Thomas Keller's Ad Lib Pop-Up Gets Extended Through to the Fall

Thomas Keller's Midas touch is still working just fine: the legendary French Laundry chef has announced that his pop-up Ad Lib, originally scheduled to run until the end of February, is going to be taking an extended engagement at the Silverado Resort & Spa, with plans to stick around until October. Inside Scoop reports that Keller agreed to the extension after reservations became hotly contested, and the Silverado asked him to stay through their annual hosting of the Frys.com golf tournament, which will go down October 12-18.

But since Ad Lib was originally intended to keep the French Laundry staff employed while the three-Michelin-starred giant completely renovated its kitchen, it'll be losing some key staff over the coming weeks, with French Laundry chef de cuisine David Breeden and Ad Lib chef de cuisine/French Laundry sous chef Michael Wallace returning to their original posts. (The timeline for the completion of the French Laundry's shipping-container temporary kitchen, which will allow the restaurant to return to service, is still unknown, but it'll supposedly happen sometime this spring.) To run Ad Lib, Keller has dispatched TKRG culinary developer and ex-Bouchon chef de cuisine Michael Sandoval to the fore, and will be bringing in new talent to run the kitchen and dining room. Those who want to catch the TFL crew before they return to the mothership should plan to head over in the next few weeks; surprisingly, there are still quite a few Friday- and Saturday-night tables available, at least at non-peak hours. The resort is also offering dining and stay-over packages, for those so inclined.