Napa Rose Dinner

This dinner was AMAZING!  Any and all foodies that go to Disneyland should dine here.  Even if you just like eating good meal, you have to eat here.  We dined at the chef's counter, which was a wonderful experience, they offer two seatings a night and you must have a reservation to get a seat.  They seat you right in the action.  One of the chefs comes over and asks you your likes and dislikes and then they just cook for you.  I can barely describe how good this meal was, but I will try below.

We started out the night at the bar because we were about 45 minutes early.  Even the bar menu looked tempting, but we had much ahead of us, so we decided to just drink some bubbles!

Our Soter bubbles we started the night off with!  One of our favorites.

Then we were seated in our glorious seats that overlooked the kitchen.  At first it was a bit intimidating sitting right there in the action, but as the drinks kept coming it was easier to be there.  We told the lovely chef who came to talk with us that we liked most things, but we were not huge fans of lamb, rabbit or gamey type meats, but everything else we love.

We started with an amuse-bouche course that was paired with a Belgium ale.

House made pretzel, duck liver pate, chorizo, ham and apples.

A Belgian Ale that is made in the style of champagne and was delightfully light and fruity.

The second course was the salad course:

Pan roasted sea scallop with lobster, lemon and vanilla sauce.

Cured hamachi with confit orange and baby green salad. Meatball with roasted pepper and olive.

Wine for the salad course - Flower's Chard with the scallop and the Chablis with the Hamachi.

This was a great course.  Everything was prepared wonderfully.  And of course by this time, I was starting to feel the wonderful wine courses we were having!

Then we had the third course:

“Smiling Tiger Salad” Tempura Fried Lobster, Spicy Beef, Asian Greens and Coconut-Lime Vinaigrette

Wine Country "Steak Tartare" of Angus Beef Tenderloin and Pumpkin Fries.

Wine for the third course - Riesling with the salad and the Sauvignon Blanc with the tartare.

For those who followed my France blog postings, you know that I LOVE beef tartare.  So I tried that part first and it was silky and incredibly fresh tasting.  Mike started with the "Smiling Tiger" salad and thought that it did not need the beef under the salad.  I disagreed and thought it balanced the dish.

Rabbit meatloaf with mushrooms and carrot puree and pear mustard

Smoked Pheasant dumpling with cranberry lemongrass glaze

The first meat course wine - Sangio with the meatloaf and the Pinot with the dumpling

This course was amazing!  Both Mike and I were skeptical about the rabbit meatloaf, but it ended up being one of the best things that we had! 

We then received a lovely "extra plate" to try:

Bacon wrapped pheasant breast with sweet potato chips and hummus

Then onto the second "meat course":

Skillet seared Angus NY strip steak. Sauteed chanterelle mushrooms and Country Ham

Venison with pumpkin spetzel, roasted squash and pomagranate chimichuri sauce

Second meat course wine - the Zin with the venison and the Cab with the steak

Both of these meat items were phenomenal.  Perfectly cooked and I loved the pumpkin spetzel.

Then it was dessert time!  This is possibly my favorite part of a meal and while my dessert was good, I was really hoping for a bit more.  Mike requested an ice cream sundae to rival Farrel's.  So here they are:

Concord grape panna cotta with sauteed grapes and bread sticks

Mike's Ice Cream Explosion

Desert wine - Late harvest resling with the ice cream and the Veuve for the flan

So to end our meal, I could not get enough of the Veuve, so I had him leave the bottle and we finished that.  So needless to say, we had plenty to drink.

The roses that were at our wedding (Leonadas - as shown above) decorated the restaurant all over.  Our lovely server gave us two of the roses to take back to our room.  We also received a little box of chocolates which we gave to Grandma Jan when we returned to the room for babysitting the kids.

All-in-all it was definitely one of the best meals we have had and there was so much food.  When we arrived back at the room, I apparently was VERY exuberant and told Grandma Jan about the entire meal. 

Unfortunately, I paid the whole next day for the amount of alcohol that I consumed and the evening reminded me that I am not 25 anymore...I am 35 and should act like it!  BUT we had such a fun time, that it was worth it!

Below is a self-portrait of Mike and I at the end of the night, on our way back to the room under Mickey's sorcerer hat! 

Cheers to having so much to drink that you take silly self-portraits.