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The Daily Dose/June 13, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around The Human Experience...
CAPSULE EXCLUSIVE CLUB AT DISNEYLAND WE'VE WAITED YEARS TO GET INTO REVIEW: Club 33, 33 Royal Street, New Orleans Square, Disneyland, USA: We had heard about Club 33 for years. Dimwits that we are, we were never able to find the entry, even though we've been going to Disneyland for ages and the door is hardly hidden. As you exit the infernal Pirates of the Caribbean, make a left and you're at 31 Royal Street, the entrance to the Blue Bayou Restaurant. The entrance to Club 33 is immediately to the right of that, next to 35 Royal Street, which is a store with a red exterior.
Thrilling Deep Background: The genesis of how this came about is almost interesting. Some old friends and I had planned a get together in Los Angeles. Almost immediately The Woman started making some of her infamous noises about making a long weekend out of it, a call immediately echoed by yours truly. My old and dear friend Doug said he'd join us at Disneyland Thursday and before anybody knew anything Doug said our old and dear friend Mark C., a VP at a Disney company, had made arrangements for us to dine at Club 33.
You Can't Tell The Guests Without A Scorecard: Also in attendance were Mark S., an old friend of Doug and and acquaintance of mine, and Dan, a coworker of Mark C.
Warm, Personal Remembrance: Mark S. had told Doug beforehand that he hoped I wouldn't remember the trip we were going to take to Vegas when we were kids and Mark's car broke down and we didn't go to Vegas. We've lived in Vegas for the past 14 years, though, and we've long recovered from any scars that trip held.
Worth The Wait: To enter Club 33 the member announces his arrival into an intercom to the left of the door, and the hostess, Bella for our visit, opens the door and allows you to ente a small foyer paneled in dark wood. To the immediate right is the hostess' stand and a bit behind and to the left is the elevator and to the left of the elevator are the stairs.
Our table was in the main dining room, elegantly decorated with wood paneling accenting off-white walls, which we've always enjoyed.
From the main dining room you can exit to the balcony above New Orleans Square and laugh at the commoners who aren't dining at Club 33 that evening and forced to subsist on whatever table scraps we happen to favor them with. For added enjoyment, give them a condescending wave, like the Rose Queen does on the Rose Parade. It's great fun.
May I Help You? The service was world class. Lisa was knowledgeable and gracious. All other things being equal, our key to world-class service in joints like this is whether or not our napkin is replaced, folded, when we go to the can. Ours was.
Dry, Technical Matter: Speaking of the can, it was, of course, superlatively maintained, but it was not built yesterday and it was interesting to note how narrow the urinal stalls were, especially when the stalls in the newer restrooms in the park itself were wide enough for an elephant, the better to accommodate how fat we are now.
Editor's Note: This ends our urinal coverage for this column.
Back On Message: While the a la carte menu was tempting, we went with the Vintner's menu, a five-course prix fixe meal, which I complimented with the wine pairing.
Leading Off: The first course was a very good duck confit, with raspberry rice pudding, roast shallots and hydro watercress.
The second was a good spiced rock shrimp. While good, however, it did not cause us to achieve and maintain a state of arousal because it is, in essence, deep friend shrimp and there is only so much you can do with deep fried shrimp, trust us, we have significant street cred in this matter.
The third course was marinated hanger steak. This was not kobe beef, but we're being picky. If kobe beef is a ten, this was a 9.9.
Holy Living F***: The hanger steak was accompanied by a sweet onion brioche turnover that was - and I am not making this up - the tastiest item I have ever eaten. This isn't even subject for discussion. Well, maybe a bit of discussion, but not too much. Some kobe beef at a private party years ago was really good. The éclair at Jerry's Nugget here in Las Vegas was created by Providence on the Seventh Day. So was the honey baked foie gras at Michael Mina's in Las Vegas, as long as you don't think about how the ducks and geese that produce foie gras are fed and harvested.
Back On Message: The sweet onion brioche turnover was so good I asked Lisa to bring me another one, which she did. I wanted to take a dozen or so to go, but that might have been considered bad form.
Dine And Dash: We heard our dessert was good. We don't know. We had tickets for the 9:00pm showing of World of Color at California Adventures and the park actually closed at 8:30, so at 8:10, right after the cheese course, The Woman announced we had to go because her son helped construct the attraction and we were both anxious to see it. The Woman didn't even wait for me, leaving yours truly to say hurried goodbyes and try to settle our portion of the bill, which were waved away by Mark C. who said "Uncle Walt" was picking up the bill.
This was kind of funny. Dinner at Club 33 does not come around every day, and being Disneyland geeks we had long wondered what it would be like with no guarantee it would ever happen. You hated to rush out, but we had to. I hustled down the stairs and stopped at the front door and told Bella many thanks for a memorable evening, took one look around at a sight I am not entirely sure will ever come again, and headed out to catch up with The Woman and rejoin the masses.
Standard Internet Disclaimer: Gaylon is not a professional food critic. His opinions are completely subjective and are not measured against established culinary standards. To protect the integrity of the Capsule Restaurant Review, reviews are done anonymously and at either Writer's Shack expense, or whomever we can foist the bill off on.
We Interrupt This Column For A Word From The Ratings Department: Following is the Official Writer's Shack rating scale:
EX - Excellent; the very best the Human Experience can produce in every respect.
VG - Very Good. Well worth your time.
GD - Good. Worth your time.
AR - All Right. Not completely without merit.
SP - Nothing of substance; a steaming pile, utterly without merit.
Final Ranking: EX. You can quibble about the food if you want. Some at the table did not marvel at the sweet onion brioche turnover like I did, while some liked the spiced rock shrimp more than I did. That happens. The service was world class, with Lisa giving the impression her entire career had been spent waiting to serve us in general and me in particular. The room as memorable. While not experts in fine dining, we are not novitiates, either, and Club 33 was as good as we've ever had.
IN OTHER NEWS FROM THE DISNEYLAND BUREAU: After 40 years, we finally sat in the front of the Monorail! It was worth the wait, and we enjoyed every minute of the ten minute ride. We have no clue while we still ride the Autopia. I mean, it's not as if it presents any significant driving challenges or anything like that. It did when we were five, but not anymore. The Jungle Cruise is still fun. The new Star Tours completely rules. The World of Color was a marvel. We still tolerate the Pirates of the Caribbean. The new Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln was a lot like the edition they had when we were kids. While this was moving, the version earlier this century where they handed you headphones and the audience assumed the persona of a soldier and Lincoln reads the Gettysburg Address remains our favorite. We still miss America The Beautiful in the 360 degree theater.
Belch: The corn dogs deserve five stars, too, as do the fritters they sell in New Orleans Square.
The Thought for the Day and Trivia features will return.
Comments? Recipes? Complaints? Email the Writer's Shack here!
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