Tiny Urban Kitchen

Exploring Food from Boston to Hong Kong and Beyond

  • About
    • About Me
    • Tiny Urban Kitchen’s Favorite Equipment
    • Press
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • Asian
      • Chinese
      • Taiwanese
      • Thai
      • Malaysian
      • Japanese
      • Korean
    • Appetizers
    • Soups
    • Salad
    • Pasta
    • Noodles
    • Rice
    • Vegetarian
    • Meat
    • Sweets
      • Baking
      • Ice cream
      • Cookies
    • Misc
    • Kawaii (Cute)
  • Travel / Restaurants
    • United States
      • Boston
        • Jen’s Picks
        • Boston
          • Allston
          • Back Bay
          • Brighton
          • North End
          • South End
        • Cambridge
          • Kendall Square
          • Inman Square
          • Central Square
          • Harvard Square
          • Porter Square
          • North Cambridge
        • Somerville
          • Davis Square
          • Union Square
        • Greater Boston
          • Brookline
          • Arlington
          • Belmont
          • Watertown
          • Newton
          • Lexington
          • Concord
          • Burlington
          • Natick
        • Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Berkshires
      • Vermont
      • Maine
      • New York
      • Washington DC
      • Philadelphia
      • Orlando
      • Chicago
      • Las Vegas
      • California
        • Los Angeles
        • San Francisco
        • Napa
        • Sonoma
      • Seattle
      • Hawaii
    • Canada
      • Montreal
      • Canadian Rockies
      • Toronto
    • Argentina
    • Europe
      • United Kingdom
        • London
        • Oxford
      • Italy
        • Rome
        • Piedmont
      • France
        • Paris
        • Bordeaux
      • Spain
        • Madrid
        • Barcelona
        • Catalonia / San Sebastian / Girona
      • Germany
      • Belgium
        • Brussels
      • Switzerland
      • Greece
      • Finland
      • Norway
      • Denmark
    • Japan
      • Japan Guide
      • Tokyo
      • Osaka
      • Kyoto
    • China (Mainland)
      • Beijing
      • Chengdu
      • Shanghai
      • Shaanxi
      • Shenzhen
      • Xiamen
      • Yunnan
    • Singapore
    • Hong Kong
    • Malaysia
    • Taiwan
    • Thailand
    • Australia/New Zealand
  • Michelin
    • Formerly had a star
    • Michelin Recommended
    • 1 Star
    • 2 Stars
    • 3 Stars
  • Jen’s Eating Guides!
    • Boston Restaurants
    • Boston Dishes
    • Tokyo
    • Hong Kong
    • Las Vegas
    • Napa / Sonoma
    • Taiwan (night markets)
    • Taiwanese (casual eats)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part I)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part II)
    • Kitchen Equipment
  • Trip Reports
    • All trip reports
    • Around the World Trip Report
    • New England
    • New York
    • Washington DC
    • Las Vegas
    • California
    • Canada
    • Europe
    • Florida
    • Japan
    • China

Ad Hoc

April 18, 2012 by Jennifer Che 6 Comments

Untitled
“for temporary relief from hunger”

Thomas Keller’s more casual restaurant in Yountville, called “Ad Hoc” was never intended to be a permanent restaurant. While designing a very different type of restaurant (think “burgers and bottles” hamburger and wine pairing), Thomas Keller’s team temporarily opened up Ad Hoc (“literally meaning for this purpose only“) for just six months to serve the local community.

The concept?

Offer a 4-course family style meal with a small, accessible wine list in a casual environment that is “reminiscent of home.”

It became so popular that it was really hard for them to close it down.

Thomas Keller quipped “if we keep it, we’ll have to change the name. Maybe to Ad Lib.”

That was 2007. Ad Hoc is clearly still around and going very, very strong. In fact, its fried chicken has become legendary, and Thomas Keller has even written a cookbook for the restaurant.

So finally.

Finally, after having tried Per Se, The French Laundry, and countless different Bouchon bistros and Bouchon bakeries, I can finally say I’ve tried all of Thomas Keller’s restaurants in the US.
Untitled
The interior here is airy, bright, and very inviting. Though the atmosphere is casual (most people were wearing jeans), you still feel that everything is high quality and thoughtfully laid out.

The menus come in these brown no-nonsense folders (see picture up top), and all the food is served family style. The menu changes daily, and each day only one specific four-course menu is served ($38).

Since we were having brunch, Bryan ordered a mimosa (made with delicious, freshly squeezed orange juice) for $9.
Untitled
Biscuits & Jam was the first course, and it was fantastic. The biscuits were among the best I’ve ever had. They were warm, flaky, and perfectly crispy on the outside. On top? A lovely dollop of maldon honey butter. Yes, even though I’m sure the biscuit is already loaded with butter, it tasted even better slathered with this slightly sweet butter.

Yum.
Untitled
The homemade strawberry jam was delicious, not-too-sweet, and full of intense fruit flavors. This was also wonderful with the biscuit.
Untitled
The “Biscuits & Jam” trio also came with a bowl of freshly cut pineapples, oranges, and grapefruit. All of the fruit was great – sweet, juicy, and and very refreshing.
Untitled
The second course was a grilled Niman Ranch Beef skirt steak served alongside a soft scrambled hen egg topped with roasted pepper stew and grilled spring onions. I’ve made skirt steak before. I know it’s a tougher cut of meat that can be challenging to cook right. All of the elements of this dish (the steak, eggs, vegetables) were executed properly and enjoyable to eat. However, none of the flavors were really that unusual, and I was a bit underwhelmed. In the end, the entire plate was good, but not exactly that memorable.
Untitled
Similarly, the fried Russet potatoes were perfectly fried to a golden brown, but did not particularly impress me. I think I’ve had better home fries at cheap diners.
Untitled
Thankfully, I absolutely LOVED the rocky road ice cream sundae. This should come as a huge surprise to anyone who knows me because typically, I don’t really like marshmallows, and I hate nuts in my desserts! However, I love marcona almonds, and the candied marcona almonds worked beautifully in this dessert. I loved the dense crunch that they provided; plus the creamy chocolate ice cream was divine.

