QUICK BITE: Food Adventures in San Francisco

The Discovery Princess stopped in San Francisco so we went on a bit of a food adventure.  They had an amazing sounding oyster restaurant near the cruise port so we walked about twenty minutes to High Island Oyster Company. Our table has a waterfront view.  

 We got a dozen mixed. We had two of each one except the Pacific Gold.

The Earthquake Bay are the two to the right of the lemon wedge and the rest go clockwise in the order of the menu.  The Stretch Island was my favorite.   It had a delicate flavor without being overly briney.  

Also had a hazy IPA called Robot Olympics from Fieldworks Brewing Company.  

Also ordered a few tapa bytes. 

 Starting with grilled asparagus. 

Perfectly grilled so it was still al dente.  It was served on top of a delicious Caesar dressing and also had what was called mustard frill which is the top of a mustard seed plant. Added some nice texture.  

Next was halibut crudo.

Thinly sliced halibut with slices of apple and a creamy Calabrian chili sauce. I had look that pepper up since I had not heard of it.  It is a relatively mild Italian pepper. Worked perfectly with this seafood.  

And finally the real highlight was the Geoduck Ceviche.  

If you have never had geoduck, it is essentially a giant clam.  It would be like the neck of a steamer clams but at least 100 times that size.  For preparationz it is sliced very thin, otherwise it can be chewy. I had it for the first time in Beijing China.  The preparation there was like thin ribbons or egg noodles.  It was delicious!! Here the Geoduck was in smaller thin pieces but just as tasty.  And it also had the same chili sauce that was served with the halibut crudo.  Such a wonderful dish.  

Discovery Princess: Sabatini's Italian

Sabatini's is one of the speciality restaurants on Discovery Princess.  The cover charge is $25/person and there are five courses.  You get to pick one from each category. 

They start off with a bread course. This was a small rustic loaf served with a red pepper sauce. 

There was also a freshly baked garlic cheese roll. 

First course was the burrata. This is a creamy mozzarella with a thin shell made with cows milk. It had a delicious flavor It was served on top of sliced tomatoes that needed to be riper.  As they were, they had no taste. A little bit of kosher salt would have helped.  The dots of balsamic helped but it needed more.  

Also ordered the fried zucchini and  summer squash.  

This was much more successful. Perfectly fried fingers of zucchini and squash with some grated cheese and olive oil. The crostini was just as good.  Super flavorful cheese and sauteed onions.  

Next was the cheese soup.  

The grana padano cheese is similar to parmesan reggiano.  This cheese had so much flavor. And the addition of the mushrooms and hazelnuts have it some much needed earthiness and crunch.  

Next was the pasta course.  First the baked pasta trio. 

From left to right was a mini lasagna, three cheese baked ziti and chicken parmesan.  The ziti definitely my favorite.  A buttery and rich cheese sauce that perfectly coated the ziti.  Not thick or gummy. The chicken parm had small pieces of fried chicken in a mild pasta sauce. The lasagna was really just three raviolis stacked together.  Not terrible but also not lasagna.  Of course, I knew a mini lasagna would never be like a regular pan lasagna.  

Also ordered the beef cheek ragout.  

This has super tender beef in a savory sauces e over al.dente noodles.  Some great flavors however the ragout had been slightly overreduced so it was a bit salty.  

For mains, we started the sole picatta.

Two lightly breaded and perfectly cooked filets served with a bit of parmesan over creamy  rosemary polenta.  Certainly the best dish of the night. 

Somewhat less successful was the veal marsala. 

This suffered with the same issue as the ragout. A great tasting flavorful sauce.  Some savory, earthy flavors from.the mushrooms.  But the sauce had been overreduced so it was salty.  I think it could have been a much better dish is it was served with some buttery mashed potatoes which would have given some contrast to the saltiness.  

Dessert was mini versions of all their desserts.  

Left to right was the zabaglione, vanilla panna cotta, tiramisu and the rocher.  The rocher was my favorite with some deep chocolate and caramel notes.  The tiramisu was also a standout.  The Panna Cotta has some food flavor but needs a bit more of the lemon curd. 

Overall a really delicious meal and the best value of any of the speciality restaurants on board the Discovery Princess.  

Discovery Princess: Bistro Sur La Mer

We went to Bistro Sur La Mer last night for dinner.  Definitely consider this place if your budget allows and you are a seafood fan.  This restaurant is on Deck 7 Midship, across from Gigi's. It has an upcharge of $29/person.   That allows you one appetizer, one entree and one dessert.  Additional entrees are $10.  

