Mikka & Redwitch once again go to WDW and eat everything! Live! With pictures! Yay!

[Mikka]

I'm back! My internet isn't being very cooperative, but Flickr is at least working.

As a reminder, I'll be doing one course per post. I'll try to get up a few posts per day (though there may only be one tomorrow, as I'm going out). This will be done this week: the last post will be the 29th at the latest. As I'll be starting a new thread on the 29th or the 30th for NEXT WEEK'S TRIP EEEE.

Ahem. >.>

VICTORIA AND ALBERT'S : QUEEN VICTORIA ROOM​

(Everyone takes this picture of the charger plates. Probably because they're pretty. Note my martini at the top right: I kept it going for like, two courses, though mom's was already basically gone.)

As a small recap: this is, I believe, our fifth time eating here. We've done the main room twice (back when it was still on TiW), the QV room once before and then the Chef's Table (that was amazing) once. I have really nothing bad to say about any previous experiences. This is a ridiculously expensive thing, but it's a ridiculously expensive thing with wonderful food in a wonderful atmosphere.

The Queen Victoria room is a ten course menu (we elected to add an extra shared course: I'll get to that later). Each is paired with wine, if you so choose: we both did the wine pairing, possibly because we are insane. Pours are not huge, but they're not small either: it's quite a bit of wine, but it's also quite a bit of food (in my opinion, the wine pairing is easily drinkable without getting drunk IF you drink plenty of water, too). As usual with V&A, you'll have two servers: for us, that was Amy and Don, both who we've had before I believe and both who were lovely. The matrie'd also steps in at times: usually that's Israel (who is also the wine guy, and way back on our first visit to V&A told me all about wine (I knew nothing!) and is part of the reason why I have such fond memories of this place), but this day it was Vivanna (who was also lovely). I believe those two servers are just assigned to the one room.

Which (as the Queen Victoria Room) is a small room just off the main room, with only four tables (well, there's a fifth in the middle, but it just has a gorgeous bouquet of roses on it): I believe each is designed to sit four people. There were only two of the other four taken that night, by two couples who both seemed to be celebrating anniversaries. The room is very quiet, so you can to some degree hear each other, but everyone is speaking quietly so it's not obnoxious and the tables are a good distance away from each other. I did some peeking at their food, though: from one I gathered, one couple was vegetarian and the other couple the woman had a shellfish allergy. Their food still looked delicious: V&A takes care of you very well on those points.

Unlike the main room (currently), the Queen Victoria room's menu is completely chosen for you: there's no 'pick from these two items'. V&A will call a week or so before your reservation and check with you on an allergies, intolerances or things you Just Won't Eat (to some degree). Back when we did the Chef's Table, I wouldn't eat lamb, for example (strange as I now love it, but I was young and stupider, once ;P): there were two dishes mom had with lamb. I was given scallops instead for one dish, and steak instead for the other. Likewise, mom's bell pepper intolerance meant she was given a different sauce for another course. They also remember your former preferences, as long as you don't go changing yourself in their system (like I did; I changed from my real name to my nickname >.>). Having said that, the only thing we were concerned about was bell peppers for mom this trip, and there were none on the menu. Woo.

Ahem.

As an aside to all this, they also have an interesting cocktail menu I got to peek at, and they also have a whole page selection of fancy imported water (they'll offer you still or sparkling for free). Apparently, Scotland has sweeter water then the rest of the world, according to the information I was reading. I did not know that.

Now, let's get to the part you're waiting for...



First course, is, of course (...that amused me), Amuse-Bouche! Which I will never spell or pronounce correctly. It also the first course that you can choose an add on to: we did not.

Can you guess what that is? Probably; that's caviar! But can you guess what's under it?



Now?

Mmmm.

'Maine Lobster Salad "Jar" with Siberian Caviar'.

A few weeks ago, someone posted a thread that was basically 'if you could choose an ap, entree, and dessert to eat for the rest of your life at Disney', what would it be? My thoughts is probably this for the appetizer. Because I will never not love caviar and lobster. I have to admit to not having much experience with 'good' caviar (sure, there's the roe you get on top of sushi at every other sushi restaurant, but that doesn't count), but to me this tasted delicious. One could have upgraded to a Really Expensive caviar, which may have been even better, but this was fine for us.

