Report on 12/7/09 Sunday Night Dinner at Ad Hoc

[mariacarmen]

Four of us went for a birthday dinner to Ad Hoc. It was the first time for all of us. The menu was:

Poached Albacore Tuna;
Marinated Beef Sirloin Tip with duck fat potatoes;
Cheese Board;
D’Anjou Pear Tart

All dishes, except dessert, were served family style. The portions were just right to leave us all feeling very satisfied.

The tuna was perfectly cooked, tender, moist, sitting on a bed of mild pistachio pesto with a lemony vinaigrette, surrounded by the al dente cannellini beans and under a a large pile of marinated raw fennel and a bit of red onion. the flavors went well together, with contrasting textures of the meaty fish, beans, and crunchy fennel. we all sopped up the juices with their excellent bread.

Our server said the beef sirloin was cooked sous vide in olive oil, which i thought was odd - i thought sous vide was only done with water, as the cooking liquid does not ever touch the food, so why would they bother using olive oil? i meant to ask the server, but once the was in front of us everything flew out of my mind. the meat had been quickly seared after the sous vide process, to brown it and give it a nice crust. it was served sliced and was a perfectly rosy red-pink, with a nice edge of crispy fat. the beef came topped with really delicious fat sweet crispy onion rings that sopped up the meat juices nicely. those juices went well with the peppery arugula too. the meat's flavor was excellent, and very tender. sauteed wild mushrooms included hen of the woods, oyster and crimini - perfectly silky texture with a nice bite. the duck fat potatoes were very crisp and brown on the outside, with a creamy buttery inside. out of this world.

The cheese course was three cheeses: a cow's milk triple cream from Cowgirl Creamery, which we were told was only produced for three months out of the year - fantastic, and unfortunately the smallest piece on the plate. the Ubriaco ("drunk" in Italian) had a red-wine washed rind and was also cow's milk. nice nuttieness to it, and you could definitely taste the wine, but if you got a bite of the rind the wine overpowered the cheese's flavor. the last cheese, a goat cheese from, i believe, Illinois, was studded with peppercorns. packed quite a wallop - very goaty and tart, and then the peppercorns gave it quite a kick. not everyone liked this one, and they gave us the biggest portion of this cheese. i felt the cheese plate lacked good accompaniments; it was served with a little bit of watercress salad, tiny mandarin orange slices and toasted pumpkin seeds. the cheese kind of cried out for honey with its comb, or membrillo, even marcona almonds would have been good, or candied walnuts.

dessert i have to say was a disappointment. the server said it was an unusual dish, at least for him - a shortbread cookie with a mint-infused almond milk poured over, topped with sauteed d'anjou pears, and sprinkled with crumbs of an italian cookie. This was a bit dry - a thicker cream instead of the almond milk (the waiter said it was a milk, not a cream) would have helped, or even ice cream. The flavors were just blah - it wasn't too sweet, but it was all one note. the mint was almost indistinguishable. it just felt like somewhat of an afterthought.

we didn't try any wines at this dinner, unfortunately, so i can't report on that. The service was fine, not spectacular. the server who took our orders didn't seem to want to talk much about the food. the people who actually served the food to us went into greater detail.

we lingered over coffee and tea and were never made to feel rushed, even tho we were almost the last party there.

[mariacarmen]

test

[chezchristine]

Sous vide is done in water, but what the server was probably referring to was that they put olive oil in the pouch with the beef before they sealed it. This practice is done often with some kind of fat like oil or butter, which imparts flavor during the sous vide process.

[mariacarmen]

oh, interesting! thanks for the info.

[rworange]

Nice to read about one of the other dinners at Ad Hoc besides the fried chicken.