Culinary Adventure – Fulton’s Crab House

We had really looked forward to this – early last summer we read a rumor that Fulton’s might be redone as the Empress Lily (it’s original incarnation) for this special dinner. It was not.

third floor lounge at Fulton's Crab House

We were escorted up to the third floor lounge where we were offered wine or champagne. The cold seafood appetizer buffet was only “eh” – the shellfish was soggy; what a disappointment. The barbecued scallops were probably the worst scallops we’ve ever had at Disney World. Now you must understand that we’ve had the cold seafood platter (Fulton’s Seafood Tower) a number of times and have typically really enjoyed our meals here. Dear Aunt LOVED the New England Clam Chowder and Nick made sure that she was able to get have it more than once on her last trip to WDW.

it was much calmer & quieter out on the deck ...

... overlooking Downtown Disney

The appetizers were cold seafood - stone crab claws, king crab legs, shrimp, and barbecue scallops.

After our not-really-cocktails “hour,” we were escorted back to small dining room with tables set for group seating.

the view towards the door from our table

I’ll beat a dead horse, THE NOISE was horrendous, even worse than at Raglan Road – in fact, it was so loud that it would raise that horse from the dead. This time we had some earplanes ready for Nick. He said that they helped to tone down the volume, but once again, it was just too d*mned loud… Do adults not have inside voices anymore? Are all of us going deaf from listening to earbuds?

Quick story… The first time we brought Dear Aunt to Disney World (2005), before she had her stroke, we had dinner at the sushi bar at Restaurant Tokyo (back before it was changed a lot). Dear Aunt had miso soup, tempura, and green tea for the first time and we all enjoyed our dinner. THEN this rather loud group of women and children (3 or 4 of each) were seated behind us. The children began the evening quietly. The ladies, no way; they were so gawd-awful loud that Nora found herself completely ignoring her southern lady upbringing — she muttered rather loudly, “for gods sake, use your inside voice!” The people right behind us didn’t hear, but Nick did… after a quick laugh he very kindly said, “honey, why don’t you go wait outside on the balcony with Dear Aunt, I’ll pay the bill… get us a good spot for the fireworks”

The noise level at WDW restaurants these days makes Nora want to shout to everyone – PLEASE use your inside voices!

Chef Ron Cope and Tyler the Banquet Manager came out and introduced the menu

Chef Ron Cope and Tyler the Banquet Manager came out and introduced the menu

Menu

Salad – Hearts of Palm Salad – Romaine salad with lemon shallot vinaigrette.

We ate this so quickly that Nick wasn’t able to take any photos. The salad was quite good. The hearts of palm were grilled after being marinated in a tapenade.

Entree - Filet Mignon & Alaska King Crab Claws

Charcoal grilled Angus beef filet mignon with Alaska King crab claws, Maine lobster whipped Yukon Gold potatoes, baby carrots and asparagus, and brandy green peppercorn sauce.

The entree was surprisingly good (for two people who aren’t steak eaters), not overcooked, nicely medium rare. We’d never had Alaska King Crab Claws before, legs sure, but not the claws. Unlike the early seafood, these were not soggy or watery – quite good. The lobster whipped potatoes were very, very tasty.

Dessert - Chocolate Cake

Warm chocolate cake with carmelized bananas, white chocolate cinnamon plantain strip.

This was okay… We scarfed it down, but we certainly wouldn’t order it again. This dessert falls into the classification of so many of the Disney World desserts – sounds good, smells good, nothing special. Oh, and I should include the second most popular Disney World dessert classification – some incarnation of the old chocolate lava cake. Nora LOVES to cook and she is justifiably proud of her baking abilities – this doesn’t come close to something as simple as her homemade pound cake. Of course, as much as we love dark chocolate, we’ve never had a chocolate lava cake ANYWHERE that is as good as Nora’s ooey gooey brownies from scratch.