reviewing the food & entertainment pleasures of Honolulu
Up to today I’ve been able to avoid the overly commercial Emeril Lagasse’s restaurants. Two trips to New Orleans, and we managed to eat quite nicely without any BAM! My brother-in-law really wanted to eat at Emeril’s, so today we had lunch there. It’s in the free admission area of the Universal Studios Theme parks, called CityWalk. The area is between the two theme parks and filled with restaurant names you’d recognize.
When we walked in at 12:30 we were surprised to find the place completely empty. We were the first table of the day. It is an off season Tuesday, but still. This made for very prompt, efficient service. The service also kept attention to detail, doing their best at French service. A choice of breads arrived almost immediately.
The limited menu was a bit of a surprise, but we were all able to find something to eat on it. The Table D’Hote Menu is at the top and is 
two courses for $19. My mother chose this, getting the corn & crab soup and the beef brochette. She didn’t care for the soup and immediately gave it to my sister. She ate some of and I tasted it. I found it delicious. My brother-in-law and I started with shrimp and andouille sausage gumbo. It was hearty and nice, but certainly not the best gumbo ever. It was good, just not great.
My sister and brother-in-law both choose the pecan crusted Texas redfish for their entreés, served with a roasted vegetable relish and Creole muniére sauce with thin shoestring potatoes. They both were very impressed. The bit I had was really 
tasty. Mom’s beef brochette had a lot of flavor, but the asparagus wasn’t cooked enough for her. Red potatoes finished the plate.
I had a second appetizer as my entreé, the wild & exotic mushroom goat cheese cake($9), with confit fennel, & greens. It was quite good, if not all the elements described on the menu. I was told the lentils would be missing, but not told that the frisée salad would be replaced with plain salad greens. Not that it mattered much, but I imagine the bitterness of the frisée would have been nice. The richness along with the gumbo and bites of my mother & sister’s dishes filled 
me up. A bit expensive for what it is, but Emeril’s food was delicious even though the menu wasn’t quite what we expected.
Emeril's Orlando 407.224.2424
6000 Universal Blvd. #702
Orlando, FL 32819
Lunch: Daily, 11:30a-2:00p
Dinner: Sun-Thu, 5:30p-10:00p, Fri-Sat, 5:30p-11:00p
6000 Universal Blvd. #702
Orlando, FL 32819
Lunch: Daily, 11:30a-2:00p
Dinner: Sun-Thu, 5:30p-10:00p, Fri-Sat, 5:30p-11:00p
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
