That Food Guy
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Imperial Palace - Anchorage Alaska - A Birthday Revisit 2016
The first time I ever saw the Imperial Palace was back in 1988 or so. It was on my first trip to Alaska. I saw the restaurant across the highway and down a small street each time I went to the Flight service Station to get a weather briefing. Flight Service Stations are gone now but the Imperial Palace is still there. I didn’t visit the restaurant that time but marked it in my mind for a future time.
The menu, in an elegant cover, is quite complete. There is a
large selection of al la carte dishes including a choice of Korean dishes, a
goodly selection of luncheon combinations at a reduced price, a list of single
and double entrees dinners for one, and even family-style with combinations
from $13.95 to $19.95 each (there are numerous combinations but the selections
do not increase with the number of diners, i.e., “…with four you get eggroll.”)
. For our group of five with eclectic tastes the combination dinner for one was
the best way to because everyone would get just what they desired.
The other Larry ordered the C1 Combination Dinner (13.95 Mongolian Beef and Sesame Chicken –
Served with eggroll, pork fried rice and daily soup). An attractive
presentation, stir-fried beef in a dark brown glaze, a cone of fried rice, an
eggroll sliced in two, and a helping of breaded chicken fried golden brown and
accented with sesame seeds. He said everything tasted good and he had no
trouble at all completing his meal. He agreed with me and added that it was a
place to come back to.
Gloria and Wasana both ordered the C4 Combination Dinner
($13.95 Kung Pao Chicken and Sweet and
Sour Chicken – Served with eggroll, pork fried rice and daily soup). An
equally pleasing plate featured stir-fried chicken with vegetables in a sauce
and, of course, the peanuts, there was the fried rice and eggroll, and
stir-fried breaded chicken with peppers, onion and carrot, in a sweet and sour
sauce. A very pretty plate but all was not as it seemed. Both of them liked the
sweet and sour chicken and the fried rice and eggroll. However, both of them
agreed that the kung pao chicken was just too salty to enjoy and both were
unable to finish their portions; everything good except the kung pao chicken.
The Imperial palace is a small and I believe a family-run
business. We actually only saw one person most of the time in the dining room.
She as the hostess, the waitress and the bus boy all wrapped up in one. She was
never hovering but she seemed to know when you needed her.
dly
Imperial Palace
- A Birthday Revisit
September 2016
400 Sitka St
Anchorage,
Alaska 99501
The first time I ever saw the Imperial Palace was back in 1988 or so. It was on my first trip to Alaska. I saw the restaurant across the highway and down a small street each time I went to the Flight service Station to get a weather briefing. Flight Service Stations are gone now but the Imperial Palace is still there. I didn’t visit the restaurant that time but marked it in my mind for a future time.
It was several more years before I moved to Alaska. I
remembered the Imperial Palace and saw it each time I would drive by the
airport. Somehow it just never came to pass that I would stop in and see what
it was all about. It was not until 2012 during a visit by my sister and my nephew
that we decided to see if the Imperial Palace was indeed worthy. We were all
very favorably impressed and looked forward to visiting again. You can read
that critique at http://thatfoodguy.blogspot.com/2012/07/imperial-palace-anchorage-alaska.html .
Fast forward to 2016; in Alaska for the last part of the
summer to do maintenance on our property, I was treated to dinner, the reason
being it was my birthday, by some old and dear friends, Wasana and Larry Tower
and Gloria and Jim Kocis. Given my choice, after all it was my birthday, the
Imperial Palace came to mind. We all agreed to meet in town at 5 O’clock PM. It
was a date that I eagerly awaited.
As a young child my first encounters with Chinese food were
from Chinatown in Los Angeles. Those
savory dishes, the look, the smell, the taste – those delicious flavors, were
the major part of larger experience. It was an alien world, the exotic dress,
the incense, red and black lacquer décor accents, gilt trimming, paper
lanterns; it was all heady stuff to an 8 or 9-year old but it emblazoned on my
mind what eating Chinese was all about. The menu to a young person was almost
impossible to comprehend. The entrees were a strange combination of alien
sounds. As a family, we would usually order from the combination meals, you
know, “…with four you get eggroll.” I have not been back to Chinatown for more
than 50 years. It has changed I hear and sadly not like it once was. Today it
is very hard to find a Chinese restaurant that compares to the old days of
Chinatown. There are a lot of storefront take out emporium who all seem to
serve carbon copies of each other, now served as Styrofoam plated combo meals.
Even the long cherished Chinese food take out container is hard to find. It is
sort-of Chinese at least in name, often fusion dishes you are a bit adverse to
try. As well, the all-you-can-eat parlors are popular as well. If you want to
get your Chinese food fix it is a place to go with lots of variety and in
seemingly endless quantities. However, I am sure you will agree with me that it
is only a semblance of what Chinese food for Americans could and should be.
The allure of the Imperial Palace for a revisit was that it
is very reminiscent of the Chinatown of old. I was very favorably impressed on
the first visit some years ago and I had hopes that it would be as good this
time. The interior was as I remembered; not a lot of black and red lacquer to
be sure. There were the paper lanterns adored with the Chinese characters, the
moveable screen, very evocative of the General Lee, to set aside areas for
large groups or those wishing a bit of privacy. There was no tall, beautiful
oriental hostess, dressed in a floor length red silk dress with a slit up the
side to greet us. But then, you can’t have everything.
The menu, in an elegant cover, is quite complete. There is a
large selection of al la carte dishes including a choice of Korean dishes, a
goodly selection of luncheon combinations at a reduced price, a list of single
and double entrees dinners for one, and even family-style with combinations
from $13.95 to $19.95 each (there are numerous combinations but the selections
do not increase with the number of diners, i.e., “…with four you get eggroll.”)
. For our group of five with eclectic tastes the combination dinner for one was
the best way to because everyone would get just what they desired.
The meal was started with a bowl of egg drop soup. A clear
flavorful broth, chicken flavored, with a good quantity of egg drop shards and
some vegetables. A tasty soup to start the meal, it had many compliments.
The other Larry ordered the C1 Combination Dinner (13.95 Mongolian Beef and Sesame Chicken –
Served with eggroll, pork fried rice and daily soup). An attractive
presentation, stir-fried beef in a dark brown glaze, a cone of fried rice, an
eggroll sliced in two, and a helping of breaded chicken fried golden brown and
accented with sesame seeds. He said everything tasted good and he had no
trouble at all completing his meal. He agreed with me and added that it was a
place to come back to.
Jim ordered the C3 Combination Dinner ($13.95 Spicy Garlic Chicken and Sweet and Sour Pork- Served with
eggroll, pork fried rice and daily soup). Another appealing plate, a
serving of stir-fried chicken in a spicy sauce with vegetables such as pea pods
and broccoli, the standard cone of fried rice with an eggroll, stir-fried
breaded pork morsels in a sweet and sour sauce and some onions and carrots. Jim also completely finished his dinner
saying that it was good, good appearance and presentation and good flavor.
Gloria and Wasana both ordered the C4 Combination Dinner
($13.95 Kung Pao Chicken and Sweet and
Sour Chicken – Served with eggroll, pork fried rice and daily soup). An
equally pleasing plate featured stir-fried chicken with vegetables in a sauce
and, of course, the peanuts, there was the fried rice and eggroll, and
stir-fried breaded chicken with peppers, onion and carrot, in a sweet and sour
sauce. A very pretty plate but all was not as it seemed. Both of them liked the
sweet and sour chicken and the fried rice and eggroll. However, both of them
agreed that the kung pao chicken was just too salty to enjoy and both were
unable to finish their portions; everything good except the kung pao chicken.
It had been a long time since I had enjoyed a decedent chow
mein. After a long look at the choices, I finally chose the C8 Combination
Dinner ($13.95 Chicken Chow Mein and
Sweet and Sour Pork – Served with egg roll and pork fried rice). The first
impression I had when the plate was placed in front of me was that the food
looks like what I would expected to. It looked like what I remember from the
Chinatown restaurants. An appealing plate, there was a good portion of breaded
stir fried pork cooked with onion, peppers and carrots in a very tasty sweet
and sour sauce, the pork fried rice and the eggroll, and a serving of chicken
chow mein. The chow mein was a mix of stir-fried chicken, vegetables and
noodles in a sauce. The noodles were
fried but not crisp. The sauce is a thinner, clearer sauce made from the broth
with just a touch of sweetness, traditional, just as it should be. The flavor
of the chicken and the noodles was never masked by the flavor of the sauce. The
eggrolls were excellent, good enough that you might wish they were more part of
the dinner than as a single one serving in an appetizer role. The fried rice is
the filler of the dish. It is good but not special. I would suspect that if you
were to order a serving of fried rice as an entrée from the menu it would be a
bit more polished. The sweet and sour pork was excellent. It was breaded
morsels of pork, stir fried with some onion, peppers and carrots in a very good
sweet and sour sauce.
The Imperial palace is a small and I believe a family-run
business. We actually only saw one person most of the time in the dining room.
She as the hostess, the waitress and the bus boy all wrapped up in one. She was
never hovering but she seemed to know when you needed her.
For my dinner, I have no complaints. In fact I loved every
bit of it. If it were a more perfect world to my taste, perhaps there would
have been a morsel or two of pineapple in the sweet and sour and perhaps the
noodles in the chow mein could have been a bit crisp – you know, just like the
old days. But that does not detract form the enjoyment of a great meal. Of this
visit I would say that for the most part, with the exceptions noted above, the
food was better than just good. It was a special night and the company was
great making it a special, gala occasion. We all arrived about 5 PM and we
didn’t leave until almost 8 PM – a most enjoyable session of reminiscing and
catching upon the news of the last couple of years. Larry, Wasana, Jim and
Gloria, thank you one and all.
