Day 15 – September 30th – California Grill Dinner
Trent had a wonderful sunny day at Seaworld – his choice for his birthday theme park!
We even snuck in more shopping time and Trent was thrilled to find coffee M&Ms!
They were delicious!
California Grill seemed like the obvious choice for Trent’s Birthday dinner being the signature restaurant at the Contemporary. Although we had seen Hallo-Wishes the night before, he was excited to watch it again from the balcony!
We had dressed up for the event:
Service here is top level, but it’s not exactly quick! It took a while for our server to come and take our order.
For appetisers, Trent started with:
Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli - Tomato-Fennel broth, crispy mushrooms, tiny basil, Arbequina organic olive oil $15
It was light and the pasta was perfectly cooked. He polished it off very quickly! I had a taste and the broth was fresh and flavourful. A really great start to the meal.
I had my eyes on the sushi from the minute I’d book the reservation:
Dragon Roll - Spicy and Tataki tuna, shrimp tempura, avocado, Dragon sauce, Hijiki-Shirataki salad $25
I had tossed up between this and the spicy kazan roll and I’m sorry to say I made the wrong choice ☹ This sadly, was bland, and given their reputation for sushi I was so disappointed. This was a huge selling point for me when booking, and I suspect I should have gone with the other option. The tuna was not spicy at all and was poorly seasoned. The dragon sauce just seemed to be a bit hoisin like. I didn’t even eat half. When the server asked if it was OK I told him that I felt it was bland and didn’t meet the description. He was apologetic and offered to bring the spicy kazan roll instead. In retrospect I probably should have taken him up on this offer but the others had finished there meals and service here is fairly leisurely so I didn’t really want to wait. Oh well! I know what I will get next time!!!!
Peta also went with sushi to start:
Truffle-scented Tofu Roll - avocado, jicama, quinoa, crispy fingerlings, silken tofu, truffle emulsion $22
Peta was SO excited to be able to enjoy some exciting vegetarian sushi! This can be a bit of a staple for her back home, but in the US we usually find that you can get cucumber avocado and not much else. That said, she didn’t feel it was as flavourful as it looked, but certainly nice for a change.
Seared Hokkaido Scallops - brentwood corn, romano beans, duck confit, artichokes, verjus-piquillo emulsion $48
Thankfully this was a step-up from the appetiser! The scallops were perfect and the corn was fantastically textured. The crunch went so well and the flavours were so rich!
SRF-Wagyu Eye of Ribeye - potato mille feuille, Tank 7 fondue, chanterelles, pole beans, port wine sauce $61
This was not really a big size for the price, as you can see. But it was excellent! Perfectly cooked and tender. The meat was the star of the dish but the sides complemented well.
The Chef came out to see Peta and Peta had trouble deciding between the choices! As a result he did up a ‘Bento plate’ type meal ($44):
Peta really enjoyed this, but had already had a full serve of the sushi, so it was a little odd to serve to her again. She did really enjoy the meal though!
Dessert came quickly after our mains and, naturally, Peta and I both went with:
S'mores Creme Brulee - marshmallow custard, milk chocolate ganache, caramelized turbinado sugar $13
As expected, this did not disappoint. We had without the smores stuff though – it seemed too much and Peta couldn’t have being gluten free.
Trent ordered:
Warm Homemade Fritters - apple-stuffed, Cinnamon-dusted Fritters complemented with a Trio of Dipping Sauces $13
This was a huge serving! Trent and I shared and it was delicious! The sauces were tasty and the fritters were surprisingly light!
After dessert we started getting worried for the fireworks. We got lucky at
MNSSHP in that it was the only night without rain for the whole week and everything went off without a hitch. Tonight it did not go so smoothly and had been raining since just after 8pm. Right when it was time for the fireworks an announcement went off stating it would be delayed.
We hadn’t used our drinks so we ordered coffees while we waited. In the end that was a good call, and it was about half an hour before we went out on the balcony and enjoyed the view:
Ok, so it’s nothing compared to being in the park, but it is a totally different perspective and very impressive in it’s own rite. We will continue to make this a tradition (although when we have kids we may opt for the top of the world lounge – I’m not sure a crying baby would be appreciated at California Grill!).
And so, the ratings:
Food: 4/5 (I have to mark down for that sushi!!!!)
Service: 3/5
Experience: 5/5