(For those who have never tasted caviar and wonder what it tastes like... honestly, it tastes a lot like capers (for the longest time, in fact, mom and I thought capers were a type of egg). It's the same level of saltiness (if not more), though a bit more savory too, and with a softer texture.)

You'll notice the spoon: it's not metal, it's mother of pearl. Metal and caviar don't go together: in particular, any silver used in the spoon can make the caviar take on a bad metallic taste (on the other hand, a gold spoon would be fine- but who has gold spoons?). I was wondering why we used pearl in particular rather then plastic or wood, before realizing that no place serving fancy caviar is going to give you a plastic spoon. As for wood, it can be used- just not in the USA. Our laws would require a wooden spoon to be used for one guest and one guest only due to sanitation issues: in different countries, wood spoons for caviar are used.

Yeah, you probably don't care, but I was interested and researched it.

Anyway, the lobster salad was very creamy, with hearts of palm and probably some house made mayo type substance. And that was it: the rest was all lobster. Trying the caviar and the lobster separately was of course a must, but it was when they were eaten together that the dish truly shined. Delicious.

As for the wine, this was Jacquart Mosaique Brut NV Reims. Very crisp, yet not too dry, with a tiny touch of sweetness (a hint of apple or pear, perhaps). It's primarily chardonnay, but mom did not complain about it. Mom's exact words which I put down to print were, 'It doesn't suck like all hoity toity champagnes' (she's not much of a champagne drinker unless it's really sweet or you're putting something else in it- then again, neither am I!). For those playing at home, this wine goes for around 37$ a bottle on average.

(I'm going to note that just to amuse myself and see how badly they rip us off with wine pairings (as we all know they do, but we would never not do it because they pair so well).)


In any case, this was a great start. Now to the next course, which I'm never sure if it should be a the 'true' first or the second... will it continue with that quality?

(Spoilers: yes, it will.)

 

[Mikka]

Still at...

VICTORIA AND ALBERT'S: QUEEN VICTORIA ROOM​

First/second course (I could look this up, probably, but... meh!) is also the first bread course (there are three of them).



Said bread is the most simple, a roll you'd get at most restaurants in the world... only much more tasty. This is one of those 'simple is sometimes the best' things. Of a more odd note is the butter, which is European style (though from Vermont). It has a higher fat content then butter then the USA: apparently, to a lot of Europeans, our butter is wimpy. Huh. And here I thought we were doing good at being the most unhealthy country in the world...

(I kid. Maybe.)

Anyway, the first/second course here is the cold appetizer.



It is, to be exact 'Colorado Bison with Ninja Radish Slaw and Kumquats', served cold. Yes, ninja radish's exist: this one, like much of the vegtables used at the signature dining experiences in Disney came from the Chefs' Garden. This slaw (which seemed to be mostly radish) was the tiniest bit bitter, but in a good way. The kumquat added a nice citrus note that complimented it. The bison was 'fall apart when touched by a fork' and cooked perfectly medium rareish: I don't think I've ever had cold bison before, but it was delicious.

We were so excited to eat this that mom didn't get the best photo of the sauces (you can see the light brown one (I believe that was kumquat) at the bottom, but there was a dark brown one as well (there's a tiny bit near the bottom right) that she was particularly fond of) or the edible flower (you can see a purple petal in the background). The sauces were great; the flower was tasteless, but, er, pretty.

She also missed getting a photograph of the wine, which is GASP SHOCK worthy.

It was Jules Taylor Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2013- that's New Zealand, if you're wondering, though this was an 'old world' (read: European) style wine. This is on the cheaper end, as I'm seeing it going for 15$ online (it was even a screwcap, not that I have anything against screwcaps). Having said that, it was very crisp but not at all sweet (the sparkler was probably sweeter), even when contrasted with the kumquat. It paired well. One of the more unusual things was the smell: it *smelled* all fresh and clean. Like, good laundry, but not chemical way.

So, verdict: enjoyable. I think I'll be saying that about every course...