I thought I was stuffed, but we finished up that ice cream really, really quickly.
Untitled

Thoughts
In general, Ad Hoc is a fun place to visit. The ambiance is friendly, the food is solid, and the prices are reasonable. I found certain menu items (biscuits and ice cream) to be really special, while others (steak, eggs, vegetables) were a bit sleepy.  I think your experience will vary tremendously depending on which day you go. If you happen to go on a day when they have their buttermilk fried chicken, you just may think it’s one of the best things you’ve ever tasted in your entire life (or so I’ve heard).

I plan on returning, if nothing else just to try the fried chicken (which appears twice a month on Monday evenings and sometimes as “chicken and waffles” during brunch). You can also check out Addendum, his new take-out restaurant that only serves their fried chicken and BBQ chicken (not yet opened for the season when we were there in March).

Reservations were impossible to get via Opentable, but a breeze via the telephone. I think they just don’t make that many seats available online.

Ad Hoc
6476 Washington St
Yountville, CA 94599
Ad Hoc on Urbanspoon

©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: California, Napa Valley, Restaurant, Review Tagged With: American, New American

« Napa Valley Adventures (& a little bit of SF)
Bottega Ristorante »

Recent Posts

  • Arbor Hong Kong May 25, 2022
  • Mono Hong Kong May 23, 2022
  • Summer Palace Iconic Wine Lunch – Hong Kong April 29, 2022
  • Lucciola – Italian food at The Hari Hotel in Wan Chai March 22, 2022
  • Studio City by Cali-Mex Causeway Bay Hong Kong March 17, 2022
  • Petrus Hong Kong March 8, 2022
  • Ichiran Tonkotsu Ramen Hong Kong March 6, 2022
  • James Suckling Wine Central – Hong Kong March 2, 2022

Latest Chinese recipes!

Comments

  1. Bianca Garcia says

    April 18, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    I still haven’t been to any of Thomas Keller’s restaurants but I’d love to visit at least one some day! I also love biscuits and butter – the best I’ve had so far are the biscuits from Sweet Cheeks 🙂

    Log in to Reply
  2. Elina (Healthy and Sane) says

    April 18, 2012 at 5:17 pm

    We almost went there last time we were in Nappa Valley – I’ll have to make sure to add it on the list when we come back. I want that biscuit!! 🙂

    Log in to Reply
  3. Eric Isaac says

    April 18, 2012 at 6:24 pm

    cool place, right? I ate there 2 years ago and I’m still kicking myself today for not blogging it. I did, however, blog In-N-Out Burger! Congrats on the contest – i love the blog. I wish I could say I was pulling for you but… 😉

    Log in to Reply
  4. Eliza says

    April 19, 2012 at 12:28 am

     

    This
    is such a great blog post! I am so pleased it came out well! Appreciating
    the hard work you put into your site and detailed information you present. It’s awesome
    blog.

    http://all4payday.com

    Log in to Reply
  5. Eliza says

    April 19, 2012 at 12:30 am

    Wow! Cool! This is such a great idea.

    Sounds
    absolutely delicious! Always enjoy reading your blog.

    http://all4payday.com

    Log in to Reply
  6. Emma Mcgraw says

    November 1, 2012 at 11:23 am

    Had brunch here and loved it…. Thomas is the man

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Archives

Categories

Awards

Saveur
PFB

BostonGlobe

Most Recent Posts

Arbor Hong Kong

Arbor Hong Kong

Mono HK

Mono Hong Kong

Summer Palace Hong Kong Iconic Wine Lunch

Summer Palace Iconic Wine Lunch – Hong Kong

Lucciola The Hari Wan Chai

Lucciola – Italian food at The Hari Hotel in Wan Chai

beef quesadilla

Studio City by Cali-Mex Causeway Bay Hong Kong

Petrus Hong Kong

Petrus Hong Kong

Ichiran Hong Kong Ramen

Ichiran Tonkotsu Ramen Hong Kong

James Suckling Wine Central Hong Kong

James Suckling Wine Central – Hong Kong

Roganic Hong Kong

Birthday at Roganic Hong Kong

Caprice Hong Kong

Caprice Hong Kong – Four Seasons

France!

Restaurant Le George Paris
Yam'Tcha Paris
David Toutain Paris
Divellec Paris
Breizh Cafe Paris

Kawaii! (Cute)

Norway!

logo
Food Advertisements by

Chinese Recipes

Okra with Chicken
logo
Food Advertisements by

Shop & Support us!

Spain!

Girona Spain
Amelia San Sebastian

Japan!

Bulgari Il Ristorante Luca Fantin
Sukiyaki Imafuku Tokyo
Sushi Ishimaya Tokyo
Disney Sea Tokyo
Tempura Fukamachi Tokyo
Shinjuku Gyoen

Cambridge restaurants

logo
Food Advertisements by
Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress