Ad Hoc: don’t think- just eat.
One of the beauties, and challenges, of the restaurant Ad Hoc is that you don’t have to think about the food. As a 4-course pre-set meal, you are afforded a menu that details what you will eat for the evening: salad course, main course, cheese course, dessert course. Jamie’s sister was in town and we decided to introduce her to what Ad Hoc had to offer. We began with a delicious salad that sat on top of a large triangular cracker. This has since become the inspiration for my new Nachos breakfast. With pears and persimmons, it was a great beginning to the meal. We moved onto the braised short ribs, which fell off the bone, with potatoes roasted long in the oven (crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside), with roasted carrots that had developed a nice sweetness during their time in the high heat. Our cheese course was simple, a french cow’s milk (sorry, I have forgotten the name already!), some honey, and candied nuts. Yummy. Our dessert, though excellent, was my least favorite part of the meal- a creamy orange cheesecake . It’s my fault, really, as I like my cheesecakes baked and with substance; some of the smoother, silkier cheesecakes don’t satisfy me as easily as the others. They feel too “fluffy” for me. As I said, personal preference. All in all, we still love this restaurant. And as I like to remind guests, look around the room and listen to the music- you’ll see heads bopping up and down to the tunes that range from the 50′s to present day, from the Beatles to Cold Play. It’s subtle, but it adds a really nice touch to the experience.