 

[DisneyJo]

I'm far too fussy to eat at V&A but I'm loving reading your reviews

 

[Mikka]

Hee. I used to be a hugely picky eater. Back when we first went to Disney when I was 16, I basically ordered salmon everywhere. That's all I ate. It's actually at the Brown Derby that I was convinced to step out of that, when the waiter straight up told me their other fish (trout or bass, I think?) was much better then their salmon and urged me to give a try. Sometimes too honest waiters are good, I guess. Now, I'll eat almost everything.

There was one thing served to me that I couldn't eat (I took three small bites as is my rule, then gave it to mom), but that was more of a mind over matter deal... (that probably tells everyone what that item was).

Thank you for reading! And I think if you do the main room with the choices and give them a list of your no-no's, V&A can still be done by a fussy eater. If you're crazy picky, maybe not, but they do serve preteens. Of course, that's a lot of money to spend if you're not interested in the lobster/caviar/wagyu beef stuff, I imagine.

(I really do love V&A, but it is sort of ridiculously expensive, isn't it?)


Again, we are still atttt...

VICTORIA AND ALBERT'S: QUEEN VICTORIA ROOM​

The course after the course that's after the amuse-b. Which is either the third or the second. It depends how you squint.



And... what's this?



SMOKEEEE!



Oh, then a close up. Nice.

Remember how I told you (all?) when we at at the Chef's Table, I wouldn't eat lamb, and thus was given a dish with scallop? It was the cousin to this dish.

Hot "Smoked" Niman Ranch Lambh with Fuji Apple and Curry Dressing.

Although it says hot, the lamb is was just warmish (not as hot as if it had just come out of the oven/frying pan/grill/smoker/whatever). From what I understand, though, it does some of the cooking in the smoke. Back when we did the Chef's Table, we had this meal, only it was cold smoked lamb(/scallop). Interesting.

They're very theatrical about this course, from what I've seen: if there are four people at your table, they'll grab the matrie'd and an extra server just so everyone can have their lids pulled off all at once so everyone can do the 'Oooo, ahhhh!' routine. I don't really blame them: this is yummy.

The lamb didn't stand out as much as the bison from the second course (or some meat we'll be having later), but was still nice. What was really nice was the poached sweet apple (in gertz rather then riesling, oddly) and sweetish radish side. The curry (with real Indian spices, of course) on the lamb was a sweet one, and went well with it and the apple.

The wine was J.J. Prum Riesling Kabinett 2011, from Mosel Germany. Riesling is my favorite white grape variety, so I have bias here. It was an 'unripe' Riesling, with sweetness on the nose and in first bite, but a more spicy finish. As with all wine courses, it paired quite well. It seems to go for around 23$'s on average, pulled down slightly by the fact that you can get it for like, 13$ in Germany- USA only might pull that closer to 25$. Not a bad price for it, I thought; this was one of the wines I really liked. I mean, I liked them all, but if I'm going for a white, Riesling's are usually perfect unless I'm doing seafood.

I made two notes here that I don't understand: 'Cali land' (maybe the Apples were Californian?- or the lamb? Is Niman Ranch in California?) and 'I miss Isreal but Mexican City lady is nice' (I'm guessing Vivanna came and chatted with us during this course). That's the price of doing food reports so late... remind me not to do that for this October one!

 

[Redwitch]

though mom's was already basically gone

I was thirsty! (And I found the drinking smiley!)

'Maine Lobster Salad "Jar" with Siberian Caviar'.

Yumm-O! This really was an amazing combination of flavors. And presentation!

Yeah, you probably don't care, but I was interested and researched it.

My co-workers call me Google. She comes by it naturally.

First/second course (I could look this up, probably, but... meh!)

Another work comment. We just say "Number next."

Yes, ninja radish's exist:

For some reason, this cracks me up. Can't you just imagine those little radishes, dressed as ninjas? Think of all the trouble they could get into!

Hee. I used to be a hugely picky eater.

Eating salmon all the time was a step up from chicken fingers!

SMOKEEEE!

Once again, presentation! We eat first with our eyes.

Hot "Smoked" Niman Ranch Lambh with Fuji Apple and Curry Dressing.

I really liked this! I have always loved lamb and this was much different then the usual flavor profile.

That's the price of doing food reports so late... remind me not to do that for this October one!

Please, Please! Someone besides me nag her!

 

[Mikka]

For some reason, this cracks me up. Can't you just imagine those little radishes, dressed as ninjas? Think of all the trouble they could get into!

