QUICK BITE: Guy's Pig & Anchor BBQ on Carnival Mardi Gras

One trend I have seen on cruise ships over the last several years is the addition of BBQ speciality restaurants.  Princess has a concept called Planks, Royal Caribbean has Portside BBQ Norwegian has the Texas Smokehouse and Carnival has the Pig & Anchor sponsored by celebrity chef Guy Fieri.  They all have a similar concept in that you pick several proteins and sides and it is served to you on a tray.  This is what I ordered last night. 

Clockwise from the bottom right is pulled pork, beef brisket, Cole slaw, pickled vegetables, green beans and St Louis ribs.  

All the meats were moist and flavorful.  There are also several sauces to add to your selections.  I went with a smokey tomato BBQ sauce but they also had Carolina style and a chipotle.  

The green beans were the most surprising.  Tender, flavorful beans along with some crunchy pork.  The slaw was tangy and tasted great with the pulled pork.  The pork ribs fell off the bone and had some bark for crunch.  And the brisket was some of the best I have had.  The vinegary and briny pickled vegetables provided a nice contrast to the meats. And the most surprising?  Since ships don't have open flames, they have to smoke all this meat using electric or induction heat.  Pretty impressive.  

I hope to try the selections on the other cruise lines soon so I can compare.  

QUICK BITE: ChiBang on Carnival Mardi Gras

One of the speciality restaurants on Carnival Mardi Gras is called ChiBang a Mexican/Chinese concept.  When it was first announced  I was expecting a menu with a fusion of Mexican and Asian.  Instead, it is two separate Chinese and Mexican menus.  That disappointed me a little bit the items available for order still sounded delicious.  

We started with pot stickers. 

Steamed dumplings with a savory pork filling and a somewhat spicy soy dipping sauce. 

Next was lettuce wraps.

Filled with chicken and crisp noodles, surrounded by crisp lettuce.  The same soy dipping sauce that you could drizzle.  

Also had a side order of some delicious stir fried noodles.

These had so much flavor for a simple noodle dish.  Some crunch vegetables and slightly Al dente pasta.  

For mains, we started with a spicy garlic shrimp.  

This dish really packed a punch. And not just with spice.  Full of peppery flavor with just enough sweetness.  I was afraid this would have a goopy sauce, similar to some sweet and sour dishes you see in Asian restaurants.  Instead it was a smooth, velvety composed sauce with a great balance of sweet and spicy.  

Next was the star attraction of the night - fried snapper. 

Somehow they managed to get a super crispy outside and yet not overcook the inside.  It came with a delicious crema for dipping. 

Also tried the chicken mole.

Certainly one of the best I have had.  Somewhat earthy with hints of raisin and Mexican spices.  Well cooked chicken thighs worked well, as opposed to chicken breast.  

Dessert was a creme brulee.

It has a great crackly top of carmelized sugar.   The custard was a bit too liquidy for my taste but had amazing vanilla and bourbon flavors.  

An amazing meal.  And while it wasn't the fusion I was expecting, still was able to try enough dishes from both menus to create my own.  

QUICK BITE: Family Style Italian at La Cucina del Capitano

La Cucina del Capitano is the Italian specialty restaurant on the Carnival Mardi Gras.   It is complimentary for a limited time so there is no upcharge.  And you can order multiple mains so we had a family style feast. 

Starters were the Nona's meatball and arancini.  

The meatball was my favorite.  It had beefy notes with some hints of fennel from sausage.  Complimented by a simple but tasty marinara. 

The arancini (fried risotto balls) were very tasty and creamy but could have been crisper.  Served with the same delicious marinara as the meatballs.   

The highlight of the mains was the Farfalle El Pistachio.  Well cooked pasta in a carbonara sauce with some crunchy pistachios. So good. 

Also tried the eggplant parmesan, veal scallopini and short rib.  

All very good.  The veal was so flavorful with a savory mushroom sauce.   The short rib just fell apart - so tender.  Lots of flavor or red wine and mushrooms. Could have used a bit more au jus.   The eggplant was flavorful but a bit too greasy. 

No room for dessert, but we did enjoy a nice bottle of Chianti.  As my in-laws told me, always look for the black Rooster to verify authenticity.  

QUICK BITE: Rudi's Seagrill

A big wow!!  Rudi's Seagrill exceeded my expectations!!

Every course was flavorful and well cooked. Scallops, ciopinno, seafood bisque, red snapper and dover sole.   Plus some very good desserts (key lime pie and bread pudding).

Also the bread they serve at the beginning is like crack!! It appears to be an Italian bread with parmesan that has been broiled ever so slightly.  Buttery, crispy and salty!!  They asked if we wanted more but we said no since we had our entire meal yet to come.  I would definitely recommend some of that bread with the ciopinno.

QUICK BITE: Big Chicken on Carnival Mardi Gras

The Mardi Gras is the first in a new class of ship in the Carnival Cruise Line brand.   There are several brand new food venues including Big Chicken which is a quick service location on Deck 16 Aft.  This restaurant has a celebrity sponsorship from Shaquille O'Neal.  

As you may have guessed, they feature chicken. Mainly several different chicken sandwiches and tenders.  Breakfast has a few more options with chicken biscuits and omelettes.  

For embarkation lunch we tried two of their chicken sandwiches as well as the chicken tenders.   

