Ad Hoc

I have wanted to try Ad Hoc‘s food since I learned about this one of a kind restaurant. Thomas Keller’s Yountville restaurant was initially supposed to be a temporary restaurant based on a prix fixe family-style menu. Today, the menu still stands, but its short-lived status does not, due to popular demand, the restaurant became a permanent fixture in the Napa restaurant scene.

Perhaps part of the reason for the restaurant’s popularity is its fried chicken, which has a cult following like none other. Fried chicken night is hard to catch (pun intended), as the chicken is made twice monthly and only on Monday nights. To date, I've been to Ad-Hoc 7-10 times and have experienced fried chicken night three times (but only once since I started writing this blog).

This night we started with a Baby Iceberg Lettuces Salad with marinated cucumbers, shaved radish, pickled red onion, haas avocado, nueske bacon crumbles, green goddess dressing. As always a great salad, it was well-balanced and light, a perfect start for the rest of the courses to follow.

But it was really nothing compared to our second course of Buttermilk Fried Chicken, which always tastes better than the last time. It is everything you ever want in fried chicken: crispy on the outside, with a substantial breading that put every other fried chicken crust to shame; moist, juicy and tender on the inside, yet cooked through and not greasy; meaty, with little to no bones; just seasoned and spicy enough and an Ad Hoc honey for dipping.

By the way, the couple next to me, finished their chicken and got a second helping. I should have done the same since it was so so so good!

After the chicken, we go our cheese plate Redwood Hill Farm’s Cameo, palladin toast, brooks cherry & red onion marmalade. As good as the cheese was, I was still thinking of the chicken (sorry cheese lovers).

We finished our amazing Ad-Hoc meal with Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting and Banana Nut with valhrona chocolate icing.

As always the best $49 per person meal you will ever enjoy (period).

8 oz Burger Bar

Chef Govind Armstrong has been a participant on Iron Chef and Top Chef Masters. Those accolades result in expectations for food quality and innovation. Unfortunately, 8oz Burger was a bit of a disappointment. Although the 8oz Burger was very good - it did not have any supporting cast members to help prop it up. The Sweet Potato Fries were so-so and the Fried Pickles lacked on flavor and texture. However, the biggest disappointment were the Mini Kobe Corn Dog appetizers - they came at the same time as the rest of the food and really tasted like plain mini corn dogs from the freezer section.

Not every restaurant needs to be amazing - its always good to know how good a place is - even it's a disappointment.

Real Food Daily

Real Food Daily is a vegetarian/vegan restaurant on Le Cienega in West Hollywood. Since I keep a "veggie 'till 6pm" lifestyle, I tend to try the veggie option in many restaurants or if I'm lucky a veggie restaurant. This time i hit the jackpot.

The restaurant's manager recommended his personal favorite - The Total Club (in a wrap) instead of the gluten-free sourdough bread. The wrap consists of seitan, tempah bacon, avocado, lettuce and tomato all wrapped up in a spinach wrap. It was delicious and very satisfying. All this was washed down with the Sweet Green juice (cucumber, celery, parsley, spinach and a 1/2 an apple).

In summary, it was damn healthy and damn satisfying.

The next day, we gave this place another spin. I never thought that you can make vegan nacho that can stand up to regular nachos. Nachos here are made with veggie black beans and cashew/jalapeño cheese - a delicious and probably a little healthier alternative to the real thing.

The Bazaar - Saam

The SLS Hotel is always an experience. If you've experienced Bazaar (see previous post) then you will definitely want to make the extra effort an try our Saam - known as the Bazaar Private Dinning Room. Saam is located behind Bar Centro in the Bazaar/SLS maze and would be hard to find if not escorted to by a Bazaar host. The menu consists of about 20 bite sized courses - all our special made for Saam or are small portions of Bazaar staples (e.g., liquid Mozzarella Balls). Jose Andres never ceases to amaze his patrons and Saam is just another example of his one of kind spectacular creations.

Our personal server and her team were one of the best I've ever had (on par with Per Se and French Laundry) and the experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity - I cant wait to go back!

Here's the list of items that we enjoyed:

1. Beet "Tumbleweed"

2. Olive Oil Bonbon

3. Bagel & Lox Steam Bun

4. Tuna Handroll 2009

5. Black Olive Ferran Adria

6. Jose's Combination

7. Boneless Coconut Thai Chicken Wing

8. Crispy Nigiri

9. Chipirones en su Tinta

10 Linguini and Clams

11. Japanese Baby Peaches

12. Hot & Cold Foie Soup with Corn

13. Norwegian Cigalas

14. Not Your Everyday Caprese

15. Kurobuta Pork Belly

16. Wagyu Pork Belly

17. Philly Cheesesteak

18. Dragon's Breath Popcorn

19. Rose Clementine

20. Lychee and Coffee

21. Sexy little Sweets

Providence

Providence in Los Angeles is 2009 two-star Michelin restaurant. From my experience, the two-star rating may not be noticeable in the food but it certainly is in the restaurants staff. The waiters are all very attentive and the front of the house was kind and very helpful.

