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The House restaurant in San Francisco is closing permanently

What a sad day for us — and what a tragic loss for San Francisco…. one of my very favorite restaurants anywhere has just announced that it is closing for good.

The House, a sensational Asian-fusion restaurant, on Grant Ave., on the edge of North Beach and Chinatown, was forced to shutter months ago due to the coronavirus pandemic and the owners cannot justify hanging on until dining inside a restaurant in San Francisco, at full capacity, is re-permitted.

 

My favorite sandwich anywhere - The House's 

brilliant Ahi-Tuna BLT

 

We are sad, sad, sad…. I have written numerous times that the Ahi Tuna BLT here is my favorite sandwich ever… if they gave out awards like the Oscars, or Tonys, or Emmys  for sensational restaurants — The House would have walked away with dozens of statues over its 26 years of keen devotion to serving tasty, original, memorable dishes. 

 

One of the tastiest appetizer's in any San Francisco 

restaurant -- the Salmon Roll, created by chef/owner  Larry Tse

 

The House proved that Asian fusion fare doesn’t have to be con-Fusion… they created so many memorable, tasty, harmonious, Asian-inspired dishes with local San Francisco ingredients that I treated visits to The House as though I were making a pilgrimage to Mecca. It was that special and meaningful.   

 

RIP The House. We loved you.

 

Spatchcock Chicken – My Favorite New Recipe

Like so many families mandated to stay at home to side-step the coronavirus, we have taken the time to perfect old family recipes and try new ones.

What else is there to do after you’ve seen every movie on Netflix?

As I am married to a sensational home cook, I am a lucky person, indeed. One of the dishes Carol perfected during our home quarantine has become one of my favorite-ever chicken dishes. I urge you to try it.

The official name for this dish is Spatchcock Chicken. But as the backbone is removed and the chicken splayed out flat, the bird starts to resemble one of the inkblot images in tests, which psychologists sometimes use.

As such, my nickname for this flattened chicken is Rorschach Chicken.

“Spatchcock” is 17th century shorthand for “dispatching the cock,” a reference to opening the chicken carcass in order to cook it. 

By removing the backbone, you can split the chicken and flatten it out. As such, the chicken cooks much faster than if roasted whole.

Also, by removing the backbone, you can get under the skin and more easily add herbs to flavor the bird.

If you are squeamish about removing the backbone yourself, buy a whole chicken and ask your butcher to remove the backbone.

I served a balanced, elegant, Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley, in Oregon, to complement this dish.

But during our quarantine, I also paired it with a 2010 Brunello from Montalcino, Italy, and on another occasion with a 2009 Chateauneuf-du-Pape from the southern Rhone in France, and once I paired it with an elegant 2011 Napa Valley Cabernet… and loved the pairing each time.

Here is Carol’s recipe. Have fun cooking, have fun eating and drinking, and then, as they say in these times of coronavirus… don’t forget to wash your hands!

 

Carol's Brined and Roasted Spatchcock Chicken

Although I love cooking whole roasted chicken, I’ve recently taken to cooking this spatchcock recipe. It’s a fun change, quicker to cook than a whole chicken and it’s delicious.

If time permits, buy or thaw your chicken one or two days before you plan to cook it. This way you’ll have time to dry-brine the chicken before you prep and roast it.

You can either have your butcher spatchcock your chicken, or do it yourself by cutting out the backbone with a sturdy kitchen or poultry shears. It’s actually very quick and easy to do.

 

1      good quality whole chicken (about 4 to 5 lb), spatchcocked

        Kosher salt

        Several sprigs fresh thyme

        Several sprigs fresh rosemary

        Grated rind of one lemon (optional)

        Freshly ground pepper

        Extra-virgin olive oil

Wipe chicken with damp cloth or paper towel and pat dry.

Sprinkle liberally all over with salt (about 1 tbsp or a bit more) and, if desired, a spoonful or two of chopped fresh thyme and/or rosemary. If desired, you can also add the finely grated rind of one lemon to the mix.

