Tuesday, May 29th - Happy Anniversary!!!!!!! I Love You...You Love Me... Now Let's Eat!
Hello my dear cyber-friends! Before embarking on the first part of our Chef's Table experience at Victoria and Albert's I must address a terrible oversight on my part. This evening as I was stuffing my face with crab rangoon and washing it down with half a pitcher of Sangria - something that will surely result in much digestive unpleasantness during the deep, dark hours of the night - I realized that I had yet to share a single alcoholic beverage recipe with you.
How could I be so thoughtless...so inconsiderate...so sober???
Well, to make it up to you I'd like to offer our Sangria recipe - it's as good, if not neyyer... I mean
better, than any Sangria you'll have while dining outside of your home (or mine).
Sangria
1 bottle (750ml) red wine (we used a Beaujolais)
1/4 cup brandy
1/4 cup orange flavored liqueur (either Grand Marnier or Triple Sec - we used the Grand Marnier)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 orange, thinly sliced
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced
1 unwaxed apple, cored and cut into thin wedges
1 bottle (750ml) sparkling water, chilled (we used Gerolsteiner)
Combine everything but the sparkling water in a large pitcher - cover and chill completely. When ready to serve add the sparkling water and have yourselves a drinking good time.
Thank you, Emeril Lagasse
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And now.without further delay...
Victoria and Albert's - The Chef's Table, Part I
Where do I start? This was the dinner reservation that spawned an entire week's vacation. Yeah, it sounds weird, but would you expect anything less from the two of us at this point?
We have been aching for this reservation for something like three years; when you normally only make it to WDW once a year (and sometimes not even that) it becomes very difficult to nab this kind of first-come, first-lucky reservation. And if I haven't mentioned it before...I am not generally a lucky person.
But in November, while still riding the crest of a post-vacation high and motivated by some strange certainty, I awoke very early and began calling WDW-DINE.
The result?
Holy crap on a stick!!!
We got the Chef's Table for our anniversary!!
Well, we might as well spend the entire week at Disney since we've got the extra vacation points to cover it.
And now you know how the whole thing spiraled out of control from there.
A bit of background about the restaurant for those of you who have not had the chance to dine there. Vicki and Al's (thank you Lori!) is Central Florida's only 5-star restaurant, although...I thought I just saw something yesterday that indicated that V&A has been downgraded to 4-star by Mobile. Anyone know for sure?
Having been fortunate enough to experience both the dining room and the Chef's Table, I would really suggest that you try the dining room first, especially if you want a romantic, intimate dinner. The dining room is lovely...dim, hushed, elegant...they even have a harpist who plays every evening. You will typically have a 6-course meal in the dining room with wonderful food and extremely attentive service.
The Chef's Table will smack you down in the kitchen, right in the middle of all the hubbub that goes into preparing gourmet dinners for multitudes of guests. You'll get something like 10 courses at the CT, selected and prepared by the evening's head chef and embarrassing though this may be...I can't seem to find an appropriate adjective to describe the entire experience.
Incredible...Amazing...Fascinating...Wow!
This evening's transportation was taken care of courtesy of some local cab company whose number the SSR concierge provided to us - we called them that morning and requested that we be picked up outside of our building at 5PM because we wanted to get to the Grand Floridian with plenty of time to spare.
All dressed up with someplace to go...
**Sigh** I have to be honest, and I am my own worst critic but how is it possible that I can look that...bleeeeeecccccch? I've lost my leg again, my hair is outta control, my arms look like the sausage links that Kona Cafe serves with breakfast, and isn't black supposed to have a slimming effect? I swear...I'm dropping 20 pounds by October or my name isn't One-Legged-Bewb-Flashin-For-Freebies-Brenda-No-Pants.
Upon arriving at the Floridian, we had about forty minutes to kill until our dinner reservation. Just so you know, if you land the CT, dinner begins at 6PM - there is only the one seating. When you book dinner in the dining room there are two seatings - one that begins around 5:30 and the other that begins around 9:00, and you can choose different times within those two dinner seatings.
Jay and I decided to hang out at Mizner's Lounge which is located on the hotel's second floor rotunda just across the way from the entrance to Victoria and Albert's. We were practical and split a bottle of mineral water (served with lime!) since we knew that there would be plenty of drinking in the hours to come. For us the best thing about Mizner's is that the GF orchestra was set up just outisde of the lounge and we were able to sit there and relax and listen to some great music.
The only problem was that the first song of the set was "Send in the Clowns."
Uh oh.
"Didn't Krusty the Clown sing this song?"
Jay smirked.
I started to giggle.
Jay began singing in his best Krusty Brand Imitation voice in time with the orchestra. "Send in the cloooooowns. Those daffy, laffy, clooooooowns. Send in those doleful and soulful and schmaltz by the bowlful...clowns. Send in...the clowns..." And then he pretended to cry.
I snorted mineral water up my nose in a fit of hysterical laughter that probably would have gotten us tossed out if we hadn't been dressed so nicely.
As a side note, I don't think the GF staff really likes it when you sit in their lounges and mock the orchestra's musical selections. But I really felt like this was a good omen of things to come. Our fondness for The Simpsons is one of the things that first brought Jay and I together; well, that and my refusal to take "no" for an answer.
