A friend has her first visit to bluezoo

This dining experience took place on Friday, April 18, 2014

We have numerous friends that we’ve met at or around Disney World, it’s one of the biggest reasons that we love our lifestyle. Kristi is one of those friends, we’ve known her for a few years now and have talked a lot about graduate school and the long road to getting a PhD AND we’ve talked a lot about bluezoo (she’d never been). Her recent visit to Florida coincided with the conclusion of her PhD journey (a long journey). Thus, we had two reasons for us all to go out to bluezoo for dinner (1) to correct the fact that she’d never been and (2) to celebrate her PhD!

We ordered three starters and passed them around… oysters, heirloom tomato salad, and scallops & short rib (old photos at the bottom). The Chef’s Creek oysters from Washington weren’t as good as the Blue Point from Massachusetts.

Chef Ryan surprised us with a tasting of the new English pea ravioli. Kristi was delighted! She had been really torn about ordering this for her dinner. Yes, it was as delightful as we promised.

English Pea Ravioli – perfect egg, beech mushrooms, broccolini, charred corn

We ordered two entrees to share… The Chef’s Creation and Tuna & Eel… and asked for four wines to share that would go with the two dishes. All of these paired quite well, but the hit of the evening was the Dr Loosen Riesling (nicely balanced dry and sweet, very tasty).

1. Dr Loosen Riesling (tuna)
2. Blue Rock Baby Blue (munchung)
3. R2 Vin Blanc (tuna)
4. Round Pond Sauvignon Blanc (munchung)

Empty wine glasses waiting for wine

Ahi Tuna – benne seed rub, fresh water eel, braised shiitake mushrooms, daikon

The eel was the best part of this dish in our consensus. The rest of the dish just seemed too rich. The tuna was cooked perfectly and the sauce was nicely flavored. It just didn’t gel for us on this particular evening.

Chef’s Creation Munchung – gnocchi red potato, baby root vegetables, sunchokes, ramps, leek puree

This was a huge hit. Chef Ryan told us that it’s really difficult to get this particular fish outside of Hawaii, most of it stays in the islands where it’s really a treat. The texture was smooth, meaty, not overly rich. The leek puree was very flavorful. If we ever seen munchung offered again, then we’re sure to order it!

We had a great time. Kristi was a lovely dinner companion… Willing to try whatever we or Dustin (our server) suggested… Enthusiastic and cheerful (she smiles and laughs a lot).