BACKGROUND: This was my 4th visit to Yachtsman in 18 months, so I guess I don't have to tell you that this is one of my favorite Disney restaurants. In fact, among my favorite Signature restaurants, YSH is currently second only to California Grill. For DD2 though, this was her very first time dining there so I was anxious to see how she would like our…
DINNER AT YACHTSMAN STEAKHOUSE - PART I
We were again seated in my favorite area of the restaurant, an alcove which overlooks Stormalong Bay (the Yacht & Beach Club pool).
Here are a few pictures taken from our table...
I really like the chandelier that hangs from the dome ceiling of this room.
We were then presented with this menu:
YSH Menu as of May 20, 2012
I began by ordering my usual beverage, which I always get here...
Iced Tea
I love that they serve the iced tea here with a small pitcher of simple syrup so that you can make your own sweet tea.
Next came another one of my YSH favorites…the onion pull-apart rolls.
Basket of Rolls (featuring the Onion Pull-Aparts) along with butter and roasted garlic
These are so delicious that they warrant a second, close-up shot.
For our shared appetizer, I really wanted to order the Braised Beef Tortellini. DD was all for it until she saw that the description included the words...Crispy Wild Mushrooms.
So she of course wanted no part of the Tortellini and instead suggested that we share this...
Assortment of Artisanal Cheeses served with Assorted Bread and Seasonal Accoutrements - $16.00
(Cheese Plate #5 of the Trip)
The included cheeses and seasonal accoutrements of this cheese plate were (starting to the right of the bread and moving clockwise): Rogue River Caveman Blue served with nothing???, Nancy Hudson Valley Camembert with pecan-mustard brittle, Beehive Cheese Co. SeeHive Cheddar with honeycomb, Le Grain d'Orge Affine au Calvados (a Normandy Camembert cheese washed with Calvados, a dry apple brandy that is also a product of Normandy) served with apple butter, and Vermont Creamery Bijou (which is a goat cheese that was served inside a jar of extra virgin olive oil, seasoned with peppercorns and thyme). Now as you may have noticed (from my consistent “Very Good" ratings), I am pretty easy to please when it comes to cheese plates. Give me a good blue cheese and a few other tasty cheeses, plus some decent crackers/bread/toasted baguette slices and I'm a pretty happy camper. Throw in some honey and any kind of fruit related item and I'm beyond happy.
So on paper, this cheese plate seemingly meets my criteria, right?
Well, in reality this was the only cheese plate of the many that we had on this trip that disappointed me. While the first three cheeses that I've listed were all very good (except DD wouldn't eat the blue one, of course
), neither of us were crazy about the Camembert au Calvados. I think this was perhaps due to it being soaked in brandy???
However, that said, it was definitely not our least favorite cheese on this plate. That dishonor was bestowed upon the nasty glob of oily cheese in the jar. This cheese was so oil-soaked that all you could taste was olive oil; it totally overwhelmed any taste that the cheese might have had. YUCK!
DD wouldn't even touch the stuff, making it two cheeses on the plate that she would not even taste. Now I could have maybe forgiven this and still enjoyed the cheese plate, if their "Assorted Bread" (as is listed on menu) had been more than one small wedge of stale bread and one thin Sesame Seed Rice Cracker-type thing. Both of which, we found to be about as useless as a back pocket on a t-shirt.
So now you know why we gave this cheese plate a relatively low rating. I was tempted to even give it a Captain Hook, but I'm hoping this was just a temporary misstep on the part of YSH, as I have had two very good cheese plates there just in the last year.
Nov. 2011 Cheese Plate
May 2011 Cheese Plate
Okay, so enough with the cheese, let’s
“MOO” ve on to the real reason that we were there. (Sorry, I just couldn't resist the urge.
)
But actually I will have to save both the steaks and dessert for Part II of this report because I have too many pictures/images to get them all into one. So please stay tuned to find out the answers to these three all-important questions:
1) Will YSH maintain its #1 position as serving my favorite Disney steak?
2) Will DD like her Yachtsman steak as much as the filet she had at California Grill?
and the most important question...
3) Will I ever be able to get the taste of that oily cheese out of my mouth?
NEXT UP: Dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse – Part II