Labels: Alaska, Anchorage, chicken, Chow Mein, garlic, Imperial, Kung Pao, Palace, pork, spicy, sweet and sour
¶ 1:44 PM 0 Comments
Friday, August 26, 2016
Oriental Cuisine - Maryville, Tennessee
Oriental
Cuisine
622 Condry
Lane
Maryville,
TN 37803
I would have never known the Oriental Cuisine Restaurant was
there except for one thing. Several times a week my wife and I would go to the
local gym. When leaving, while waiting for traffic, we would be looking across
the street down a very small alley like street that has a name. In fact its
name denotes its diminutive stature, Condry Lane. A lane; it is so much less
that a boulevard, an avenue or even a street. It serves as the back entrance to
a muffler shop and a bank parking lot as well as access for some industrial
metal buildings on the left. Way down at the end of the street where it appears
to dead end is one small sign; Oriental Cuisine shares sign space with a rug
and tile company. From our vantage point we cannot see that building because it
is set back to allow for customer parking in front. I was intrigued by this
almost hidden restaurant and I thought that it must have something going for it
as it would not garner any drive-by traffic.
Many months went by before I finally decided to see what it was all about. I did some internet research and found their website which is basically their menu. They offer a mix of Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese foods. I was on my own for lunch one day and stopped by for a takeout meal of sweet and sour chicken ($9.00 Breaded white chicken chunks deep fried to a golden brown and served with diced tomato, green pepper and pineapple in our sweet and sour sauce. Served with fried or steamed rice). At $9.00 dollars it seemed a bit on the expensive side but this was an exploratory visit to see what they offered and on that day I did have a “hankering” for some Chinese food. I also asked for a spring roll to compliment the meal ($1.75 A delicious mixture of jicama, carrots, onions, rice thread and pork wrapped in a crunchy spring roll wrapper) .
My order soon arrived. It was a large brown paper bag,
neatly folded and stapled. I was quite surprised when I picked it up. Thinking
back to my thoughts about the rather high cost I now, at least, considered it a
very good deal on a price per pound basis. There was a lot of food inside that
bag. I could hardly wait to get it home and check out the contents. The fact
that it smelled so good made me even more eager.
(I just have to add
this in as a parenthetical comment: Over the years I have noticed that sweet
and sour chicken or pork have become cheapened and degraded under the
banner of “New York style” and the pineapple, sweet peppers and other
vegetables that helped to define the dish in Chinatown settings have been
eliminated and all you get is breaded chicken and sauce usually served separate.
That rendition of sweet and sour chicken is travesty and defames the sweet and
savory combination that is also beautiful to the eye. A pox on New York style.)
Taking myself at my word, I divided the food into two portions
and cut the spring roll in half. I would have half now and the remainder at a later
time. I plated the food for a photo before eating; nothing fancy, just so it
wasn’t a picture looking down into the bottom of a box. It was only half of my
order but the food literally filled the plate. The sweet and sour chicken was
delicious. The breading was fried crispy and the chicken inside was moist and
juicy. It occurred to me while I was eating it that the extra effort in separate packaging made for a crisp
chicken in the sauce whereas if it had been all packaged together the chicken
in all likelihood would have been soggy and unpalatable. The sweet and sour
sauce was very good with a bit of tang from perhaps vinegar and sweetness but
not just from sugar. I enjoyed the snap and flavor of the slightly crispy
pepper and loved the fruity sweetness of the pineapple. An excellent sweet and
sour dish I will definitely try again.
My drink was delivered with a bowl of fried wontons, I sat back
to await my meal. As I mentioned, it was a miserably hot day outside and the
cool interior of the restaurant was a relief. The shades were drawn and the lighting
subdued but you could still see images of the out-of-doors through the slats in
the shade. I looked around. It was as I described before. It was oriental in
motif, black lacquer chairs, a mural but not much else to give it that Asian
look, certainly not gaudy. A quick count found about 50 seats. There were two
tradesmen at the table next to me and a solo elderly gentleman across the aisle.
There was a party of about 6 or 8 in the alcove. About 8 people came in to pick
up their take-out orders; all must have called in and each order was ready on
their arrival. Towards the end of my meal several people arrive and must have
been regulars from the greetings. Apparently Sabrina, the server, saw one of
them parking his car and had his preferred beverage ready for him when he
entered the store. My observations answered the fundamental question I had
harbored. How does this almost hidden restaurant manage to survive? It requires
returning customers and word of mouth advertising. It certainly has returning
customers and I will be providing some word of mouth. It is not an ornate place
nor does it have an elegant ambiance but it is comfortable and it does have the
feeling like in the old Cheers theme song,
“…where everybody knows your name.”
The rice was the standard carbohydrate filler, seasoned with
just the right amount of soy sauce. It was a soup-bowl full of rice, upended on
the plate to make the rounded pile of rice. A line of three large florets of
steamed broccoli divided he plate. The remainder of the plate was filled with
chunks of breaded and fried chicken, coated with sauce and liberally sprinkled with
toasted sesame seeds. Great aroma and a very nice presentation; it looked very
appetizing.
