Three Good Eats… One Great Weekend

Birthday Noshings…

My birthday was last weekend and of course we celebrated the day in our own special ways… Lots of walking and exploring Walt Disney World, plus eating at some of our favorite venues… We have photos of some of the yummiest, but not all…

We started with a walk to Downtown Disney and a visit to Earl of Sandwich. Since this was a personal holiday of sorts, I ignored the #2013eateachsandwich challenge and we split a chocolate chocolate chip cookie and each had a cup of coffee (no photos, close your eyes and imagine a very dark chocolate cookies with chocolate chips). I was surprised by how good the cookie was, crispy where it should be and moist/tender where it should be. The generous chocolate chips added moisture and loads of flavor. Now, you may not know yet, we’re cookie snobs. I’m a very good cookie baker and I’ve created original recipes… We used to regularly bake over 500 cookies at a time to give to clients and friends. Usually, cookies at Walt Disney World are massively disappointing (excepting the now departed white chocolate raspberry cookies at Writer’s Stop)… It was a surprise to find the chocolate chocolate chip cookie to be so satisfying and good (BTW this was the first time we’d ever had a dessert at Earl of Sandwich).

Of course, this wasn’t really breakfast… It was the mini-breakfast to hold us over until we got to The Wave at the Contemporary Resort…

Our last breakfast at The Wave was also our first (that was on our wedding anniversary last November). We were very lucky to have been seated in Ashley’s area that day and we specifically asked for her again. We knew what we wanted to order, last time nick ordered the scrambled eggs with spinach, tomato, and feta cheese… It was a great deal and we’d made notes for what we thought would plus the meal for us. We were pretty surprised when Ashley remembered us AND Nicky’s questions last time… We were even more surprised when she asked us if we had a blog! She found us on the Internet because she likes to see what guests have to say about the Wave… She said reading comments and trip reports give her opportunities to improve the guest experiences and to make suggestions (excellent!).

This time we both ordered the same breakfast… just as we had planned…

It was delicious. The egg whites were nicely scrambled with a good amount of salty feta cheese and ripe chopped tomato. The spinach was lightly sautéed with what tasted like a bit of olive oil, garlic, and a sprinkle of salt. The plain grits were heavenly… creamy, buttery, smooth, but with the texture of true cooked grits (not instant, I couldn’t even finish my portion of grits).

This was definitely a breakfast we’d want to repeat. The service from Ashley was spot on again (she again offered us go cups for our coffees), we made sure to let the manager know that Ashley really impressed us with her professionalism and friendliness , not the easiest combination to successfully present to guests. We’re thinking about making breakfast at The Wave more of a regular thing, especially for special days 🙂

We didn’t have a special lunch per se… However, we did do something that we really enjoy doing together (thus far, we haven’t been able to make it work to do this with friends – get your minds out of the gutter :))… We visited La Cava Del Tequila in the middle of the afternoon. The last two times we’ve just stopped in, we’ve been able to get a small table without too much effort… The lines at the bar for to-go margaritas always seems crowded, but we’ve been able to get a table fairly quickly.

Sometimes when the theme park is crowded, La Cava doesn’t offer certain items (such as the trio of dips & chips or the margarita flights). Luckily, this afternoon wasn’t considered to be peak times and we were able to get the Trio Combo 🙂 And, I was able to get the Horchata Margarita that Sarah @eatingwdw tweeted and wrote about the week before…nick ordered the Pineapple Margarita that we knew would be a hit.

The dips were generous… Two small bowls of chipotle salsa – nice and mildly hot with smoky undertones. A large portion of freshly made guacamole – it had some chunks of avocado, little bits of onion, and a few tiny pieces of tomato. And a bowl of queso con jalapeño – cheesy, spicy goodness 🙂 Oh, and of course some warm slightly salted corn chips. We finally had to push the chips away after we had eaten all of the guacamole and queso… Their chips are quite good and its hard to stop eating them.

The Trio Combo seemed to be very popular at the tables around us too… Quite a few people were ordering it.

I had the Horchata Margarita. It was creamy and spicy at the same time. Not heavily thick and rich, more like a light almond milk with a strong cinnamony kick. I didn’t expect this to be as refreshing as a tropical fruit flavored margarita, but it surprised me by being more refreshing. Yes, the flavor was slightly reminiscent of an eggnog (creamy, cinnamony, and a hint of nuttiness)… But I thought that the fireball cinnamon whiskey gave it a nice kick. (Nick liked it too)

Nick ordered the Pineapple Margarita (I had this on our last visit to La Cava Del Tequila). This margarita is a very well balanced blend of tequila and fruit juice, again, it was very refreshing (something that I don’t say about typical bar margaritas – too often, they’re just sugary, syrupy sour mix with substandard tequila tossed in).

Our visit to La Cava Del Tequila was a resounding success… Definitely need to go back there soon 🙂

The next food/beverage stop was the bluezoo lounge – no special reason other than its one of our favorite places at Walt Disney World and it was cool and dark and quiet on a loud, hot, noisy afternoon. It was only a brief visit for an Old Tom Negroni for me and a Gin and Tonic for nick. If we’d had our wits about us and if we’d been less intent on exploring as much of Disney World as possible, we’d have kept ourselves parked here for another drink and called a taxi (remember? No car today)… Instead we went to Downtown Disney where it was once again loud, crowded, and noisy. We settled on a margarita (me, it was yuck) and a beer for nick before getting a taxi home.

