After a day at AK, we went back to the room for while and got cleaned up for dinner at California Grill. This was Mark's favorite restaurant from our previous trip, and it was the one place he requested we get an ADR for.
I had been previously been four times, but left a little underwhelmed from the last visit, so I will admit I wasn't terribly excited to return to time.
We arrived a bit earlier for our 7:25 ADR, so we took a seat in the lounge area and order drinks.
Mark had a glass of
Montecillo Gran Reserva Rioja, while I went with the
Twisted Mai Tai - Mt Gay Rum, Creme de Noyaux, OJ, Pineapple Juice, and a splash of Lime.
The Mai Tai was really great - fruity, refreshing, and not overwhelmingly sweet.
We had only made it halfway through or drinks when our buzzer rang for our table. We were led to one of the window side tables with a great view of the Seven Seas Lagoon. Our server for the evening, Jenny O., promptly greeted us and was super attentive to us all evening. I highly recommend requesting her.
Mark and I decided to share two appetizers. I knew I had to have one of the famous flatbreads, so we agreed on the
Grilled Flat Iron Steak with Cambozola Blue Cheese, Mushroom Cream, Horseradish, and Tempura Shallots:
This was really outstanding. I love CG's thin cripsy flatbread crust. The steak was tender and the pairing with the mushroom cream, blue cheese, horseradish and cripsy shallots made for a perfect earthy, winter-themed flatbread. And Mark doesn't like shallots, so I got all the crispy pieces to myself!
We also split the
Hearts of Romaine Salad with Roasted Garlic Dressing, Marinated Anchovies, Olives, Aged Parmesan, and Croutons.
Jenny was kind enough to have the salad pre-split for us, so I think this would be a pretty large serving for one person. It was a great, basic Ceasar salad. Nothing creative, but it was delicious.
Jenny brought us a basket of CG's house made sourdough bread, served with butter sprinkled with sea salt, as we ate our appetizers.
I love CG's bread. It has thick, hard and crunchy crust with a soft yet dense, pillowy inside. I am a carboholic, so good bread is a must for me, and this really hits the spot.
For entrees, Mark knew what he was ordered long before we got to CG. He had eaten their signature steak last year and loved it, so he ordered it again this year - The
Oak Fired Filet of Beef, Dauphinoise Potatoes, with Smoked Bacon, Ginger-Scented Carrots, and Terriyaki BBQ Sauce:
As before, Mark loved and devoured all of the meat on this dish. He ate most of the potatoes, and even some of the carrots for once! He says CG's filet is one of his top five favorite steaks.
I had a hard time deciding, but finally settled on the
Pan Seared Florida Red Snapper with Roasted Fig Risotto, Forest Mushrooms, and a Pinot Noir Reduction:
This was, simply put, amazing. It was quite a large snapper filet, perfectly pan seared with a crispy crust and soft, flaky, tender fish meat. The risotto was slightly sweet, earthy, and the symphony of flavors from the fish, risotto, or pinot noir reduction was absolute heaven for my taste buds.
Mark and I were having a wonderful time and didn't want to leave without dessert, but we were so full, so we decided to skip dessert for the time being and after we settled our check with Jenny, found a seat in the lounge area again to wait for Wishes to start.
Mark had another glass of Rioja while I went for a cappucino. While were sipping our drinks, some seats opened up right next to the window about a half hour before Wishes was to begin.
We moved over and then finally decided we could bear the thought of more eating and ordered dessert.
Mark chose the
Pumpkin Cheesecake with Cranberry and Cherry Sauce, White Chocolate Cookie Bars, and Gingersnap:
I tried a bite of this and it was super light for cheesecake. I had a lovely pumpkin flavor and went really well with the gingersnap crumbles. The cookies bars were delicious as well.
I chose my old standby:
Valrhona Molten Chocolate Cake
This is a signature dessert at CG, and they change the ice cream and sauce pairings with the season. The pairing for that evening was eggnog ice cream, and I hate eggnog, so I requested something different. They had vanilla ice cream, so I got that and some peppermint bark with my cake.
The cake was wonderful, as usual, and it was a nice and simple pairing with the vanilla ice cream. I loved the peppermint bark as well.
Just as we were finishing dessert, Wishes started. We had fantastic seats so we didn't need to go outside on the observation deck.
It was a really wonderful evening. We were there almost three hours!
California Grill really proved itself to me again. Everything was absolutely perfect and I cannot say enough good things about the restaurant!
Grade:
A+!!!!