Oriental
Cuisine
622 Condry
Lane
Maryville,
TN 37803
865-984-0810
First Visit – A Take-Out
Order
I would have never known the Oriental Cuisine Restaurant was
there except for one thing. Several times a week my wife and I would go to the
local gym. When leaving, while waiting for traffic, we would be looking across
the street down a very small alley like street that has a name. In fact its
name denotes its diminutive stature, Condry Lane. A lane; it is so much less
that a boulevard, an avenue or even a street. It serves as the back entrance to
a muffler shop and a bank parking lot as well as access for some industrial
metal buildings on the left. Way down at the end of the street where it appears
to dead end is one small sign; Oriental Cuisine shares sign space with a rug
and tile company. From our vantage point we cannot see that building because it
is set back to allow for customer parking in front. I was intrigued by this
almost hidden restaurant and I thought that it must have something going for it
as it would not garner any drive-by traffic.Many months went by before I finally decided to see what it was all about. I did some internet research and found their website which is basically their menu. They offer a mix of Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese foods. I was on my own for lunch one day and stopped by for a takeout meal of sweet and sour chicken ($9.00 Breaded white chicken chunks deep fried to a golden brown and served with diced tomato, green pepper and pineapple in our sweet and sour sauce. Served with fried or steamed rice). At $9.00 dollars it seemed a bit on the expensive side but this was an exploratory visit to see what they offered and on that day I did have a “hankering” for some Chinese food. I also asked for a spring roll to compliment the meal ($1.75 A delicious mixture of jicama, carrots, onions, rice thread and pork wrapped in a crunchy spring roll wrapper) .
I was offered a seat at the nearest table and while I was
waiting for my order I read over my take-home menu copy. I had ordered from the
inside, the a la carte portion. On the back was the lunch menu of lower-priced
combinations meals. Part of the combination is a bowl of soup. That would have
made for an inconvenient take-home but I planned one day, if my pending order
was good, return to try something their luncheon menu.
My order soon arrived. It was a large brown paper bag,
neatly folded and stapled. I was quite surprised when I picked it up. Thinking
back to my thoughts about the rather high cost I now, at least, considered it a
very good deal on a price per pound basis. There was a lot of food inside that
bag. I could hardly wait to get it home and check out the contents. The fact
that it smelled so good made me even more eager.
Opening the bag, I found a large (26-ounce?) traditional
Chinese take-out container of breaded fried chicken that was overflowing. I
suspect that was a fluke and I got the benefit of the chef’s “Oops, I cooked a
bit too much.” It was a large-sized container and if the chicken all fit inside
it would still be a large portion. There was a portion of sweet and sour sauce
and a portion of fruit and vegetables.
(I just have to add
this in as a parenthetical comment: Over the years I have noticed that sweet
and sour chicken or pork have become cheapened and degraded under the
banner of “New York style” and the pineapple, sweet peppers and other
vegetables that helped to define the dish in Chinatown settings have been
eliminated and all you get is breaded chicken and sauce usually served separate.
That rendition of sweet and sour chicken is travesty and defames the sweet and
savory combination that is also beautiful to the eye. A pox on New York style.)
There was a 16-ounce container of fried rice, the spring
roll, some packages of soy sauce, some plastic utensils and a fortune cookie.
Looking over my stash of Chinese food I realized that if I had bought another
spring roll I would have satisfying and filling meals for two; on a per serving
basis, $4.50 per person plus the spring roll. The economics of my Oriental Cuisine
purchase were looking much better. Now how does it taste?
Taking myself at my word, I divided the food into two portions
and cut the spring roll in half. I would have half now and the remainder at a later
time. I plated the food for a photo before eating; nothing fancy, just so it
wasn’t a picture looking down into the bottom of a box. It was only half of my
order but the food literally filled the plate. The sweet and sour chicken was
delicious. The breading was fried crispy and the chicken inside was moist and
juicy. It occurred to me while I was eating it that the extra effort in separate packaging made for a crisp
chicken in the sauce whereas if it had been all packaged together the chicken
in all likelihood would have been soggy and unpalatable. The sweet and sour
sauce was very good with a bit of tang from perhaps vinegar and sweetness but
not just from sugar. I enjoyed the snap and flavor of the slightly crispy
pepper and loved the fruity sweetness of the pineapple. An excellent sweet and
sour dish I will definitely try again.
You can order fried rice as an entrée and it will be more
elaborate that the pedestrian fried rice that usually serves as the
carbohydrate filler in combination plates. This rice was no exception to that
rule of thumb. There are bits and pieces here and there but for the most part
it is rice, fried and seasoned with soy sauce. Certainly more flavorful than
steamed rice but it was not too salty or overly seasoned with soy sauce. It was good as filler rice goes but at the
same time it was not exceptional.
The spring roll was crispy fried and the filling was tasty.
A bit of hot Chinese mustard would have been beneficial but not necessary.