Fantastic welcome amuse bouche of polenta fries and "olives".  Not exactly sure how they make the olives but that are savory nuggets of goat cheese surrounded by a thin coating.  Well fried polenta served with a spicy marinara and a pesto mayo. 

Appetizers were the escargot and pate.   Both very good but escargot the clear winner.  I was a bit nervous when the menu said they would be fried. But my fears subsided when they arrived.  They were similar to boudin balls in New Orleans. 

  

Entrees were the seabass and the scallops.  The seabass was perfectly cooked and had a thin piece of fried bread on the top for texture.  And the sauce!!  Delicate and buttery!!   

The scallops were seared a perfect medium rare and served with some carrots and peas and also had a wonderfully rich but delicate butter sauce.  Also came with a risotto which reminded me of a delicious farro risotto I had on Viking Ocean several years ago.   I think they use marscapone cheese.   

Desserts were the floating island and the beignets.  The floating island was more successful. The most delicate and succulent meringue literally floating in a pool of creamy vanilla custard with some orange and lemon rind.  It has a bruleed burnt orange sugar topper for some crunch.  

The beignets were tasty but were more like carnival, the fried cornmeal treat you find in parts of the Caribbean.  They were served with a tasty orange "jello".  If it was meant as a dipping sauce, it failed.  They went better with the vanilla custard from the floating island.  In fact, both desserts would have been better if they had been combined onto one plate.

Discovery Princess: Gigi's Pizzeria

Definitely my favorite dinner of the cruise - so far - was last night at Gigi's which is Deck 7 Midship.  This is an included restaurant open for lunch and dinner. 

 We ate here on embarkation day and decided we'd go back for two of our favorites: The rollata and the agnoletti.  Neither disappointed.  We also got the meat antipasto and a calzone with ham., Ricotta, mozzarella and ham.   

The antipasto had fresh arugula with a creamy balsamic along with thin sliced salami and mortadella.

The rollata was eggplant stuffed with perfectly cooked angel hair pasta, rolled up and baked. A twist on eggplant parmesan.

The calzone was a pocket of flavor!!   From the crispy crust, to the melding of the flavors of ham, ricotta, red sauce and just enough red onion!!

The real highlight is the agnoletti, which are essentially thin ravioli.  They tasted freshly made to me. But it was the savory veal filling and the creamy sage sauce that hits this one out of the park!!  If you only can order one thing, get these!!   We will definitely be back.

Discovery Princess: Salty Dog Gastropub

We tried the Salty Dog GastroPub last night for dinner.  This is on Deck 5 Forward, across from the International Cafe and next to the Gelato shoppe.  It was a mixed experience.  The menu is some small tapas-style plates with a few larger sandwiches.   However the menu isn't structured in a way where it is obvious what dishes as small or large.  It would have been helpful to have it organized into "Small Plates" or "Starters" and then the items that are more like entrees.  

There is a flat upcharge of $18USD/person.  You get to order two dishes and a dessert. We went with the calamari fries, spicy short ribs, charred asparagus and chicken sandwich.  

The calamari was well seasoned with a flavorful "eggy" aioli.  The big issue with these was the cornmeal breading was so gritty.  Instead of having a somewhat sweet corn flavor, you spent your time focusing on the grit. Maybe a different breading option would help. 

The short ribs were much more successful.  Very moist and tender with a orange soy glaze on top of some sauteed bok choy.  

The asparagus was well composed.  The salty haroumi really went well with the grilled asparagus.  

The chicken sandwich was the most disappointing dish. Not terrible but since we had recently been on the Mardi Gras and had the amazing sandwiches from Big Chicken that are included, this one from Salty Dog was just a pretender.  It was a thin, pounded chicken breast in a seasoned breading.  But the chicken was so thin that any amount of deepfrying would make it dry. It really needed that spicy mayo.  

Desserts were also a highlight.  The coffee can donuts had a full flavored coffe panna Cotta. Better flavor that the best coffee ice cream I have had.  The donuts should have been served hot from the fryer but instead were just room temperature. 

The bourbon pot de creme had outstanding flavor.  It is not often that a dessert with bourbon actually has enough of that flavor.  This one has some great booziness that paired well with the dark chocolate. It could have used much more whipped cream since it was a really large portion. One you ran out of whipped cream, it became harder to eat.  I considered running to the Gelato shop to get some vanilla!!

I wouldn't really recommend eating here - at least not while it remains a flat surcharge. I would come back for that asparagus dish and be willing to pay $5 or $6.   But there aren't enough amazing dishes in the small menu to justify paying $18.   I think this would be much better if it was an a la carte restaurant.  It fact, I think it used to be when I first saw it on a Princess ship several years ago.