Ad Hoc

Hi again wincountrygirl,

Well, we're back from Ad Hoc and we were pleasantly surprised. The dinner menu last night began with a salad involving barley and pine nuts (great combo, BTW, so obvious, but I would never have thought of it), lollo rosa lettuce, and roasted squash, all in a vinaigrette with some dollops of seasoned "creme fraiche" on the side. It was tasty and seasonal (although what...+READ Hi again wincountrygirl,

Well, we're back from Ad Hoc and we were pleasantly surprised. The dinner menu last night began with a salad involving barley and pine nuts (great combo, BTW, so obvious, but I would never have thought of it), lollo rosa lettuce, and roasted squash, all in a vinaigrette with some dollops of seasoned "creme fraiche" on the side. It was tasty and seasonal (although what passes for creme fraiche in this country is pretty laughable after you've eaten the real thing across the pond) and went nicely with a glass of local Roederer bubbly. The main was a "catalan" beef stew: short ribs braised for 48 hours, braised fennel, leeks, olives and fingerling potatoes. We were surprised because I am not a big beef braise person, I like it (how could you not?), but I don't love it. Maybe I just haven't had a beef braise in a long time, but this was just lush. Perfect execution. Melt in your mouth short ribs (comparable to those of the short rib master Daniel Boulud). The leeks & fennel still showed some toothy resistance, which was perfect. The cheese was Cowgirl's Mt. Tam; always tasty. The desert was the low point for me, but acceptable: a genoise of some sort with poached peaches & pears and a dollop of riesling sabayon on the side: I wanted more sabayon, or maybe a big spoonful of high quality whipped cream on this slightly-too-dry dish.

We return tonight for the fried chicken. Apparently every other Monday is fried chicken night and the staff is pretty hypped up about it.

My biggest issue with the place is that the noise level is a bit high; I like to speak to my husband without having to raise my voice. Although I suppose most people like noisy restaurants since it seems to be the norm these days?

Overall I am going back, so I would recommend it. In my mind it represents quite a contrast to TFL or PerSe (been to both multiple times, I am a fan). The presentation isn't fussy, portions are big generous family style platter-fuls and the dishes themselves are remarkably soulful. I wouldn't have guessed this was a Keller restaurant.

Is it worth the $49 prix fix? Well, wine country is expensive, so given the location, I would say yup. It is popular so you need to reserve ahead. If you are willing to do non-peak hours like 5:45 or 6:15 then you can probably snag a table with a week or less notice.-COLLAPSE / REPLY (16 Replies) (by chickenluv, updated November 2, 2009)