Although I prefer the thicker, less crispy egg roll skins, I did enjoy the spring
roll. It seems that egg or spring rolls are always an appetizer on Chinese food
menus. I like them well enough that they should be a main course item. I will
certainly add these spring rolls to my next order.
As a side note, take-out orders don’t always go home to be
eaten. They may go to the office or on a climate day, to a picnic table in the
park. The inclusion of the plastic cutlery was a nice thought.
Second Visit A Month Or So Later – Eat In
Luncheon Special
It was a very hot and sultry day, one usually better spent
indoors. I had errands to run and as luck would have it, I was on my own for
meals that day. I decided to treat myself to lunch out. It wouldn’t be a
drive-thru burger this time. It would be the long awaited sit down meal at the
Oriental Cuisine Restaurant for lunch. On the previous visit I had ordered an entrée
from the main or dinner menu. While
waiting, I noticed that they also serve from a lunch menu with lower prices
from 11:00Am to 3:30PM. It is a long list of choices and the entrée is served with
soup (your choice of hot and sour, wonton or egg drop), a spring roll and rice
(your choice of steamed or fried). My expectation was that It would be smaller
portions and perhaps less elaborate in presentation. The lunch menu includes
sweet and sour chicken and it would have been a good comparison but I also
wanted to try a broader range of their offering so I chose the Sesame Chicken
at $6.00 instead. For my soup I ordered
the wonton. For beverage I went with Coca Cola. My server, Sabrina, was very
attentive, very personable. She checked on me at intervals and kept my soda
glass full. I need to thank her for making my dining experience pleasurable.
My drink was delivered with a bowl of fried wontons, I sat back
to await my meal. As I mentioned, it was a miserably hot day outside and the
cool interior of the restaurant was a relief. The shades were drawn and the lighting
subdued but you could still see images of the out-of-doors through the slats in
the shade. I looked around. It was as I described before. It was oriental in
motif, black lacquer chairs, a mural but not much else to give it that Asian
look, certainly not gaudy. A quick count found about 50 seats. There were two
tradesmen at the table next to me and a solo elderly gentleman across the aisle.
There was a party of about 6 or 8 in the alcove. About 8 people came in to pick
up their take-out orders; all must have called in and each order was ready on
their arrival. Towards the end of my meal several people arrive and must have
been regulars from the greetings. Apparently Sabrina, the server, saw one of
them parking his car and had his preferred beverage ready for him when he
entered the store. My observations answered the fundamental question I had
harbored. How does this almost hidden restaurant manage to survive? It requires
returning customers and word of mouth advertising. It certainly has returning
customers and I will be providing some word of mouth. It is not an ornate place
nor does it have an elegant ambiance but it is comfortable and it does have the
feeling like in the old Cheers theme song,
“…where everybody knows your name.”
The wonton soup arrived quickly. There were two wontons in a
clear broth. It is served hot. A couple
of the small ice pellet from my soda cooled it enough to sip. It is a mild
broth with hints of many flavors, chicken and vegetables but not highly
seasoned; nice flavor but mild, very subtle. The wontons are large and the wrappers are thick
that made for a slightly doughy texture. A seasoned pork mixture in the middle was
tasty. It was a flavorful way to await the entrée.
My entrée soon arrived. Oh, my God! The expected meager
portions were huge. I must admit that I ate the whole thing with relish but I
would have been much better of eating half and taking the rest home for later
(something I saw others in the restaurant do). Two people could have shared the
meal and felt satisfied. 
The rice was the standard carbohydrate filler, seasoned with
just the right amount of soy sauce. It was a soup-bowl full of rice, upended on
the plate to make the rounded pile of rice. A line of three large florets of
steamed broccoli divided he plate. The remainder of the plate was filled with
chunks of breaded and fried chicken, coated with sauce and liberally sprinkled with
toasted sesame seeds. Great aroma and a very nice presentation; it looked very
appetizing.
In conclusion: Will I go back to Oriental Cuisine? Most assuredly!
The food is good, the portions are large, the staff members are friendly and
the restaurant just seems to be a comfortable palace to be. They have a lot
more dishes that I would like to try but I will remember in the future to
divide my plate; eat that part there and take the other part home for later.
They are
open 6 day a week, closed on Mondays
Hours are
Sunday – Thursday 10:00AM to 9:30PM
Friday 11:00AM to 10:00PM
Labels: broccoli, chicken, Chinese, cuisine, fried rice, Maryville, oriental, pork, sesame, soup, steamed, sweet and sour, Tennessee, Thai, Vietnamese, won ton, wonton
¶ 12:51 PM 0 Comments
Monday, June 03, 2013
Aboard the MV Columbia 10/16/12 – 10/19/12
Aboard the MV Columbia 10/16/12 – 10/19/12
 |
| MV Columbia underway on the Lynn Canal. Passing Haines en route to Skagway. |
Alaska Marine Highway System
Haines, Alaska to Bellingham, Washington
 |
| Dining Room |
First off I would remind the reader that the vessels of the Alaska
Marine Highway System are there provide transportation to the far flung and
isolated ports of call along the inland waterway. They will haul your vehicle, seemingly
no matter what the size, and if you can’t afford the cost of a cabin you can
snuggle down in the chairs of the observation lounge or pitch your tent on the
fantail. In that respect they have no equal. They are not cruise ships but they
do things the cruise ships cannot. Whatever else the ships of the Alaska Marine
Highway System do provide is an extra, a convenience for the traveler. In that
respect they do an exceptional job as well. This blog will be a cumulative narration
of the meals I enjoyed during my trip from Haines, Alaska to Bellingham,
Washington aboard the MV Columbia.
