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Club 33 at Disneyland - Part 3 - A Disneyland Dining Review
by Cheryl Pendry

In the previous two parts of this three part series on Club 33, we looked at the atmosphere, explored its bar, and digested the first two courses of an amazing six course menu.

You join us as we start the third course… This is the fish course, and given I don’t eat meat, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that I went for two options from this selection. The first I tried was the grilled diver scallop with corn flan, succotash, pedron pepper and lobster chorizo. This was another winner with me, and had I not been at a private members’ club and worried about disgracing myself, I think I would’ve licked the plate clean, it was that good!

My husband went for the butter poached lobster with black-eyed pea cassoulet and lobster sauce. There was a non-fish option on this course, which was the sautéed veal sweetbreads, sugar snap peas, summer mushrooms and salsa verde.

For my fourth course, I opted for the final selection from the third course, which was the iron seared fish of the day (although I’m ashamed to say I can’t remember exactly what the fish was – my apologies!) with crayfish hoppin’ John and sun gold tomato sauce. This was the third course in a row where I could have quite happily carried on eating this for the rest of the evening. My husband’s choice was the petit Angus filet mignon with Tasso ham scalloped potatoes and collard green pesto. He could also have opted for the fried pheasant with Brussel sprouts, Andouille sausage ragout and pinot essence or the Colorado rack of lamb with spring garlic, mushrooms and Syrah sauce. There was even a vegetarian option here, which was the summer garden risotto, made up of asparagus, English peas, poached radishes and porcini mushrooms, which I was pleased to see, given this was essentially the meat course.

It was at about this time that the Disneyland Forever fireworks illuminated the sky, although sadly the table we had didn’t afford us a great view of them. For some in the restaurant though, they had a perfect view through the windows, and we caught a glimpse of a little of it, enough to know that we were in for a treat the next night when we would view it properly.

I had decided to go the whole hog and get all six courses, although much of our table opted out of the cheese course, which is what came next. I felt though that this was a unique experience, and I may as well sample everything! On the menu that night was chevre panna cotta and artisanal cheese with wine poached figs, fig velvet, quince paste and pistachio butter on toasted brioche. Sadly, this was my least favourite dish of the night, as I wasn’t keen on the chevre panna cotta, or the pistachio butter. I guess, even at some of the best restaurants, they can’t always be perfect.

Then it was on to the final course of the night, the dessert! I immediately ruled out “peaches and cream”, made up of vanilla panna cotta, poached peaches, raspberry pate and shortbread, as sadly I’m allergic to peaches, but I had some difficult decisions to make besides that. I was tempted by the organic chocolate marquise, passion fruit sorbet and pecan brittle, although I wasn’t sure about the sweet corn crème brulee with blueberry compote, blueberry ginger soda and pecan madeleine, as that sounded a bit radical to me.

I ended up going for the safe choice of the Mississippi molten chocolate cake with vanilla bean marshmallows and café au lait ice cream. I wasn’t sure about the marshmallows, as they made the dish very sweet, but the wonderful taste of the cake and the ice cream did make up for that slightly. My husband opted for the warm monkey bread with old fashioned vanilla ice cream and candied pecan madeleine, complete with a happy birthday wish on the plate, as our servers had heard he’d recently celebrated that, which was a lovely touch.

The only thing I wish I had known was that the tea we ordered at the end of the meal was an extra charge, and a steep one at that, $10 each! Talking of money, the check came to $250 for both our meals and my wine pairing, which also included a members’ 20% discount, which was a nice touch. So was it worth it? Absolutely every last penny, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. It was a truly unique experience, and the fact it’s a private members’ club makes it even more special. The atmosphere is very special there, it’s a lot more friendly and relaxing than I expected it to be, the service excels and the food is superb. What’s not to like about it? If you ever get a chance to visit Club 33, definitely take it. I can assure you that you won’t be disappointed.

Added to PassPorter's Article Collection on 12-08-2015 09:12 AM

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