Earth and Ocean at The Patio

Seabourn Odyssey has four main options for a la carte dinner. There is the Collonade which is the buffet.  There is The Grill which is a steak house.  The Restaurant is what I would called the main dining room. And then there is Earth and Ocean.  This is an area of table set up poolside for dining under the stars.  The menu changes every night. Last night was formal night where most of the guests were going to the main dining room where they had fois gras, lobster and steaks.  When we looked at the menu, the offerings at Earth and Ocean sounded so much better. So we were in our fanciest clothes dining under the stars!!

They start you with some amazing crusty bread and toppings such as sun dried tomatoes, olive tapinade and salted butter. 

Then what might be in this smokey box?

It was this delicious smoked chicken. 

Theas were the red and white wines they were featuring.  

Bith very good.  We started with the white since our first course was endive salad, prosciutto wrapped asparagus and a Mediterranean pasta. 

The endive salad had a slightly sweet dressing which helped with the bitter endive. It needed more of the dressing to really balance the bitter.  There were also some sharp red onions that didn't help and I wished weren't there. 

The pasta was small shells cooked al dente along with small meatballa, sun dried tomatoes, olives and cheese.   Some great Mediterranean flavors. 

The real star was the asparagus.  Cooked so it was still a little crisp and wrapped with salty prosciutto.  The imaginative part of the dish was the tahini mixed with a little yogurt.  There was a schmear and a few dollops of this sauce and it complimented the asparagus so well.  Creamy, salty, crunchy all in one bite.  

Mains were a bouliabase and bone-in ribeye. 

The rib eye was also served with some potato wedges, ribs of romaine and a dressing which was similar to ranch. 

The boilabase was okay.  It was less a soup that seafood served with a sauce.  There were shrimp and fish along with some lobster. The lobster from The Grill was far superior.  Not a terrible dish but a bit disappointing.  

The rib eye was the star of the night.  Unlike the preparation at The Grill, here the bone and most of the fat was left intact.  When grilled, that fat renders and provides such great flavor.  The meat was perfectly, and simply seasoned, with coarse salt and black pepper.  Perfect to let the beefy notes come through.  And a far superior steak to what was served at The Grill.  

For dessert they had a baked camembert.  You don't often see cheese as a dessert item so e couldn't pass that up. 

Served with some thin toasts, the gooey cheese was perfect!!   Salty and creamy!!

And they also had a salted caramel dessert.  

This was cleverly composed.  Bourbon vanilla ice cream on top of a pool of delicious salted caramel, toasted pecans and topped with some coarse salt.  The perfect bite was when you got a little bit of everything. 

Overall, the food was very good.  A small misstep with the boilabase which was soon forgotten once we tasted the terrific rib eye. This restaurant is definitely our speed. Casual outside dining with interesting dishes.  We will be watching the menu during this week and eating here again.