Three Days in Napa – Part 3

(Earlier;  Part 1, Part 2)

We’d  drank some wine, eaten some great meals and even soaked in mud. There was only one thing left before returning to Vancouver. Eat at a Thomas Keller restaurant and we’d have punched every square of our “Napa Valley for Tourists Bingo Cards”.  I don’t make French laundry money so that was out of the question. Bouchon doesn’t do much for me. His newest venture Ad Hoc (coincidentally right next door to Redd where we’d had lunch the day before) open since  September 2006 was intriguing; a set menu served family style. The only reservation we could snag was Sunday at 9:00 P.M.

We made the drive  down from Calistoga to Yountville, a maybe half hour journey. In the decade since we were last in Napa, Yountville is really the only place that’s changed significantly. What was once a blur you blew by on Highway 29 is now the epicentre for posh dining and shopping. The town centre has been restored to almost Disney-like levels of polish, it may be a little too twee for some.

Arrived at the restaurant fifteen minutes before our reservation, the place was dead, maybe a quarter full. That’s kind of irritating. Looked at the evenings menu.

Grilled Tolenas Ranch Quail

bloomsdale spinach salad, duck liver mousse crostini
honey-glazed cipollini onions

Snake River Farm’s Kurobuta Pork Shortribs

wild mushroom fricassee, melted leek fondue
fingerling potatoes poached in sofrito

Tournevent Le Chevre Noir

slow roasted tomatoes
fried sunchoke chips

Citrus-Raspberry Gateau

fresh cream, champagne mango

$49

Looked pretty good to me. Ordered a bottle of Turley Zinfandel and we immediately had strike one, the bottle was warm. Strike one was followed by strike two in quick succession, the wine is served in tumblers. I like wine in tumblers, it’s got an easy casualness I appreciate, as long as I’m playing bocce in someones backyard, or having lunch at a truckstop along the autostrada in Italy, otherwise not so much, particularly when the bottle is setting me back sixty bucks. Wine quickly iced, proper glasses fetched, all was good. Then the food came. It was perfect. Easy confident bold cooking done with elegance and style, the platters looked like what home cooking should look like, but never does. Amazing. The duck liver mousse crostini was absolutely perfect, and was garnished with a huge dollop of mascarpone.

The entree suffered from inconsistent temperatures throughout the dish, a sin I readily forgave in light of how delicious it was. Cheese was superb (and from Quebec) and served in a portion that would make a sumo blanch. Dessert was…okay. The cake was generic Richmond Chinese bakery light and airy, if you were told it was bought at Yaohan you would not be surprised.

What a meal, perhaps the most enjoyable restaurant experience I’ve had since Au Pied Du Cochon in Montreal last summer, it was that good. It was so good that in spite of the faults I was ready to forgive all and prostate myself at the alter of Keller. I love not having choices to make, I’m here, now feed me and fed me well. The only way to improve it would be to be part of a large boisterous group of eight, the place is ideal for that.

And our trip was done. The biggest change I noticed in the valley from years ago was the lack of limo driven drunks on a day out of gulping indiscriminately. In fact most wineries now forbid limos and large groups without prior arrangement, and have cranked up the fees in the tasting rooms to the point that it’d be a very expensive way to overindulge. Rather a sense of calm has descended and you really get a personalized walk through a properties offerings. It overall a more civilized less raucous ordeal. Interesting aside, the employees in staffing rooms are generally commissioned salespeople, which totally makes sense when you think about it, it also explains why the push the extended warranty so hard on your purchase. Pours are generous to a fault, you actually drink wine opposed to swish a teaspoon around your mouth.

~KT