Place chicken in a heavy Ziplock bag, seal well and place in fridge for one or two days, turning bag once or twice.

On the day you plan to cook the chicken, remove it from the bag and place uncovered on a rack on a sheet pan or in a baking dish. Do not wipe off herbs or lemon rind. Return to fridge for several hours to dry the bird.

Remove from fridge and let warm to room temperature.

Remove the leaves from remaining thyme and/or rosemary and chop fine. Place in small bowl. Mix in a very small amount of salt (not too much as chicken has been salt brined already) and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Place chicken, breast side up, on work surface. (I often place a clean kitchen towel on my counter or cutting board to do this.)

Then, very carefully, use your fingers to loosen the skin over most of the breast (do not detach skin at bottom of breast). As well, try to loosen some of the skin over the thighs and legs. Using your hands or a small spoon, place some or all of the herb mixture under the skin and distribute as evenly and carefully as possible.

Drizzle a few spoonfuls of olive oil on the top of the chicken and use your hands to rub it all over the bird, top and bottom.

Then place chicken, skin side up, on rack over roasting pan or sheet pan. If you have any chopped herbs left over, sprinkle on top of chicken. Then place pan in middle of preheated 350F oven.

Roast for about an hour or longer, basting periodically, until golden brown and juices runs clear when thigh is pierced.

Remove from oven and let cool 10 to 15 minutes.

Then cut up and serve.

Makes about 4 servings.

Coombsville – Proof that you can be Nostalgic about the Present!

Attention passengers! We are now entering the tiny, grape-growing region of Napa Valley known as Coombsville, a somewhat hilly, bucolic region, dotted with small family wineries producing wonderful wine.

Population: Who knows?

Typical Coombsville vineyards

While five million visitors annually charge into Napa Valley, seeking cult wines in Rutherford, Oakville, Stag’s Leap District and other growing areas, almost no one visits the wineries in the sleepy old Coombsville corridor, at the southeast corner of Napa Valley.

(There are 16 designated American Viticultural Areas, or AVAs, within Napa Valley, identified as having site-specific, geographically defined, soil and microclimatic traits. Coombsville is the newest such region, gaining AVA status in 2011.)

Visitors! Show some respect!

The town of Napa might have been called Coombsville, as the founder of the town was a land developer named Nathan Coombs. In 1848, he created what was then – and still is – the largest city in our valley. Only he chose to call it Napa, instead of after himself.

Good idea, Nate! How popular would this place ever have become if tourists aimed to visit Coombs Valley, CA?

Coombsville, the wine region, is small, representing an area of 11,075 acres, of which 1,400 are today planted with grapes.

Writers assembled yesterday on the crush pad at Covert Estate to learn about the Coombsville wine-producing region.

In an effort to promote the grapes and wines of 52 members in the Coombsville Vintners & Growers Association, the group hosted its first-ever press/publicity event yesterday.

A tasting panel of wine writers assembled yesterday to be introduced to the wines of the Coombsville.

About a dozen guests were invited to Covert Estate, a new facility owned by Julien and Elan Fayard.

Julien Fayard. His 2012 Covert Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, tasted at yesterday’s press event, was magnificent.

Although born in France, Julien fell in love with Napa Valley and “specifically with Coombsville. I love the rustic nature of this area and the soil and climate are ideal for producing superb wines,” says the wine-maker.

Here’s what you need to know about Coombsville wines:

The only way to think about this tiny, perfect little area, dotted with small, mom-and-pop wineries is to think about diamonds.

You know how, when you see a gorgeous diamond ring on the finger of a pretty woman, your eye catches – and focuses on – the large emerald-cut diamond at the center of the ring. Your eye rarely registers two perfect, smaller baguette-cut diamonds mounted on either side of the center stone. But they’re there and they are, on their own, each gorgeous, precious, and delightful.

