Club 33- Disneyland's Secret Restaurant

A number of years ago, we got a very special treat to go to the "secret" restaurant that is within Disneyland. It's called Club 33, which is named for (perhaps...) the 33 Royale address within the New Orleans area of Disneyland, the 1933 prohibition that eliminated legal sales of alcohol or even the 33rd degree of Freemasonry (often debunked). We may never know, that tricky ole' Walt.

It was a Sunday lunch, but why not start with a beverage, right?  Classic cocktails in the perfect glassware.  A whiskey sour (left) and a Manhattan (right)

In a beautiful art deco jazz bar while we waited for our table. Heck, we knew it was ready to go, it was just an excuse to drink a cocktail at Disneyland. It's the only place you can get one, and they were GOOD! 

Hard to decide, but had the 4 course lunch (gulp), which turned into 5 courses when we added the cheese course. Oh my!

1st course for me, BBQ quail with sweet corn served with a sparkling wine.

1st course for him, Pate maison and charcuterie

Second course, My chilled tomato soup with chunks of prawn, lemon sorbet, croutons and other yumminess.  Served with a beautiful, crisp sauvignon blanc ... I think, LOL.

There doesn't seem to be a picture of someone else's 2nd course, a fantastic frisee with pistachios, bleu cheese and fruit.  Nice, but no picture.

My main course was a lobster salad, which is why I elected to have soup for my 2nd course.  It was fantastic.  Crisp, sweet lobster, tangy dressing, bitter endive and purple arugula. It was so beautiful.  Paired with a Sancerre.

His main course?  Smoked chicken ravioli with ham and crawfish.  Beautiful, smoky but light tasting entree.  Served with a fantastic red wine (below)

This red wine made us laugh... what better than a "pirate" wine when you are sitting above Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirate "La Sirena" TreasuRed, about $65 at retail.  We enjoyed a nice tasting with his entree.  Even though I got a white wine pairing with my lobster, the sommelier gave me a healthy taste of this too.  Yum.

We elected to add another course to our 4 course lunch... 
So egads, 5 courses! 

Cheese platter extraordinare with bleu cheese with honey (!), goat cheese and a slightly sweet panna cotta.  Lots of dried fruits and fruit extracts, served with a sherry that made our whole day.  
For this course we had the same thing, I was glad to not share...

I ordered the most unusual dessert I could find,  Sweet corn Creme Brulee with a bunch of other exciting tidbits.  I wish I could tell you more about them, I just remember one was chocolate covered buttered popcorn.

His dessert?  Why Monkey bread and ice cream, what else?

What lunch is complete without a cappucino?

You need some other photos of the place?

The door, knock, knock, please let me in. 

OK, so I'm taking a picture and someone is taking a picture of me doing that.

Look who answered!

From the courtyard, friends are waving to us!

Wine cellar, as you pass through to the bar.

The Ladies room!

One last stop before we ventured out to enjoy some rides. Your dining experience gives you 3 fast pass passes to go to the front of the line.

Where did we go?

Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Space Mountain. I would have gone on It's a Small World, but someone's groaning was too much. Or maybe it was the 5 courses.... and then again, it could have been both.

What a fun and special experience!  

Blackened Cajun Spice Mix

A pork chop in the blackened seasoning mix, pan fried in a mixture of olive oil & butter, YUM!

Once upon my husband worked at a restaurant for a certified master chef.  The blackened seasoning that they used on fish, sauteed in butter and served over spinach was the bomb. The guy was nice enough to share this with my hubby. 

We've been looking for the recipe for many years now, but could not locate that slip of paper... basically we've been trying to locate it for about 15-20 years!

After years of wondering, we finally located the recipe in a binder of recipes that I had collected to "save" (back before you had the internet... hahaha!).

Here's the recipe that I adapted the measurements so you can make a SANE size recipe at home.  We've been arguing about whether the original has too much salt (which I believe to be true... and my hubby doesn't agree). 

Makes about 2 cups, plenty to share with friends and family!  We use this on fish, chicken, pork and even steak.  It would probably be great on a cauliflower "steak" too.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup kosher salt (use 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp if you like things salty...)

1/4 cup onion powder or granulated onion (NOT onion salt!)

1/4 cup white pepper

1/4 cup cayenne pepper (if you are afraid of too spicy, you can reduce this to 1-2 Tbsp...)

1/4 cup paprika

1/4 cup dried thyme

2 Tbsp ground pepper

Mix in a bowl with a whisk to fully mix.  Save in an air tight jar, or jars.  Sprinkle liberally onto meats before grilling or pan frying.  

Tsukiji Fish Market- Tokyo

3am wake up call!
Yeah, right.
I hate to say it, but we passed on the chance of winning one of 120 spots to view the fish auctions at the Tokyo Tsukiji fish market.  The largest fish auction in the world.
Our hotel's concierge said it was really a crap shoot (... so, he DID say it nicer than that) if you'd even win a spot to view the auction and it was a long wait until it started once you scored a spot.  
"Why not go a little later and enjoy some breakfast or lunch?  You'll still have a great time at the market".  Okay dude, you are on!

As you walk down the Harumi Dori street (not far from Ginza and the Tokyo train station), this is how you know you've arrived at Tsukiji market, oh, and the crowds are a dead give away!

