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What is the primary problem with Curtis Stone in the MDR

Loreni

By Loreni,
in Princess Cruises

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downsmead

downsmead

Posted
Posted

We were on the Emerald this month and they still had shrimp cocktail and salmon on the list, apart from the evening when it was the chef's meal, which actually had the worse choice of any of the meals we ate in the MDR.

I struck lucky with the pork belly - lovely crispy crackling but not teeth breaking and tasty meat with hardly any fat. It also came with a surprising amount of vegtables which seemed to be lacking in most of the other meals. As people have said though, it depends on that particular piece of meat and the cook.

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shredie

shredie

Posted
Posted
Saute' some onions and bell peppers, cook some bacon, shred some cheese. Cook your grits, throw the other stuff in there, stir and serve right away. A little bit of butter and pepper on the top and YUM!

 

That actually sounds good. :D My mother fed us a concoction called "mush," which was supposed to be grits, I think, and I haven't gone near the stuff since. (My mother was not heralded for her cooking skills.)

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antsp

antsp

Posted
Posted
It's not a stupid question at all. In fact, the idea has some merit, but if Princess wanted to do this, they have gone about it the wrong way and have blown their chance. In other words, the idea of offering a "luxury ingredient" entree, or famous chef's "specialty" for an upcharge is not at all a silly idea. You want king crab legs in the MDR? That'll be $10 extra. A whole cold water lobster? $10 more, please. This is done all the time with prix fixe meals. You pay $60 for the set menu, and can pay $15 more for lobster, or $25 more for Kobe beef. So the idea of starting to offer "for a fee" items in the MDR is not unprecedented, nor is it ridiculous. But Princess can't very well start charging for CS specialties now that they have given them away for "free" for almost a year. Especially given the lukewarm reception that they debuted to. And by now I have become accustomed to, and expect, Norman Love desserts as part of my cruise fare. Start charging me for those and someone is going overboard. (Double entendre intended).

 

Never seems to go down to well on Princess, over the last year there was discussion of upcharging in Horizon court and at the International cafe, all have failed by the looks of it.

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riclop

riclop

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Posted
1) the description of the food,

2) the quality and/or execution,

3) the presentation, or

4) the fact that CS dishes have displaced better and/or healthier choices?

 

We will be cruising for the first time since CS items have begun to appear in the MDR.

 

Some of the descriptions sound OK. Some sound like very cheap food dressed up with a celebrity name. I have only seen a few photos of the food. One dish, the mahimahi, looks awful: beige fish, beige cauliflower, beige plantains...maybe it tastes OK.(In general, I have noticed that the main dishes are not served with an appropriate amount of vegetables. We usually ask for some extra broccoli.)

 

If anybody has additional photos or insights on specific dishes this would be appreciated. What do you think are the best dishes currently offered on the always available menu? How long until the CS contract is up? Would it be better for Princess to spend its apparently limited food budget on quality ingredients rather than a celebrity name?

Very blah !!!

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Montrealais

Montrealais

Posted
Posted
Pork belly when cooked correctly is divine. Unfortunately the Curtis Stone version doesn't work very well when cooked in bulk. It has to be slow cooked at just the right temperature so that the fat renders out, the meat is moist and the skin is very crisp. It wasn't, it was fatty, the meat was unpleasantly dry and the skin was rubbery.

 

We seem to have some different options on the Aussie-based ships. Chicken and leek pot pie and osso buco, neither of which looked appetising.

 

Our tablemates had the chicken and leek pie on a couple of occasions. Both times the filling was more like a soup, and the pastry looked seriously undercooked.

 

DH had the osso buco. He said it was OK but nothing special. Unfortunately it wasn't served with gremolata (a classic sprinkle of lemon zest, parsley and garlic) which would have provided some contrast and lift to the dish.

 

 

The lack of gremolata would be reason enough not to even try the osso bucco!

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JF - retired RRT

JF - retired RRT

Posted
Posted
Think it's what Yanks eat when there's no real tucker around.

 

Actually, the only time I've seen grits on a menu was when I've been in the South. Our Southern cousins eat some (to me) bizarre things. One of my MILs favorite dishes was scrambled eggs and BRAINS. I kid you not! Not sure where they get the brains and don't want to know. :eek:

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GUT2407

GUT2407

Posted
Posted
Actually, the only time I've seen grits on a menu was when I've been in the South. Our Southern cousins eat some (to me) bizarre things. One of my MILs favorite dishes was scrambled eggs and BRAINS. I kid you not! Not sure where they get the brains and don't want to know. :eek:

 

Usually sheep brains

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AdoraBelle

AdoraBelle

Posted
Posted (edited)

Barging in briefly, haven't cruised Princess yet--

 

There's been a hot foodie trend for five or six years now of "New Southern" cuisine in the US. I suppose one could actually argue it's outdated at this point. But that's where the stuff like grit cakes and pork belly is coming from. Done right, it can be outstanding. (It doesn't sound like that's the case here. :))

Edited by AdoraBelle
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reedprincess

reedprincess

Posted
Posted (edited)
It's not a stupid question at all. In fact, the idea has some merit, but if Princess wanted to do this, they have gone about it the wrong way and have blown their chance. In other words, the idea of offering a "luxury ingredient" entree, or famous chef's "specialty" for an upcharge is not at all a silly idea. You want king crab legs in the MDR? That'll be $10 extra. A whole cold water lobster? $10 more, please. This is done all the time with prix fixe meals. You pay $60 for the set menu, and can pay $15 more for lobster, or $25 more for Kobe beef. So the idea of starting to offer "for a fee" items in the MDR is not unprecedented, nor is it ridiculous. But Princess can't very well start charging for CS specialties now that they have given them away for "free" for almost a year. Especially given the lukewarm reception that they debuted to. And by now I have become accustomed to, and expect, Norman Love desserts as part of my cruise fare. Start charging me for those and someone is going overboard. (Double entendre intended).

