I must give much love to the DIS Unplugged podcast because
while I was listening to an episode they mentioned that September was Orlando
restaurant month. Originally we were not going to eat at Emeril’s Tchoup Chop restaurant during our trip, but for three courses for $33 we squeezed
it into our itinerary. We were ecstatic that we did.
Tchoup Chop is located at the Lowe’s Royal Pacific
Resort. You can walk there from
Universal’s City Walk, but it was raining on the evening we were going, so we
opted to drive. There aren't a lot
of signs or directions once you drive onto the grounds of The Royal Pacific to give you an
indication of where you should park, so we parked, and then had a bit of a walk
around the resort to get to the actual restaurant. We didn't mind though because the grounds are
beautiful.
We arrived and were seated in a booth right next to the
infinity pond water feature.
Out of the
three “fancy” restaurants that we ate at during the week of our vacation,
Tchoup Chop wins the prize for best atmosphere. From the open kitchen, to the lighting
fixtures, to the interesting booths, it all came together to shout, you are
somewhere special. It was instantly relaxing, and after a hectic day at the
parks, relaxation was exactly what we needed.
Our waiter was friendly and engaging. He reminded me of Nick
from New Girl. Instead of bread, we were
presented with a serving of shrimp chips with a spicy Thai dipping sauce.
There were two different colors of chips. The white ones had quite a kick and the pink ones were not quite as spicy. The consistency was similar to the consistency of Munchos. They were
tasty.
The selections for the restaurant week were limited, but I
often like that because I don’t have to agonize over a huge menu trying to make
a decision.
For my appetizer I ordered the fried green tomato “grilled
cheese sandwich.”
It was fantastic! It was more like eggplant Parmesan with
tomatoes or maybe more like a croquette? I don’t remember what kind of cheese
was used but it was an amazingly creamy soft cheese that melted perfectly
between the slices of green tomatoes. The crispy breading was perfect. I wanted to physically give my appetizer a
hug. My husband got the poke nachos.
I
tried a couple and his appetizer was equally scrumptious.
When our waiter came back to see if we liked our appetizers
we noticed a commotion in the kitchen. The
kitchen staff had all gathered together and someone was taking their photo and
there were lots of smiles, laughs, and joyousness. My husband asked the waiter,
“Hey what’s that all about?”
The waiter replied,
“Oh, Chef Emeril is here tonight visiting the restaurant. The kitchen staff wanted to get a group photo.”
Our jaws dropped. All we could think was WOW. We took a closer look at the
open kitchen and there he was, Emeril himself, at the restaurant while we were eating. We tried to snap a couple
of quick pictures but we didn’t want to be too intrusive or obnoxious.
Emeril became our entertainment for the evening. We watched him work in the kitchen, giving the staff pointers,
or at least that is what we imagined he was doing.
Given my work in quality assurance, I asked the waiter if
they had a heads up that Emeril was going to be there that night or if he surprised them. Our waiter said yes, the staff did know he was coming, but Emeril said he would be there at 7pm and he showed up at 5pm. Our waiter told the story about the last time
Emeril was at the restaurant six months ago. He (our waiter) was so nervous that
he spilled a beer on a customer and he was worried about getting fired, but
Emeril was really nice about the whole ordeal.
He said this time he was standing at the hostess desk and turned around
and Emeril was right there, right in front of his face. Emeril held out his hand and our waiter was flustered
and gave Emeril an awkward, weird handshake.
He lamented that now Emeril will remember him as the guy with the really weird handshake who spilled a beer on a lady.
For my entrée I ordered the Seafood Cobbler. I didn’t think until after I placed my order that I
never asked if it contained clams, oysters or mussels. They are not my favorite. When my entree was set down before me I noticed that it did in fact contain mussels.
I looked down at them and thought, Oh no, what if Emeril touched these mussels?
What if he himself personally made these mussels and now I’m not going to eat
them and leave them on my plate and that will make him sad? So I ate the
mussels and you know what? They were good.
They mostly tasted like white wine.
I was pleased. The rest of the seafood cobbler was great, especially the crumbly bits on the
top. My husband got a beef/steak dish
that came with a little jar of Korean BBQ sauce.
Of course some of the patrons asked if they were actually
going to meet Emeril, but the staff told them that Emeril was there vacationing with his family and hadn’t planned on his visit being a big meet
and greet. He was there to check on the quality of the restaurant and spend time
with his family, which I completely respect.
When Emeril visits one of his restaurants he tells the head chef,
“Make me something.”
He must have said this around the time we were eating our entrees because he
retreated to a VIP section of the restaurant.
We watched the head chef work with maybe just a little bit of sweat on
his brow while the rest of the staff looked on with held breath. At one point he set something on the counter
that looked like tacos and then squeezed a sauce over top. He threw up his hands. Everyone in the kitchen cheered, then the dish disappeared into the VIP
area.
I can’t say enough about how great our waiter was. With all
of the goings on our desserts took a little while to arrive to our table. Our
waiter profusely apologized at one point for the delay, but we told him no
worries, we were having a wonderful evening and time was not an issue, we were
on vacation.
When we first arrived to the restaurant our waiter asked if we were celebrating
anything special. We said no, not this
particular evening, but later in the week we would be celebrating my husband’s birthday. Even though it was still a few days away,
they brought out one of our desserts with a candle and a happy birthday on the
plate.
I thought that was very
nice. We split our desserts, a banana
cobbler, and Hawaii in a Jar, which tasted like a fancy version of
ambrosia.
They were both good, but very
sweet , and filling, so we weren't able to finish them.
While we were eating dessert we watched Emeril
come out of the VIP area. He passed right by our table on his way out of the
restaurant. It was pretty cool.
Even if Emeril was not at the restaurant
the evening we were there, dining at Tchoup Chop would have been a memorable
experience. The food was scrumptious, the service was exceptional, and the
atmosphere was stunning.
Note: If you mention that you drove there and parked, they will give you a parking card so that you don't have to pay for parking.
