ad hoc

ad hoc was originally intended to be a temporary space filler as thomas keller put the finishing touches on his burger andwinerestaurant concept, but it became so popular that he decided to keep it around. the concept is simple: a fixed price ($50 a hea

what a bad experience. i am a local napa resident working in thewineindustry. i finally visited ad hoc with some serious reservation.tk's restaurants tend to be local tourist traps with sub par food and inflated prices. ad hoc did not deviate from the reputation. $52 for bbq, well it should knock my socks off. not even close. sub par bbq, wait staff without a personality and over priced food to a point of sincere laughter. i will never agin make the mistake of following a celebrity chef. stale, boring and non receptive staff.
do yourself a favor, do your research and find one of many great foodie spots and enjoy. i want to kick my self for spending the money for such a lousy experience.
avoid avoid avoid, when ever i get the chance to share this story with visitors in napa valley i will. bouchon is probably your best bet if you need to go to one of tom's restaurants.

$49 for four courses by thomas keller? how can you go wrong?!. seriously.

make reservations.

thewinelist is fantastic and offerswinefrom around the world from inexpensive to very, very, very expensive.

but it is all about the food. don't be fooled by the $49 price or by the idea there is only one menu each night. as with any thomas keller restaurant, everything is exceedingly well though out and painstakingly prepared.

i even had the amazing experience of sitting next to mr. keller at the bar one evening when he was having dinner.

during ourwinetasting day trip to napa via grayline (see recap here), we had some leisure time in the charming town of yountville.  david, his friend william, and i went for a casual brunch at thomas keller’s ad hoc restaurant.  while thomas keller has three restaurants in yountville, ad hoc is the most casual (though not michelin starred) and serves american family-style comfort food.

for a background i am a 21 year old travelling alone that works in thewineindustry. i found the restaurant the perfect balance between a laid back and fine dining atmosphere, staff were very friendly and unpretentious, i did not at all feel vulnerable sitting and eating alone here, manager came and talked to me and everyone was very attentive - food andwinetiming was spot on and i was never left waiting too long without any ting. waitress was very informative about the menu and the optionalwinepairing. as i received each meal everyone explained both thewineand dish in detail, which i find extremely important when a prix fixe menu is in place . food was a fantastic combo of fine dining with a comfort food twist. serving sizes were very generous (i had to take some in a doggy bag home) thewinepairings were the absolute stand out for me as eachwinecomplimented the dishes so perfectly you would have thought they were made for each other. all of the wines were up to par, there were none that i disliked, most were sourced locally (as you would hope for the location). amazing bang for your buck with the basic 4 course meal coming in at $53 and thewinepairings an extra $39 great atmosphere would definitely visit again.

incredible food awful waiter...the food was heavenly yet simply. the menu for the night i dined there was caesar salad, pork chops, cheese(can't tell you what kind because our waiter pretty much rushed through everything) with honey and a cheese cake pudding type dessert. the pork chop was cooked perfectly, salted just right and they let the meat be the star and it was. the salad was simple but the added capers that seems to be lightly fried gave it a nice burst of flavor. the cheese plate again was simple but the honey went so perfectly with it. finally, the little dish of the cheese cake parfait or pudding(once again our waiter did not do his job in explaining) was divine and forced us to try and get every last bite out of the cup. each course had a glass ofwinethat went perfectly with the food but once again we receive no more than a 5 second robotic sentence. this iswinecountry, the customer definitely wants to hear a little more about the pairings. all that being said about the food, alex, our waiter may have been the worst waiter i've ever encountered. he did not spend more than a few seconds at our table, it was so bad i made sure that before he put our dessert on the table i had my credit card out because we had no idea when the next time he would come back. i'm usually very forgiving with waitstaff but his only job really was to be informative, courteous and check in every now and then considering it is a set menu. that type of service can happen from time to time but you would never expect it in a thomas keller restaurant. thank god the food was on point.

when i told friends that i went to thomas keller's  ad hoc , their replies were always the same-- "did you have the fried chicken?" unfortunately the famous fried chicken at ad hoc is served on mondays, and my friend and i were there on a thursday. i am happy to say though, that i was still blown away by everything i did try. ad hoc offers a $52 (+ $36 for wine) 4-course menu for dinner that changes on a daily basis. each course is served family-style. the restaurant serves brunch on sundays. this was hands down the best meal i've had in 2015, and looking back on it is making my mouth water. i cannot wait to return on a monday and get some of that fried chicken! mixed green salad with r ed beets, pickled red onions, crispy gaufrettes, granny smith apples, toasted caraway creme fraiche a superb salad with a wonderful combination of flavors. the beets were sweet, the onions spicy, and the apples refreshing. mar i muntanya:  saffron rice, piquillo peppers, green beans, cauliflower, chorizo, roasted chicken, pei mussels, gulf shrimp mar i muntanya is a catalan dish composed of chicken and seafood over rice. i am a huge fan of seafood paellas, and this dish won me over just one bite in. the rice was incredibly flavorful with a perfect al dente texture, the chicken skin was crispy, the inside moist and juicy, and all the seafood was fresh and amazing. veal cutlet ($16 addition) with o lives, tomato sauce, capers without the additional course, we definitely would've had more than enough food, but we did drive over to napa mainly for dinner at ad hoc (winetasting was just a bonus), so when it came to deciding whether to add on this veal cutlet or not, it took all of a minute for us to say yes. and i'm very glad we did. this was fried to perfection. it was simple but very solid. bellwether farms pepato with palladin toast, dijon mustard the sheepsmilk with peppercorn was semi-hard with a strong flavor. it paired well with the spicy dijon and warm bread. cranberry bourbon b

any visit to a thomas keller restaurant would be exciting, but ad hoc in napa has a little twist that kindled our interest: there is one pre fixe menu every evening, so you have no choice in your order other thanwinepairings. the menu is presented in a file folder, which made the office-supply-loving neurons in my brain do a disco dance. well done, mr. keller. bread. the brightly lit space, stainless steel tabletops, pale woods and flurry of servers dressed in chocolate brown uniforms combined with pig centric decor came together for a modern-tinged-with-farm look. the place was hopping when we arrived, and nearly every table was filled with diners. it’s popular, and after our experience, evident why reservations are required. the pre fixe menu includes four courses: a salad followed by the main course, then cheese, and wraps up with dessert. this is certainly an upscale place with impeccable service, but the file folders and family style dining make the entire experience casual and

finally this gorgeous plan of buttermilk fried chicken arrived and it looked like a whole chicken. the golden crust had beautiful ripples and the second we bit into the crispy rich crust, the juicy chicken gave us the tingles. totally worth the trip. totally the best fried chicken one can ever eat. here is food &wineunveiling of thomas keller’s lemon brined fried chicken recipe if you want to try it at home.

when you combine the talents of thomas keller, a comfortable and casual atmosphere, and a unique family style menu, it is easy to see why ad hoc became so popular virtually overnight. this permanent pop-up restaurant is showing no signs of slowing down, with the recent addition of a full liquor license and what is sure to be an incredible array of hand crafted cocktails. all of this may leave chef keller's hamburger andwinedreams unfulfilled, but with the luxury of hindsight, the accidental success of ad hoc is really no surprise at all.

the menu at ad hoc changes daily and they serve just one set menu a day. we were pleasantly surprised that there was a rabbit ragout that was available as a side in addition to the preset menu. i like the family style plating and service. we shared thewinepairings as d had to drive. the food was simple, hearty, fresh and extremely well executed. i enjoyed the meal and would definitely come back again.