Canadian Harmony
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2015
I'm in. Now you only need 9 more people!
Matt's Fall, 2019 adventure with Club 33 and 21 Royal
- Thread starter whoever
- Start date
MonocularVision
One-Eyed American
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2017
Impressive. I think I could probably do 4.5 but we usually make 2-3 potty stops which blows my plans out of the water.
StarlitNight05
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2016
Me toooooo (assuming the dates work, but I'll do my darnedest to make that happen)!
bethwc101
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 7, 2012
Would you say for those who do not drink alcohol, it was still a good experience? Or is the value of the drinks part of the appeal?Around 6:15, we were informed it was time to sit for dinner. Paul and Jackie moved us into the dining room and we all found our seats. We had beautiful, calligraphied envelopes sealed with wax with the 21 Royal Crest.
Inside were our menus for the night. As I did sneak a peak of the menu prior to dinner, I noticed they had changed it last minute.... more on that later.
Oh this charger..... how I need you in my life!!
Oh we were so ready for this!!
We were then introduced to our guide for tonight’s meal, Matt Ellingson who is the manager of C33/21 Royal and the Sommelier. Matt is just charming and a great storyteller, as all Disney Cast members are. He welcomed us to 21 Royal and started to walk us through the history and about where we were now seated. Matt told us about the re-imagined dining room and the Artist who crafted both the murals for this room and the rest of the 21 Royal Suite. Leslee Turnbull was her name and you can also find her work in Club 33. Matt described his favorite, which was the one of the bayou next to the door. He said that even in the middle of the day when it’s bright in the room the painting just comes to life with color and light changing the aspect of how it looks. On the topic of the murals in this room, she did them at home oddly enough and when they were brought in to be hung, the molding was already up. She glued them to the wall and they started cutting, razor blade in hand. It was all very tense because if they had miss-cut, she would have had to redo them.
Before dinner started, a special guest appeared. Tinker Bell flew around the mirror lighting the candles one by one. So fun!
They asked if there were any big wine fans at the table. There were only two of us. He also asked if there were any not-wine fans. Amy answered that she was "wine-curious" which he declared the best answer ever. He told us a story of how he started his career. He stared in restaurants and his first day of training was with Wolfgang puck and it was a 4-hour wine tasting and he couldn’t get through it, he thought it was all disgusting and he was just agreeing with this guy in a suit. Disbelieving all of it like you don't taste apple, you don't taste that stuff...But he forced his way forward to learn his craft and figure it out. Then he fell in love with it, spent most of his life believing that Wine was the secret of life and we just needed to find our way through it. He appreciated Amy being wine-curious and predicted that tonight was going to be a pretty good example and if she was ever going to be experimental with wine and to dive right in that he has some pretty good wine tonight and if it doesn't work, there’s always the cocktails.
He went on to say, one of the reasons he loves wine is not just the historical aspect and not the fermented beverage or bottle of juice but it tells the story of places and tells the story of people sometimes over hundreds of years. The first course they are calling The Widow's Welcome because of the wine they are pouring for you. If you know of Champagne, you may have heard of Veuve Clicquot. Veuve Clicquot is not only one of the finest producers of champagne, but it dates to the early 1800s when a lady named Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin whose husband was a failed business man in the wine trade and he passed away. She was in her mid-late-20s and she decided to take over the business in a time when women just didn't do that. She really pioneered the champagne industry that we now know. She was a ruthless business woman, even evading war-time blockades so that she would be the first to market. She was the first woman to pioneer riddling, which is where they clarify champagne by getting the sediment out before bottling. Prior, Champagne was a cloudy, sweet, mess. She deserves all the credit for making modern champagne clear and making it shine.
Her story became so prevalent that around the turn of the century, the early 1900s, that if you ordered a bottle of Veuve Clicquot in England, you didn't order a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, you would ask for a bottle of "The Widow" because the legend of her was so respected. Despite her importance, we don't talk about her nearly enough these days and if you want to know more, there is even a fascinating biography about her and her life.
The one poured for us is the finest vintage that Veuve Clicquot makes and called La Grande Dame, which is only produced in exceptional years and a tribute to the great lady or La Grande Dame, who is Madame Barbe-Nicole. This was the only wine which was appropriate to start this evening. We were reminded everything tastes better after some Champagne.
This was a lead in to the first course, which they designed a dish around caviar. Specifically, the Golden Osetra which is imported from Israel. As caviar goes, Osetra is a nicely balanced caviar. You get a nice creaminess with a nutty finish. It is paired with Kona Kampachi and Sunburst Tomato. The puffs on top are potato pillows. He recommended popping one in at a time and getting a little bit of everything in a bite. The fancy tater tots were a huge hit.