I have that ninja fruit game on my Iphone still, I think. Though you're the ninja, not the fruit. It would probably be cooler if the fruit were ninjas... hm.

Anyway, sorry for no report yesterday- my internet died for most of the day. Fixed it, though!

In case you're really confused, we're attttt...

VICTORIA AND ALBERT'S: QUEEN VICTORIA ROOM​

Still. We're not going anywhere else.

Here comes the 'next course' (the course after the course after the course after the amuse-b? ). Seafood!



Hm, not much detail, so...



Closeup!

'Fennel-crusted Diver Scallop in Salt Bowl'. My notes say 'best scallop I've ever had'. I don't often order scallops, because unless someone really good cook a really good scallop them, I find them rubbery. This one was not at all rubbery. This one was delicious. For a fairly simple dish, there's a lot going on here. What you're seeing is a bit of French salt, the Maine scallop, fennel, and an orange (a really tasty orange) on an oyster 'plate'.



Under the oyster plate, the bowl is made of himalayan salt, and there's this salty-spicy mixture (with savory cloves) inside it. While cooked, this mixture 'infuses' the oyster plate and the scallop: not the taste, but the smell. Therefore, this leads to probably the best smelling dish I've ever had. (On the other hand, the taste of it is like 'SALT SPICE ARGH'- definitely not something you should be eating.)

The wine for this course was Foxen "Old Vines" Ernesto Wickenden Vineyard Chenin Blanc, Santa Maria Valley 2013. That's California. This seems to go for around 23$ on average. It was light, but very acidic at the same time: we thought it was pretty complex, with a lot of different flavors going on. There was a definite bit of citrus to it, I thought, but the nose was more of a light apple. I did some quick searching to try and find what other people thought of this: I'm seeing like every flavor in the world described as it tasting like, including salt. Hm. I like salt a lot, don't get me wrong, but I think if I thought a wine tasted salty I'd be quite confused.


Next was the course we added in... but more on that later.

 

[tink1957]

Well...the party's almost over and I'm late as usual.

Seriously, really enjoyed all your adventures in dining and drinking you have a wonderful writing style.

DD and I experienced V & A for the first time last fall. Your review is bringing back fond memories.

Keep up the good work

 

[Redwitch]

'Fennel-crusted Diver Scallop in Salt Bowl'. My notes say 'best scallop I've ever had'. I don't often order scallops,

I on the other hand order scallops periodically and this was one of the best ones I ever had. And once again - presentation! This dish wowed all the senses.

Well...the party's almost over and I'm late as usual.

Welcome! Glad you enjoyed the reviews. Mikka will have a Food and Wine review after we return. Live posting is too hard with sketchy internet and a busy schedule.

 

[Mikka]

Yes, thank you for reading, tink1957! I'm glad you've enjoyed the reviews!

And I might do some of the booths and easy stuff live... but there's no way I'm doing full events or anything. Those take far too long to type, and mom is convinced we have to do absolutely everything this trip.


Okay, putting V&A in big capital letters everytime is getting sort of silly, so let's skip over to the food.

As I think I mentioned before, there were three options to pay a bit more and thus add more to the Queen Victoria Room experience. Two of them were ridiculously expensive- the caviar and adding even better beef you to the beef entree that will be coming. One, though, was to add an extra fish course. As there wasn't any fish (the lobster and scallop were all the seafood we had), and it wasn't that outragous, I begged mom to go with it, as I love seafood in general and it sounded interesting. Unfortunately, that means this course isn't on the menu, so I basically have to hope I caught everything that was being said.

By the way, we only bought one version of this- they said they'd split it between us, and that the wine was included (as we were already paying for the wine pairing). Looking, though, this looks the size of every other course, as does the wine pour. I'm not sure this was truly divided. Hm.



Looks pretty simple, but...



It was so good! It's Portuguese turbot (a fish I've had very rarely, if at all) on a bed of baby greens with capers and a mayer lemon verblonc that was rather creamy. The fish itself is hard to describe in taste: it had a very distinct one (it wasn't one of those fish that basically depend on sauce for flavor), but it wasn't at all fishy. The fish was very delicate, and fell apart more then most fish. The greens were good, the sauce was delicious, and the capers added just the right amount of salty goodness.

