Cucino del Capitano Question (Magic)

[ryano]

I got stuck going to Olive Garden for a business lunch. Ugh! Believe me, I'd never go there if I had a choice. Olive Garden is amazingly bad.

 

ryano,

I want to encourage you to take a trip to Italy and try the real thing! Food in Italy is AMAZING! There are actually 20 different cuisines for the 20 different regions of Italy which did not unite into one country until 1861. The different regions were like different countries each with their own cuisine and they have stayed distinct over the years. So really, there is no such thing as Italian food. The food is more correctly identified by region and then by city. My specialty is the food of Campagna and I learned mostly Neapolitan recipes which are 100% about the highest quality ingredients. I studied with my mother who learned in Naples in the 1950's and later on went back on my own and studied in some restaurants - two young ladies at a restaurant took me back to their kitchen taught me how to make lemoncello and orangecello just because they loved that I was so friendly and enthusiastic about their food and spoke to them in Italian a little. They gave me a tour of their garden and taught me their marinara recipe. I also was honored to have a great opportunity to study with a highly awarded Milanese chef from the Lombardy region a few years ago. This is where Ossobuco is from and also he made the most amazing and flavorful lasagna that did not include noodles with a béchamel sauce - not tomato.

 

This website is a great resource for understanding the cuisines of Italy and what to order where:

http://www.rusticocooking.com/regions.htm

 

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing that :) I would LOVE to go to Italy some day.

[jimbo5544]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing that :) I would LOVE to go to Italy some day.

 

 

Have to agree that when we went the food blew us away, beyond expectations.

 

 

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[Micahs Grandad]

Ruth's Chris, BTW

 

I managed Olive Gardens in my youth, when the girls made fresh pasta at the front door. No, it's not Italian fine dining. There must be a reason they are on wait list every night for several hours. Many Italian restaurants would kill for their volume. Some of my stores were doing 1000 covers a night.

 

Olive Garden does a big business as people who go there do not know what good Italian food is.

 

Would take any neighborhood Italian restaurant in NYC over OG anyday.

[SuiteTraveler]

We LOVED Cucina on the Breeze.

We were a group of 8 and I am pretty sure they brought out EVERY SINGLE APPETIZER on their menu, family style.

Food was DELICIOUS!!!!!

 

I had the linguine with Nona's meatballs and it was the BOMB.

 

Somehow managed to save a little bit of room for the Sicilian cannoli.

 

Well worth the upcharge. Looking forward to it again!!!:D:D

 

In the cuisines of Italy, meatballs are NEVER served on pasta and red sauce would never be served on linguine. That dish just doesn't exist:

http://tuscantraveler.com/2011/florence/italian-food-rule-no-meatballs-on-top-of-spaghetti/

 

Spaghetti and meatballs is an American dish. Here is the fascinating story about how this dish developed:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/is-spaghetti-and-meatballs-italian-94819690/?no-ist

 

And in Italy, Linguini is always paired with clam sauce/seafood sauce or cream or oil based sauce in Italy. The pasta and sauce pairings are very specific and designed to achieve the best flavor for the dish.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/perfect-pairings-how-match-pasta-shapes-sauces

[cruzin Phillis]

Oh one more thing - do you need to make reservations before getting onboard (especially for formal night)?

We did it on board the first time we sailed. We ate lunch there when we first boarded and the waiter ask if we would like to make reservations and we did.

 

This time, I went online and booked the days and time I would like.

[Erwende]

Just ate there last night and it was delicious! You are only allowed one appetizer, one entrée, and one dessert.

[winddawn]

Someone has asked me this question, and since I haven't eaten in the Italian Restaurant at night, I couldn't answer it (I also tried a search, but could only get the full menu):

 

When you eat at the restaurant for the $15 fee, is it like the Steakhouses where you get the three courses (appetizer, entree, and desert)? I would think that is the case, but I don't want to give him an incorrect answer.

 

I hope to be able to make it there on this next cruise. Something always seems to come up - BUT I am going to make reservations for the 1st formal night and maybe this will get us there.

 

I've seen many great comments and can't wait to try it.

I've tried CdC both at lunch (free) and for supper (upcharge).

 

IMO, the lasagna they serve at lunch for free is the best!

 

I hope you enjoy whatever you choose though. The ambience at night is definitely better.

Edited June 25, 2016 by winddawn

[dave_k58]

Thank you so much for the responses. I've heard great things about it and can't wait to try it. My only problem may be that everything looks so good that I may have to eat there more than once (lol). Actually $15 seems very reasonable, so we may very well go there on two nights.

 

The wine sounds good - but I'm not a red wine drinker but love a steak, and I know you're not suppose to drink white wine with beef - but hey, I'm on a cruise. Plus as a past crew member I know how the crew talks about all of us anyway - may as well give them something to talk about - "ignorant Americans" (lol).

 

I also LOVE white wine with steak. Especially if the wine is chilled.

[dave_k58]

Yes they are open for lunch with no fee. It's a Pasta Bar where you check off what you want from a selection given - what type of pasta, sauce, extras (like grilled chicken, shrimp, vegies, etc). Their featured specialty is a meat lasagna (it's not made with ground beef - more like a roast-type beef) My cousin loved it and ordered it almost everyday for lunch - it's huge!! You can also get a caesar salad & bread. It's normally much quieter than the buffet and it seems like it takes people a couple of days to find it.

 

I am pretty sure the lasagna during lunch on Cucina was made of brisket. I did not care for it at all. Maybe they got it off of the "bbq" from the lanai but it was very strange tasting.

[bayoubabe516]

I agree that the lasagna was strange tasting. It looked amazing but sure didn't taste it. I had shrimp with an Alfredo sauce and that was very good. The fresh bread was the best! Nice and quiet and worth it.

 

 

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[crusinpsychRN]

They don't have regular spaghetti on lunch menu, is it on dinner menu? Love spaghetti and meatballs.

[Micahs Grandad]

They don't have regular spaghetti on lunch menu, is it on dinner menu? Love spaghetti and meatballs.

 

Hope it is as the meatballs are excellent based on the tastings we have gotten them on.

[dave_k58]

THe meatballs are fantastic. AS a matter of fact, you can get them on the taste bar most days

[CharlesKru]

THe meatballs are fantastic. AS a matter of fact, you can get them on the taste bar most days

 

Not sure where you got that information from...

 

the Taste Bar has 1 specialty item a day, from restaurants around the fleet. The do feature Cucina one day, and I suppose if the cruise is long enough they might rotate around, but I have never seen that. They also are only open on Sea Days, so that limits the number of chances for them to do a tasting more than one time.

[Florings]

Ruth's Chris, BTW

 

I managed Olive Gardens in my youth, when the girls made fresh pasta at the front door. No, it's not Italian fine dining. There must be a reason they are on wait list every night for several hours. Many Italian restaurants would kill for their volume. Some of my stores were doing 1000 covers a night.

 

Yes, I like Olive Garden. Do I expect authentic Italian? No - but for the price and the fact my daughter enjoys going for the salad and breadsticks and a nice glass of house red....it's worth it to me!