i know we're very priviledged to have thomas keller so close, attending to our dining needs. the french laundry experience(dinner)is as close to a grand old european dining experience as you'll ever have. what takes it to another place is that it's been re-imagined by an american sensibility & supplied by california produce.
beyond the french laundry, keller has also given us bouchon, his take on a french brasserie. i've never had a bad moment at bouchon. ann ranks it up there w/the best of the best meals she's ever had. it's definitely way up there for me too. we just had another excellent lunch there on our ill-fated day trip up to napa(another flat tire). the meal took a little of the sting out of a mostly wasted stressful day.
ann had a goat cheese salad & their justly famous french fries. i, on the other hand, pigged out. meat, meat, & more meat. my appetizer was rabbit rillettes w/a fava bean salad(rillettes: slow cooked meat from whatever animal held together w/rendered fat, breaded & fried). my entree, "joue et epaule de porc," was braised pork cheeks w/pork shoulder rillettes, du puy lentils, young leeks, shallots, frisee & pork jus. both were fabulous, rich but not too rich that i felt comatose.
as we were waiting to order, the young restaurant manager came up to me. "excuse me but i noticed the t-shirt you were wearing," he said. i'd chosen my jerry's drive-in shirt w/the giant pink pig & "fried chicken gizzards" emblazoned across the back. "ah, you know jerry's drive-in?," i asked as if we were talking about michel bras' restaurant in laguiole. "i've eaten there many many times," he replied, "i'm from p'cola." he'd worked for chan("quite a piece of work, that guy") back there & came out to napa to seek his fame & fortune w/mr. keller. he was even a fried gizzard fan. amazing. he'd been to the outrigger as a kid but we didn't seem to have any folks in common("o yeah, you're the short little fucker w/glasses"). still, what a moment to have in napa.
all this is to say that i've always been completely satisfied when i've been hosted by the establishments of thomas keller. i haven't been to his new place, ad hoc, & probably won't go. this is supposed to be his "economical" place: simple food, cheaper prices. michael wrote about his meal there a while back. he had lunch. this breakfast menu is new. they just started offering breakfast. judging from the price(&24)for oatmeal or bacon & eggs, it's hard for me to imagine they'll be offering it in this form for long. on the other hand, it is keller & that's my complaint: there's a good chance people will pay this(even for breakfast)because they can't afford or can't get into the french laundry but still want a tourist-y moment w/keller. keller hasn't been known for gouging his clientele but this is getting pretty damned close. i don't want to sound like vincent vega("a $5 milkshake????) here but a $24 waffle is just silly. i guess they could claim that you're paying for being in napa(these prices are exactly TWICE what you'd pay for excellent food at bette's oceanfront diner in berkeley). maybe so but not me. i'll settle for bouchon or martini house or cindy's backstreet diner or ralph's or downtown bakery when i'm up that way. & i'll have my corned beef hash at bette's.
welcome to
Breakfast at ad hoc
Bouchon Breakfast Pastries
blood orange vanilla jam, blueberry marmalade honey butter
Pineapple Yogurt Parfait
With Spring Fruit Salad
Classic American
two eggs any style, scallion potato cakes
fatted calf breakfast sausage & slab bacon
or
Sourdough Waffles
maple syrup, apple compote, whipped cream
fatted calf breakfast sausage & slab bacon
or
Anson Mills Stone Cut Oatmeal
brown sugar, marshall’s farm honey
spiced apricots and raisins
or
Corned Beef Hash
Snake river farms corned beef brisket,
yukon gold potatoes, poached hen eggs
$24
directly across the street from the french laundry, the produce gardens for keller's yountville restaurants. quite a view.
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