Lunch with The Boys at the Crystal Palace

Monday, December 31, 2018

Seafood Place has been bought out by a group. New name is Crystal Palace. No website yet.  The new owners have done quite a bit of remodeling. New carpets. White drapes hanging on all 4 walls. Also on the dividing wall between the dining area and the entertainment/event area.  They painted the chairs silver and put new white cushions on them. Draped off the waiter area and rearranged the table configurations.  Looks really nice. More upscale.  Some of the former wait staff is gone by May and Mr. Do are still there and they see  that we are taken care of.   I did notice that some of the dishes were not as "full" as they were before. Same prices but something had to give. But that is what happens to every restaurant when it is bought out.  Lunch was still a big bargain. With a very heavy tip it was $16 a person.  That is what is almost costs for a hamburger and fties in a fast food place now. And we got a lot of food with leftovers to take home.

Only complaint was that they brought all the food out at once. Hot dishes cool down too much by time you eat the. I prefer one dish at a time in Chinese restaurants.

We started out with a egg drop soup which was completely different from the spicy, sour soup in the past. Nice light with a few kernals of corn. Needed a bit of a touch of salt. 

We ordered the salt & pepper calamari. Calamari was tender with a nice light crust but not much of a salt and pepper taste to it.

Lobster was $18 a pound so we opted for shrimp with special noodles. Shrimp were succulent and sweet. And the noodles were thin and round. Henry calls them the chefs special. Apparently you never know what you will get.

We ordered a plate of Orange Peel Beef.  Good orange flavor. Then we ordered another because of all the red wines we had. Different flavor. Not as much orange, beef was cooked softer. Do not know if there was one or two chefs working the kitchen.  

Oranges and fortune cookies for dessert.

Since it is the last lunch of the year we went out with a bang on the wines. All of then excellent. 

2009 Williams Selyem, RRV,  Eastside Road Neighbors, Pinot Noir

2007 McKeon Phillips, Santa Maria, BPR,  Cabernet Sauvignon

1996 Chateau Calon Segur, Saint-Estephe

???? Julian Schaal, Alsace Grand Cru, Sommerberg, Reisling

1996 Billecart-Salmon, Brut, Champagne

NV   Nicholas Feuillatte, Limited Edition, Brut Champagne