Thomas Keller Casual – Addendum and Ad-Hoc, Yountville

If there was a food mayor in Yountville, it would be Thomas Keller. Take a walk down Washington Street in Yountville and it would be near impossible not to walk past one of his establishments – French Laundry and the gardens, Bouchon, Ad Hoc or Addendum. We skipped French Laundry but headed to the more casual establishments – picnic lunch at Addendum and dinner at Ad Hoc.

 

Addendum


We were there for the labour day weekend – not the best time to go but we didn’t realise this till it was a little too late. Nonetheless, we made good of a potentially bad situation, braced ourselves for the crowds and tried to avoid traffic when possible. The upside of being there during this busy weekend was the Lobster Roll which was the labour day special at Addendum. The downside (and a very big downside) was that Addendum was crowded beyond belief. Tables were hard to come by, their order system crashed and so the food was a little slow coming out of the kitchen and our cookie order went missing.


 The food is ordered and confirmed in the small hut in the addendum area but it is good and in the Ad Hoc Kitchen and then hand delivered by food runners. When the finally food did arrive about 45 minutes later, it thankfully did arrive hot and it did delivery on being finger licking good.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken - Thick crispy crust and hot juicy chicken – it is very good fried chicken

Ad Hoc
If I lived in the area, I would probably dine here regularly. The menu changes daily for variety and seasonality, it is best for communal dining, you don’t have to get dressed up for it and the food is comforting and fantastic. The food is not fussy and it simply quality ingredients, straightforward flavours that are easily appreciated. At its core, it is just downright good cooking, well executed and properly seasoned.

The pre-fix menu is a standard four-course (currently $52) – salad, meat, cheese and dessert - with an optional additional daily special.

For our menu that day – 1 Sep 2013



Salad of little gems with smoked trout, English cucumber ribbons, scallion crème fraiche, picked red onions, crispy capers, the French laundry garden tomatoes and everything vinaigrette

Grilled chicken wings with Alabama white sauce

Braised beef short ribs
The ribs were rich and fatty and braised till they were extremely tender.

braised beef short ribs, charred corn and haricot verts in sage buerre sauce, crispy spiced marble potatoes, Jacobsen orchard figs and red wine beef jus



Harbison cheese -
A cow’s cheese that has an herbal and sweet flavour, served with black pepper flatbread and honey mustard.

Blueberry cobbler ice cream sundaes

Addendum and Ad Hoc
6476 Washington Street
Yountville, Californi

Thomas Keller's Creamed Corn

For Christmas this year I chocked up a lot of cooking time. Half of the cooking was really planning. The planning is a fun process of reading through my cookbooks and flagging recipes and then running through the list of shortlisted recipes to see what is really feasible in the cooking time. One of the real winning recipes that I found this Christmas was Thomas Keller’s creamed corn from Ad Hoc at Home.

This recipe is really good. It is very simple and the flavours are divine. The cream and butter makes the creamed corn luscious and the pinch of cayenne pepper makes the dish pop with a gentle at the end. I loved it and the people I served it too loved it too – I’ve made this three times in five days! I’ve also made a ‘variation’ of it out of necessity, substituting calamansi for lime and I prefer it with latter.



Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home Creamed Corn Recipe
6 corn, shucked
1 large lime or 6 to 8 calamansi
2-3 tablespoons butter, unsalted
Salt
¾ to 1 cup heavy cream
A pinch of cayenne
Finely chopped chives

Directions
1. With a sharp knife, cut vertically down each ear of corn to slice off the kernels. Put the kernels in a large bowl, then hold each cop over the bowl and use a spoon or the back of a knife to scrape any remaining corn and the milk from the cob.
2. Grate the zest of the lime, preferably with a microplane grater; set aside. Cut the lime in half.
3. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the corn, squeeze about 1 tablespoon of the lime juice, or to taste, over the corn, and season with salt.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until all of the liquid has evaporated, concentrating the flavour, and the corn is beginning to sizzle, 15 to 17 minutes.
5. Stir in ¾ cup cream, the cayenne, and lime zest. Continue to cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the cream is absorbed by the corn. Add up to ¼ cup more cream if desired for a creamier texture. Add salt to taste and stir in the chives.