We started it off with a little sampler from the kitchen. It included a trout concoction in a shot glass with these little crispy round balls, and wasabi marshmallow. Sounds interesting, but it was so scrumptious (and NOT fishy at all).

After that point, all our remaining items had black spring truffle incorporated into the dish. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy truffles but it seemed to be over used in these dishes and it took away from the mystic and allure of truffles. The Fois Gras Saute with rhubarb, pink grapefruit, and arugula was good but a little oily. Also, the Italian black spring truffles over risotto was good but a little too rich and creamy.

Although we did not order desert, our server brought over a few little sweet samples – the chocolate marshmallow was the most memorable and one I would seek out again.

Outstanding in the Field - Devils Gulch Ranch

Two days after experiencing Staffan Terje at Perbacco, we had the opportunity to experience his cooking at Outstanding in the Field at Devils Gulch Ranch in Nicasio, CA (Marin County). Treje is a returning chef to Outstanding and he knows his way around an outdoor temporary kitchen. For this meal, he has been able to find diverse and bucolic heirloom fruits and vegetables, heritage breed livestock, biodynamic wine, artisan cheeses, and local honey.

Before the meal even started, Chef Terje was gracious enough to let us help in the preparation of the meal. We did some of the basic activities such as slicing strawberries, using a sharp madonline to cut paper thin French radishes and hand shredding rabbit confit. We also were able to share a beer with the Perbacco Team (Carl and Jimmy) and learn about their passion for truly outstanding food.

Our meal was extraordinary! Here’s the breakdown:

We stared with the three different appetizers; the first was a crushed fresh pea with mint and Ricotta. The other two were with two spreadable salumi from Devil’s Gulch, both made from the farm’s hogs. Appetizers were served with a Pey Marin Riesling which complemented the appetizers.

Next came an amazing confit of rabbit from Devil’s Gulch (the same one we hand shred earlier in the afternoon) and grilled asparagus. Afterward, we had a truly amazing ricotta gnocchi (very similar to the one we had two nights earlier at Perbacco but slightly different). The gnocchi was beautifully light and airy; it was complemented with romps and wild mushrooms and paired with a Pey Marin 2007 Pinot Noir. The main course was slow-roasted pork from the Devil’s Gulch farm, served with artichokes and spring onion with olive-oil crushed potatoes.

The entire meal was phenomenal – great food, made of fresh ingredients and enjoyed in the field – it was indeed an outstanding in the field experience.

Perbacco

Perbacco is located in downtown urban SF and is adjacent to it’s sister restaurant Barbacco. The restaurant boasts a brick wall original to the historic building which it currently occupies. Perbacco co-owner and chef, Staffan Terje is Swedish but his focus on Italian cuisine has proven that you don’t need to be from Italy to make and serve sensational Italian food.

Chef Terje is known for the quality of his pastas, and rightly so. The ravioli filed ricotta and spinach with a farm egg , truffle butter, morels and fava beans is rich and delicious - especially when you realize that the egg yolk is flowing out of the ravioli as you take your first bite. My two favorite dishes are the Truffle-herb ricotta gnocchi with wild mushroom sugo and Tagliatelle served with a pork sugo and porcini mushrooms. Both were outstanding and were served as part of their Tris option where a tasting of three pastas is shared by the whole table.

Northstar Cafe

Northstar Cafe is located in the Short North district of Columbus Ohio. Northstar is a casual cafe which serves a few fabulous vegetarian and vegan options. The Buddha Bowl includes Pan seared organic tofu, long-grain organic brown rice with peanut sauce and bright veggies (broccoli and cabbage). The buddha bowl is a must-have for any vegan or vegetarian

Mesa Grill

Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill is located in Ceaser Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. Las Vegas has only in the last decade become a hotbed for foodies.Mesa Grill is known for their long margarita selection and southwestern flavors. Since we arrived at brunch time our menu had a large selection of brunch items. We started with the Pulled Tuna nachos. The Tuna was fresh and mixed in a chili based sauce the extracted great texture and flavors. For our main courses, we got the Egg Tostada and Ranchero dishes. Both hit the spot and were also accented with various chili-based sauces.