Per the menu, here's the official description of the first course. I do notice that the vintage poured was actually a 2006 vintage, not 2004. I wonder what prompted the vintage change.
The Widow's Welcome
Golden Osetra Caviar, Kona Kampachi Crudo, Sunburst Tomato, Avocado, Potato Pillow
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, La Grande Dame, Champagne, Reims 2004
We ate with wonderful jazz wafting from unseen speakers in the room and discussed when we had last had caviar, much less caviar this good. For me, it was circa 2000 at a friend's restaurant in Bay City, Michigan. How I miss those two brothers. They were such generous friends treating the likes of me and my other friend to so many great wines and food both at their house and restaurant. Lots of discussion of the dish occurred about how people liked various aspects, and as we tried to decipher what was what in the dish as it related to the menu description.
We discussed where everybody was from. Texas, California, Hawaii, Arizona, Washington, Portugal, and Louisiana. As a coincidence the gentleman who now lives in Portugal was actually from my wife's home town in Michigan. What a small world. As the guest from Hawaii was telling us about his area, he mentioned that there was a distillery which made a great barrel-aged rum. We made note to hopefully fit it in on our upcoming trip.
Our guests who were not partaking of alcohol this evening were poured a sparkling apple cider. Matt made special note to discuss the day it arrived in his life. He has the coolest job. He gets to sit in the middle of Disneyland and beverage producers call him and ask to come and have him taste what they have to offer which for him (and would be for me), seems like a LOT of fun. One of his favorite wine distributors called him and asked to come see him. He was having a really bad week and it was really busy. He said he just didn't have time that week, but the man said he really needed to come see him on Wednesday. Matt inquired as to what he was presenting, and he stated it's a non-alcoholic apple cider. Matt responded, he has Martinelli's, he has his non-alcoholic offering figured out and just didn't have time. The gentleman wasn't taking no for an answer. He brought it in, did the tasting and Matt felt like his life was changed. That he'd wasted his life with Martinelli's. This is Duche de Longueville and it comes from Normandy France. Normandy along with its historical significance is known agriculturally for its orchards of pears and apples. They do magical things with pears and apples and make the best non-alcoholic sparkling cider he has ever tasted. We were intrigued and now we wanted some too. He said we’d just have to suffer through with normal champagne. Such a jokester.
Our host mentioned that the club was doing a Leota Masquerade event which was to start next week. They were apparently doing a dry run on the effects this week and we could see the purple lights and flashes and hear the thunder effects from where we sat across Royal Street.
One of our group described how he had created changing portraits and had thunder and lightning tied into them so now there’s thunder and lightning in his kitchen. I wonder if Amy would let me get away with that…. Hmmm…
The first course was a success!! Everybody loved it and we couldn't wait to see what was next!
whoever
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2013
Any insight into shellfish allergies? I'd hate to do a meal without yummy crustaceans.
whoever
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2013
Two members of our party weren't drinking alcohol. For me, it's absolutely part of what made it worth it. The Cocktails were amazing and the wines were something I would unlikely get to try otherwise (ESPECIALLY that Promotory). Everybody loved the experience though drinking or not. Those of us drinking probably loved it a little more (especially as the night went on). LOL.
whoever
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2013
At 7:20, it was time to start the third course.
The non-alcoholic drink for this was Pinot Noir Grape Juice. Everybody will be drinking Pinot for this course. The Pinot Juice Paul was pouring came from a winery called Navarro Vinyards near Mendocino and they make beautiful wine, but what caught Matt’s eye years ago when he was at Napa Rose is that they make non-alcoholic grape juices from traditional wine grapes. He didn’t feel that it was necessarily price-effective, it is probably better for them to take quality Pinot Noir and turn it into wine. He has had so much fun over the years using them as the base for mock-tails. They are great on their own and this one tastes like strawberry and watermelon and has a beautiful sweetness to it.
