Invited to a Neighbor's Backyard BBQ

February 21, 2012 – Invited to a Neighbor’s Backyard BBQ

You’ve already heard that Celebrity has the only lawn at sea. The company is always open to ideas from our crew to improve our ships and someone suggested that it would be great to have a lawn on our top deck. So that’s what we did. The result is the Lawn Club, part community park, part night-time concert venue, part cool concept restaurant.

Going to the Lawn Club Grill is like being invited to a fancy neighbor’s backyard barbeque, who, of course, charges you for the privilege of attending. Okay, I’m sure that your neighbor doesn’t charge you, but it is one of our specialty restaurants so you do pay an uplift for the experience. But beyond that payment you can be totally involved in the experience as if you were at your own cookout.

Our team celebrated the end of our last cruise by going to the Lawn Club for dinner. It was a bit breezy that night, but we were still at sea on our last evening in warm temps. Fortunately the restaurant, although al fresco, is surrounded by Plexiglas screens so you can avoid most of the breeze on even the windiest nights at sea. The ‘kitchen’ is a long BBQ grill with a pizza oven at the far end. Food preparation tables and a sumptuous salad bar provide the transition to the dining area. You are invited to be as active in the production of your food as you wish to be. Since it was Dwight’s and my first time at the Lawn Club, Laura encouraged us to experience the ‘full thing.’ After we were seated and ordered our drinks we were handed aprons and food prep hats and were invited to prepare our second course which was flatbread pizza. The dough was provided and we worked on stretching it out by first kneading it and then by, you guessed it, tossing it into the air and catching it. Surprisingly, I was able to perform the toss and catch on the very first try. Of course that caused our chef tutors to egg me on to throw it higher. Not surprisingly I kept trying to go higher and higher. I am pleased to say that no small children were injured in this process, nor did the dough ever not end up in my hands. However, the accuracy of the tosses quickly eroded and I was making catches that were worthy of ESPN’s plays of the week. Once the dough was prepared the ladies coached us in what toppings to include before we placed them into the pizza oven. While we were waiting for that course to cook we helped ourselves to the salad bar and wondered what was next.

Our work, of course, was not over. After the flatbread pizza it was time to prepare the main course. While the ladies continued to relax at the table Dwight and I went to the grill where we picked out the desired cuts of steak, fish, shrimp, pork and lamb. We then were guided in the process of proper grilling by the master chef. Since he is a crewmate, I think we received more information and attention than may have been normal. Eventually, the hunters finally returned to the table with our beautifully cooked proteins, and the waiter brought us an assortment of sides including lobster mac and cheese . . . highly recommend it. The dinner was not complete until we partook of their fabulous desserts accompanied by coffee and tea as we grew quiet in the warm Caribbean night.

I learned more in one night about food preparation at the LCG than I probably had in my entire life. It was not only fun but highly educational. However, I’ve slept since then so it’s now all forgotten. It stinks to get old . . .

Guess I’ll have to go back!

And the adventure continues . . .