Well, the same is true of Coombsville wines; they are the shiny, gorgeous, precious and delightful wines on either side of the big stones – Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena – but on their own, they are themselves brilliant!

In fact, there are such great grapes grown here that, for decades, much of Coombsville’s best fruit found its way into heralded wines made at Robert Mondavi, Joseph Phelps, Far Niente, Pahlmeyer, Randy Dunn, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and Kongsgaard.

Writers convened in a small ante-room at Covert Estate yesterday. On the right is illustrious wine writer, and natural contrarian, Dan Berger, whose writing and thoughts I much admire.

The assembled guests were given 11 wines to taste, to get an understanding about the richness, complexity and balance of wines from the AVA.

My favorite wine of the tasting.

While all the wines were delicious, and while I scored them all between 91 and 95 points, my two favorites of the event were the Scalon and Covert.

The 2013 Scalon Cabernet Sauvignon drew four exclamation marks out of me, punctuating my notes. I loved the soft, sweet, sensual fruit, both on the nose and palate; I thought the wine was harmonious, elegant and at a suggested retail of $85, quite a steal.

I scored the Scalon 95 points and noted that wine writer Allen Balik, sitting to my left, rated the wine his top favorite of the flight, too.

Interested in obtaining some of this nectar? There were only 146 cases... and you will have to fight over the remaining 145, because napaman intends to get one before you!

To visit the winery, or purchase wine, go to scaloncellars.com, or call the winery at 707-666-2245.

I was also partial to the 2012 Covert Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, of which there are 350 cases.

I noted a wonderfully original hint of sour cherry at the core of a medley of red flavors; I loved the balance and finish, and scored the wine 93 points.

To visit the winery, go to covertestate.com, or call Julien at 707-812-4202.

Covert Estate vineyards

Entrance to the chai, or aging cellars, at Covert Estate

Go to coombsvillenapa.org to learn more about Coombsville area wines and to help you plan some off-road, appointment-only, winery visits in a part of Napa Valley that is what the valley used to be like before the California wine rush started – simple, tasty, understated.

Frank Sinatra Sang it Best….

“… Now the days grow short… I’m in the Autumn of the Year….”

    

Here in wine country, autumn is a particular season for reflection; we think of great wines past, and of the vintage we’ve just put into barrel.

Fall is the most colorful time of year. Once the fruit has been picked, the leaves on the vines turn bright gold before they lose luster and fall off.

Rather than fill your head with ideas, news, or concepts in this posting, let me fill your eyes with beauty.

Here are shots taken over the last seven days in Rutherford, Oakville and Calistoga, in Napa Valley, and in Dry Creek, Sonoma County.

Pax…. and now the Pix.

 

  

  

Model Bakery - One of Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions

  

St. Helena, a small community of 6,000 souls, is a one-main-street, two-block town, proud of its past, and insecure about its future.

While local townships boosted their public room occupancy and encouraged tourism, St. Helena, for a long time, went against the grain, even fought it. Town fathers reveled in the past and just haven’t wanted to do much about the present, or the future.

Town ordinances prevent the arrival of chain restaurants, or large department stores, and Main Street businesses must be owned by locals.

The upside of this finger-in-the-dike mentality has meant that small local businesses thrive, often delivering food, products, or services, which are better than what you’ll find in many large urban American cities.

Take The Model Bakery for example. It’s an original, modest, locally owned bakery, producing breads that rival the best artisanal breads made in America.

The bakery has been part of the St. Helena scene for more than 80 years. Bakers today still use the original brick ovens built by Italian masons in the early 1920s.

This year, The Model Bakery celebrated its 25^th anniversary of ownership by the Mitchell family.

Like everything in St. Helena, The Model Bakery has an old-time feel. All the breads, pastries and cakes are baked by a team of dedicated, trained bakers who are supervised by the owners, a dynamic mother and  daughter duo.