 

Royal Caribbean already does this in the mdr. They have their standard offerings, the always availables and a section of unchanged items including a lobster tail, higher grade steak from their Steakhouse, etc. Unchanged ranges from $10-25 per item on the MDR menu... Hopefully Princess doesn't take a page out of that book...

And yeah - tried the flank steak two different ships last year, and nope _ not good. Dry, bland and boring presentation. Disappointing, to say the least. And the mahi-mahi dish is just plain disgusting looking - all beige and mushy looking, not appealing at all. So, not enthused by the new dishes at all.

Edited by reedprincess
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elliair

elliair

Posted
Posted (edited)
1) the description of the food,

2) the quality and/or execution,

3) the presentation, or

4) the fact that CS dishes have displaced better and/or healthier choices?

 

We will be cruising for the first time since CS items have begun to appear in the MDR.

 

Some of the descriptions sound OK. Some sound like very cheap food dressed up with a celebrity name. I have only seen a few photos of the food. One dish, the mahimahi, looks awful: beige fish, beige cauliflower, beige plantains...maybe it tastes OK.(In general, I have noticed that the main dishes are not served with an appropriate amount of vegetables. We usually ask for some extra broccoli.)

 

If anybody has additional photos or insights on specific dishes this would be appreciated. What do you think are the best dishes currently offered on the always available menu? How long until the CS contract is up? Would it be better for Princess to spend its apparently limited food budget on quality ingredients rather than a celebrity name?

 

What can a diabetic eat off of his menu? Nothing. Did it ever occur to CS that half the stuff on his menu would be deleted by a diabetic and only be left with a steamed veggie to dine on. Very disappointing.

 

SHARE menu here: https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/ships-and-experience/food-and-dining/curtis-stone/SHARE-by-Curtis-Stone-Menu-Sun.pdf

Edited by elliair
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TNTLAMB

TNTLAMB

Posted
Posted
There have been several threads about this, and some of them have been controversial. There are some fans of CS who don't take kindly to others dissing his dishes. (Although I don't think I've seen some of those fans around lately.) My biggest gripe is that his stuff has displaced some old favorites on some menus. In addition to that, they just don't sound appetizing (plantains and cauliflower) and the photos we have seen here don't make the food look any more appetizing than it sounds. I have been with people at tables who ordered things, and the reviews have ranged from "bland" to "bring me something else." :)

 

Oh they are around. They just don't much care to play. Either you like it or you don't. They just figure it makes mores sense to form an opinion based on personal experience rather than the constant cruise critc sniping based on supposition (at best) and jaw flapping (the most.)

 

I haven't tried any of the anytime dishes new or old ever. My granddaughter (18) had the mahi mahi every night on our most recent cruise. I won't eat any farmed fish including the salmon no longer on the menu. I have been at share three times two were out of this world. One average.

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shredie

shredie

Posted
Posted
Oh they are around. They just don't much care to play. Either you like it or you don't. They just figure it makes mores sense to form an opinion based on personal experience rather than the constant cruise critc sniping based on supposition (at best) and jaw flapping (the most.)

 

I haven't tried any of the anytime dishes new or old ever. My granddaughter (18) had the mahi mahi every night on our most recent cruise. I won't eat any farmed fish including the salmon no longer on the menu. I have been at share three times two were out of this world. One average.

 

Welcome back. :D

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Luv2escape

Luv2escape

Posted
Posted

We were on the Island to Alaska in July. Like baseball in the US we usually give something three strikes and you are out! We decided to try some of the CS recipe dishes. On two different nights we tried the seafood stew and the chicken and leek dish. After a few bites, we sent the dishes back. No more CS for us. (We are usually easy to please) Hey Princess quit taking away the favorites from the Always Available items on the menu. If something isn't broken stop trying to fix it. (First it was burgers and fried chicken and now CS in the MDR, leave what works alone Pleeeeease!!):p

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AdoraBelle

AdoraBelle

Posted
Posted (edited)
You could tell that to my mother if she wasn't dead and no fan of Wikipedia.

 

 

Not sure what the point of not being a "fan" of information is, but I learned what sweetbreads were from Pat Conroy's novel The Prince of Tides, which is probably about 25 years old now. (May he rest in peace.)

 

Edit: It's 30 years old this year.

Edited by AdoraBelle
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SadieN

SadieN

Posted
Posted
Royal Caribbean already does this in the mdr. They have their standard offerings, the always availables and a section of unchanged items including a lobster tail, higher grade steak from their Steakhouse, etc. Unchanged ranges from $10-25 per item on the MDR menu..........

 

 

 

Carnival also has 'Steakhouse Selections' for an upcharge on ships without a steakhouse. Oh, Carnival has grits at breakfast.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

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