SeaWorld was pretty awesome. I've never been before, so it was nice to finally go. I liked that I got to do it with Jim. He's been there before, but he didn't spend most of a day there, so it was pretty much his first time, too.
Jim got some BBQ brisket for lunch, which came with french fries, corn, and bread. I got strawberries. Jim liked the BBQ. I liked my strawberries. Jim saved our seats while I got the food, and that was quite an ordeal. I thought for a bit that I'd miss the show, but I was pretty munch on time. That was our lunch, which we ate while watching the dolphin show. I couldn't help comparing the place to Marine World, since that is what I grew up with. Overall, the place just had more money--bigger stage effects, more theatrics, and costlier sets. What was unique was that we chose to sit very close to the front. We didn't get too wet during the dolphin show, purely by luck. Every section around us got pretty drenched, but we happened to be at a spot where the dolphins didn't splash. Jim had to eat very quickly though, just to avoid his food getting wet. There were these freak whales that I haven't seen since Sea Life Park in Hawaii (which was the name I called SeaWorld pretty much the whole weekend). Supposedly "Dolly" the dolphin was the star of the show, but she didn't do squat. Oh well.
Afterwards, we headed over to go see Shamu. We sat in the second row and got completely soaked. I didn't really want to sit that close, but Jim was all about it, so I conceded. The way the stadium is set up, the people in the front have a view of the tank and those sitting higher up see the stage and surface. It's really a great concept and gives you completely different views of the show. I actually had fun sitting up that close and getting wet. I never really sat that close at Marine World. And it's not that I was being a priss about getting wet. I didn't care about all that--it was the whole issue of it not being all that warm and freezing afterwards, which I did.
We walked through some of the other exhibits and displays as well as the Sea Lion show. We saw the fresh water aquarium, salt water aquarium, sharks, rays, flamingos, eels, and starfish. I touched a ray, which was a little freaky, but it was kind of cool. We had some fun posing in front of the eel tank. We'll call it "guys on vacation." The flamingos stunk so bad. And most of them didn't stand on one leg. There were lots of very cool things to see, but we were both pretty tired from the flight and lack of sleep the previous night.
We did stop for a snack of ice cream. Originally, it was the smell of the waffle cones that drew me to the booth. Turns out, they were all out, so we got a fudge sundae with rainbow sprinkles and vanilla ice cream in a cute little Shamu bowl. Unfortunately, I hate sprinkles, so I wasn't ecstatic. Jim ordered sprinkles instead of nuts because he loves them. I would have much preferred nuts, but my opinion apparently didn't count. I guess since he eats most of it, his preferences should dictate. But I really would have liked it at least plain.
Then we stumbled onto the Budweiser display, which I think made Jim's day. The Clydesdales were so cute but at the same time, gigantic! The horse with the same name as TB happened to be facing away from the stall door, so Jim had me take a picture of it, saying that TB is a horse's ass. He he. My favorite was the little donkey, who was so cute. And there was a dalmation, too.
They offered 2 beer samples per person, and so Jim took full advantage of mine. Then we did the beer tasting, which was pretty much frickin' awesome. I had no idea that beer pairing existed. But we got a plate of food to eat with the different beers. There were something like 20 choices and each of us got four. We shared the table with another couple. Jim and the other guy got 3/4 the same. I got Bud Light, Bud Select, and the two energy drinks. The Select went with smoked gouda, BL with something, and the other two with strawberries, chocolate, and grapes. To my surprise, I learned that Bud Select isn't horrible. In fact, it didn't have a nasty beer aftertaste at all. Not that I'll be picking up the habit anytime soon, but it was definitely tolerable. Actually, it was a step above tolerable. Bud Light is tolerable, but I don't really like it. Bud Select is almost good. I didn't care for the energy drink samples, but again, they weren't horrible.
I actually had a bit of a buzz by the time we left, and my tummy was full of bubblies. I probably had the equivalent of about half of a beer. I feel like such an alcoholic. We went to see the Rock n' Roll Shamu show right after and sat up much higher this time. There wasn't any way I was going to get wet again at 7:30 at night. This show was very theatrical and completely different than the day version. I wondered if the trainers hated doing the dancing and fake happiness.
We rushed out of the show to get to Bar West, our dinner reservation for the evening. Bar West, as Jim observed, is owned by somebody absolutely brilliant. On the one hand, it was a restaurant that served excellent food. But come 10 pm, and it turned into a swanky bar that reminded me of the Matrix in SF. There are actually only a few tables for dining, and it's likely more set up for groups.
Our waitress was absolutely awesome. She immediately made suggestions without being pushy and provided great service. I ended up going with her salad suggestion, which was a chopped chicken salad. I substituted avocado for the chicken as per her advice, which ended up being a fabulous call. It came with jicama, mango, Gorgonzola, and of course greens. It was a beautiful contrast of sweet from the fruit, crunchy from the jicama, and rich from the cheese. The craziest thing was that as good as it was, there was no dressing at all. It didn't need anything!
We split a menage a trois appetizer, which was a choice of a slider, mac n' cheese, ceviche, or tomato soup, and onion rings/fries, nachos, or salad. We got a crab slider, the mac n' cheese, and the onion rings. Jim said his slider was good. All I know is that there was an extremely strong fishy smell to it but that it looked cute. The mac n' cheese was something that I didn't particularly care for, but Jim liked it. The cheese, which I couldn't identify, was super strong and not a pleasant flavor for me. That probably means that it was more Swiss-cheese based. For whatever reason, it tasted fishy to me. I couldn't hang. But Jim, who has yet to meet a mac n' cheese that he doesn't like, was perfecty fine with it. When I got the fries and nachos, I was in heaven. The fries were parmesan and truffle oil, which made them so nice and flavorful. The beer battered onion rings were also really good and on par with Sudwerk's.
For our entrees, I ordered a mushroom, ricotta, and garlic pizza. Jim got the Jidori Chicken. My pizza was absolutely amazing. It was a thin crust pizza but surprisingly big for $11. It had to have been a 14" one. Anyway, the mushrooms and ricotta went so well together. I've never though of ricotta as particularly flavorful, but it was super creamy and rich and paired perfectly with the mushrooms, which were juicy and bursting with flavor. I cannot begin to describe how good it was. Jim's Jidori chicken was also very good. It came with cheddar mashed potatoes which were really, really yummy.
By the time we finished all that, we were stuffed and couldn't even think about dessert. In fact, we had to take several slices of pizza home. With the Passport discount, the meal was extremely reasonable, even with Jim's drink. Strangely enough, Jim bought a Raspberry Cheesecake Martini, probably in hopes of enticing me with it. I didn't care for it, but he liked it.
When we left, there was a long line out the door of people waiting to get into the place. Apparently it's quite the night spot. We were still in our SeaWorld clothes and would have looked completely out of place had we stayed. Besides, it was time to get check into the hotel.
I was so happy with the choice of Bar West. I swear I saw it on the Food Network, but apparently not. I remember the sliders. But I guess I got it mixed up with somewhere else. Oh well. We had a fabulous discounted meal and great service. I woul absolutely come back to the place.
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