(https://www.navarrowine.com/shop/non-alcoholic-grape-juices)
Everything the chefs were bringing out for us tonight was savory, so the wine paired was pretty and sweet to reset the palate in between bites. This course was a celebration of mushrooms and earthy flavors. He poured us a wonderful Pinot Noir, which is one of the lightest of all the red grape wines. For him, it should be soft, pretty and maybe a little mysterious. It can be fairly finicky and comes traditionally from burgundy but there are a few places around the world where it can be absolutely exceptional. If you grow it in the wrong places, it can be too boisterous and perfumey and be too strong. The Sonoma Coast is one his favorite places in the world to grow it (and mine too). He learned about another place a few years ago, in one tiny corner of Australia called the Mornington Peninsula. If you picture Australia, near Tasmania in the Far East corner it’s a tiny little peninsula sticking out into the ocean. Matt hadn’t had a chance to visit but he’s told that it’s a beautiful foggy wonderland and allows the grapes to ripen very slowly and subtly. This wine came from Mooroduc estates and a Vineyard called Mcintyre and its like Cherry Cola in a glass.
They served our Pinot wine out of the 21 Royal Decanter. SO WANT.
The course of our evening had taken us on a very interesting turn. Interesting because it is one of the most interesting ingredients the world has to offer and that is the mushroom. These particular mushrooms were coming from the West Coast, from the coastline of Oregon, Washington, all the way up to Saskatchewan in British Columbia. These mushrooms, in particular, are some Chanterelles from that area, but the star is the matsutake. The matsutake is one of the most gorgeous, beautiful, most prized, and expensive mushrooms on the market. It gets graded from one to three, and everything presented to us was graded one which is the highest quality you can possibly get. What does that mean? Their mushroom forager Jacob, goes 5-10 miles into the forest alone to his secret mushroom hiding place and digs about 6” deep into a really thick moss bed under only specific pine trees which grow there and creates a beautiful ring called a shiro from these magical mold spores which create the Matsutake. When they are under the moss they still have a closed veil. Imagine a portabella where you can see the gills compared to the less-mature version of the exact same mushroom, the cremini. This mushroom never opened up and still has all of its aroma still trapped inside. They made a beautiful tea out of the mushroom to highlight the aroma of this pine tree mushroom. It had hints of blackberry, pine, and they fortified the stock with some duck jous as well. The mushroom foraging business is apparently very treacherous and cutthroat. The mushrooms on our plate were completely raw, however, were lightly marinated with some olive oil and salt and as the hot duck and matsutake tea hits them they will cook slightly.
The description for this course is as follows:
The Legend of the Forager
A Celebration of Matsutake Mushrooms, Wild Berry Duck Tea
Mooroduc Estate, McIntyre Vinyard, Pinot Noir, Morington Peninsuala, Austra
lia 2014
The now infamous discussion of the hidden Mickeys came up again. Our chef let us know that to find them you had to be sitting in the right spot as Matt came in and let us know that he was going to open up the doors and it would be a great time to enjoy the balcony and take a brief break, but please be careful of glassware near the railings.
The doors thrown open, we heard the sounds of a bustling NOS while we ate. While enjoying this course, we discussed some of our favorite on-property meals outside of 21 as we ate and recounted our favorite dishes from C33, SH55, and Napa. SH55 seemed to have the most votes for favorite dishes, amongst them, the tartare, crispy spinach, Marcel’s Truffle Mac.
The non-alcoholic drink for this was Pinot Noir Grape Juice. Everybody will be drinking Pinot for this course. The Pinot Juice Paul was pouring came from a winery called Navarro Vinyards near Mendocino and they make beautiful wine, but what caught Matt’s eye years ago when he was at Napa Rose is that they make non-alcoholic grape juices from traditional wine grapes. He didn’t feel that it was necessarily price-effective, it is probably better for them to take quality Pinot Noir and turn it into wine. He has had so much fun over the years using them as the base for mock-tails. They are great on their own and this one tastes like strawberry and watermelon and has a beautiful sweetness to it.
(https://www.navarrowine.com/shop/non-alcoholic-grape-juices)
Everything the chefs were bringing out for us tonight was savory, so the wine paired was pretty and sweet to reset the palate in between bites. This course was a celebration of mushrooms and earthy flavors. He poured us a wonderful Pinot Noir, which is one of the lightest of all the red grape wines. For him, it should be soft, pretty and maybe a little mysterious. It can be fairly finicky and comes traditionally from burgundy but there are a few places around the world where it can be absolutely exceptional. If you grow it in the wrong places, it can be too boisterous and perfumey and be too strong. The Sonoma Coast is one his favorite places in the world to grow it (and mine too). He learned about another place a few years ago, in one tiny corner of Australia called the Mornington Peninsula. If you picture Australia, near Tasmania in the Far East corner it’s a tiny little peninsula sticking out into the ocean. Matt hadn’t had a chance to visit but he’s told that it’s a beautiful foggy wonderland and allows the grapes to ripen very slowly and subtly. This wine came from Mooroduc estates and a Vineyard called Mcintyre and its like Cherry Cola in a glass.