 |
| Breakfast - eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast and coffee. |
There are two places to eat aboard the Columbia. One is the
dining room, a more formal experience with linen tablecloths and real
silverware and you order from a menu. The other is the snack bar cafeteria, a
more casual affair. Snacks are available all night and during mealtimes the
short order cook can provide you with burgers, hot dog, grilled sandwiches or
steam-table entrees that change daily. I decided to try out the fare the first
morning in the dining room.
The dining room was not busy at the moment and I was shown
directly to a table. My server, Celistino, was there a moment later and took my
order. As is my breakfast custom, I went looking for bacon, hash browns and
eggs. That was listed as combination number 1 (2 eggs any style, ham, bacon or sausage, breakfast potatoes, toast.
$9.75) Celistino was careful to remind me that I might also enjoy a morning
cup of coffee. I did not have a long wait. While I was waiting I took the time
to look around the dining room. It was neat and clean. The tables were all set
with tablecloths, napkins and silverware, glasses and coffee cups and saucers;
a bit of elegance on the high seas. The order was prepared quickly. Neatly
arranged on a platter with a slice of orange for a garnish, the eggs were to
order though perhaps cooked a bit too long on the one side. The hash browns
were nicely browned, crispy outside and cooked through the middle. The bacon was fried nice and crisp and there
were four slices to the order. Two slices of toasted white bread with the
butter and the jellies on the side all made for a hearty breakfast. Aside from the eggs being slightly overcooked,
the meal was prepared and served well. It was a relaxed meal, no rush and I
felt I could linger as long as I liked; Celistino, my server, refilled my
coffee cup when near empty until I bade him to stop.
There is a sign on the table. It explains that the staff of
the MV Columbia as well as all the employees of the Alaska Marine Highway
System are State of Alaska employees, officers if you will, and the rules
forbids then from accepting tips or gratuities. Even though the staff was not
working for tips, their service on this trip has been of high quality and
certainly in any other circumstance would have earned them a generous reward.
 |
| Sweet and Sour Pork, Egg Roll Also, canned green beans and a biscuit |
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| Snack Bar Dining Room |
My next meal aboard the MV Columbia was the next day for
lunch. I decided to try out the snack bar and get a cheeseburger and fries.
After all, if you can’t make a good hamburger, or fries for that matter, the
rest of the offerings are suspect. It is a combination facility. There are
prepared sandwiches, salads and desserts in a refrigerated self serve counter.
That is available on a twenty four basis. For scheduled lunch and dinner hours,
there is a short order grill offering the usual hamburgers, hot dogs and
grilled sandwiches. There is also a small steam table where entrees for the
daily special are prepared in the kitchen that adjoins the dining room and the
snack bar. I was a bit early and got in line to order my cheeseburger. However,
a hand lettered sign offered the daily special, sweet and sour pork (Lunch Special 31, $9.00). I couldn’t
pass that up. The rice and the sweet and
sour pork were already in the steam table trays. The cook was momentarily
flustered and he told me that the egg rolls hadn’t yet been cooked. I told him
I would wait. It only took a few minutes before the egg rolls were done and he
ladled out a generous helping of rice and sweet and sour pork. As a curiosity, I will add that it was just an
entrée and the usual serving is the entrée, a vegetable and a roll. He asked me
if I wanted the green beans and being hungry I said yes. He added the roll and
the egg roll to complete the serving. While I was waiting I also picked out a fruit
salad ($4.00) and a 12-ounce soda ($1.75). The green beans were from a big can
and heated up for serving. They were as good as canned green beans can get. The
rice was well cooked, a nice sticky oriental style. The sweet and sour was well
made. The sauce was not overpowering; I had pineapple chunks, some carrots and
sweet red peppers. The pork serving was several large pieces of a mix of roast
and ribs. It was a large serving with only a couple of small bones. It was
tasty and the meat tender, easy to cut with the plastic knife and fork. The egg
roll, a large one at that, was also a prepared heat and serve from the
distributor. Basically, It was a seasoned
cabbage filler. It was an egg roll but not outstanding. It would have
benefitted from some sort of dipping sauce. The fruit salad was a prepared
offering in a plastic container. It consisted of melon, cantaloupe and
honeydew, with red grapes. The melon was ripe without being mushy. I would
judge the salad fresh as there was virtually no liquid in the bottom of the
container. It was a tasty meal, served in large portions and one that I
enjoyed. Considering that it was a steam table cafeteria offering it was very
good. Add to that the cook had to hurry and fill my order all the while working
on the other orders and he did it with a smile. It was an enjoyable meal. The
dining area is neat and clean, well tended. It also can be busy at meal times
so I didn’t linger as much as I would have liked to make room for other diners.