The Shaq is your basic chicken sandwich. It has crispy breaded chicken on a soft roll with Shaw sauce and some spicy pickles.  The sauce is equivalent to the "special sauce" at McDonald's.  Essentially ketchup and mayo with a hint of spice.   You can pick either dark or white meat.   

The Jerome sandwich kicks it up a notch with some Nashville chicken spice and some lettuce.  Both sandwiches were excellent.  Will be back to try the two others they have.   

The chicken tenders were meaty and crisp.  There is a topping bar where you can get a few different sauces including a Memphis BBQ 

Not to be forgotten is the fries.  Some chicken shacks would have throwaway fries.  Ones that would not overshadow the chicken.   At Big Chicken, the fries are auprisingly equal to the chicken.  They look like regular steak fries.   But they are thin, crispy and so well seasoned with salt and a peppery blend.   Will defint be back at Big Chicken. 

QUICK BITE: Commander's Palace New Orleans

Saturday's lunch he was at one of New Orleans oldest restauranrs,. Commander's Palace. This restaurant sits right in the middle of the garden district, about a 10 minute taxi ride from the warehouse district (downtown). On weekends they have a Jazz Brunch with a three course menu.  You pick a starter, a main and a dessert from a menu.  The cost of your lunch is base on the price listed for the main you choose .  There are about eight options in each category and some have an extra charge beyond the price of the main.  

I started with a New Orleans staple, Chicken Gumbo.  

This was thick and slightly spicy, made with a dark roux.   It could have been much warmer when it was served.  I also felt that the gumbo had been over reduced since it was very salty to my taste.   

Also tried the Domenixa Squash salad. 

I had nevert heard of this type of squash.Thw dish played off sweet and bitter components. The squash had been roasted which h brought out it's sweetness.  It was served with biter chicory greens and kale.  And the dressing was a raisin and brandy vinaigrette for sweetness.  While I would have done with much less dressing, I did understand what the chef was attempting.   This was tasty but I would try to get less dressing if I ordered it again.  

The best dish at lunch was the pecan crusted gulf fish.  Now they didn't lost what type of fish this was but I wiid guess redfish. Or possibly grouper.  

Delicate, flaky and most with a thin crispz slightly nutty coating.  And simply seasoned so you could really taste the fish.   It was served into of a type of succatash. Small, sweet kernels of corn along with charred kale and leeks. As good as the fish was, this was better. It is great to see dishes where the chef puts as much thought into the sides as they do the main entree.  Thinking back as the buttery cauliflower puree I had as Josephine Estellle, I would love a vegetarian main composed.of just that pureed and this succatash.  Such great flavors and textures.  

We tried two desserts. First was the apple cobbler.  

This was a very good desert.   Had all the components of a good cobbler.  Big pieces of apple, hints of nutmeg and cinnamon and a crunchy topping of brown sugar and oats. Topped with some creamy vanilla ice cream.  All the flavors were very good.

Also tried the mint chocolate chip ice cream.  

This was served in a freshly made waffle cone bowl.   Unlike.oce cream you might get at the supermarket, you could really taste the fresh mint they must have used.  And some large pieces of chocolate to offset the mint.  

QUICK BITE: Josephine Estellle New Orleans

We arrived two days ahead of the embarkation day for our NCK Breakaway sailing.  Tonight was dinner at Josephine Estellle.  It is located in the Ace Hotel.  Something interesting about New Orleans is that so many if the restaurants and bars are located inside hotels.  And you might think that those places are tourist traps it have orlverpriced, generic food. Not the case.  

We started with this delicious Sangiovese wine.from.the Toscana region. Dry with just hints of some.fruit.  

Dinner stared with an assortment of appetizers including Napa Cabbage with Prosciutto, their famous meatballs and burrata.  

The stay prosciutto was so good with the crisp.cabbage and green apples.  The meatballs had just enough breadcrumbs to hold them together but you could still taste the beef, veal and pork.  And the buratta was creamy and savory.  Just perfect with yellow beets, toasted hazelnuts and a delicious pomegranate molasses.  

For mains we want with the delicious fettuccine with veal ragout and short ribs with pureed cauliflower.  

The star was definitely the veal ragout.  Essentially like a pot roast, full of flavor and meatiness.   And perfe fly al dente pasta. 

The short ribs had decent flavor but I have had better.  They were missing the succulence and richness I associate with a great short rib.   The pureed cauliflower save the dish.  So creamy and buttery - almost like grits.  I would have preferred a vegetarian dish with this instead of the short ribs.  

Desserts were stellar.  These were a lemon semifreddo and a Peanut Butter mousse with chocolate ganache.  The semifreddo has some.smart addition of cadied lemon peel and a dark chocolate ganache. 

The peanut butter dessert was so well balanced between the creamy mousse and rich  chocolate.  

Soft Pretzels At Home

Who said you can't have soft pretzels for breakfast?  

A few keys to successfull pretzels:

Weigh the dough and divide by how many pretzels you are making.  The recioe I use makes about 620 grams of dough.   This insures that each pretzel will be a similar size.  

Roll out the dough into pieces of the same size.  The recipe I use says 30 inches.  I put painters tape on the counter as a guide. 

Once you have your pretzel shape, gently dip into a solution of baking soda and water.   This is what will give you the Browning.  Skipping this step will produce something closer.to a yeasty roll.  May still be delicious but not a pretzel.  

Use an instant read thermometer to test for domeness.  I find an internal temperature between 205° and 210° is perfect.  

Don't forget the melted butter. Dip as soon as they are out of the oven.