Karen Mitchell, is the mom, and her daughter is Sarah and together they oversee the production of wonderful, rustic loaves, and fancy pastries, too. I love their sourdough breads, including a Pain au Levain, which gives Acme’s superb Pain au Levain, a run for its money. I love their batards, too, as well as their morning pastries, sticky buns included.

Karen says that the most requested baked items are iced cookies, made for special holidays and occasions.

“We make 50,000 of these cookies by hand each year,” she says. “ This means that over 25 years, we’ve made more than 1.25 million of these cookies – and every single one of them was made on premises, by hand, and by a local!”

They serve Peet’s coffee at Model Bakery, and serve a pizza-of-the-day and delicious garden salads for lunch.

There’s now a second location of The Model Bakery – adjacent to the Oxbow Public Market in downtown Napa – but a visit to the valley is not complete without at least one visit, or one breakfast, to The Model Bakery in St. Helena.

Model Bakery, 1357 Main St., St. Helena, CA, 94574. Tel. 707-963-8192, or learn more at www.themodelbakery.com.

Local Color, a regular feature of napaman.com, is illustrated by Lisa Livoni, one of Napa Valley’s most talented watercolorists. For reprint permission, or to obtain copies of this, or any other Local Color image, please contact [email protected]. 

In many respects, this series could be called Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions. These are the places I send family and friends, and which I personally endorse as being the Best of the Best of Napa Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Mondavi Winery - One of Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions

 

The Robert Mondavi Winery, in Oakville, is still the Go-To winery for first-time Napa Valley visitors due to its thoroughly enjoyable, totally informative, educational, primer tour.

Mondavi puts the entire wine-making experience into a context like no other winery in the valley through its Signature Tour, a 75-minute, $25/person tour, which follows the path of the grape from vineyard to bottle.

The tour, offered seven days a week, leaves hourly, from 10 am to 4 pm, from beneath the main winery archway, and ends with a sit-down tasting of three wines. Reservations are  highly recommended, especially in summer months, as tour groups are limited to 15 people.

In the 42 years since tours were first offered here by patriarch Bob Mondavi, literally millions of visitors have passed beneath the winery’s Mission-style arch, in search of knowledge – and, it goes without saying, great wine, too.

Which is why I send all first-time Napa Valley visitors – friends and family -- to Mondavi  to take the Signature Tour. And in 12 years, not one has come back disappointed.

Yes, there are wineries in Napa Valley whose settings my be more resplendent, or which hang off the edge of a cliff, or which were designed by a celebrity architect, or which have a darker, bigger, deeper cellar… but not one of them offers a better, more informative, tour.

For reservations, call 1-888-RMONDAVI, or get details at www.robertmondaviwinery.com.The winery is at 7801 St. Helena Highway, Oakville, CA 94562.

Local Color, a regular feature of napaman.com, is illustrated by Lisa Livoni, one of Napa Valley’s most talented watercolorists.

For reprint permission, or to obtain copies of this, or any other Local Color image, please contact [email protected].

In many respects, this series could be called Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions. These are the places I send family and friends, and which I personally endorse as being the Best of the Best of Napa Valley.

 

Oakville Grocery - One of Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions

How do they get so much stuff – and so many people – into such a small space?

Since the early 1880’s, Oakville Grocery has been a pitstop for weary travelers and hungry neighbors. The store, on the corner of Oakville Crossroad and Highway 29, is a “grocery” the way an Apple retail location is a hardware store. Which is to say hardly at all.

When I lived in Canada in the mid 1980s, I made a point of visiting Oakville Grocery to get new product ideas for a line of food products I was developing. In those heady, early-foodie-days, Oakville Grocery was light-years ahead of other retailers in America, offering gourmet products – sauces, syrups, pretzels, pickles, olives, cooking ingredients – which you couldn’t find elsewhere.

In the late 1990s, during the dot-com boom, and before the bust, some 3,000 people would cram into Oakville Grocery on a summer Saturday. Into an 800-square-foot space! You had to go outside to get enough space to lift your elbows to be able to put your hand in your pocket to pay for the exotic sandwiches, or olives, or wine, you wanted to buy.