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| Cheeseburger and French fries |
The next day my next meal really was a cheeseburger and
French fries. I picked up a tray and moved past the prepared foods to the short
order area. I ordered a cheeseburger and fries ($8.75 – Remember, we are paying
Alaska prices). While I waited for my
order, I poured myself a Coca Cola from the serve yourself dispenser. My
preference is for a grilled meat patty. Since open fires and flaring grease are
not exactly a good idea aboard a ship, the griddle fried patty was acceptable. The patty was cooked through but not
overcooked and dry. The cheese was
thoroughly melted over the top of the patty. The burger was served open faced
with lettuce, tomato, onion and dill hamburger slices. The French fries were
served in a bowl alongside. I proceeded to the cashier. Although the ship does
not offer wi-fi or satellite services for personal computers, the ship does
have satellite communications capability. You can pay with your credit or debit
card just as if you were in any major city in the lower Forty Eight; just a
swipe of your card and enter your PIN. A dispenser near the cashier offers all the
condiments you might need; just press the plunger and fill your portion cup.
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| Fry cook making my cheeseburger |
Business was light so I quickly found and empty booth. I was
looking over my order in front of me while I pulled out my camera to take a
picture. The hamburger bun was the large
size, fresh and soft and the cooked hamburger patty came almost to the edge of
the bun. The lettuce was a large leaf of curly leaf lettuce, vibrant green,
crisp and fresh. The tomato slice was from a large, red and ripe tomato. The
onion slice, a thick slab, was from a flavorful red onion. There were seven or
eight hamburger dill slices as well. Put the burger on a regular ceramic
platter to have enough room to add the fries, it would have been in place, fit
in, in just about any eat in restaurant you can think of. But what was most
amazing to me, on this car carrying ferry boat, is that they serve fresh,
vibrant and favorable vegetables. It is even more amazing when you consider
where the ship is and what a complicated and sinuous path they had to follow to
be aboard the ship right now. The logistics are simply amazing. A bit of that
awe, knowing where I am and seeing what I had before me, was parcel to every meal
I had aboard the MV Columbia. I almost forgot; it was an excellent
cheeseburger. The patty was cooked through, fresh off the grill, juicy and hot,
the vegetables fresh and tasty and just the right amount of dressing – after all,
I put it there myself.
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| Ham and Cheese Omelet, hash browns, toast and coffee |
The next morning I decided to treat myself and I went to the
dining room for breakfast. I selected
the ham and cheese omelet (Daily Special number 5: $9.75 Three egg omelet - Denver,
ham and cheese or Spanish – breakfast potatoes and toast. I also had my morning
coffee, $1.75) The coffee, fresh as usual, had a good flavor comparable to any
other upscale restaurant. The servers make frequent tours filling coffee cups
to the brim. Sugar is individual serving packets and cream in is offered individual
creamers. There were four slices of toast, a nice toasted golden brown, served
with ample supplies of butter and jam. The breakfast potatoes were an ample
serving of hash browns. They were cooked through with a dark golden brown,
slightly crispy outside. They were not at all oily. All they needed was a dash
of salt. That brings us to the omelet. Some scaring episodes in my early life
have left me very particular about my eggs; about egg shells, grease, over-cooked
and undercooked. This omelet was not offensive on any account. It was pan
cooked, light and fluffy almost a soufflé. It wasn’t one of those omelets
cooked on a griddle where the eggs spread out thin and get cooked to a nice
rubbery consistency. It also wasn’t one of those French omelets, folded onto a
plate without cooking the other side, rolling the still raw egg on the inside
to make what the French omelet chef’s apologize for as being “creamy.” The
filling of peppers, onions and ham is cooked on the side. The filling plus some
grated cheese blend is folded inside and additional cheese over the top. The
filling was ample, the filling cooked till the vegetables were just soft but
not mushy. The egg itself was cooked to just the lightest golden brown nd the
inside light and fluffy and fully cooked. What’s not to like. I really enjoyed
that breakfast; it was almost as if the chef had asked me exactly how I wanted
my omelet cooked.
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| My Second Cheeseburger |
That evening for dinner I went to the snack bar. I ordered a
cheeseburger and fries ($8.75). Cooked on the spot, my order was ready in just
a few minutes. This meal was not as artistically arrange as my previous
cheeseburger. The bun was stacked instead of open faced which made room for the
fries on the plate. The once big leaf of crispy lettuce was now a token chip.
We were three days out of Haines and I suppose supplies of fresh lettuce would be
running low. On the side there was ample sliced red onion, fresh ripe red
tomato and four slices of dill hamburger slices. The patty was cooked a bit
more than needed, had a little more shrinkage, but not over cooked to dryness.