The wine was Fiano di Avellino Feudi di San Gregorio 2012, an Italian wine that goes for around 18$. It's a 'fiano', which is not actually a grape I think I've had before. We found it mineraly and crisp, with a hint of fruit that's hidden by the boldness of it: this wine was not a 'soft, delicate white'. It paired great with the creamy lemon sauce, being able to stand up to it but not overwhelm the fish.


Next course: the most interesting (I don't think that's debatable at all) course of all, but if you've read a V&A report anytime recently you've probably seen it as it's sort of become their New Course of Awesome.

 

[Mikka]

Well, no replies, but two likes! Thank you both! <3 I'm glad you're reading!

I see it looks like they're going to be enforcing the deadline of posts more often, so I suppose I better finish this quick, huh? Bad me! Luckily, we're around halfway through. Though it's sort of a shame... of course, next trip is soon. So very soon!

Sorry for the URL UBB code. Usually, it cooperates, but this time it wanted to link every line I wrote. Weird!


Course whatever-the-heck-course-this-is comes with the second bread of the day. This is the bread that basically changes every season; the first is always the standard roll and the third is always the Austrian family secret of awesome (mother's favorite), but this one can be anything. I have to shamefully admit I didn't exactly capture what this bread was: my notes are lemon, cherval (peppery!) and chives, which I assumed were used in the bread, along with 'Europe butter with herbs used in bread' (again, this was the European butter with higher fat content). This was probably because I was distracted by the butter detail, as was mom. See all the pictures of the butter! WOW OVER THE BUTTER!



Over comes the butter cart!



The lovely Don starts to dig in to it...
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https://flic.kr/p/w2cRgL
And these adorable little swirls are what he creates. Aren't they so cute? It's amazing, too, because they were so soft, and yet didn't melt out of the pretty curled shape.

Oh, and this was what the bread looked like...
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While this is a the piece of it:
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https://flic.kr/p/vmNsAA
This bread was my favorite, being flavorful as heck and with butter that matched it. Absolutely delicious: I could have eaten the entire loaf.

Oh, but there was a course there, too, right? They didn't just give us bread and butter. And what a course it was!
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https://flic.kr/p/vmNsAA
Breakfast for dinner. Seriously. Breakfast for dinner.
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https://flic.kr/p/vmNsAA
As this is what it looks like once it's cut open.

(Oops, mom forgot the wine picture again.)

The menu just describes this as 'Poached Chicken Egg with Corn Foam'. This doesn't really even describe it, though. This dish is crazy. It's a ravioli with a poached egg inside it (the chef came out later and tried to explain how it was made to it, but it sounded way beyond mom and my's skill- he said it's all about timing). Once you split the pasta, the poached egg comes oozing out. This was served with delicious bacon, delicious scallions (I like those little green guys!) and of course fresh and delicious corn... that makes that (delicious) foam. I have never had anything like this in my life, and honestly, unless I go back to V&A real soon, I probably never will again. This was just such an amazing and creative dish- I can't say enough about it. Awesome.

Paired with it was the Lafond Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills 2013. Another Californian wine, this runs around 23$ on average. I wish mom had gotten a picture, actually: this pinot was served in a traditional Burgandy glass, which is not unheard of but isn't all to common. That was of course to bring out the lovely nose and delicious taste. While not a sweet wine exactly, this wine brought out the sweetness of the egg/corn dish. I scrawled the world 'yummy' three times: this was one of my favorites. Very enjoyable, and it looks like it's affordable... and of course, not really available at all here in stupid PA with our stupid liquor laws. Sigh.


Next, we're over on to the beef... well, veal, in this case. Mmm...[/URL]

 

[luvpooh]

OMG, I want to try an egg yolk ravioli so badly! Every time someone on a cooking show makes one I drool. I consider myself a pretty good cook, but that seems be above my pay grade and sadly, we haven't been doing a lot of fine dining lately.

Looks like you'll wrap this one up just in time for your new trip to begin!

 

[DisneyJo]

I'm loving your reviews of the butter Our butter is incredibly different to yours which seems so crazy, my eldest DD refuses to eat butter when we're in America because she really doesn't like it?!?

