Sunday, October 18th - Just Once I'd Like Someone to Call Me Ma'am Without Adding "You're Making a Scene."
This was a dinner that wasn't supposed to happen ... at least not at Victoria and Albert's. Initally we were all going to try for a Bluezoo redux but someone got advance notice that Todd English was going to host a big, salty dinner there on the night we were planning to meet up and so we moved to plan B, which was the Chef's Domaine at Citricos. Lori was good enough to call the restaurant and get some details about the experience and it didn't take long for us to agree that for the price we would all rather try for plan CT: the Chef's Table at V&A.
While we weren't able to nab the Chef's Table, Lori was able to make an early dinner reservation for the six of us and she was thoughtful enough to ask me about my dietary restrictions and general Crohns-related pickiness so that it could be passed along to the staff. The result of this was that my menu was adjusted to exclude nuts, seeds, grains, and loathesome mushrooms. My menu also noted that I'd just celebrated a birthday and our serving team very kindly wished me a happy one.
Thanks Lori, for taking the time to coordinate everything and getting us all to the table and for helping me baby the Crohn goblin.
While Jay and I were making ourselves presentable, I decided we needed a pre-dinner drink. It was pretty darn chilly out there for Florida and nothing gets the blood flowing like a wee dram of scotch!
Hit me!
Our reservation was early - 5:15PM - and I think it was closer to 5:30PM when Lori, Catherine, Jason, and I arrived at the Grand Floridian and met Chelsi and Jason outside the restaurant. This was another instance where I really wanted to get some group pictures and somehow lost the moment and / or opportunity. But we did manage to get some good individual pictures showing great good cheer which was further enhanced by the exchange of gift bags from Chelsi & Jason. So sweet!
The lovely Catherine
Jason & Chelsi cutest couple to come out of San Diego, evah!
Paparazzi BriarRosie
Remorseless Stinktown Eating Machines
For those of you not familiar with Victoria and Albert's ... the dining room serves a 7-course fixed price meal for $125 per person; wine pairings are an additional $60 per person. The restaurant is Central Florida's only
AAA 5-Diamond dining establishment: the decor is understated and elegant; the service is exceptional; and the food is delightful ...
even though the Disney Dining Dictator has decreed that foie gras is verboten. In most instances I would tell you that the dining room is the perfect place for you to share a quiet, intimate, gourmet meal with your lovey ... as long as we're not dining there on the same evening.
What you need to understand is that Vickie & Al's is a classy joint; someone like me, who grew up eating spam, potted meat, and Swanson's TV Dinners, is probably not amongst their target guest market. I've come a long way in overcoming these early culinary abominations, but my lack of training shows. If it weren't for repeated viewings of
Pretty Woman I wouldn't have even known which piece of cutlery to use with which course during the meal. Thank goodness for the advent of cable television.
It was a given that we were all going to opt for the wine pairings with our respective meals; when guests choose this option the V&A staff will offer them a glass of champagne to enjoy with the chef's happy mouth for the evening. We were served Pommery Royale Brut with our first course of the night and it was lovely! I think we might have toasted each other but my memory of the evening is really spotty ... I guess all that booze is having an impact on my brain cells after all!
Amuse Bouche
A Quartet of Tasty Treats ...
Here's what we were presented with starting at the top left-hand corner and moving clockwise around the plate: Celery Root Cream; Egg Mousse; Spot Prawn, and Octopus Bit.
I surely wish I could remember more about this ... but nothing really stands out very much after three months. I enjoyed the egg-y mousse quite a bit, perhaps as much for the presentation as the taste. The celery cream seemed a bit potent, the shrimp was shrimp, and I'm pretty sure I gave the octopus to Jay because I just don't like it (too chewy and squishy for my taste).
Course I:
Sesame-Crusted Big Eye Tuna with Tatsoi Salad and Tamari-Honey Foam
Colorado Buffalo with Fennel, Olives, Artichokes, and Sherry Vinaigrette
Kazakhstan Wild Osetra Caspian Sea Caviar with Traditional Garnishes ($190 upcharge for 1/2 ounce; $380 upcharge for 1 ounce)
Jason chose the Buffalo, which was served with a glass of Bisson Bianchetta, Golfo del Tigullio. Hee hee ... drop an 's' from that wine and it would have been Bison! Get it? Buffalo Wine!!
This is why it's so hard for Jason to take me anywhere.
Ahem.
I didn't try this but the hubby thought it was very good - tender meat with a nice fennel flavor.
Artistically camouflaged buffalo
There was much pre-vacation discussion in outer-Stinktown about V&A's caviar option. I have wanted to try it for some time, and thought this would be a good opportunity to do so. The price was more than we expected it to be - for years the 1/2 ounce upcharge has been $125 - but I guess the market price must have soared or V&A got their hands on some really good fish eggs because we were now looking at a $190 upcharge. That's a lot of cash for a Midwestern rube to spend on an appetizer she knows nothing about; in fact, we could have ordered a third dinner with change leftover for the cab ride back to the Beach Club for that price.
But we had already budgeted for the splurge and we had our Tables in Wonderland card which would give us a 20% discount off the final bill; I'm married to a wonderfully indulgent man who simply asked me, "Do you want the caviar?"
And when I replied in the affirmative he said, "Then order it."
Check out the presentation! Caviar in a little chilling dish ... creme fraiche, miniature blinis, a fun little hard boiled egg souffle, and a mother of pearl serving spoon for fishing out the caviar. I was charmed right away ... and a little apprehensive because as I said earlier, I know nothing about caviar except that it should never be touched with metal because that can adversely affect its taste.