The fries were cooked golden brown and were not greasy. They had been in a
holding pan so were not piping hot out of the fryer but they were still warm
enough to be appetizing. The ingredients and preparation were the same as the
previous cheeseburger save perhaps a low supply of lettuce and a minute more on
the grill and a bit less artistic skill. It tasted just as good and was
satisfying. To put it in perspective, if this cheeseburger had been
preassembled with a bit too much dressing, wrapped in paper and then pre-squashed,
placed in a paper bag, it would more than held its own against anything McDonalds
or Burger King could offer.
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| Delicious Shrimp Salad |
In the late evening, after the rill has closed for the day,
the snack bar dining room is a popular place to meet, play cards, sit and chat,
write letters home. I found a table with a convenient electrical outlet and it
made for a comfortable place to come and use my laptop computer. I went through
the food line to get a soda to sip on while I typed. In the prepared food
section there was a shrimp salad. I have always liked shrimp salad, liked it a
lot (see http://www.twentymile.com/Cookbook/shrimpsalad2009.htm
). The temptation was just too great and I just had to have shrimp salad for a
late night snack. I had actually seen a shrimp salad sitting on the crushed ice
in that very spot for the last day or so. I wasn’t sure if it was the same one.
I looked it over very carefully through the neat Saran wrapping. Here waqs a
small trove of crisp looking lettuce, the tomato, egg and cucumber all looked
to be fresh cut. The shrimp had the dull look, not weeping and glossy like
shrimp past its prime. I took a chance. When I unwrapped the salad I took a
careful sniff. I could smell shrimp but it was a mild fresh smell not like the
fishing pier on a hot sunny day. It was as fresh as the shrimp I could buy from
the market in the home town of Chugiak-Eagle River. The salad couldn’t have been more than a few
hours old. The shrimp must come aboard frozen and just defrosted to make new
salads as needed. Crisp green lettuce, fresh tomato, crisp and cold cucumber
and a sliced hardboiled egg all made for an excellent salad and a nice late
night snack.
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| Chuck Wagon Breakfast Biscuit, scrambled eggs and corned beef hash |
The MV Columbia is a car ferry. Its schedule depends on a
timely loading and unloading of the vehicles. My vehicle was loaded at near the
origin of this voyage. As a result, it is poised to be the second vehicle off
the ferry when we arrive in Bellingham, Washington. It is an early morning
arrival in Bellingham; the sun had not yet risen as we pulled into the berth at
Bellingham. As a result, there just isn’t any time for a leisurely breakfast.
In fact, the main dining room wasn’t even scheduled to open. However, to accommodate
passengers up very early, the snack bar had a special they called the Chuck
Wagon Breakfast ($4.50 Scrambled eggs, corned beef hash and a biscuit). It was
a nice way to feed the up early passengers hurrying to get ready to depart the
ferry. I, of course, jumped at the opportunity to have a full belly or the rush
to the freeway. The server didn’t skimp on the serving; he just kept ladling
the hash. The biscuit: it was a flaky,
layered biscuit. It was nicely bake, golden brown on top. It had a good
appearance, split easily between layers for some butter. It was a good biscuit
but not great; perhaps a bit on the heavy side. It was, however, more than
adequate in the early morning. I think the eggs were whole eggs. They cooked a
lot of eggs on the griddle and that tends to change the texture, makes then
denser, not as light as pan cooked scrambled eggs. They were very tasty. The corned
beef hash came from a can, a very big can. There was a steam table tray full of
corned beef hash. If you have ever used corned beef hash you know that it tends
to be a bit greasy. If you fry it up in a pan the grease seems to go away. Or,
you can drain it for a few minutes in a colander and let the grease drain away.
IN this case the corned beef in the steam table tray still had all the grease. You
can see it oozing out from the corned beef in the picture. I ate the eggs, the biscuit
and the top layer of the corned beef. The bottom layer I just had to waste and
throw it away. If it hadn’t been for the grease it would have been an almost
perfect quick and easy get up and go breakfast. For all the meals that had aboard the MV Columbia
I guess this would be my only complaint and that may be the significant point
in this blog. Basically, the food aboard the MV Columbia is A-Okay.
When one considers that the MV Columbia and her sister ships
have a captive audience and whatever they chose to provide for the passengers
depends upon the character of the Maritime Highway System and the captain and
crews of the vessels. They basically have
free rein. To their credit they do an exceptional job and as a result a journey
on the Alaska Marine Highway System is a pleasure. To emphasize the point we
should compare the Marine Highway System to another major transportation
provider for people going to and from Alaska, the airlines. Oh, that’s right.
There is no comparison at all.
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| Snack Bar Kitchen During the quiet hours |
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| Passage Way Between Snack Bar Kitchen and Main Dining Room Kitchen |
Labels: Alaska, Bellingham, cheeseburger, dining room, Haines, Highway, Marine, MV Columbia, pork, shrimp salad, snack bar, sweet and sour, System, Washington
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