 

[Redwitch]

The wine was Fiano di Avellino Feudi di San Gregorio 2012, an Italian wine that goes for around 18$. It's a 'fiano', which is not actually a grape I think I've had before. We found it mineraly and crisp, with a hint of fruit that's hidden by the boldness of it: this wine was not a 'soft, delicate white'. It paired great with the creamy lemon sauce, being able to stand up to it but not overwhelm the fish.

Did we finely find a wine to drink when everyone else is drinking Chardonnay?

I see it looks like they're going to be enforcing the deadline of posts more often, so I suppose I better finish this quick, huh?

What? Where is that memo? I missed it.

And these adorable little swirls are what he creates. Aren't they so cute? It's amazing, too, because they were so soft, and yet didn't melt out of the pretty curled shape.

From what I understand, this is a bit of an art. Evidently, the butter and spoon must be at the correct temperature and the "curler" experienced to execute the perfect butter curl.

'Poached Chicken Egg with Corn Foam'.

This was the Course of Awesome. I wonder who was the first to decide, "hmm, I think I'll stick an egg yolk in some pasta and make poached egg ravioli?" Everything about this was interesting and delicious.

Paired with it was the Lafond Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills 2013.

Is this the elusive wine that would pair with corn on the cob?

Looks like you'll wrap this one up just in time for your new trip to begin!

Keep cheering her on. I am actually taking a break from packing as I type this. I work Monday and Tuesday and we have a 0630 flight Wednesday morning. I vowed to be 80% packed today so I am not up half the night on Tuesday and to exhausted to enjoy our first day.

 

[mousehappync]

I think mastering that ravioli sounds like a good winter past time. I've been amazed that if you follow the cooking time to a T, Julia and Ina can both tell you how to PERFECTLY cook an egg any way you might want. All you need is the exact cooking time. Charging you with this very important task. The general manager/chief mixologist at bluezoo has convinced me to buy a nitrogen foamer thingy. (Side note-- have you done a tasting there? We live in a part of the country where if you drive real slow down the street a James Beard winner is likely to throw something delicious in your mouth, and it still ranks up there among my top three dining experiences ever. Their servers are absolutely top notch, especially if they realize you both love food and have a fairly open wallet policy. We have made that our only must-do Disney dining experience. We often just ask them to,surprise us, but the barrel-aged manhattan, salad with popcorn ice cream (and I'm not even remotely swayed by gimmicky food, but I have literal dreams about this salad) and swordfish are not to be missed.). Anyway, that's to say we're counting on you to figure out the egg thingy.

 

[Redwitch]

Our butter is incredibly different to yours which seems so crazy

Hand over your butter and no one gets hurt!

Their servers are absolutely top notch, especially if they realize you both love food and have a fairly open wallet policy.

We have eaten at and loved Blue Zoo, but never had a tasting. I'll put that on the list!
I'm not sure my cooking talents go to egg yolk ravioli. I'm not much of one to follow directions, which is why I don't bake. And I am hard pressed to give out recipes as I rarely measure.

 

[Mikka]

Two days, five (sort of six) more courses. Eeep! Will I make it in time? If I don't, apparently I'm being left behind when the plane goes to Disney, so I better write fast, huh?

Thanks for all the comments! I A) really want to see mom try this egg yolk ravioli (I'll cheer her on and supply her with drinks ;P), B) really want to go to Europe and eat more of your delicious butter and C) really want to go do a BlueZoo tasting. The first time we went there, I had read that they did it, but I was too shy to say anything and I hadn't heard anything about it in the following years. I love Bluezoo, though... of course, not going this trip. /grumble Stupid surprisingly cheap dining plan...

So, still at V&A. If this surprises you... well, you're probably easily surprised.



Here's one of the biggest courses, the first 'main' one. Marcho Farm Veal with Morels and Truffles. Hard to see but, as always, we have closeups!





This meal was basically 'veal three ways'. Unfortunately, this is the one part where my notes are positively awful and the menu isn't giving me much to go with. On the left is veal cheek and on the right is veal tenderloin (I, er, think?). In the middle was a veal lasagna type dish, though it tasted far more of mushrooms then veal. All three were flavored with all sorts of mushrooms (the morals, in particular, were from PA- we knew the town). I believe the foam on the lasagna was black truffle.

