It was time to head over to the Contemporary Resort and our 5:30 pm ADR at the California Grill. This was our first venture into signature dining.
California Grill is located on the top floor, which I believe is the 14th or 15th floor. The restaurant stands alone on that level so the entirety of the exterior walls of the restaurant are floor to ceiling, wall to wall windows with beautiful panaromic views.
I know that many people like to try to time their ADRs for Wishes viewing. With Wishes at 10:00 pm during our vacation, I just couldn't imagine eating such a late meal. I had read that if you dined at Cali Grill at any time during the evening, you could return to CR with your receipt and you would be admitted back to the restaurant level for viewing Wishes. This was confirmed by our server at the end of our meal.
I prefered to see the panaromic view during daylight hours. I had actually read about the beauty of watching the sunset from CG, and was hoping to catch it. However, I timed our ADR WAY to early for a sunset view in June. But I had also read about people waiting longer than they thought they should when they dined later in the evening. In order to avoid this possibility, I sought an earlier ADR.
We were dressed in our resort casual. I dressed life-sized Ken in his palm tree, super tropical, looking like being on vacation shirt and linen shorts. I wore a dressy sundress. We both wore our anniversary buttons. I dressed young life-sized Ken Jr. in a cotton polo with shorts. We had showered and refreshed at the resort before dinner. We took the boat from WL to the Contemporary. Even with the stop at Fort Wilderness, the boat ride was a lovely way to travel. The breeze was heaven sent and the view was calming. It was fixing to be a lovely evening.
They tell you to check in at the podium on the second level of CR. Somehow, I pictured the type of thing a speaker would stand behind as a "podium," and went right past it and on up the next set of escalators. The second level is quite barren of anything. The reality is that the podium looks like a car rental counter.
I hadn't had our anniversary noted on our ADR. When I made my ADRs at the 90-day mark, they would only allow that note on one ressie. I had chosen the WCC ressie since the cake would be there.
The greeter wished us a happy anniversary. I admit that I was happy that she noticed our buttons. I saw her typing something associated with our ADR. She handed us a buzzer and directed us to the elevator.
The restaurant has commandeered the closest elevator to the podium. There is an escort that watches over this elevator so that it offers express service to the top floor.
Upon leaving the elevator, you enter into the central lounge area which is serviced by the bar. There are couches and other cushy seating.
I admit that I was heartily disappointed to see the sunshades down across the entire restaurant. And they weren't flat sunshades that would still allow a decent view through them. They were like Roman shade style sunshades with big pleats adding yards of extra fabric over the windows.
The room was still beautiful and elegant. Light colored neutrals with golds and purples, if I remember right. White table cloths. We didn't even pause long enough for a picture before the buzzer flashed and vibrated. Our hostess explained that the shades were down because of the sun, of course. They would be raised around sunset time, about 8:00 pm on that day, June 21, 2009.
I didn't request a window table at check in. I figured there would be few people at the restaurant this early and so I was hopeful that we would just be seated at a window.
And I was right.
And there was Mickey head confetti on the table!
I noticed that the table next to us also had confetti, and they were also celebrating an anniversary.
We were greeted by our server David, who was absolutely fabulous. He was so mellow. So calm. So gentle almost. He was just the right server for a relaxing, leisurely meal. And this was indeed to be a leisurely, slow-paced meal. We had been walking all day and were quite enjoying the novelty of sitting; the setting and the food to come were just the ticket for a celebratory evening.
David explained our options on the DxDDP clearly. Anything from the entree line up could count as a appetizer, with the exception of the two most expensive sushi offerings. The flatbread seems to come and go on the menu. It was there this evening.
David advised that now would be a lovely time to check out the views from the restaurant. He explained, there are three viewing decks. The first two are the ones that everyone talks about watching Wishes from. One is accessed from the restaurant side and one is accessed from the hallway with the restrooms. The restroom access one is much less crowded, we were told. The other deck was on the opposite side of the restaurant, facing away from the Magic Kingdom.
We were enjoying our sit WAY too much to get up and walk around for a view. There would be plenty of time for that after dinner.