They served our Pinot wine out of the 21 Royal Decanter. SO WANT.
The course of our evening had taken us on a very interesting turn. Interesting because it is one of the most interesting ingredients the world has to offer and that is the mushroom. These particular mushrooms were coming from the West Coast, from the coastline of Oregon, Washington, all the way up to Saskatchewan in British Columbia. These mushrooms, in particular, are some Chanterelles from that area, but the star is the matsutake. The matsutake is one of the most gorgeous, beautiful, most prized, and expensive mushrooms on the market. It gets graded from one to three, and everything presented to us was graded one which is the highest quality you can possibly get. What does that mean? Their mushroom forager Jacob, goes 5-10 miles into the forest alone to his secret mushroom hiding place and digs about 6” deep into a really thick moss bed under only specific pine trees which grow there and creates a beautiful ring called a shiro from these magical mold spores which create the Matsutake. When they are under the moss they still have a closed veil. Imagine a portabella where you can see the gills compared to the less-mature version of the exact same mushroom, the cremini. This mushroom never opened up and still has all of its aroma still trapped inside. They made a beautiful tea out of the mushroom to highlight the aroma of this pine tree mushroom. It had hints of blackberry, pine, and they fortified the stock with some duck jous as well. The mushroom foraging business is apparently very treacherous and cutthroat. The mushrooms on our plate were completely raw, however, were lightly marinated with some olive oil and salt and as the hot duck and matsutake tea hits them they will cook slightly.
The description for this course is as follows:
The Legend of the Forager
A Celebration of Matsutake Mushrooms, Wild Berry Duck Tea
Mooroduc Estate, McIntyre Vinyard, Pinot Noir, Morington Peninsuala, Austra
lia 2014
The now infamous discussion of the hidden Mickeys came up again. Our chef let us know that to find them you had to be sitting in the right spot as Matt came in and let us know that he was going to open up the doors and it would be a great time to enjoy the balcony and take a brief break, but please be careful of glassware near the railings.
The doors thrown open, we heard the sounds of a bustling NOS while we ate. While enjoying this course, we discussed some of our favorite on-property meals outside of 21 as we ate and recounted our favorite dishes from C33, SH55, and Napa. SH55 seemed to have the most votes for favorite dishes, amongst them, the tartare, crispy spinach, Marcel’s Truffle Mac.
Last edited:
Jaina
Actually, my name is Sara. It's a long, VMK story.
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2005
I am not a mushroom fan at all, and I would totally try that. Your description (and picture) sold it!At 7:20, it was time to start the third course.
The non-alcoholic drink for this was Pinot Noir Grape Juice. Everybody will be drinking Pinot for this course. The Pinot Juice Paul was pouring came from a winery called Navarro Vinyards near Mendocino and they make beautiful wine, but what caught Matt’s eye years ago when he was at Napa Rose is that they make non-alcoholic grape juices from traditional wine grapes. He didn’t feel that it was necessarily price-effective, it is probably better for them to take quality Pinot Noir and turn it into wine. He has had so much fun over the years using them as the base for mock-tails. They are great on their own and this one tastes like strawberry and watermelon and has a beautiful sweetness to it.
(https://www.navarrowine.com/shop/non-alcoholic-grape-juices)
Everything the chefs were bringing out for us tonight was savory, so the wine paired was pretty and sweet to reset the palate in between bites. This course was a celebration of mushrooms and earthy flavors. He poured us a wonderful Pinot Noir, which is one of the lightest of all the red grape wines. For him, it should be soft, pretty and maybe a little mysterious. It can be fairly finicky and comes traditionally from burgundy but there are a few places around the world where it can be absolutely exceptional. If you grow it in the wrong places, it can be too boisterous and perfumey and be too strong. The Sonoma Coast is one his favorite places in the world to grow it (and mine too). He learned about another place a few years ago, in one tiny corner of Australia called the Mornington Peninsula. If you picture Australia, near Tasmania in the Far East corner it’s a tiny little peninsula sticking out into the ocean. Matt hadn’t had a chance to visit but he’s told that it’s a beautiful foggy wonderland and allows the grapes to ripen very slowly and subtly. This wine came from Mooroduc estates and a Vineyard called Mcintyre and its like Cherry Cola in a glass.
They served our Pinot wine out of the 21 Royal Decanter. SO WANT.
