Day 3, Part 2 Tuesday, June 14 Dinner AKA Yea, I lied to you
If you viewed the last video, you now know that we were not going to Narcoossees. OK, I sucker punched you. Liar, liar pants on fire. I am no George Washington. Dont feel bad, I also lied to the Princess. Although the lie to her was different then the yarn I told you.
She knew all along that we were going to Narcoossees. I needed have her dress nicer than what she was planning to wear to the California Grill. An easy way to get her to do it and not raise suspicions was tell her we were going to Narcoossees and it was real fancy. She fell for it completely. We even looked at the menu on line so I could get an idea what we were going to eat that night. The story in the TR of letting slip our dinner location as one of the surprises did not happen and was a total fabrication. Wish I could say I feel bad I told these stories but then I would be lying. Wouldnt want to do that.
My plans were almost blown up by the hostess at Citricos. Before I could take the video revealing the surprise, she very nicely volunteered to take a picture of us (seen in the last update). She then asked if there was anything we were celebrating while at V&A? Before she asked any other questions to raise DDs suspicions, I way too quickly and practically screamed, No, we are eating at Narcoossees tonight. Not V&A, no, we wont be eating here. Nuh nuh, no way. We have reservations at NARCOOSSEES! NOT VICTORIA AND ALBERTS! She looked at me like I was weird, took our picture and told us to enjoy dinner at NARCOOSSEES.
Then I took the video. Must have replayed it fifty times by now. I was proud of myself that I pulled it off. Here it is again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmbvFu_ayso
As I have said, she has expensive tastes and loves Victoria and Alberts. This is her third time and my fifth. She was genuinely shocked and excited. Mission accomplished. We pass through the glass doors of elegance and she had a smile from ear to ear.
Before I gave them my name, they asked, Mr. CJ9200? Yep, thats us. We were expecting you and Miss CJ9200. We have a special vegetarian menu prepared for you, as she looked at Princess. Please follow Madeline (or whatever her name was) and she will show you to your table. Now, I dont think security alerted them we were coming so I guess the hostess figured out our name because it was probably the only father/daughter combination at that sitting. Plus we were pretty close to our reservation time.
Madeline (or whatever her name was) brought us to the table, pulled out the chair for DD and then mine. All the while, the Harpist was playing softly in the background. Our personalized menus were presented to us and our maid and butler approached the table. It used to be that all the servers were called Victoria and Albert but now they use their real names. Which I forgot. Albert had a very thick Hispanic accent which was difficult to understand at times. Victoria gave the gist of our upcoming dining experience and she said she would be glad to bring something that I can put my camera on. Victoria immediately came back with a small footstool for the camera. Wow.
See. (Pardon the blurry and dark pictures because I was not going to use a flash. Did not want anyone to think that I was some tourist at Disney World just off the turnip truck).
Pretty happy camper
I looked at the wine list because I decided to have a glass of wine to celebrate. Shhh, dont tell my doctor. It was a Clos du Bois Marlstone. I know the winery pretty well and the Marlstone is a very good and reasonably priced wine.
The first of three types of bread with its matching spread comes out. All were good.
The Amuse Bouche was first up. I know what an Amuse Bouche is because I looked it up after our last visit. It is a selection from the chef of an appetizer(s) that prepares the diner for the upcoming meal. They used to serve just one on a plate but this time there were four little tidbits.
Mine was Lobster based. Everything had lobster as an ingredient. All were delicious especially the one on the lower left which was a hunk of lobster meat with a small serving of caviar as a topping. Who knew I would enjoy caviar?
The chef prepared for Princess an assortment of vegetarian selections. They included the butternut squash soup which she liked the best and on the lower left, a hunk of mozzarella. You can see her Shirley Temple in the background.
The first real course was
Jamon wrapped Gulf Shrimp with Athena Melons. The shrimp was not a shrimp, it was rather quite large. That was good. The melon thing it was resting on was to me, a cold cantaloupe puree with some melon balls. I dislike cantaloupes.
She had the Carpaccio of Roasted Beets with Petite Bib Lettuce and Sherry Vinaigrette. I dont know if she has ever tried beets before and this was not one of the favorites of the meal.
Next up was the fish course
I dont eat fish. Period. Exclamation Point. This course was a non-starter for me. So instead of the scallop, pasta with cuttlefish or the abalone that were my choices, I decided on an appropriate proportioned item from the list of entrees. This was the Poulet Rouge (red chicken?) with Chanterelle Mushrooms with Truffle Gnocchi. They allow you to do this and I am sooooo glad I did. It was tremendous. Everything in the dish melded well together. Think the beginning of Ratatouille when he was trying different ingredient combinations to make something spectacular. I am drooling on the keyboard thinking about it.
Her vegetarian fish course was Vegetable Ratatouille in Calamarata Pasta. Her comment, That was pretty good.
It was about this time they brought out the second bread selection. I wish I remembered them all but forgot. I do remember the butter with sea salt which was very tasty.