When David returned to take our order, he brought two lovely glasses of champagne complements of the house.
DH and I are adventurous eaters, I suppose you could say. We definitely wanted to take advantage of the more unusual or specialty offerings at our various dining establishments. We opted to fully share our appetizers, ordering a sushi plate, Yellowfin Tuna Three Ways - Poki, Tartare, and Tataki, and California Grill's Cheese Board.
We wanted to have sushi, not a sushi roll, although I can tell you, I saw many, MANY rolls served during the course of our meal, and EVERY single one looked fabulous. I would go back simply to try all the different sushi and sushi roll offerings. DS ordered a fruit plate, which wasn't listed on the CG menu, but was still available.
We all LOVE salmon, so we all ordered salmon. DH and I ordered the current salmon offering (which of course, isn't listed currently). DS ordered the kid's salmon plate.
With our champagne, and feeling dehydrated from the heat and humidity, we opted to just drink water.
I peeked under the shades to photograph the view.
Photographed DS. Notice the sun shades behind my handsome son.
And we absolutely devoured the wonderful sourdough bread. I don't think I got a photo of the butter. It was served with sea salt sprinkled all over the top. It was pretty and pretty tasty on the bread!
I wish that I had kept the description of the cheeses on the plate or taken a picture of it. I can just read some of the verbage in the bread picture. For the first cheese (far left), it reads Kunik: Kunik, a pasteurized semi-aged cheese, is a unique and decadent cheese. Kunik is a (size is not pictured) cream wheel made from goat's milk and Jersey cow cream. It has a white rind and a tangy buttery flavor. It is produced at Nettle Meadow Goat Farm in Thurman, New York.
I got the impression that the cheese board will change. It was very fun to taste the cheeses and have a bit of knowledge about what they were, how they were made, who made them. Trying them with the other flavors, like the candies, raisins, fig, and honey, was a culinary experiment in real life ala Ratatouille, an explosion of flavor in your mouth. Fireworks were going on left and right. Which from left to right are, the aforementioned Kunik, a hard white cheddar, a hard goat cheese, a creamy brie type, and a blue.
The tuna was equally fun to eat. I'd never had sushi before, but I love fish, and this was just a wonderful way to eat it. All three were melt in your mouth fabulous. DS loved the one with the orange caviar the best. What appears as one large serving was actually serveral small cubes nested in shredded cucumbers. The curled tuna was easy to unravel and share. That was the best one with the dipping sauce. The near tuna on the sliced cucumbers was ground and combined with corn and herbs.
The fruit plate was a lovely presentation with the fruit plated like a crab. Look again, the orange peel is his front pinchers and the slices are his legs. We had started nibbling on it before we saw the presentation. And btw, the berries with the cheese? Oh my! Fabulous! Talk about fireworks!
David was attentive. He kept watch over us and allowed us time to finish our appetizers before bringing out our entrees. DS was dauddling a bit over his fruit. He had really enjoyed the cheese and tuna with us. I had some time to take pictures before I realized that DS was holding up our entrees!
The open kitchen activity...
Toward the bar...
DSs tiny portion of perfectly cooked salmon over basmati rice with asparagus.
Our salmon.
It was surprising that our salmon was presented with the skin on. And that the skin was facing up. And that the super yummy toppings, kalamata olive pate and pesto were on top of skin that neither DH nor myself would eat. I know some do. But I don't even eat the skin on fried chicken. I very delicately removed the skin, which came off VERY easily and scrapped the yumminess onto the salmon and proceeded to thoroughly enjoy this dish. The salty kalamata olives, the tangy artichokes, the sweet tomatoes. In the words of DH, it was OUTSTANDING. I concurred totally.
The salmon was a generous portion. DH and I both shared with DS to make up for his dinky portion. This is a theme that would be repeated over and over again. Many restaurant chains are now recognizing that there are two levels of kid appetites, those for like 3 to 7 and those for 8 to 12. It was too bad that not a single restaurant had an option for a bigger kid portion.
It may shock you, but there was actually room for dessert. I TOLD DS that he HAD to order the Crisped rice sushi plate. I had seen too many pictures. I HAD to see it in person.
