Saturday, August 16, 2008
We started the day again with a visit to the Concierge lounge where I had my requisite cappuccino plus a yogurt and a mini chocolate chip muffin. DH had a croissant which he thought was delicious, plus Earl Grey tea (his favorite). We ate light because a) we were still stuffed from the day before and b) we knew we had big meals ahead of us today with Kona Café and especially Yachtsman Steakhouse for dinner.
Kona Café Lunch
We left the Magic Kingdom for the Poly and our lunch at Kona Café (we had a 12:55 P.M. ADR) For the first time we were not early; in fact we were about 10 minutes late, but I neednt have worried they were seating people without ADRs. We had a lovely, very energetic waitress named Teresa who gave us our menus, make a big deal of our anniversary and took our drink orders (iced tea for both of us). Teresa came back to explain the menu to us, describing in detail many of the dishes and even pointing out what people around us were eating. Thankfully, everyone seemed friendly and ok with that. I knew I wanted the
Sticky Wings - glazed chicken wings with a tangy mustard drizzle and toasted sesame seeds, for my appetizer.
This was so good. The sauce on it was delicious. There were eight wings and the dish even came with a side salad. I was craving salad and vegetables at this point, since my diet so far had been extremely veggie deprived. That side salad, which I think had its own dressing, was so delicious mixed together with the sauce from the wings. Yum.
DH ordered the
Lump Crab Cakes - Pan-seared with Asian tartar and pineapple relish, which also came with a side salad. There were three nice sized crab cakes which DH thoroughly enjoyed. He said one of the nicest features of the crab cakes was that you could actually taste & see pieces of crab - that it wasnt just the typical mushy crab cake with lots of breading.
So being veggie deprived we both ordered boring old
Asian Chicken Chop Salad - Mixed greens, won tons, chicken breast, and seasonal vegetables served with spicy mustard vinaigrette.
Now, we eat salad all the time at home and in restaurants (the salads at California Pizza Kitchen are my favorites). This salad was alright but nothing special. Just a basic salad, with pieces of cold chicken breast and won tons. It fit the bill I got my refreshing salad greens, but I wish I had ordered the mahi mahi (oh well, next time).
Before we were seated, the host took us past the dessert table to see what delicious offerings they had. It was quite a dilemma since I had decided long ago that I wanted the chocolate macadamia nut tart which is no longer on the menu. The Kona Cone was an option and I was happy to see that it is still served with cotton candy. But I ended up ordering the
Banana-Chocolate Creme Brulee which comes with a chocolate spiral and a slice of yummy banana.
Let me preface this by saying that my absolute favorite dessert in Disneyworld is the pistachio crème brulee in Jiko. Jiko has always been my favorite DW restaurant (at least until Narcoosees). Weve eaten there twice already and so didnt choose it for this trip because we wanted to try new places or go to places we hadnt been to in at least 15 years. But their crème brulee is amazing. So I was surprised and happy to see that the Kona Café banana chocolate crème brulee is a banana version of the Jiko dish banana crème brulee on top of a rich chocolate bottom. And the slice of coated banana on top was an added bonus. Luckily I wasnt all that full from the salad and was able to devour every last bite of the crème brulee.
DH felt so lucky to have a sugar free option. He ordered the
No Sugar Added Apple Stack - with Cinnamon, Sour Cream, and crisp Wontons served with Sugar Free Vanilla Ice Cream.
It is a layered dessert with a beautiful presentation. (The flavor reminded him of his favorite dessert that I make him for special occasions which is an apple crisp.) The combination of the apples, cinnamon and sweetener made a caramel type sauce that added to the dish.
He also ate every last bite, proclaiming it delicious.
When Teresa brought out our desserts, she also brought us an added surprise anniversary dessert a
decorated Happy Anniversary plate with two koko puffs.
I was surprised to see that they still make these even though theyre not on the menu anymore. They were filled with a chocolate crème and would have been delicious if I hadnt been stuffing my face with the crème brulee. Unfortunately, I couldnt eat more than a little bite of puff.
Overall, we loved the relaxing feel of Kona Café, the excellent service and good food. Fortunately we would have time to digest before our 9:00 P.M. ADR at Yachtsman Steakhouse.