Times have changed; the throngs are thinner and the present owner, Leslie Rudd (of Rudd Vineyards) is trying to reshape the mix of products at this venerable food shop. His issue: How does he make it different from the other food emporium he owns just up the road, Dean & DeLuca?

For as long as I can remember, locals have been stopping and shopping at Oakville Grocery. Naturally, we cherish the quieter, off-hours, when the store is relatively calm. My fondest memories include the numerous times that I’d be in the store getting a coffee and one of the incredible chocolate-cherry cookies, and Bob Mondavi would come sailing up to the store in his car, leave the motor running and his door aflappin’, he’d amble in, and order “my regular!”

There are bigger food stores in Napa Valley (Whole Foods), there are cheekier food stores in Napa Valley (Trader Joe’s), there are superior food stores in Napa Valley (Sunshines Food Market), there are sexier food stores in Napa Valley (Dean & DeLuca), but there is only one classic, vintage, must-experience food store for visitors in Napa Valley  -- and you’re looking at it above (illustration by Lisa Livoni) – Oakville Grocery.

Oakville Grocery, 7856 St. Helena Highway,
Oakville, CA 94562
. Tel: 707)-944-8802.

The espresso bar opens at 7 am daily. The store is open 8 - 6 pm daily.

Local Color, a regular feature of napaman.com, is illustrated by Lisa Livoni, one of Napa Valley’s most talented watercolorists.

For reprint permission, or to obtain copies of this, or any other Local Color image, please contact [email protected].

In many respects, this series could be called Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions. These are the places I send family and friends, and which I personally endorse as being the Best of the Best of Napa Valley.

Bounty Hunter – One of Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions

There is something larger than life about Mark Pope, a.k.a. The Bounty Hunter.

The guy exudes self-confidence, knowledge, and has a palpable passion for life, especially for wine, kayaking, and the Old West.

In many ways, his wine catalogue business and his wine bar, in Napa town, are simply extensions of himself – for others to enjoy.

About Mark’s “Bounty Hunter Smokin’ BBQ and Wine Bar:” I name it every time friends, or friends-of-friends, email, seeking guidance for my list of “the Best Places to Eat in Napa Valley.”

It’s one of those special places – a small room packing a large wallop of good cheer, good food and a good time.

To say the Old West enthralls Mark is an understatement. He once ran a dude ranch in New Mexico; he collects Remingtons – the art kind and the rifle kind – and has a home on the Missouri River in Montana, which, he’s proud to remind you, Lewis and Clark once paddled by.

Mark has turned a fascination with frontier lore into a thriving business; at his wine bar, you can sit on a real western saddle that has been fashioned into a barstool. The place is old-west dark wood, filled with saloon curios and stuffed animals. Oh yeah, and don’t forget that it’s also spilling over with great food and great wine, too. 

Choose from 400 wines displayed on the wall, many offered by the glass with a clever marketing pitch; if you like the wine you've ordered and decide to buy a fresh bottle to take home, the price of your by-the-glass wine will be discounted.

In addition to selling cult wines, the Bounty Hunter has developed nine of his own brands, each offering a wine with better value than the nationally branded equivalent. The names of these wines are so evocative of the Old West, and the labels so expertly designed, that you will want to order them as objects d’art. Broken Spur, Tin Star, Pursuit, and Justice are but four of the nine in-house cowboy wines.

Among menu selections, beer-can chicken is the hands-down MUST-TRY, called “the best chicken in the Bay-area,” by San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer.

This is a moist, deliciously spiced, whole chicken that is roasted “standing up,” (on a metal wire stand) with an opened Tecate beer can inserted into the cavity. As the chicken roasts, the beer naturally steams the insides of the chicken, adding a moistness to the meat that you have never experienced in a restaurant chicken.

