Ad Hoc, Yountville, California

Earlier this fall we had high flying plans to do a Thomas Keller weekend in Yountville, with a lunch at Ad Hoc, followed by dinner at Bouchon and then dinner at the French Laundry the following night. That went horrible wrong and we knew it even before we arrived.  Our conveniently located lodging called and alerted us that they had no power, and that they had arranged an emergency evacuation rate at a Napa resort.  This loss of power, unrelated to the local fires, also affected Ad Hoc.

To their credit, they serve a meal without power--their gas and their water were both still functioning, so while it was quite dark to go to the bathroom, you could do so.
We meal we had was their famous fried chicken, which was definitely the best that I had ever tasted, and a fabulous composed green salad.  It was a wonderful comfort oriented meal that I would highly recommend as a lunch spot.