I picked up the spoon, slathered a bit of creme fraiche on a blini, lopped off a bit of egg, and then scooped out some caviar and sprinked it on top of it all. With a shrug and a smile I popped it all in my mouth and hoped for the best.
And it was divine!
It was slightly salty and had a delicate, nutty flavor - it wasn't remotely gacky and left no nasty coating or aftertaste in my mouth. I totally understand now why people order this stuff; it was amazing and delicious. Given the price, it's unlikely that we will order a caviar presentation again anytime soon, but I'm so glad that Jay gave me the chance to try a true delicacy. And I was nice enough to share a taste with my friends around the table if they were interested ... seems like most of them were but I don't recall if they liked it or not.
That's presentation!
Fish eggs; fish eggs; teeny, tiny fish eggs.
I was given the option of having a second glass of champagne with my caviar service or an ice cold glass of Cirroc vodka. Jay and I are big fans of Cirroc so I opted for that. As an aside, I loved the glass it was served in ... if we had more room for glassware I'd buy a couple of these glasses for our collection, but there is no more room at the inn.
Bendy flashes for Vodka, too ...
Course II:
Maine Diver Scallop with Zellwood Corn and Chorizo Sauce
King Salmon with California Asparagus, Crab, and Sauce Bearnaise
Wild Turbot with Toasted Capers and Meyer Lemon ($30 upcharge)
For this course I selected the salmon ... in retrospect I'm not sure why I didn't choose the scallop. I far prefer a scallop to a salmon but this is what I chose and it was quite good, if a little more saucy than I usually like. The wine that accompanied this dish was Baileyana Chardonnay - it seemed like a decent chardonnay ... not too overpowering or strong and it didn't taste of oak, which is always a good thing!
All hail King Salmon!
This time it was Jason's turn to splurge on a pricey dish and he chose the turbot, which he'd tried here on our first visit in October 2006. He fell in love with it then and hasn't had much of a chance, if any, to feast on it since. He shared a taste with me and I understand why he likes it so much - it was very flavorful but light at the same time, if that makes any sense. The wine that accompanied this course was a Heller Estate Chenin Blanc.
Turbot-charged!
Course III:
Poulet Rouge with English Peas and Salsify
Duck Breast, Sausage, and Confit with Delicata Squash Puree
Jason went with the duck this time and it was served with an Acacia Pinot Noir. I don't really like duck unless I'm being served its seared, fatty liver, so I didn't try this, but Jason thought it was one of the best courses he was served all evening.
It's Ducky!
By process of elimination I chose the Poulet Rouge which was served with a Spatburgunder. To each his own but I didn't care for this - it struck me as way too salty and I didn't eat very much of it. This was the only course of the night that I didn't like. Truth be told I was missing the seared foie gras which was usually served with a glass of Royal Takaji, so I'm not sure there was much I could have ordered that would have made me happy.
Poulet Rouge
Now here's where the evening started to get a little wonky. If I remember correctly, we spent the weeks leading up to this dinner joking around about all the inappropriate songs we were going to request from the harpist. Suggestions ranged from
Inna Gadda Da Vida to
FreeBird to a whole host of other songs that I can't recall. We got a lot of laughs out of the idea here on the boards but it didn't seem like anyone at the table was ready to move forward with the proposition once we were actually in V&A's dining room. I said something to Jay, trying to prod him to go over and request something, but he wouldn't budge.
*Sigh*
I asked him for some cash and then hauled my pistachio-green butt over to the petite lady who makes such lovely music. I had a song in mind, oh yes I did, and I asked her if she could play it for us.
She replied in the affirmative and then told me there was no need to leave her a tip for doing so. Perhaps this is when the uncouth in me shines through, but I left her the cash anyway, in part because I knew six people in the dining room were going to start laughing as soon as they recognized the song she was playing and I felt kind of bad about it.
I refused to divulge the song selection when I came back to the table, telling everyone that they would know the song when they heard it.
It seemed like the dining room was very quiet at this point - we might even have been experiencing a lull in the general conversation - and then the delicate sound of the harp filled the room. Jay and I started snickering right away but I think there was a brief moment of disbelief ...
she didn't request that, did she? ... before the others started laughing, too.
I apologize right now to all of you who love
Send in the Clowns, especially if you were at V&A that night, but it's a long-standing joke in our house and we had to sing Krusty the Clown's version of the song:
Send in the Clowns
Those laffy, daffy clowns
Those soulful and doleful,
schmaltz-by-the-bowful clowns
We crooned quietly, but there was a lot of giggling and then we were interrupted by a member of the staff who told me that a strange person had stopped by to leave me a birthday baggie. As soon as I realized it was the hilarious and mysterious LisaDKG, I bolted from the table with my husband in order to meet her. Not only was this undoubtedly rude on my part, but I missed the rest of the darn song, too! So I apologize to my tablemates as well as to the harpist who was no doubt scarred for life by what we did.
The plus side is that I had a chance to meet someone from the DIS that I've been talking with for a couple of years - she is a sharp, very funny lady and so cute and tiny, too! I felt like a mammoth, ready-to-burst pistachio nut standing next to her.
And this concludes the first act ... stay tuned for further updates which will include lots more food, both on the menu and not! Thanks for reading!
Sorry the wait turned out to be so long. It must have been somewhat frustrating for you since you were expecting so many DisFriends for your birthday celebration.
The birthday cake that they made for you was adorable and the cake when sliced looked delicious
!!! Glad to see so many friends came out to help you reign in your 40's!
The pictures of the F&W taste testings for the next day looked appetizing. I can't wait to hear about your V&A dinner!!!
I'd rather save money to spend at the Ditch, too.
and of course it lived up to my expectations 
