Beef returns! Posting extravaganza!

He's back, all full of marriage and wedded bliss. And with more reviews and recipes to post than time, so, we're going to try and roll them all up into one.

For those who haven't figured it out, I was recently married. It was a glorious affair, which took place on the Carnival Conquest, in Galveston Texas. Let me start by mentioning something which most of you have heard me say in the last couple of weeks; do not, under any circumstances, attempt to plan a wedding (and honeymoon) in a hurricane prone area anywhere near hurricane season. Even if the event is slated to take place [the day] after hurricane season ends, it takes time to clean up after one blows through your destination. Or so it would seem. Anyway, when it was all said and done, it was wonderful; a good time was had by all.

On to the review[s].

Cory and I had a brief conversation the other night about the food at my reception. And he's right, the good people at Carnival excel at all things fried, buttered, or covered in cheese. What little bit of food I had at the reception was tasty. Especially the smoked salmon and cream cheese on little toasts. I made more than one breakfast out of that smoked salmon on a bagel. I also enjoyed the blue cheese stuffed mushroom, and the tasty, if not overly warm, spring roll. Cory mentioned the drinks, particularly the blue margarita, or hangover punch. I was made aware that we could order beer, so, that's what I did. I did have a sip of the aforementioned margarita, and can say with some confidence that it was likely vodka fueled, and possibly made with Boone's Farm. Melonball-tini anyone?

I'm not going to review all the meals, but I will mention the highlights, and the lowlights.

Let's start low. The entree on the first night was not what I would call spectacular. I, among others at our table, ordered the strip steak. It did come out the requested medium rare but was grey and tasteless. I used steak sauce on this guy. I never use steak sauce, except of course when I'm having the $2.99 strip at The Horseshoe and it's 3am. The rest of the meal was good, standouts including the Caesar salad, and the warm chocolate melting "cake". The cake, which is a soufflé, is outstanding. Served with vanilla ice cream, it's available every evening. This would be our dessert on more than one occasion.

Highlight: Sur Mer, the fish and chips restaurant hidden on deck 10. Great fish and chips, crispy, light, and prepared to order. Joy really liked the fried oysters, I can't say the same, but I'm of the opinion that if you're not eating them raw, you're wasting them. With the occasional exception for a rockefeller-ing, or bienville-ing of said bivalve. The standout at Sur Mer was the zucchini, artichoke[?] and calamari fritter. Fried to order, full of spice, and deliciousness, and available every day from noon to two-thirty. Carnival's fry team strikes again.

Lowlight: The breakfast buffet. It's fairly standard hotel style breakfast buffet. There is a guy cooking omelets, which is nice, but, other than that, it's food for the masses. Joy did like the French toast, however. My advice, skip the buffet and order continental from room service.

Highlight: The appetizers at dinner. Particularly the escargots. So much butter and garlicky goodness. It's important to remember that you can order as much as you want, so, if you find something you like, hit it again. Other appetizer standouts include the stuffed mushrooms, the always available shrimp cocktail and Caesar salad. In general, the apps were really well done – I can’t think of one that I didn’t enjoy thoroughly

Mediocre-light: The evening that included a duck entrée choice, or shrimp and lobster. The lobster was tough, the duck was overcooked. The duck was delicious, and the sauce was tasty, but, that doesn’t change the fact that it was WELL done. Also, the poor fowl hadn’t been prepped properly and was left with 100% of his fat, making his all too delicious skin soggy and inedible. Yeah, I know, I should know better than to order duck, but, up until that point, with the exception of the first night, they’d been doing really well.

Highlight: The “supper club” restaurant, aka “The Point”. A $30 per person up charge gets you into this 5 course extravaganza of made to order dishes. Think of a Kirby’s or Bob’s, that costs $30 per person. For apps, I had the French onion soup, and Joy had the Lobster bisque. Both were overly congnac-ey, but, still very tasty. Follow that with a Caesar salad, and then, the entrée. Joy and I both had the rib eye, at 18oz, prepared to our liking. I had the three peppercorn sauce; however, it was not necessary. We had a side of the mashed potatoes, and creamed spinach. For dessert, Joy had a trio of chocolaty things, which were all tasty, but, at this point we were too full to eat them. This brings me to my dessert, the cheese plate.

I’ll pull a still from the video of the cheeses that I shot. Suffice it to say that I was served approximately one pound of cheese, from a selection of four cheeses. No joke, they laid down what was likely at least $25 worth of cheese on my plate, if not more. All of them were some level of delicious, and I managed to eat at least one bite of all four, before I had them wrap it up and send it to my room for late night snacking. All in all, the supper club is NOT a Bob’s, Kirby’s or Silver Fox. It is delicious, and at only $30, quite the value.

As I’m now deep into my 2nd page, I’ll go ahead and end here. If you have any specific questions, let me know, but, I’ve done my best to give the highlights for a full week of cruise food.
--Brad