The course of our evening had taken us on a very interesting turn. Interesting because it is one of the most interesting ingredients the world has to offer and that is the mushroom. These particular mushrooms were coming from the West Coast, from the coastline of Oregon, Washington, all the way up to Saskatchewan in British Columbia. These mushrooms, in particular, are some Chanterelles from that area, but the star is the matsutake. The matsutake is one of the most gorgeous, beautiful, most prized, and expensive mushrooms on the market. It gets graded from one to three, and everything presented to us was graded one which is the highest quality you can possibly get. What does that mean? Their mushroom forager Jacob, goes 5-10 miles into the forest alone to his secret mushroom hiding place and digs about 6” deep into a really thick moss bed under only specific pine trees which grow there and creates a beautiful ring called a shiro from these magical mold spores which create the Matsutake. When they are under the moss they still have a closed veil. Imagine a portabella where you can see the gills compared to the less-mature version of the exact same mushroom, the cremini. This mushroom never opened up and still has all of its aroma still trapped inside. They made a beautiful tea out of the mushroom to highlight the aroma of this pine tree mushroom. It had hints of blackberry, pine, and they fortified the stock with some duck jous as well. The mushroom foraging business is apparently very treacherous and cutthroat. The mushrooms on our plate were completely raw, however, were lightly marinated with some olive oil and salt and as the hot duck and matsutake tea hits them they will cook slightly.
The now infamous discussion of the hidden Mickeys came up again. Our chef let us know that to find them you had to be sitting in the right spot as Matt came in and let us know that he was going to open up the doors and it would be a great time to enjoy the balcony and take a brief break, but please be careful of glassware near the railings.
The doors thrown open, we heard the sounds of a bustling NOS while we ate. While enjoying this course, we discussed some of our favorite on-property meals outside of 21 as we ate and recounted our favorite dishes from C33, SH55, and Napa. SH55 seemed to have the most votes for favorite dishes, amongst them, the tartare, crispy spinach, Marcel’s Truffle Mac.
Carolwoodpr
Disney Dreamer
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2008
Sounds wonderful. I would love that course!
whoever
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2013
Cheri, the dessert was switched on us last minute. Not sure why, but I want to know how it would have tasted. Description of that at end of TR.
whoever
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2013
We told them Haunted Mansion if I recall. We were open for anything with the exception of the nut-tree allergy.
Canadian Harmony
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2015
Erm... I'm FROM British Columbia. Born n bred... and um... we don't have a Saskatchewan in B.C. Sask is another province in Canada. It's as if you said "New Mexico in Arizona". So perhaps you meant B.C. in Canada? Because lemme tell ya, we're famous for growing a few things on Vancouver Island: incredible wine grapes (google Cowichan Valley Wines. Deeelish!), world-class wacky-tobaccy, and mushrooms. Of all kinds. So I'd be interested to know what city in B.C. Matt mentioned, because there's some good growin' in this area for sure.
BTW,this is how big B.C. is:
But OTHER than that - it looked amazing. And sorry, I can't justify spending $625 for a decanter. Nope. That's an annual pass (nearly)!
Aladora
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2011
If you are a big fan of Pinot Noir wines, you should check out some of the ones that come out of the Okanagan Valley up here in BC. Also, if you are ever able to do a wine tour of the Osoyoos area, I can highly recommend it.
Make that 7 because DH and I would be in for this if the dates worked! We've never been to C33 but have really enjoyed every one of our Napa Rose chefs counter meals and are very keen to do 21R.
Ha! I had my reply all typed up about the whole SK/BC thing and then got distracted by work so you beat me to this!
Make that 7 because DH and I would be in for this if the dates worked! We've never been to C33 but have really enjoyed every one of our Napa Rose chefs counter meals and are very keen to do 21R.
Ha! I had my reply all typed up about the whole SK/BC thing and then got distracted by work so you beat me to this!
whoever
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2013
Let me get through this course and I'll go review. Probably my error.
Canadian Harmony
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2015
And it's double funny because Sask is a land-locked province, no 'coast' at all. They have a lot of lakes, but no seawater. They're our 'breadbasket' province. I've driven through it, and it's only fields of wheat as far as the eye can see. And if you are on the roof of the barn, you can see your dog run away for days!
azdisneylover
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2008
In my humble opinion, I agree. I'm a mom of soon to be 18 year old b/g/g triplets, and it has NEVER been dull for one second!
azdisneylover
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2008
We HAVE to be related!! LOL
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