The big birthday dinner was the next night at bluezoo with Kate and Calvin.

Nick had been communicating with Chad (manager of bluezoo and our friend) to figure out how to make things extra nice for me – I didn’t have a clue what was going on, other than the fact that Joseph (a favorite waiter) wouldn’t be available that evening. Nick, Chad (@chadlobner) and Chef Ryan (@r_ratino) all together decided the evening should feature soft shell crab and waygu beef (1. I love soft shell crab and 2. When Chef Chris Windus had arranged with us to try the waygu beef a while back, I came down with a horrid tummy ache and just wasn’t able to make it to bluezoo).

Our server this evening was Chris (new to us). As always when visiting bluezoo, we began with a round of drinks… Nick had a gin and tonic (with Bluecoat Gin, recommendation from Chad) and I had another Old Tom Negroni, Calvin had a Smutty Nose Brown Ale and Kate had water… and with appetizers… Nick had the romaine with acg (we’ve posted pictures here), Calvin and Kate each had the clam chowder (do not confuse this delicious rendition with traditional thick, white, potato laden clam chowder), and I had a variety of bivalves.

Chad surprised us by bringing us a taste of his barrel aged white manhattan… He’s been ‘teasing’ us for  months about this specialty cocktail. Even the presentation was extra special (and not just because he was dressed in a white tuxedo for a special Swan & Dolphin event), he brought out a serving cart and chilled the white manhattan in a flask with liquid nitrogen. Each of us had a small glass that Chad had rimmed with orange peel. While the white manhattans were quite good, I think Chad’s right, they need a bit more aging.

We were taking things slow, especially when Chris suggested that based on what he was seeing in the kitchen that slow was the way to proceed. After the appetizers, Chef Ryan surprised us with an unusual creation – a taco of sorts – a clear edible film with an orange-colored passionfruit foam, sashimi tuna, and ramp chimichurri… Wonderfully strange and very tasty.

So, we settled down to enjoy another cocktail (nick and I had barrel aged manhattans – no surprise there – and Calvin had a second ale) … Chef Ryan came out with two large black ‘platters’ containing two of my favorites… Yes, it was a waygu beef dish and a special preparation of soft shelled crab (actually, they were both “off menu” items)…

The waygu beef was served with a huckleberry chutney, grilled baby romaine, and a cauliflower puree. It was devine! The beef was cooked perfectly. I loved the huckleberry sauce (I grew up in North Carolina and learned about the difference between huckleberries and blueberries at an early age… I LOVE huckleberries) – it added a touch of tart and a touch of sweetness to the overall dish. The grilled baby romaine was barely charred and was a nice bit of crunch in the dish. The cauliflower puree was silky smooth, as always. This was really delightful. It’s going to be difficult for any beef dish to beat this one in my books.

The soft shelled crab was also a hit with everyone at the table. Crispy, crunchy, tender, moist crab halves… yum yum yum! The cornbread croutons were slightly sweet, the creamed corn was to die for, and the little radish greens were a bit of bite to the whole dish. It was a good thing that everyone liked soft shelled crab – there was a lot of crab in this dish (5 pieces, Kate and I split the last one). My mouth waters a week later just looking at the photo.

Wow! That was great! We were really enjoying ourselves. The food at bluezoo is always very, very good – tonight it was beyond good, it was truly memory-making. Chris had been helpful and attentive throughout… he came over to see what we thought and we got to chatting with him. We remarked that we’d seen Chef Ryan Ratino’s corned beef heart on twitter earlier in the week, it turns out that the corned beef heart was a bit of an experiment… Chris went to check and see if Chef Ryan had any left and to see if we’d be able to try it (by the way, Calvin loves corned beef and cabbage)… Surprise (again)! Chef Ryan prepared his rendition of corned beef and cabbage…

This was amazing. Fingerling potatoes with garlic and cabbage, topped with corned beef heart and lightly dressed bitter greens. OMG… this should be on the menu (well, maybe not, maybe guests wouldn’t be as adventurous about eating beef heart as we were). The corned beef heart was tender yet chewy. Again, yum yum yum.

At this point, further dinner was out of the question… we were all full. BUT there has to be dessert at a birthday, right? Sticking with old favorites, I chose the vanilla millefeuille and the chocolate sampler (sometimes it’s called the chocolate trio). Kate ordered the trio of sorbets, but she did help us eat some of the desserts.

The chocolate sampler included a small chocolate ‘eclair’, a chocolate pudding or mousse with brownie chards, and a white chocolate creme brûlée… The creme brûlée was my favorite – they were all GOOD.

The vanilla millefeuille has a small quenelle of vanilla bean ice cream and a millefeuille of crispy pastry filled with vanilla cream. Strangely, while vanilla is usually Nick’s favorite dessert flavor and chocolate is mine, I really like this dessert and I keep ordering it. Of course, it was delicious.

All in all, I had a wonderful time celebrating my birthday. I want to thank everyone who helped make it so special. Our friends who joined us for dinner at bluezoo. Our friends at bluezoo who went the extra mile to create something very special. And my dear husband who makes every day worth celebrating.