We're off again!

[coastalgirl]

Have a great time Michael! Hope you have good weather for the weekend!

[pbhall13]

Have enough fun for all of us here at SR!!!!!

Pamela

[3dog2kidmom]

Have fun!!

[m4travels]

Had a VERY uneventful drive down; traffic actually moved!!! We made it from downtown L.A. to the park in about 1 hour, not bad timing at all. I think it took us longer to get to the hotel from the freeway offramp than from L.A. to the offramp itself! LOTS of folks were heading to Downtown Disney.

Check-in at the Grand California was a breeze but imagine our suprise when they told us we had a theme park view! Whee!!! And then they told us we had bunk beds in our room! Bunk beds???? Ummmmmm.... we're only 2 people! why do we need the bunk beds???

Oh, well! Life is still good!

We can see the park (California Adventure) from our balcony, but what we can see more of is the area that will be expanded into more hotel rooms and DVC units!! Basically it's a big ditch right now, but I've got the picture in my mind for 2009 and it's looking pretty good to me!

We did the unpacking and then got ready for dinner. Dinner was at the Napa Rose. We had just been here 2 weeks ago (or was it 3?) for my birthday dinner and we were looking forward to another great food adventure. We arrived at 45 minutes early (it was an 8:00 p.m. ressie), checked in, and headed to the bar (sorry, lounge!). We had requested our server from our last visit and they told us they would do their best to get us to his section.

We saw John (waiter) as we were ordering and he asked if we were just having drinks or having dinner as well. It was nice to be remembered! Drinks were extremely refreshing: Cosmopolitan for Marc (and even though it's a PINK drink he said it was probably the best one he's ever had) and a Bombay Sapphire martini for me (extra dry, 2 olives, and just a bit dirty - LOVE that olive juice!) YUM!!!!

The bar area was a bit crowded so we just hung back until a couple of stools opened up and quickly swooped down and claimed them! Lots of chatting about the day's activities and of the weekend's upcoming fun. Chat.. chat... chat....

We noticed that they had Hendrick's gin (you'll probably notice that we do enjoy our adult beverages!). We discovered this gin a couple years back while up the in Napa Valley. Essence of cucumber and rose; extremely fragrant and oh so tasty too (remember Lucy's Vitameatavegamin commercial?). So what can one do but order a gin and tonic while waiting for the table!

Our servers from the bar, Travis and someone else whose name I forget but it begins with an "M" (no, not Michael or Marc) were fantastic. Chatty, informative, with quick hands for making drink orders that were coming at them fast and furious! This may be one of my more favorites rides at Disney!

We realized it was about 8:15 (our ressies were for 8:00, remember?) and I thought I should probably go and check on our status with the host. As I was getting ready to do that along comes someone to seat us. Yup, they put us in John's section and gastronomic events began!

Yummy breads came to the table including a 5-cheese flat bread crisp, a kalamata olive bread, and another yeast bread that was just a pillow of loveliness.

This evening was the first evening for the new menu that they were featuring for the autumn/winter season. John warned us that the kitchen was getting used to the new items and it was taking a few extra minutes more than usual for meals to be coming out. It was nice to be warned that things might move a bit slower than anticipated, but then again, we knew we weren't going to go into the park tonight and it was just going to be a leisurely dinner anyway!

The new menu looked great; lot of hearty entrees with great sounding salads and appetizers as well. Marc went with the parsnip soup (roasted parsnips, stock, with smoked ham) and I went with the veal carpaccio for our first course. The soup looked great and Marc was pretty happy with it, though he did say the parsnip taste was overshadowed by the ham - but good nonetheless!

My veal carpaccio was beautiful to look at, but unfortunately there wasn't a lot of "taste" to it. It is such a delicate flavor to begin with it really doesn't need to much added to it, but it just didn't seem to work.

HOWEVER, the wine we choose was great. We wanted to go with a Rhone style red instead of a typical California but the prices are just a tad over the top, if you know what I mean. There were some wonderful bottles listed in the upper $200 and mid $300 range. We decided they could stay in the wine cellar!!! We did sort of gasp at some of the $900 and $1500 bottles. Well, maybe gasp is too stong a word. Outright laughed... okay, chuckeld, at those.

John came to the rescue. He asked a few questions and suggested a bottle ($77) and offered us a taste before we ordered it. We agreed that it was good; just rolled over the tongue and getting the peppery overtones with LOTS of blackberry behind it. So, as we prepare to enjoy this wine John came back to the table and said; I've change my mind. You need to try this one instead. It's not on the wine list yet and I don't even know why we have it yet, but you've got to try it.

