Addendum

True to its name Addendum is an addition or footnote to the Thomas Keller family, serving boxed lunches to go Thursdays through Saturdays. Tucked behind his restaurant Adhoc is a small shack serving two items for $16.50 each: buttermilk fried chicken and bbq pork ribs or pulled pork. Orders can be picked up from 11:00am-2:00pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday only.  Each selection comes with potato salad, cole slaw and corn bread, the perfect sides for these picnic favorites. You can enjoy your lunch at one of the many tables available in the sun and the shade or take your meal to go and create your own picnic and any number of wineries in Napa Valley.

Even though we dined at Thomas Keller's other restaurant, Bouchon, last night Keith insisted we try his famous fried chicken.  So in between winery visits, we came to Addendum for lunch.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and a long line had formed when we arrived.  However, since we placed our order ahead of time, we were able to bypass the main line and go straight to the other small window for "pick-up only".  The chipper girl at the window handed us a brown paper bag with our meals already packed.  A drink came with our meal so I ordered an iced tea, while Keith chose a coke.  We figured they were both refreshing, and a great hydration substitute to all the wine!

There were plenty of picnic tables, so we plunked down and opened our bag.  We each had a box of three pieces of Buttermilk Fried Chicken with a piece of honey cornbread.  The cornbread was moist and slightly sweet, and could have passed for dessert.

Sprinkled with salt and rosemary, the chicken had a nice crunchy exterior with super moist meat inside.  The meat also had a slight lemony/briny flavor that really punched through and made this probably the best fried chicken I've ever had.

We also each had our own bowls of sides - potato salad and cole slaw.  They both were decent and satisfying to round out the meal, but not nearly as stellar as the chicken.

Overall, we had a great lunch at Addendum.  The preorder/pick-up option was very convenient and easy.  I highly recommend you stop here for a picnic lunch if you are visiting Napa for the weekend.

Total Rating: 4.48
Food: 5, Price: 4, Service: 3.5, Ambience: 3.5, Accessibility: 4.5

What I ate:

Buttermilk Fried Chicken
with potato salad and cole slaw