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August 11, 2011

Out to Eat: Ad Hoc, Yountville

the menu

Earlier this week I showed you our pictures from The French Laundry and today I’m gonna give you a sneak peak of our Brunch at Ad Hoc (another EXCELLENT Thomas Keller restaurant in Yountville). We’ve been to Ad Hoc three times now and I think this particular menu has been my FAVORITE! Here’s the deal about Ad Hoc– everyday they post a new menu and you get exactly what they serve! It’s family style. As in, they bring enough food for your party and you dish it out on your own plates. Three courses for $34 a person (for Brunch) was music to my ears after our fancy pants dinner at The French Laundry. The cool part is that you can get second helpings if you want! The portions are always plenty for the two of us so we’ve never asked, but I’m pretty sure I know a few people who would!

We arrived to the restaurant a bit early so we stopped by their amazing garden in the back to have a look.

the garden

Look! A wood fired oven outside.

restrooms & a pizza oven

Here are the Merlin Beets. They’re wizards in training! I love how they have pretty markers on all of their vegetables.

beets!

Get a load of these TOMATOES!! I mean, REALLY? I’m so envious. Mine are pitiful compared to theirs!

look at those tomatoes!

In the back there’s a new little stand called Addendum. It’s their TO-GO section with picnic tables.

It was closed on Sunday, but I love this idea! A Thomas Keller picnic to go!

TO GO

And lettuce…beautiful lettuce. What a bounty! We also saw tons of mint, watermelons, zucchini & herbs.

lettuce!

Let’s talk about our meal! I ordered a Blackberry & Strawberry Sangria right off the bat!

It was tasty and hit the spot on that warm afternoon. Casey brought a bottle of wine for us to share as well.

blackberry & strawberry sangria

Here’s our first course:

Garden Cucumber & Melon Salad with radishes & whipped creme fraiche with a watercress dressing.

It was served in a All Clad roasting pan. How neat! The colors were amazing and the flavors were stellar!

melon salad

Here’s my plate of that…The melon was out of this world!

melon salad

And here’s the main course!

SKIRT STEAK & EGGS!! AND GRITS!!! Mushrooms & tomatoes were invited to the party as well!

More All Clad pans! Soo fancy.

YUM!!

I told the waiter that this would TOTALLY be my last meal on death row. That egg on the brioche! I die.

The meat was perfectly cooked and so amazingly tender. I was in heaven.

steak & eggs

And finally….DESSERT!! The words Peach Tart don’t do this justice.

It was AH-mazing. Juicy peaches rested on top puff pastry!

There’s a streusel topping with nuts, vanilla whipped cream & CARAMEL. Crazy, right?

peach tart

And here’s a copy of our bill…so reasonable! So cute!

the check!

This was my last big meal before I started pre-cleansing for the Blue Print juice cleanse I’m on now.

Go out with a bang, I say!

ad hoc

For temporary relief from hunger, check out Ad Hoc!

Ad Hoc

6476 Washington Street
Yountville, CA 94599
t : 707.944.2487
f : 707.944.2275
  • Janet

    Um, yes, please. I must go here! If you feel like going again, let’s get the girls together and do it!

  • Kristina @ spabettie

    we LOVE ad hoc… and walking through the gardens out back. everything looks amazing, great choice for a last hurrah before a juice fast (I’m on one right now!).

  • Rhi

    We’re going to Napa for my husband and his twin’s 40th birthday in September and we have reservations at ad hoc! This makes me sooo excited. (also, we’re on the waiting list at French Laundry. FINGERS CROSSED!)

  • Katrina

    This place looks awesome!

  • brownsugarandbacon

    i just posted my kind of bucket list- all the places i want to eat at. ad hoc, bouchon and french laundry are all on the list. you lucky girl, you.

  • brownsugarandbacon

    and i would for sure want to wear my eating pants to all his restaurants, but eating pants aren’t fancy. you think they make fancy eating pants???

  • Vanessa

    You’re killing me with these amazing dining experiences. Looks so delicious.

  • heather @ chiknpastry

    I’m curious how the blue print cleanse pans out. I did a 1 day cleanse from Juice to You in SF and it was pretty good although i’m not sure if i can hang with doing it for three days. did you follow all the before cleanse rules too? i think that’s the hardest!

    I haven’t been to Ad Hoc before, but I LOVED The French Laundry and I have Ad Hoc at Home, which is a-mazing. I blogged about the fried chicken in there and now that I think of it, i’m gonna make it again real soon, and break out that cookbook from the shelf :).

    • Tracy

      Pre cleanse wasn’t so bad! I think I ate enough food this past weekend to keep me running for a week! Haha. One more day left! Wish me luck!

  • Zoe (Bite This)

    Tracy-

    Let us know how it goes! Erik and I are prepping for a 15 day juice fast (Reboot Program) once we get settled into our new place. We’re stoked (and scared)…ha!!

    We watched the movie Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (I know, sounds horrible!!) – but it was really good…inspired us! (although we aren’t fat sick or nearly dead, we’re really interested on how it’ll make us feel…hopefully good!!)

    Keep us posted. I’m totally intrigued….and why are you doing it? Is it a regular thing?

    Happy juicing!!

  • Ioana

    Hi Tracy,

    I just wanted to tell you that I read your blog almost every day and I love it! Thanks for sharing all these amazing restaurants, that unfortunately are too far for me to visit. Thanks for the great recipes too 🙂

  • Susan

    Good Golly!! I need to go here!! You have sealed the deal. I must go to Yountville. MUST!

  • lynn @ the actor's diet

    those eggs are porn on a plate. they really look like a (classy) playboy centerfold.

  • Morgan

    Are you trying to make all us East-coasters insanely jealous? Because it’s working! I can’t believe you hit TFL and Ad Hoc all in one trip! Sadly, for now, I’ll have to survive on my Ad Hoc cookbook alone.

  • Julie @BananasforBourbon

    Amazing! I’ve been to Napa twice in the last 2 years, but it’s always only for the weekend, and I’ve never been able to make it to Ad Hoc, though both years I wanted to!!! Now I *really* want to go. 🙂 Thanks for photos because you’re totally right, the menu description doesn’t do the food justice. Just wow…

  • Dana

    We thought about going to Ad Hoc for dinner when we were down there in May but weren’t sure they would be able to accommodate me. Next time I’m going for sure, even if I have to go into the kitchen and make myself dinner. This looks incredible! Are those grits?? Swoon!

    • Tracy

      They will! They ask for any dietary restrictions the second you sit down and they’re happy to oblige! Yes! They’re grits!! They were sooooo heavenly!

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