Soon enough (relatively speaking, at that point we were both ravenous), it was time for our dinner at Citricos. We went over to the check-in area (which also shares a waiting area with the much fancier Victoria & Albert's), and put our name in. We also, since the secret was entirely out in the open, confirmed that a Cinderella's slipper dessert was slated to come our way.
All was noted on the reservation, all well and good. Take a seat, we'll call you in a few minutes.
There are a few tables around the check-in desk, but we were much more interested in checking out the menu for Victoria and Albert's that was posted on the wall.
While we were standing by the entrance, checking out the fancy-sounding descriptions of the endless courses, a group in full eveningwear was escorted into the restaurant. The doors closed swiftly behind them.
(We had dressed nicely for our dinner, but I guess our business-casual outfits didn't quite make their grade.
)
A few moments later, we were led to our table at Citricos, which had a front-row view of the open kitchen.
The restaurant never became exceptionally busy while we were there, however, we were the only table seated in this area. The majority of rest of the diners that came in were all seated on the opposite side of the room, along the windows. I was happy with our view, though, it was very interesting to watch the chefs at work.
Clearly, Citricos doesn't share their napkins with the rest of the restaurants in Disney.
Or their drink stirrers.
(Well, those could be used in a few more places than the napkins could.)
Soon after we were seated, bread and butter were brought to the table.
The bread basked had both regular sourdough bread and an olive bread in it. We both really liked the olive bread, it had a great flavor and reminded me of the Kalamata olive toast at Kouzzina.
The butter came with sea salt, which seems to be showing up more and more in the Disney restaurants. However, along with the sea salt, the butter was also sprinkled with citrus zest. I really enjoyed this extra flavor, and thought it added both a nice visual and taste to the usual butter pat.
Another attention-to-detail aspect of Citricos that I enjoyed was the unique dishes that some of the courses were served on. Check out Wingnut's bread dish, in the background of that photo.
I had been a bit torn as to what appetizer I wanted, but the Blue Crab Pavé kept standing out to me. I do not normally eat seafood (Wingnut says he loves going to hibachi restaurants with me because he always gets my shrimp
.), so this was a bit of a departure from something I would usually order.
Wingnut: Are you sure you're going to like it?
Me: No. But I'm going to get it.
I am very very sorry to report that I no longer see this dish on the Citricos menu, because it was absolutely fantastic. I literally ate every single bite on the plate, save for the bit or two Wingnut got. It consisted of lump crab, capers, Meyer lemon, fennel-celery salad, avocado, olive tapenade and Piquillo vinaigrette. I loved the different flavors and textures that were going on, it was extremely fresh and bright tasting. Wingnut agreed, really enjoying it as well.
For his appetizer, Wingnut got the Chefs Tapas Plate, which had beef and pork spiced panadas with tamarind sauce.
These had a great beef and pork flavor, which was wrapped up in crispy, flaky pastry. Wingnut thought that they were very tasty, and I thought so as well. The tamarind sauce added a nice sweetness, which we both enjoyed.
Throughout our meal, I was watching the chefs at work, and noticed that a lot of the diners that night had ordered the veal shank (which is sitting on the counter in this picture.)
However, that isn't what either of us had chosen!
For my entree, I went with the oak-fired filet, which was accompanied by Spanish onions, peppadew and banana peppers, and a four-cheese potato puree. The menu also lists it as coming with a veal glace, but I left that off.
The filet was excellent, it had a great flavor. However, the star of the dish, in my opinion, was the potato puree. It was SO SO good, creamy and cheesy and wonderful. The onions and peppers seemed a little bit out-of-place on the dish, however, I am attributing that to the fact that I left off the sauce it was supposed to come with (no veal for this girl!). I had a few of them, but preferred the beef and the potatoes on their own.
Wingnut chose the grilled swordfish for his entree:
This was accompanied by trenne pasta, white anchovy-tomato sauce, kalamata olives, roasted fennel, baby artichokes, and black truffle vinaigrette. He really enjoyed this dish, saying it was very good, and that it was probably the best piece of fish he has ever had (he eats far more seafood than I do). He is still going nuts trying to figure out how they got the pasta in the triangular shape!
(I did not sample this dish. I had completed my seafood tasting bravery quotient for a good amount of time after my appetizer
.)
Throughout our meal, I had been savoring the four-cheese potatoes like they were a precious commodity. (Well, they were!) When I was finally down to one last bite of pureed bliss, one of the staff came around, reaching for my plate.
"Are you done with that?"
Startled, I wasn't quite sure what to say. On one hand, well, no. On the other, I didn't want to be the girl who lunged across the table for one more bite of mashed potatoes. The woman seemed to sense that she had arrived a bite too early, and was extremely sweet and apologetic, offering to hand me the plate back.
"No, it's okay! I was done!" I let that tiny bite of potato go, not wanting to fluster the poor woman further. Also, I knew dessert was on the way!
We were then given dessert menus, and I remembered from the previous year that Narcoosees had sent us the slipper dessert before we had even placed our orders for dessert (giving us the opportunity to gauge optimal remaining stomach space!). I thought that this was odd, but figured it would be soon-coming.
We placed our dessert orders, and they soon arrived, sans slipper.
Hmm.
This definitely was not correct.
We flagged down our server, and explained that we should have a Cinderella's slipper dessert on our reservation as well. She said she'd go check, and returned to the kitchen.
We took this opportunity to sample 2/3rds of our desserts for that evening.
I had chosen the warm chocolate banana torte:
Wow, this was rich and sinful! It had a wonderful warm and lovely chocolate and banana taste that Wingnut and I both enjoyed. It was accompanied by a nice vanilla ice cream, which was a nice difference from the richness of the chocolate in the torte. I was very tempted to wear the chocolate sculpture as a crown, but being seated front and center, I chickened out.
Wingnut chose the tasting of gelato:
This came with vanilla bean, raspberry, and double chocolate gelatos. Wingnut is not normally a vanilla ice cream fan, but he reported that strangely enough, the vanilla was his favorite flavor. The raspberry was very good, but the chocolate was far too bitter and dark for his taste.
Very quickly, our server reappeared with this:
She apologized, explaining that nobody had let her know that there was a slipper noted on our reservation. We were thankful for the slipper investigation of earlier, as we would have never known that it was supposed to have been delivered during this meal! (I wonder what would have happened at California Grill then...
)
(Interestingly, my parents had dined at Citricos a few months ago, and had also ordered a slipper dessert for their meal. And theirs also had been forgotten in the kitchen.
)
Okay. All is well!
At this point, our table looked like this:
The plate-retrieving woman from earlier swung by our table, and smiled at all the desserts awaiting our consumption. "Wow, that all looks wonderful!" she commented.
"Yes, we're huge pigs. I know." I replied, a bit sheepish. We all laughed, and Wingnut and I ate as much dessert as we humanly possibly could.
The slipper dessert was just as wonderful as it had been in Narcoosees. It is made of a white chocolate slipper, filled with white chocolate mousse, and dotted with raspberries and a dark chocolate teardrop filled with chocolate mousse, topped with white chocolate shavings. The plate also has a wonderful raspberry sauce design on it.
We thoroughly (although definitely not completely!) enjoyed all of our desserts.
Overall, we both really enjoyed our dinner at Citricos. We would definitely consider a return trip in the future, the food and the service were both excellent!