Out to Eat: Ad Hoc, Yountville

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.

Look! A wood fired oven outside.

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

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

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!

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

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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?

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

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!

For temporary relief from hunger, check out Ad Hoc!

Ad Hoc