(Over on the right you'll notice that stuff. Yeah. 'That stuff'. I took three tiny bites, and gave it to mom. It's not that it tastes bad, but I just... my mind won't let me enjoy it. My mind freaks out, and it doesn't taste like, super good either, so I just pass it on. Mom can talk about it; I don't want to give it any more thought because it grosses me out. Sorry for that half-hearted review.)

This was around the time when I think both of us were getting full, so we started slowing down. Still ate all our veal and mushrooms, though. It was really good, but I was incredibly excited for the course after it, and thus probably didn't pay it as much mind to this course as I probably should have (also, again, my notes are unreadable here).

The wine was Vajra "Albe" Barolo, Italy 2010. At an average price of 41$, this clocks in as the most expensive one served so far. This was a lovely dry wine (I believe the driest of them all) although there was a hint of sweetness to it. The tannins overwhelmed the fruit a bit (which was cherryish, in my opinion). Talking to Don, he said this wine will be good till around 2030- 2015 is when they started recommend it be drunk, but it'll be even better in coming years. Sadly, I'll probably never taste it again, but I personally enjoyed it.


NEXT: the page you actually saw notes on!

 

[Mikka]

My notes are telling me this is course seven, so I'm just going to roll with that. (The course after the course after the course- okay, okay, I'll stop.)

(This was probably my favorite course.)


First, though...



Bread! The last bread course is again always the same. It's a family recipe of the baker who, uh, bakes the bread (my memory is telling me he's the pastry chef, but does the bread too, but I could be wrong there). It's a 9 grain multigrain bread, with all the ingredents ported from Austria, which was where his family was. It's mother's favorite by far and I'm pretty fond of it too.

As always, the butter has the French salt on it, though I can't remember them telling us if this was the European style butter again. I'm going to assume it was.



Then there was this. THIS.



With sauces poured in unison again, so it can look timed fancy.

'THIS' was Australian Kobe-Style Beef with Potato Turnip Gratin. It's done in two ways- a filet and short rib style (you also could have paid around 70$ to get a sample of Japanese Wagyu beef as well, though we did not). Both ways were delicious, but if you were able to read my notes, probably the most readable line was the all caps 'BEST SHORT RIB EVAH', with 'I will never eat short rib again' underneath it (...in much messier handwriting). This meat was basically fall part deliciousness, and may be the best beef I have ever had in my life, again. If you are someone who likes beef, this deceptively simple course was crazy delicious.

The 'sauce' was oxtail reduction. The sides were of course the turnip and then a sort of turnip/potato gratin thing, plus plenty of garlic. They were tasty, too, though nothing was as good as that beef. Nothing!

The wine was Il Fauno di Arcanum 2010. This goes for around 27$, and I think it may be a bargain at that price. This is one of what they call the 'super tuscan blends' (psst: it's from Tuscany, Italy), made with both cab's and merlot (oh, and a touch- I mean, 1%- of petit verdot). Soft yet peppery, this is one of those strong blends that can hold up to anything and basically took the best of the four grapes and the region and made it something awesome. Definitely one of the favorites of the wine I had this trip.

If we had went home right then, I probably would have been happy, but there are three (four?) more to go. Wow.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

It all looks amazing - the only thing we don't love in American food is that plastic cheese and your butter - honestly it tastes like margarine

 

[Mikka]

I don't get the whole plastic cheese deal, myself. I hear people all like 'THE PLASTIC CHEESE AT CASEY'S IS GONE', and I can think of is 'Well, yes, it is, but it was gross and it got everywhere and became even grosser'. Not that I'm going to troll their threads saying it, but I don't get it. I've eaten it on nacho's before, but I much prefer when they melt some good cheese on it then that plastic stuff which I find gets this really gross film on it once it starts to cool, too. Bleh!

Give me good queso instead if I need hot cheese. >.>

As for butter... I will freely admit now that your European butter tastes so much better then ours! Makes me want to try making our own, actually. Hm. I don't use butter too often as a 'topping' rather then an ingredient, though: on corn, on baked potatoes if we don't have sour cream and on unflavored mashed potatoes when there's nothing better (and I'd rather not eat unflavored mashed ones) and then on bread in restaurants. If I have a scone and nothing else, I suppose I'll use it too, but I'd hope either A) the scone doesn't need it or B) I have some cream. Mmm. Still, I think if I was used to that sort of butter, I'd ask for olive oil and pepper and use that on bread in restaurants rather then our butter...