So, enough silliness (for now). We checked in at the restaurant's front podium just like we would if we had a reservation for the dining room. In this instance, though, you have to be escorted back to the kitchen. I have to admit, it felt pretty special to walk through that dining room with the Maitre' de while all the patrons in the dining room watched. For a moment I wanted to give them all my best Royal Family Wave, but I was afraid that my upper arm flab might swing too far out and hit someone on the head so I refrained.
There is an alcove in the back part of the kitchen where a table has been set up behind a wrought iron banister; the table is set with the same flatware, glassware, and plates that you would use in the dining room.
Wow - the flash bounced right off the arm-flab!
Once you are seated, you will be introduced to your serving team and within a few moments the chef will come out and introduce him or herself. The chef will explain how the evening is going to unfold and will share a glass of champagne with you before leaving to toil in the kitchen on your behalf.
Our champagne, which you can see in the above picture, was
Heidsieck Monopole "Blue Top" Brut Champagne. It's a drier champagne but very light and very refreshing - we both liked it very much.
The restaurant is also very good about addressing food issues: allergies, dislikes, potential death warrants. I had mentioned at the time of reservation that seeds and nuts were a bad idea for me; the chef verified this with me after Jay and I were seated, and I took that opportunity to let him know of my very strong aversion to mushrooms as well. The result, which will make for a sloppy review, is that Jay and I ended up with some different food pairings as the evening progressed.
Did I mention that our chef for the evening was none other than Victoria and Albert's Chef de Cuisine (the head honcho, big cheese, numero uno) Scott Hunnel??? How in the world did that happen?
Front row seats...something sure smells good
Is it really a hidden Mickey if it's in plain view?
They have wonderful bread at Victoria and Albert's, but I must caution you as our waiter did us, do not eat too much of it or you won't have room for all the wonders to come. This picture coming up is Jay's bread plate - they only gave me the sourdough roll (remember, Crohns Disease = bad; grains, seeds, nuts = emergency room).
Bread, glorious bread
And then a choir of angels began to sing and a single beam of light shone down on the table...
It was time.
Amuse Bouche
Starting at the top left-hand corner and moving clockwise we have:
1)
Gulf of Mexico Shrimp with Tuscan Melon Coulis - this was a good-sized shrimpie wrapped in prosciutto barely bathing in a chilled cantaloupe sauce. It was an interesting variation on the old prosciutto-wrapped-melon appetizer (which I like very much). I thought this was good, but I'm not convinced that these flavors work together; the melon coulis was a little too sweet and as much as I love shrimp I didn't think that the prosciutto enhanced it at all. Surprisngly enough, this was our least favorite of all four offerings.
2)
Roasted Butternut Cream Soup - Oh. My. Gawd. Where have you been all my life? This was the most delicately flavored soup I've ever had - creamy and subtle upon first taste it and then it just explodes with flavor. I also loved the way it was served in that tiny pitcher - Chef Hunnel told us to drink right out of the pitcher, with our pinkies extended, of course!
3)
Yellow Fin Tuna on a Himalayan Salt Plate - I'm not a huge fan of tuna outside of tuna fish sandwiches but I must say that this was very tasty. When used as plates, these salt blocks lend an enhanced salt and mineral flavor to the food; they also look pretty cool, don't they?
4)
Deviled Quail Egg with Iranian Osetra Caviar - This was incredible, but I'm not exactly sure how to describe it. The quail egg tasted good but definitely had a stronger flavor than you'd expect from a "normal" egg. The caviar was wonderful - I wish we could have had more. Actually, I guess if we had wanted to pay for it we could have had more, but at $125 for a 1/2 ounce I knew that Jay would be happier with the dollar. Those little dollops on the plate are creme fraiche, which might have tasted really good with the caviar if I hadn't just popped the whole thing in my mouth at once without even using a fork.
When you have dinner in the dining room you are presented with one Amuse Bouche, which is basically a tiny, bite-sized morsel served before the first course of a meal. They are usually served to help excite the taste buds as well as to prepare the guest for the meal to come and to offer a glimpse into the chef's approach to cooking.
In this instance Chef Hunnel brought our Amuse Bouche to the table himself and told us what each offering was and what made it special in his eyes. He popped back over after a few minutes to find out what we thought and of course we could only grunt and drool, which seemed to satisfy him.
I did ask him a little later why they usually don't offer soup on the dining room menu because that Butternut Cream Soup was da bomb! Soups like that, while deceptively simple in appearance, are actually quite difficult to make properly. He did tell me that in the future if we called to make a reservation, even for the dining room, we could request something specific and they would do their best to accomodate our wishes. So that means if we go back I could request the soup when we make the reservation and the kitchen staff would try to make it available even if it's not on the menu. That's what I call service! I had no idea that V&A would go to those lengths to make their patrons happy, but now I do... and so do you!
Part II will be coming up shortly with lots of pictures. And speaking of pictures, I do want to apologize...we didn't do as good a job taking pictures at the Chef's Table as we should have. I especially wish we'd taken individual shots of the Amuse Bouche. Oh well... next time!
Thanks for reading so far and Happy 4th! Why not celebrate with a fresh batch of America balls?
So where ya hiding those 3 oz liquids?? 
Is that a drink?!
Now we're cooking with gas! (That's such a quaint expression, and I've always wanted to use it!) Glad you liked the Vicki and Al's thing, but I'm not the first (nor will I be the last) to refer to V&A in such a casual way. 
