Okay, so this is sooo belated, but if we don’t stop posting around here with nothing but Baby updates, people are going to revoke our thosecoolkims license. So, here are a few highlights from the epic FOODCATION we took with Brittany & Wade to celebrate Wade’s 40th Birthday! 2 days in Wine Country, 2 days in San Francisco, and many, many Michelin-star restaurants!
While every single meal we had was simply fantastic – both Ed & I probably agree that our meal at Ad Hoc was the most special somehow. Being that it was one of Thomas Keller’s restaurants makes it very special on its own, but the concept of the place was so warm and inviting. As described on the Ad Hoc website:
The building at 6476 Washington Street was originally intended to be a very different type of restaurant. While we were designing it we thought we’d experiment by opening a temporary restaurant and calling it Ad Hoc, which literally means, “for this purpose.” The idea for Ad Hoc was simple – 5 days a week we’d offer a 4 course family style menu that changed each day, accompanied by a small, accessible wine list in a casual setting reminiscent of home.
Casual and reminiscent of home is exactly what it was. We felt right at home as the servers brought out plates and plates of family-style food. As there is no menu, you literally just get whatever is being served that evening. We really lucked out! Our night was Surf-n-Turf night! Check out all of this meat and lobster!
Also what made things very special is that Thomas Keller has his garden directly across the street from his three restaurants on the street. We literally saw chefs outdoors, picking ingredients from the ground, and going right back into the kitchen to serve them. Our first course at Ad Hoc was a salad served with all produce from the garden! It was amazing to eat something so fresh & natural – it was definitely much more special than a usual salad! We walked the grounds after our meal reveling at each thing we saw growing that we had eaten just hours before!
Yes, we ate plenty of these Fava Beans!
Look, there’s a chef out picking from the garden!
Another very special meal was at Redd. Redd is the very best in “California Cuisine”. A sleek modern setting, a very fun and varied menu and the perfect afternoon to dine al fresco made this a wonderful lunch! Brittany is modeling her gorgeous plate of Pot Roast and I am thrilled with my mini Chinese-style Pork Buns!
Of course, it wouldn’t be a trip to wine country without a wine tasting! Here is Ed looking dapper at Terra Valentine vineyards!
We finished off our time in Napa at Thomas Keller’s other restaurant, Bouchon.
It was very french – I ordered the Poulet Roti …
… and we all indulged in this gluttonous seafood platter!
Leaving Napa was difficult to do, but fortunately we had a lunch at The Slanted Door to look forward to! The Slanted Door has the very best in Asian Fusion cuisine! It was the best I think we’ve ever had!
It was a legendary meal, we just kept ordering food, and they kept bringing out other things they thought we’d enjoy. We felt like rockstars throughout the meal. We can’t wait to return!!!
Beautiful sashimi for everyone but the pregnant girl :(
More oysters for Wade & Ed
Later that evening, we celebrated Ed’s birthday the way he wanted to celebrate it – at an East German restaurant! Everyone knows Ed’s obsession with all things German, but Walzwerk was special because it contained all of the old-school East German communist kitsch that Ed can’t get enough of! The posters, the dishes … everything about the place made you feel like you were in Berlin, circa sometime in the late 60s-early 70s. Anything for the birthday boy!
Ed and his giant plate of Jaegerschnitzel!
My giant plate of traditional schnitzel!
Old posters
The whole gang!
Another foodie stop in SF is none other than the Bi-Rite Creamery.
It just so happened we weren’t far from there after dinner at Walzwerk, so we headed over to try out some of their famous flavors! At Bi-Rite, they’re known for unusual ice cream such as Salted Caramel, Honey Lavender, Balsamic Strawberry and Earl Grey! There was a line wrapped around the corner when we arrived! Being the ice cream enthusiast I am, I wish I could’ve tried them all, but I went with the Salted Caramel and the Malted Vanilla with Peanut Brittle. YUM!
The finale was the big dinner at Hubert Keller‘s restaurant, Fleur de Lys for Wade’s actual 40th birthday. We are all big fans of Chef Keller – he’s been seen a lot as a guest judge on Top Chef, and he also was a finalist in Top Chef Masters.
This was a pretty fancy place, and needless to say, it was a little too fancy for me to bust out my camera at the table! So, there’s not any pics. We had a 4-course menu, and everything from the presentation, to the service, to the food was spectacular. Unfortunately, it doesn’t bode well for blogging purposes – but it was an experience that just can’t be explained! We are grateful to have gone and will remember it as a very special evening always!
I think this wraps up our highlights! We didn’t eat for about a week afterwards, but it was absolutely worth every bite!
This Saturday was a very exciting evening for Ed & I – we ate at 
We did get a nice surprise right off the bat … after getting our drinks, our server came out with an 
We both ended up choosing fish for our main courses. I opted for the Alaskan Halibut & Piquillo Pepper and Ed went for the John Dory (on right). The halibut cannot be explained with words! It was the most tender piece of halibut we’ve ever had, and the roasted red pepper on bottom was sweet and meaty and essential to the brilliance and simplicity of the dish. The John Dory was a nice contrast because the fish was light, flaky and ever so buttery, but it was sprinkled with a few slivers of olive, which gave it an exciting salty kick. The dishes aren’t prissy or fancy at Craft, everything is just so simple and fresh, but that’s truly what makes everything so amazing. Our sides were roasted pee wee fingerling potatoes and brussel sprouts with bacon. Again, the family style service is perfect because it encourages sharing. I have been craving more brussel sprouts ever since!
As if all of the above wasn’t satisfactory enough, we knew we had to order dessert. Come on, how could we not see what they had to offer?!? :) So after checking the menu, we decided on a Hazelnut Waffle with braised apples and cinnamon ice cream. However, we had no idea that there was another treat coming … these tiny panna cotta cups with fresh berries arrived at our table just minutes after we ordered our dessert! Then, even more bite-sized treats appeared at the table! A teeny plate arrived with a tiny fudge brownie, a candied pineapple square and a miniature coconut macaroon. Serious attention to the sweets were being showed, and I have to admit, I wasn’t complaining!