We interrupt this culinary adventure with a public service announcement... Our entrees and desserts aren't listed on the menus available online. As your hosts and servers will tell you, the menu is inspired by seasonally available items and changes frequently. When viewing the Cali Grill menus, I would DEFINITELY avoid trying to order any ONE item from there. It's likely to not be there...and now back to our regularly scheduled dining review...
I wanted something light, so I ordered a blueberry lemon concoction. DH was tempted by a cheesecake three ways type dessert.
While we waited for dessert, we entertained ourselves with confetti.
David was one smart server and brought DSs dessert out first, giving him plenty of time to enjoy it, and giving us all plenty of time to admire it.
This is a creative masterpiece. Seriously. The gummy fish on the rice krispy treats? The gummy wraps for the rolls? Gummy worms in the centers? Chocolate sauce? Taffy pickled ginger? Marshmellow washabi?
He returned with these lovely celebration creations:
I wasn't sure what I was expecting from the description. I was somewhat surprised to see that the dessert was like a tart. I guess I really just wanted the lemon sorbet, which was tart and bright and a perfect end for me. I finished it but left most of the tart. DH had a taste and couldn't believe I was enjoying it. Of course, he had a bite after having dived into his own:
Which was incredibly scrumptous. Beyond decadent, this was another feast of flavor and tasting. I think his fav was the chocolate one.
DS couldn't finish his dessert, so we asked for it to be packaged up. We took this fun box back to the resort after dinner.
Now it was time to enjoy the views. Time to stretch. Walk around a little. We ventured to the deck where Wishes viewing was said to be prime.
This deck is long and narrow. Because the deck is much, much narrower than the roof of the CR, it is quite secure feeling, as the roof is what is on the other side of the railing, as you can see in this family portrait.
I don't know if it's normally windy on the deck, but the wind was definitely whipping when we were there. This was quite welcome as the heat was still quite oppressive, but on a cooler evening, it might be down right chilly.
The bill:
Tuna 3Way $21.00
Salmon 38.00
Dessert NSA 11.00
Cheese 5 ways 18.00
Salmon 38.00
Blueberry 11.00
KM Fish 11.00
KM Fruit 4.00
KM Sushi 5.00
Total: $167.21 (with tax)
The California Grill was a dining experience worth repeating.
With the early evening ADR, the restaurant was quiet. The environment calming, relaxing, inspiring leisure, everything that gourmet dining should be. With the expectation that I would be experiencing food that I would be hard pressed to recreate at home, this absolutely met expectation. There were several menu items that I would love to try. The views. Oh. It is just a complete package. If I were staying at CR, I would probably eat here more than once. I would experiment with times of day to get the feel for the restaurant in all the different lighting of the evening.
I personally would never try to watch Wishes while dining here. I can't imagine anything more disruptive to my gourmet meal than a crowd of people making a beeline for the deck and then angling for position to view the fireworks. The deck just wasn't that large. You would have to get out there early to get a decent spot. I could see returning to the restaurant later, ordering preferred libation from the lounge area and spending some time admiring the view, getting into position well before the fireworks started. Especially if I were a guest of CR. I even contemplated this very course of action for ourselves, but alas, we were having too much fun in MK to interrupt the flow with travel to CR.
It would be great fun to be able to watch Wishes from your own table. But the odds of actually being seated in a good viewing spot are so slim, I don't think that I would pin my hopes on that. Unless we were visiting in a season with shorter daylight hours and an earlier Wishes viewing time, I also wouldn't risk the potential crankiness within my family as a result of a late dinner.
It was disappointing to see the number of people that were dressed below the dress code. I guess I think contrary to most and believe that dressing up a bit on vacation is fun. It adds to the specialness of the occassion. DS was even able to appreciate the experience more. It set it apart for him. He asked, "Is this gourmet?" "Oh yes, sweetie, this is definitely gourmet."
So detailed, love it!! 
Congratulations on your marriage. Best wishes. We just celebrated 12 years. Life is immeasureably more fun with a partner.
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