Yachtsman Steakhouse Dinner
Originally, we werent sure if we wanted to eat here. We arent really your basic meat and potatoes type people and I usually try to avoid eating too much beef. (I also knew in advance that I would be eating Surf and Turf at Narcoosees). I also wasnt sure if the atmosphere here would be special enough for our special anniversary. Well, I couldnt have been more wrong about the atmosphere. I loved the feel of the place, casual, comfortable yet still special enough for a celebratory meal.
After returning to our hotel to change and then taking the boat to the MK, and the bus to the Yacht Club, we were given a pager and actually waited quite a while for our table. We sat inside near a display of the different cuts of beef and watched the chefs at work. On the way to our table, we passed by the dessert display where the hostess explained the different desserts to us. We were finally seated at a table for two and had Beverly as our waitress. We were presented with personalized Happy Anniversary menus (such a nice touch) and spent some time looking over the menus and specialized drinks. We both ordered the
Patron Marguerita which was delicious and refreshing.
Now, I notice that Disney serves their alcoholic drinks (at least their margueritas) in these glasses, which I love and have become a bit obsessed with finding and purchasing. No luck so far.
I had a really hard time choosing an appetizer here so many of them sounded delicious, but we both ended up ordering the same thing
Chilled Seafood Salad lobster, shrimp and jumbo crab with lemon crème fraiche and avocado cream. It was good
Im not much of a bread eater I almost never eat the dinner rolls or bread presented in a restaurant, but oh, wow, did Yachtsman Steakhouse have the best rolls ever. These were flaky onion rolls, where you can peel off the bread layer by layer.
There were also some other type of rolls in the break basket, but who remembers those? (The picture above is of the refills we got on the onion rolls). They also give you a little metal bowl of roasted garlic which we spread onto the rolls, and there was butter of course.
I ordered the
Yachtman Filet Mignon 8 oz. filet with mashed potatoes and red wine sauce.
This was delicious. The steak was as good as Narcoosees filet. The red wine sauce was nice and the potatoes were ok.
DH ordered the
Porterhouse 24 oz. Center-cut Porterhouse with Fingerling Potatoes and Roasted Garlic Butter.
This was Huge really two steaks in one, a filet mignon and strip steak. DH ate it like he hadnt eaten all day! He kept saying how good it was and how much he was enjoying himself.
We also ordered a side of
Sautéed Mushroom Caps with sherry and cabernet wine sauce.
This was a very generous bowl and the mushrooms were oh, so delicious and complemented the steak. You would think, that feeling so veggie deprived, I would have ordered the creamed spinach, which also sounded delicious, but the mushrooms won out.
After finishing our steaks and our drinks I had a problem even thinking about dessert. I was feeling so uncomfortably full, but being on the dining plan, I convinced myself that I had to order something, even if I only ate a little. The waitress tempted us by describing some of the delicious desserts and explaining how their crème brulee is their most popular dessert but after lunch, I could not eat another crème brulee. I ended up ordering
The Yachtsman Sundae - A trio of gelato (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry) with strawberry and a vanilla pineapple sauce.
I actually ate more of the ice cream than I thought I would it was refreshing and light and went down easily. I also ordered coffee.
I love how they serve the sugars (there's even brown sugar cubes)
Our waitress told DH that she knew he wanted a sugar free dessert and they had a special sugar free dessert for him. He was unbelievably impressed. She brought him a
round chocolate brownie on a plate decorated with sugar free caramel and chocolate sauces, with raspberries and a Huge Strawberry on top of the brownie.
The brownie was warm and tasted like it had just been made. He thought that the best sugar free chocolate dessert was at the California Grill but this equaled it. He ate everything but the strawberry.
Our waitress Beverly also brought over a special anniversary extra - a Happy Anniversary plate with four small candies two sugar coated red jelly heart shaped candies, and two chocolates filled with fudge (the fillings of the two chocolates tasted the same although the chocolates looked different).
We had such a pleasant time at Yachtsman Steakhouse but didnt know how we would manage to eat any food the next day.
But I am cheap enough not to be tempted if it isn't already paid for. Then coffee is fine. (I know weirdo brain thing!)
