with a subtle taste and aroma. I enjoyed it with the slice of apple (one per person) but the red cabbage didn't do it for me.

For the grand finale, a gargantuan Baked Alaska! A dome of vanilla ice cream on top of sponge cake, baked in meringue.
I'm not sure this photo does it justice. This thing was HUGE. It was about half a basketball, with meringue on top! There were five of us - who all eat a lot- and we barely managed to finish half.

An extremely enjoyable and memorable meal. That oh-so-tender-and-flavorful skirt steak and those broccolis ... man! The casual atmosphere was perfect for catching up with friends and stuffing ourselves to death. Can't wait to return to Ad Hoc.


Ad Hoc
6476 Washington St
Yountville, CA 94599
(707) 944-2487
www.adhocrestaurant.com

Product Review: Ile de France Le Brie Cheese

Ile de France was looking for bloggers to review their cheese products via Tastespotting, and I got hooked up with some Brie cheese.

Ile de France's Le Brie came to my office mailbox and luckily the large DO NOT TOUCH! sign I put in the fridge was enough to keep people at bay long enough for me to get it home!
Taking it out of the box and unwrapping it reveals a uniform white rind. Looking good!
The first cut. I can already feel its firmness and smell the nice aroma. Can't wait to take the first bite!
The aroma is subtle but inhale enough and you get that delicious sharp aroma! The cheese is firm, yet silky and creamy. It's almost like eating butter with a slight nutty aftertaste. This was one good brie!

The product is listed on Amazon but is currently unavailable, so I don't know how much it retails for. But it is one of the best brie I've had, so if you get your hands on it and it's not outrageously priced, buy it.

Providence 5x5 Menu Revealed!

The 5x5 Chef's Collaborative will kick off at Providence on April 28, featuring guest chef Alessandro Stratta from ALEX, a one Michelin starred restaurant in Las Vegas for 2 consecutive years.

Here's the menu for the first 5x5 dinner:

Kampachi Sashimi
Ton Buri, Asian Pear, Red Radish and Fennel
David LeFevre

Santa Barbara Abalone and Prawn “Printanier”
Shellfish-Lemongrass Emulsion
Josiah Citrin

Timballo di Orzo in Foglie di Spinaci
con Piselli, Carciofi, Fegato d'Oca, Salsa di Funghi
Gino Angelini

Sauteed Wild Striped Bass
White Carrot Purée, Nettles, Fava Beans, Fennel Pollen
Neal Fraser

Roasted Duck "Apicius"
Spiced Pineapple, Rhubarb and Celery Root
Alessandro Stratta

A Café in Bordeaux
Canelé Ice Cream, Coffee Parfait and Toasted Hazelnuts
Adrian Vasquez

$150 pp, $215 with wine pairing

For the date/restaurant/guest chef lineup, go here.