Let me sing the praises, too, of the pulled pork, the shredded, barbecued brisket and the St. Louis-style barbecued pork ribs, served with a trio of house-made barbecue sauces and a terrific house-made coleslaw.

Over the course of the next year, the wine bar will morph into a space three times the existing size as Mark has acquired the building next door; look for some striking architectural changes to the wine bar, inside and out. In the meantime, it’s business as usual… “for the roundup of usual suspects.” Of which you should be one.

Bounty Hunter Smokin’ BBQ and Wine Bar, 975 1^st St., Napa. CA 94559. Tel: 707-226-3976 or check out www.bountyhunterwinebar.com. Open seven days a week, Sunday through Thursday 11 am to 10 pm, Friday and Saturday 11 am to midnight. No reservations.

Local Color, a regular feature of napaman.com, is illustrated by Lisa Livoni, one of Napa Valley’s most talented watercolorists.

For reprint permission, or to obtain copies of this, or any other Local Color image, please contact [email protected].

In many respects, this series could be called Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions. These are the places I send family and friends, and which I personally endorse as being the Best of the Best of Napa Valley.

Taylor's Refresher - One of Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions

Think inside the bun!

 That’s what Taylor’s Refresher, in St. Helena, makes you do – think about what you are going to put in that airy, egg-y bun.

Is it going to be a juicy grilled hamburger, the one that wine–writer Robert Parker called one of the best in America, or is it going to be that memorable ahi tuna sandwich, napped with the house’s famous secret sauce.

“House” is a bit of a misnomer because “house” suggests you are “inside” a building. At Taylor’s original location, in St. Helena, you can only eat outside, because that’s where all the picnic tables are, though a few are covered.

We send all our visiting friends and relatives to Taylor’s for at least one lunch and I admonish them NOT to return to our home if they fail to order one of Taylor’s outstanding milkshakes, large enough, by the way, for two to share.

My favorite milkshake has always been “espresso bean,” but many friends return to our home, raving about the chocolate, chocolate mint, or vanilla versions. I guess, at heart, everyone’s a milkshake maven.

Taylor’s Refresher has been dishing out grilled burgers since it opened in 1949, but it only went from a modest local hangout to a seriously popular tourist attraction and mini-chain after the Gott family bought the business about ten years ago.

There are now satellite stalls in Napa town and in the Ferry Building, in San Francisco. But be forewarned: the line-ups at these locations aren’t any shorter – so don’t think of them as shortcuts to hamburger heaven.

Taylor’s Refresher, 933 Main St. St. Helena, CA, 94574. Open seven days a week.  Tel: 707-963-3486 or check out www.taylorsrefresher.com for information on the Napa town and San Francisco locations.

Local Color, a regular feature of napaman.com, is illustrated by Lisa Livoni, one of Napa Valley’s most talented watercolorists.

For reprint permission, or to obtain copies of this, or any other Local Color image, please contact [email protected].

Go Fish - One of Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions

If I were reviewing Go Fish on my Twitter account and wanted to rave about this St. Helena restaurant, here’s what I’d say in fewer than 120 characters: “Go Fish - Every Dish, Major Delish!”

Leave it to Cindy Pawlcyn, who already operated two of the most successful (and tastiest) restaurants in Napa Valley (Mustards Grill and Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen) to open a third, specializing in fish.

And not just “fish,” but two kinds of sea meats – raw, as in sushi and sashimi, and cooked, as in stews, or grilled.

Dining at Go Fish is like going to two different restaurants under the same roof. Sit at Ken Tominaga’s long sushi bar and eat uber-fresh, delicious seameats, or sit in the colorful salon and order from a menu filled with sea specialties.

Naysayers opined that a seafood restaurant could never make it big in Napa Valley “because it’s red-wine country.” Looks like they were wrong. Mostly because Cindy got it right.

Cindy has ample help around the stoves at Go Fish to insure consistency. We have dined here since opening week several years ago and the food and service are better than ever.

