Home June 17-24, 2015 at Disney World 2015

Dinner at Citricos

|≤ <<< Wednesday, June 17, 2015 >>> ≥|

At 1830, Lyd and I departed for the Grand Floridian and Citricos. We were about 20 minutes early and enjoyed the orchestra in the lobby before moving on to the podium at the restaurant. There, we were met by Chef de Cuisine Phil Ponticelli, in a suit and tie, not his chef’s coat and toque. It seems the Area Manager has moved and Phil is doing double-duty. Also present was our good friend Viviana, now a guest services manager at Victoria and Albert’s. Following hugs, she introduced us to Moses, our server for the evening and Dave, the newest sous chef. Hakeem, a server we have seen in a few years also came by to say hello. Ricky, another new chef, from Guatemala, presented us with Amuse Bouche of goat cheese and olives with a red sauce and a crostini. Lyd mused on how best to eat it and Moses offered that putting it in your mouth and chewing was advisable! Moses will also be on our Pixie Dust List. Next, Lyd ordered the Lamb Albondiga (16) of a soft lamb meatball slow-braised in aromatic curry-tomato sauce and creamy herb polenta with sharp crumbled feta. At Dave’s suggestion, I ordered the Athena Melon Salad (16) of house-made ricotta, B&W arugula, prosciutto di Parma and grilled lime-mint vinaigrette. These had barely been presented when Phil (now in chef’s jacket, though still sans toque) and Dave had them whisked away, replaced by another amuse bouche: a fried squash flower containing a soft-poached quail egg accompanied by a portion of maple-honey cured pork-belly which was extraordinary. We were now in a quandary. Our first courses were returned us and were delicious, but we now had no room for an entrée, with Lyd taking half of the meatball back to the room. We firmly refused dessert and returned to the room.

Lyd & Moses Amuse Bouche 1 Amuse Bouche 2 Lamb Albondiga Athena Melon Salad