He popped the cork, poured a bit and I tasted. Yup, heaven on earth!!! Smooth, long lasting, a bit more on the tongue than the previous and it was going to go great with our entrees (see, we don't JUST drink!!)

For the entree Marc went with the rack of venison and I chose the porterhouse pork chop. Both huge portions (remember this is California, home of the "dot on the plate" entree) and extremely well prepared.

We shared bits of each others entree, but not too much as we were both VERY happy with the choices we made. As we sat back after we pushed the plates away up walks John with a couple of champagne flutes of Rosa Regale and a box of chocolates. "Oh, just enjoy them" he says!

Do you think we did????

Well, then comes the bill..... remember those drinks from the bar? Well, they had told us that they would transfer those to our table bill, but they didn't appear on it. Being the honest guys that we are, we pointed this out to John. "Oh, those were on the house," he says. "You had an extra wait while waiting for the table and we just thought we could at least cover that portion."

We waited 15 minutes past our time and they're offering to cover our bar bill???? Heck, we've waited longer than that in many places and that never happened before!

We stumbled... no, walked back through the Grand's lobby (lord, it's gorgeous!) and made our way up to the room. The next day was going to be long so we thought we'd catch up on sleep. We got to the room and it was almost 11:00. No wonder that meal seemed long!!!!

It's now 6:30 and the early entry is in 30 minutes. Guess we'd better hop in the shower and get ready for the day!!!!!

HAPPY SATURDAY, EVERYONE!!!!!

Michael

[bs4free]

WOW What a Dinner! and the coverd Bar Bill, and now i see why you asked for john and waited! He knew just what you would like!!!!

Have a great day at the parks today!!!

[mollyeilis]

Wow! Note to self, ask for John if I ever eat at Napa Rose.

Hope the day was fun, were you taking part in the special events at DL today?

[coastalgirl]

What lucky fellas y'all are. Sounds like a wonderful evening. And don't ya just love great service! Thanks for sharing! Hope you had fun today!

[m4travels]

Wow! Note to self, ask for John if I ever eat at Napa Rose.

Hope the day was fun, were you taking part in the special events at DL today?

No, we really didn't join any of the other events going on. We're both actually quite shy and extremely quiet. While we love Disney, it's just a bit difficult for 2 EXTREME introverts to "get out there."

We got into the park at 7:05 (talk about a fast shower!!!) and got to Nemo in 15 minutes; did an immediate walk on to the Matterhorn after that and then on to It's a Small World. After that we high-tailed it over to Haunted Mansion; there were 18 of us in our elevator. We were both simply amazed that there was no line. (This was at 8:15ish). From the Mansion we walked right next door to Splash Mountain. Remember all those walk ons that just happened? NO LINE AT SPLASH!!!! We were the only 2 in our log!!!!!
After Splash it was backtracking to Pirates of the Caribbean. Start thinking theme here.... NO LINE!!!!!! We were in the first row of our boat!!!

The rest of the day was extremely casual. Resort time, nap time (yeah, we need them too!), spa time, pool time, bar time, bar time, a bit of bar time, and now we're getting ready for dinner.

And if you're at the Napa Rose, YES, John is the man!!!!!

Michael

[bs4free]

WOW you would think you were the only two in the parks, thats great... will we get a good dinner story tonight????

[m4travels]

WOW you would think you were the only two in the parks, thats great... will we get a good dinner story tonight????

It was wonderful, Bryan. Any foodie out there would enjoy the Vineyard Room. This was a restaurant that started out when DCA was in its infancy as being manage/run by the Mondavi family. It was good old rustic Italian food served family style. Mondavi was the featured winery from Napa but they also brought forward many additional wineries to the fold.

When Mondavi pulled out (monetary issues, I believe) Disney took over and put in place a restaurant that they hoped would rival the pull of Club 33 over in D'land. As far as I'm concerned, they surpassed it during their first year. 33 is a wonderful place however it was beginning to only get by on its name and not the food. The Vineyard Room was touted as being an option to Club 33 members (in fact rumor had it - and it was from a very good source - that VR would be used as a 2nd venue for Club 33 members when they couldn't get into the original 33.) That, though it had some backing by a few 33 members, didn't fly.

We've been going to the VR since DCA opened and are so happy with it. Our favorite waiter has left, the executive chef left (though he was replaced by his assistant and she's wonderful!), our beverage maker has been with Disney since '79 and we love him, we've watched servers come up through the ranks and we just hope that those who come into the restaurant realize what a gem they are working in and continue to make the restaurant thrive.

If you're out here at the parks on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday and you're looking for an exceptional dining experience MAKE THAT RESERVATION FOR DINNER!!!!!

Wishing you all a wonderful evening (or morning depending on when you're reading this!).

Peace.
Michael