And the desserts are memorable meal closers. Napaman.com previously rated the Roasted Banana-Rum Ice Cream Sandwich as one of the Top Three Desserts in Napa Valley. Every time I make a reservation at Go Fish, the first thing that pops into my mind is “I’m having that roasted banana ice-cream sandwich for dessert!” I cannot disassociate a visit here from this joy-making, tasty dessert.

As comfortable as the interior is, don’t miss the fabulous patio, which is open in warmer months (which in Napa Valley, means  most months).

I often tell first-timers to Napa Valley to put Go Fish on their “eatinerary.” I hear back from many that they have had such a great experience that they are putting Go Fish on their “Must Do” list for their next visit, too. Which tell you everything you need to know about the nature of this (sea) beast.

Go Fish, 641 Main St., St. Helena, CA 94574. Tel: 707-963-0700.

Check hours, directions and menus at www.gofishrestaurant.net.

Local Color, a regular feature of napaman.com, is illustrated by Lisa Livoni, one of Napa Valley’s most talented watercolorists.

For reprint permission, or to obtain copies of this, or any other Local Color image, please contact [email protected].

In many respects, this series could be called Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions. These are the places I send family and friends, and which I personally endorse as being the Best of the Best of Napa Valley.

 

Ad Hoc – One of Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions

Ad Hoc, in Yountville, initially opened as a temporary concept, a place-holder restaurant, if you permit. Owner Thomas Keller (of French Laundry fame) intended to turn it into a first-class Burger Joint, and so he chose a name to indicate the slap-dash effort to get the doors open.

But something funny – and wonderful – happened in the interim. Ad Hoc became one of the most original, most delicious, most highly traffic’d dining rooms in Napa Valley. It’s become one of my favorite dining spots in the whole valley.

Upon entry – and upon leaving – you must rub the metal pig sculpture on the hostess’ desk for good luck. (Reader alert - Spoiler! The closer you rub the rear of the pig, the more luck you will have!)

The four-course, prix-fixe menu changes daily at Ad Hoc ($49/person) so there is no point in listing specific dishes to look for. (Though there is a degree of menu rotation; locals drool for every other Monday night’s stunning fried chicken.) There are substitutions for allergies but that’s about it. Four courses are served, no questions asked.

Many of the dishes are so good that they are worth a detour from San Jose. We have had organic salads studded with nuts, or fruit, or cheeses of incomparable complexion. They are so good, in fact, that, on occasion, we ask for seconds of salad!

The prime course is protein-based and we have yet to go home hungry, or disappointed. If you want to see what's on tonight's menu, for example, go to http://adhocrestaurant.com/menu.php and sign up to receive a daily emailed menu... it's one of the things I most love finding every day in my inbox; I ruminate over the meal I am missing (if it's one of the nights I am passing up this special restaurant.)

The protein course is followed by an unusual, artisanal cheese course, often served with an artisanal honey or compote. 

Then you are into the home stretch, a homemade dessert with seasonal overtones.

This is a bistro tres casuel where you serve yourself from family-style platters brought to the table and where you pour your own wine. Don’t expect waitstaff to top-up emptied glasses; you serve yourself. This is a tasty, and successful, version of home-style cooking - and serving - brought to the restaurant scene.

We love the originality, the food, the service, the ambiance, and the experience. Just remember to pat the pig sculpture on the rump on your way out if you want good luck – which is what you'll need to get a reservation the next time you want to dine here.

Ad Hoc, 6476 Washington St., Yountville, CA. 94599. Tel 707-944-2487.

Local Color, a regular feature of napaman.com, is illustrated by Lisa Livoni, one of Napa Valley’s most talented watercolorists.

For reprint permission, or to obtain copies of this, or any other Local Color image, please contact [email protected].

In many respects, this series could be called Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions. These are the places I send family and friends, and which I personally endorse as being the Best of the Best of Napa Valley.