artist point

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for Z’s birthday dinner we had the most outstanding meal we have had at a Disney Resort.  I gave him a short list of 6 or 7 restaurants to choose from for his birthday dinner that included all types of places – old favorites, new hotspots, disney and magical dining.  He perused the menus and chose Artist’s Point.  It is at the Disney Wilderness Lodge.

a blt for the ages

The Disney Wilderness Lodge is a monumental resort that is done similar to the Yellowstone lodge.  It is made of (faux I’m sure) timbers and has a grandly scaled room filled with fireplaces, sculpture, huge scale art in paintings and totems along with oversize comfy lodge seating.   The romance for me in this place is the memory of my childhood and the fantastic summer vacations our family took to these places.  Walking the trails and seeing paint pots, geysers, hot springs, indian paint brush and getting paid to watch for wildlife.  …First one to see a bear gets a quarter!
Typical of Disney, we were warmly welcomed to the restaurant by the staff and shown to our lovely window seat right away which overlooked the hillside outside with a splashing waterfall.  We had fun looking over the menu which features foods from the Pacific Northwest.
For an appetizer we had a divine blt.  It was totally deconstructed braised and glazed pork belly with braised baby heirloom tomatoes and microgreens.  The pork belly was a total revelation.  It was rich and meaty -unctuous but not one bit fatty.   I fell in love just in that moment.

crisp and fluffy gnocchi

I chose yukon gold potato gnocchi for my main.  The potatoes were transformed into fluffy light pillows nested in crunchy vegetables and mushrooms with dollops of fresh ricotta sitting in a narrow puddle of corn nage.  Z had a pork tenderloin done in a bit of Spanish style with creamy polenta and piquillo peppers and crispy jamon and crowned with roasted figs.  I kind of think I accidentally snitched his bit of jamon.    We were so delighted with dinner that we skipped dessert just to savor the experience.  We wandered the lodge and grounds looking at the waterfall, springs and geyser made only by Disney erupt into the humid evening and slowly made our way home.

magical dining month

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september was (was! I am so behind!) Magical Dining Month here in Orlando. It is a month where various restaurants around the city have three courses for $30 per person.  We usually try to make it to at least one of these.  Last month was crazy for us and we only made it to The Kitchen.  The Kitchen is a signature restaurant at the Hard Rock Hotel.   It is on the property at Universal Orlando.
The decor is kind of what you’d expect – lots of artifacts from the world of rock n roll.
We were surprised how quiet it was.  They didn’t have much of a buzz and it was half empty.   This was a little weird for us and we felt a bit conspicuous.  We perused the menu and while I appreciate that there is a hefty entertainment ‘tax’ on restaurants like this their menu was surprisingly pricy.  We stuck to the magical menu and I chose -calimari for my app.  It was funny with both rings and tentacles and was a bit fishy for me.  I also chose… surprise!!?!  a burger.  I don’t know what it is with me.  I just love them.  This was an $18 dollar version and probably more expensive that any I have ever had.  When it came to the table it was sized for three people which may have had something to do with it.  It was super beefy on a nice butter roll and had ALL the requirements – onion ring, bacon, cheese, beefsteak tomato and lettuce and a huge oversized and cute condiment cup of fries.  A huge deep fried pickle closed the deal.  It was all really tasty- kind of excessive even.  Z had nice bruschetta, much chefier with heirloom tomato, balsamic reduction and crispy bread.  He also had some nice cedar planked salmon with corn pudding.  Very nod to fall.  By the time we hit our banana bread pudding we were spent.  The portions were so huge I could hardly enjoy my bruleed bananas and rum sauce.    It was all just a bit overkilled and didn’t have perfect execution.  We enjoyed our time though and I did love the burger.
We spent a few minutes as we wandered our way out looking at guitars and rockers outfits.

 

curry

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curry is kind of an interesting thing.  It is specifically nothing.  If I said, ‘we made curry’ that would be something different to every person.  As far as I can say, curry generally speaking is heavily spiced, hopefully heavily flavored and filled with interesting bits and pieces.
Z was in San Francisco for a conference recently and in their daily walk between hotel and conference center passed an Indian restauarant.  The scent was enticing enough that they stopped there for dinner one night.  Z had a butter chicken that was so spectacular he was driven to try to recreate it at home.  So, he tried a random butter chicken off the internet recipe.  We had to turn up cardamom pods and garam masala.  It is vaguely a stewed chicken with butter and some tomato passata with a pile of spices.  For reasons we don’t understand it didn’t turn out to be a particularly flavorful recipe.  Too much tomato and no warm heat.  It was filling served on jasmine rice but not exciting.  We will try again.

paletas are the new cupcakes

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a bad photo for a yummy treat

when I heard that macaron’s were the new cupcakes I couldn’t imagine how it could be so.  They are ultra pricey and such a fleeting wisp of a bite.  They are highly flavorful but don’t leave me with the satisfaction of a cupcake.  Maybe I am selling them short but I haven’t been convinced.   One thing I have seen over and over in blogs and magazines this summer is the paleta.  A paleta is the Mexican ice pop made with fresh fruit.  The idea has been further expanded to the most unbelievable flavors that are all over the place.  We stopped into a great little place called Spuntino for dessert.  They have the most luscious gelatos and a reach in filled with a dazzling array of paletas.  I had a great Vietnamese iced coffee and Z had black pepper honeydew.  Mine was incredibly refreshing and cool on a hot night.  The honeydew was really interesting and weighty in flavor with a hit of pepper left on your tongue.  If you see a food truck or street vendor selling a paleta-pick one up and be prepared for a cold pop of flavor.

puddinpants gets married

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actually his name is Dave.  If I remember right his nickname is pirate in origin.  He was the reason we picked the week we did to go to Denver for vacation.  He grew up with Z.  You know, family vacations, playing with Lego, making forts. . .  Z still has a little rocket ship lego guy thing that Dave made in our Lego closet.
We got a call a few months ago, …’Hey Z, will you be in my wedding?’  Crazy times.  So, here we go to Denver, outfits pulled together and matchy down to the requested white belt for Z*.  We hadn’t met Lisa but figured Dave had it together.  We went out for dinner with Dave to get all the low down and do some catching up at Kona Grill.  You know when you haven’t seen someone in the longest time but it feels like an immediate catch up?  It was that kind of time.  We talked about everything we could think of as we ate one of those dinner’s that just hits every spot.  I had a great salmon club and Z had some spicy blackened chicken.  Can’t really explain why I dragged my feet to get the blog written.  I didn’t have any thing in particular to say about the food but I wanted to have that. I guess it was the time spent with an old friend.  Loved that the best.

(*Z was I think, the only guy to show up with his white belt.  So, he didn’t wear for the proper wedding but did put it on for the reception.)