Our fall cruise was on the Silhouette, one of the newest ships in Celebrity’s flotilla of luxury. It’s one of the Solstice class ships that offers those expansive green lawns on the uppermost deck.
They now offer picnic packages for the lawn, so why not have a barbeque as well? They’ve got just that in their specialty restaurant, the Lawn Club Grill, an interactive place where cooking is almost as much fun as eating.
(Easy for me to say, as I was the photographer – not the guest chef!)
After Joel was introduced to fellow diners and the applause ended, Lawn Club Chef Steven Diaz, had Joel suit up and wash up, and work began. The cooking island is center stage in this restaurant and to make sure everyone can watch, two large screen televisions broadcast to the far reaches of the eatery.
Chef Diaz has an extensive professional culinary resume which includes recently opening the restaurant at the luxury beach resort Balcones del Atlantico, A RockResort, in Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic before turning his career sights to the sea. However, he’d met his culinary challenge with Celebrity-Chef-in-Training Joel.
(Joel’s pizza is on the left, Chef Dias on the right).
Did I mention this was a comedy floor show? Especially when it came time to toss the pizza dough. But with Chef Diaz’s guidance, this was the end-result of the session; the first course served at our table:
Ah, but the best was yet to come. . .the grilling! Notice Celebrity-Chef-in-Training Joel had earned his chef hat by now.
In all seriousness, Joel said he did learn a lot about grilling steaks – one of his favorite at-home past times. Chef Diaz, who had been aboard the ship for just a month of his first six-month contract, answered questions and offered cooking tips throughout the session.
I mean, how often do you get one-to-one tutoring from a professional chef?
If You Go:
The Lawn Club Grill is a specialty restaurant, meaning you will pay extra to dine there. In addition to the pizza, the meal includes an enormous salad bar and the dessert list is extensive. Chicken, fish and meat are among the grill items – you can eat some of each or a lot of a single selection if you have the capacity. Disclosure: Our meal was hosted by the cruise line.The interactive part is optional; if you prefer to have your meal cooked and served by the professionals – it will be.
For cruise information: Celebrity Cruises
For information on the resort mentioned above: Balcones del Atlantico, A RockResort
That’s it for this week’s Travel Photo Thursday. Thanks for visiting; hope you’ll head over to Budget Traveler’s Sandbox for more travel adventures.