And on to the next course
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Tortellini. It was either that or quail or duck. Not a big fan of either of those. Yep it was butternut squash soup all right. Nothing spectacular.
Could have and should have substituted for what DD had, Truffle Gnocci with Chanterelle Mushrooms and Truffle Foam. Or actually, should have had the Ratatouille she had in the previous course. Using foam is a thing going around that I just dont get. I dont know what it adds to the dish other than the presentation. She wasnt concerned about the presentation because this was delicious. With her first bite, her eyes rolled back into her head and she proclaimed, Life is good.
The way I am retelling it, you would think that they barely waited just until the last bite before bringing out the next course. Could not be farther from the truth. Each course was nicely paced and you could enjoy good conversation and dine in a relaxing manner.
OK, up next
The Kurobuta Pork Tenderloin and belly with Verjus-Bacon Vinaigrette. I was really worried about one thing on this dish, PORK BELLY? What were they going to do, bring me out a stomach. Decided to order it anyway thinking if I didnt gag, I could push the stomach to one side of the plate. When the dish was presented, there was not pig stomach. Looking it up later, I found out it pork belly is basically fancy bacon. Real good tasting bacon. Mmmmm Bacon.
Words cannot describe how good this was. I could hear angels in the background singing Hallelujah in time with the Harpist. Oh my god was this good. Involuntarily, my eyes were closed and head tilted back as I let the food tickle my taste buds. WOW. I dont know where Kurobuta is but they know how to grow pigs. And the chef knew how to prepare them. Man that was good eating.
She had the Red Cabbage Tart, Stewed French Lentils and Chefs Garden vegetables. The thing on the lower left had popcorn with it. We thought it was funny, she thought it was good.
DD said it was all very delicious. Whatever. I tried to get her to taste my pig but she obviously declined. Too bad because one bite of that would have turned her back into an omnivore.
Resisting the urge to lick the plate, we were headed down the home stretch
We had a choice of White Chocolate Gelato with Tableside Shavings and Micro Orchids or a cheese course of Colston Bassett Stilton, 24-Month Parmigiano-Reggiano, Burrata Alla Panna and Comte Saint Antoine. She went for the cheese; I ordered the gelato so we could share both. To be honest, the cheeses were good and so was the gelato, but it didnt register with my taste buds. They were still looking for more of the tenderloin.
For desert, the Princess ended her meal with the Caramelized Banana Gateau and I ordered the Hawaiian Kona Chocolate Soufflé, thinking she had not had it before. I was wrong and we basically traded desserts from our last visit. Had I known, I would have gotten the Crème Brulee. Both were very good. By then she had thrown in the towel and only had a little bit of each. I of course had to devour most of both of the deserts.
No coffee or tea for either of us. They did bring out some cookie things as an added bonus. Like we didnt have enough to eat. We soon waddled out of there and picked up the car at Valet. Back to Kidani it was time to be off to bed. Fat and happy we slept well that night. Too well.
The bill was slightly under $300 with tax, eighteen percent gratuity and less TIW discount. Yes, they do accept the Tables in Wonderland card (still hate that name). Normally I am a great tipper but with the change that automatically adds the eighteen percent that is all I usually tip. Kind of a protest vote. That is unless the bill is small (a rare occasion at Disney) or the service was outstanding. Needless to say, Vickie and Al got a little extra.
Is this extravagant? Of course it is. Even with all of the things we were doing on this trip it was affordable With DVC, the room was paid for and we were only going to the parks for three days. If you add up your bill at a signature restaurant, it totals about two-thirds if not more than of the cost of V&A. In the scheme of things, it really isnt all that outrageous. Some describe it as one of the best values for your money considering what you get in return.
DD got her love of fine dining from her mother. Often frugal, her mom would not blink over a big bill for a fine dining experience. I also like to cook and enjoy good food and this is not just a meal, but an experience. I also recognize how lucky I am to be able to do things like this. Will I do it again? You bet. Hopefully however, next time Princess will be paying.
So Day 3 is in the books and it was a great day. Despite the helpful hostess at Citricos, I was able to pull off surprise number one. Her reaction was even better than I expected. Now you know that the eating part of the title is taken care of. What happens to the other surprises? You will have to stay tuned.
Up Next Day 4 Wednesday, June 15: Surprise Number two?
Sorry you feel that way, but I've gotta say I love that ride and once is never enough for me.
I would have clapped if he drove by, they deserved the win. Don’t pick on Bosh. Please.
He's shady like that trust me. You know the type I want so badly not to be a "bad man". I just can't explain. Give it time. Give it time.... He got abused enough down here for his up and down performance. He was a class act and took the abuse without a peep. Carlisle is underrated.
Right as I was just finishing. jfasdkl;fjklasdfjaskl;jf
. lol Also can't wait to try 50's prime time cafe. My family is SO gonna get in trouble and i will be laughing. Can't wait. 
Only thing I miss is that some software we used on our PCs don't have a Mac equivalent or the Mac version is years out of date. We don't run windows on our Macs. We have family members that do and their Macs crash from time to time when running windows. Our Macs have never crashed. 
