Ad Hoc Restaurant

Last night, I went with the Mountain View Cooking Club to Ad Hoc Restaurant in Napa Valley (Click for a Map). Ad hoc is a restaurant by Thomas Keller who also created what some consider the best restaurant in the country (also in Napa Valley), French Laundry, where a meal is $240/head.

Ad Hoc is also pricey, at $45/head. They serve only one menu choice which varies daily, although as we found out they do substitutions for allergies or whatnot. The menu is four courses, served family style where everyone serves themselves from a common container. Our menu consisted of an excellent vegetable soup with bacon(my favorite vegetable) and fried bread. We were then served a Chicken and Shrimp dish atop a bed of lentils, cooked and seasoned perfectly. The third course was a cheese course with a "flagship cheddar" that according to our waiter won 2nd place awards for cheddar. It was indeed the best cheddar I've ever tasted. The final course was a divine Smore with Chocolate Ice Cream. The graham cracker, the ice cream, the marshmallow were all made at Ad Hoc from raw ingredients. Very good. The cooking club is considering trying to recreate this last one.

The staff wears t-shirts and jeans, and while many of the patrons are dressed well, it seems like a casual dress is equally welcomed, I was wearing jeans. It was a comfortable atmosphere, loud, but not too loud, very friendly staff happy to talk at end about the food. A fairly small dining area, maybe 15 tables or so. All in all, it was quite a treat. A pricey treat and a bit of a drive, but still fun.