Date: September 24, 2006
Location: 6476 Washington Street, Yountville
Corkage: $20
Cost: $45 - four course prix-fixe, plus tax, tip and corkage
Phone: 707.944.2487

Sunday, ttepper's friend was visiting, so the five of us decided to venture out of Napa to check out Thomas Keller's new restaurant in Yountville.

Ad Hoc is the name, the temporary concept of the restaurant is American comfort food, family style meal, four course, prix-fixe, everyone gets the same menu. Reservation is only available for groups of 10 or larger, so if you can't get a last minute table at Bistro Jeanty, Redd, Bouchon...etc, you are in luck.

Our group arrived a bit after 8:00pm on Sunday night. The restaurant was full, lucky for us, one last large round table was available, we were seated after the hostess rearranges the setting.
While waiting for our table, spotted an interesting Cabernet on wine rack by the entrance, a label named KV. Reading the back label, couldn't figure out much on the wine other than it's short for Knight's Valley and that's where the fruit comes from, guess we'll just ask someone later.

After we were presented with the wine list and the night's dinner menu, it's time to figure out what exactly is KV. Long story short, the answer we got back was basically the same thing we read on the back label. Guess what, if you don't know the wine, no worries, just play nice and say you are not familiar with the new label...etc. Don't just give an answer to sound smart, especially on a night when the restaurant is a good 90% local crowds, reading back label trying to pass it off as you know something is stupid. One of the few minor glitch to start the evening, time to move on.

Sometime during these first 15 minutes, our waiter, Peter, informed us water tumblers are the wine glass of choice. If stems are necessary, he will go and hunt some down. The reason for corkage fee is viewed differently by restaurant owners and diners, topic for another time. Part of the logic for using water tumblers as wine glass here is to avoid breakage. Family style, serve your own, tall stems will get in the way and break. Humm...in that case, how about the Riedel O series? $20 corkage for water tumblers? Fat chance. With that said, Peter did manage to find us acceptable small stems, one each for the table and promised to have stems available whenever I visit, but I may still bring my own stems next time...

The set menu for this evening is as follows.
Big Ranch Farms Heirloom Tomato Salad with House-Made Mozzarella
Snake River Farm Pork Loin
Shelburne Farms' Cheddar
Chocolate Cake
However, on this night, while expecting 40 covers, they had 90 covers. Only two portions of pork left, so they offered tri-tip as substitute. We also found out one of our guest had medical diet restrictions, which we weren't too sure how it would go. Our guest consulted with Peter, whom was very knowledgeable, speaks loud volume of his time at Per Se in NYC. Everything is fine and will be taken care of.

First course arrives, the heirloom tomatoes looked amazing, simply tossed with salt and olive oil, mozzarella on the side. One bite into the mozzarella, you can taste the difference when it's made fresh every morning. Great ingredients and simple preparation is the key to this dish.

Next, we get our two meat course, pork loin and tri-tip. Both served on a bed of bitter greens and roasted red bell-pepper. The pork loin was roasted to perfection, pink and juicy. Trim of fat around the meat gave it much more flavor. Tri-tip on the other hand while seasoned and tasty, was a bit over cooked and bit tough. All of us preferred the pork loin, which is suppose to be the main course on the menu tonight.

The cheddar was served with a jar of fig jam. The sweet and salty combination was wonderful, rich and flavorful. Again, the theme of great ingredients and simple preparation continues.

Chocolate cake was the finale. Topped with non-sweetened chocolate sauce and served with a side of caramel reduction. Perfectly moist on the inside, just the right sweetness. I passed on the caramel, too sugary for my palate. This is the one item on the menu tonight I can't duplicate at home.

Overall, this is an interesting concept for the restaurant, may be just temporary pending on acceptance by diners. When I spoke with Peter about the upcoming change to a burger joint, he said it's not set and stoned. Good time, good food, but the one thing that still bugs me is the water tumblers as wine glasses. I also suspect the whole experience would not be the same without our waiter Peter, he definitely scored some points for the restaurant due to his service level.

I will likely pay a second visit to the restaurant within the next week, stay tuned...