It's hard to put into words about this place... but really, maybe Seattle's Pike Place market meets Istanbul Spice market sums it up.  Crazy busy with people, shops and food everywhere!
 
Every row of shops in the market was jammed packed with people shopping and some tourists too.

We'd skipped breakfast and just headed out after sleeping in that morning.

So naturally, now we were hungry.
Seafood for breakfast?
Why not?

We ate at a couple street vendors between 9:30 and 10:00, so fun, with lots of great selection. 

This place had steamed oysters, fresh oysters chilled on ice, and grilled whole scallops "to go".  For about 300-400 yen, which is about $3, you can have some terrific taste treats.

 In the US, you don't see scallops with the "orange stuff" attached very often, but it is delicious!

 He's is IN for one of those!






Looking pretty fantastic, and so piping hot.  We had to wait a minute or so before eating.

Besides being a fish market, there are fruits, veggies, meat markets, restaurants, shops for every type of cooking item.

A stall of dried beans and next door (shown below) a stall of different types of seaweed.

Fresh fish, beautifully laid out, ready to sell.

Even a kitchen stall store with all sorts of items for cooking.

Hard to see...
but this was a big table of different mollusks- abalone (650) whelks, clams etc.

I have no idea what was in all these exciting little bags...

 Anyone?  What is this?












Same below....  I have no idea what this is.

 

Finally, we settled for one of the places for an early lunch.  Seriously, this was the best sushi of our lives.  We'd had an expensive fine dining sushi dinner a couple of nights before that was more beautiful and unique, but every bite in this place amazed us.

This was the most expensive plate at 598yen, a little less than $5.

Here's our clue to how much we were spending.   Like lots of conveyer belt sushi plates, they charge by the type of plate.  There is also a tea dispenser at your seat, hot water and instant powdered green tea that was fantastically good.  I'm not the biggest green tea fan, but I loved this stuff.

Grilled sushi, made fresh and finished with a blow torch.  It was the sauces that made each so fantastic with a nice subtle char flavor, leaving the sushi still raw and tender.

Here he is making a couple new plates of the grilled version.  It was so hard to stop eating this.

This place is a Tokyo chain Sushizanmai, that has quite a great reputation and following.  
I am SO glad that we picked the right spot!  I'd recommend stopping at one of their locations when you visit Tokyo.

A morning at Tsukiji Fish Market was so much fun, and while I had wanted to see the auction, I think sleeping in may have been right for us.

Mama's Fish House - Maui

Mama's Fish House on Maui gets credit for being the best place to eat on Maui.
Often times it isn't true and the "best place" really isn't.
I am happy to report, in this case, it IS!

We decided to splurge for our 30th anniversary. We booked a perfect sunset time for our reservation, and we were greeted with a free lei and a nice card at the table.  The rain and wind poured down that night, so the sunset was out. Luckily, there were no other disappointments that night.

When in Hawaii, it seems like you should have a Mai Tai! 
Or two...
I happen to love Mai Tai's.  If you need some inspiration, there are two recipes on my blog.
Mai Tai's for a Crowd, and Best Mai Tai on Kauai.

We wanted to pace ourselves with the food, so we only ordered one appetizer to share. 

Macadamia Crusted Wasabi Calamari appetizer.  Tender and delicious with a nice bit from the wasabi.  Edamame coleslaw underneath it.

Mama's signature Tomato Ginger Bisque, which is "complimentary" and served in cute little cups between your appetizer and your next course. 

Last year, after visiting Mama's I came up with a copy cat version.  It's taken from the recipe on their website which makes gallons, I made a nice "home size" batch for you in this post.

 

 

We had more soup for our next course, instead of a salad, as it was the rainiest stormiest day on Maui on our anniversary, which is SO fitting as we had the same weather on our wedding day. We didn't take any pictures of our soups, but I chose the Mahi Mahi Cous Cous soup, and my hubby had the Lobster bisque. Both delicious... I plan on making my rendition of the Mahi mahi soup soon and blog about it.

For our entrees, my hubby had the macadamia crusted mahi mahi topped with a local lobster tail and some asparagus $54).  Amazing. Every night, the menu gets updated with the fresh local fish, and the local fisherman who caught it.  For reals!  Isn't that cool?

I had the Hawaiian sampler plate ($50) but lots of great variety and treats.  It included Taro Kahlua Pork (the dark thing on the right), grilled Mahi Mahi, Molokini Sweet potato, grilled apple banana, lomi lomi salmon, octopus in a coconut sauce (green one- which was SO good) and ahi poke.... and poi (ick).  Besides not liking poi, I loved everything else on this plate.  So yummy.

Also with the my Hawaiian sampler plate came a bottle of the "chili water" that they bring so you can add to any of the dishes, or to use as a palate cleanser.  Crazy good.   

Hana Banana Macadamia Nut Crisp... 

Such a simple idea!  Why haven't more people thought of a banana crisp?
It was fantastic!  We liked it so much, I made a copy cat recipes, that just might be better than Mama's. Mine has RUM in it.  Maybe I should let Mama know...?  My recipe is here.

My suggestion?
Get to Mama's for a night out and splurge when you are there.  
Expensive? Yes! Go ahead and eat "local" for the other meals with plate lunches and fish tacos.  This is SO worth it.