Er, anyway! Course... eight? This is the last course with wine. Very sad.

(They have, from what I understand, even more ports and ice wines if you desired them, as well as a huge cart of after dinner drinks of all sorts (grappa, scotch, cordials, whatever category whatever goes in...), but mom was so not going to let me splerge on something random. )



I bet that you... can guess what this is. ;;

P1000913

Cheese, of course!



(And look all this honeycomb. Mmm...)

Yet somehow mom missed the picture of the port... that's her water over on the right, with the port ahead and out of the picture. Tsk, tsk.

Anyway, this course is basically just called 'Selection of Cheese from our Trolley', so I had to write quick what Amy was saying and hoping I was catching the right words. I have no idea which farms and cremery's these cheeses come from. The far left was 'truffle cheese'. Then was a French cows milk cheese, mimolette (Amy made a point of saying it was pink, but it looks orange like every other mimolette I've seen- not that I've seen much of it (it's a hard cheese, similar to a parm)). Then was the fruit bread with dates that takes up the center. Next to that going right was a Wisconsin cheddar. Second from the right, a French blue cheese from unpasturized cow's milk. Then, finally on the right was a triple cream cows milk cheese from Vermont (I believe the farm started with Harv, but I can't figure out which one it was). Scattered around were various nuts, salted, save for the huge one with the blue cheese which was covered in sugar.

This is always a weird thing, as I like soft cheese, while mom tends to prefer hard ones. So while we both tried all of them, she ended up eating most of my hard cheese (and me her creamy one). The truffle cheese was her favorite; I liked the far right creamy Vermont one, myself. All were good and decent, though, including the blue which can be a bit of a hit and miss with me.

The cheese was paired with Quinta do Crasto Late Bottled Vintage Porto 2010, which tasted like it should have been a lot more then 20$'s, actually. I admit to being incredibly biased here: I love port so very much and I don't think I've run in to a port I haven't liked yet (lucky me!). I did a bit of research on this one, as all my notes were basically 'yummy PORT SQUEE': this was just bottled in November of 2014, making it very young for a port. It's very fruit forward now (we did notice it) and maybe not quite as bold as it will one day be; this is a good wine now, and should be excellent in another ten years. That's sort of awesome, actually, as it was really excellent right now. Hm.


This is around the time that service slows a bit, gives you a tiny break, and comes to take any coffee and tea orders (which are included). More on that next, which will be tonight or tomorrow morning.

 

[Redwitch]

Eeep! Will I make it in time? If I don't, apparently I'm being left behind when the plane goes to Disney, so I better write fast, huh?

I have several people waiting in line to take your place!

Here's one of the biggest courses, the first 'main' one. Marcho Farm Veal with Morels and Truffles. Hard to see but, as always, we have closeups!

Look back at the photo. Pretty artsy with the roses in the wine glass.

Yeah. 'That stuff'.

Are we discussing sweetbreads? Yes, it is mind over matter. Typically gland meat. I honestly don't know exactly what they gave us, but generally sweetbreads are sweeter and richer then the muscle we usually think of as meat.

It's mother's favorite by far and I'm pretty fond of it too.

I love this bread. I want a whole loaf - just for me, not to share. I keep thinking this would be the best toast ever!

'THIS' was Australian Kobe-Style Beef with Potato Turnip Gratin. It's done in two ways- a filet and short rib style

Yum. Another wonderfully executed dish. <sigh> We're doing meatless Monday today.

American food is that plastic cheese

Do you mean the wonderful American cheese in the little plastic sleeves? The canned cheese? Or the orange block that doesn't even require refrigeration?

'Selection of Cheese from our Trolley',

The cheese was fantastic. But, you'll notice in the picture, everything was pre-cut. I swear the first time we ate at the QVR, they cut it in front of you. Also, this trolley doesn't hold a candle to the one at TÈ, an amazing restaurant right down the road in Leola, PA. If you're in to fine eats and ever in SE PA, give it a try.