From The Galley Sample

Here is a sample week of my menu on board the Safari Explorer. It tends to vary a little bit from week to week depending on what's available or what we ran out of.

From The Galley

Boarding Appetizers

Salmon Caviar
Orange Rosemary Mascarpone Dip
Fruit Platter

Dinner

First Course:

Smoked Tomato Bisque

From the Range:

Seared Rib-Eye Steak
Stilton Crumbles
Tobacco Onions

From the Sea:

Taku River Sockeye Salmon
with Garlic and Fresh Herbs

Accoutrement:

Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Zucchini and Summer Squash

From The Galley

Breakfast

Apple Oat Pancakes
Grilled Pit-Ham Steak with Red-Eye Sauce

Lunch

Parmesan and Gruyere Crusted Chicken Breast
Penne Pasta with Lemon-Caper Chardonnay Sauce
Steamed Mixed Vegetables

Cocktail Hour

Peel and Eat Alaskan Sidestripe Shrimp

Dinner

First Course:

Green Salad with Candied Walnuts
and Honey-Lemon Vinaigrette

From the Range:

Min Julep Leg of Lamb

From the Sea:

Steamed Alaskan King Crab

Accoutrement:

Citrus Cous Cous
Sautèed Spinach
Lemon Treasure Chest

From The Galley

Breakfast

Molasses-Oat French Toast with
Warm Berry Compote and Vanilla Custard Cream

Lunch

Grilled Panini
Rotisserie Turkey Breast, Pesto, Kalamata Aioli,
Tomatoes and Lettuce
Fruit Salad
Honey Yogurt Poppy Seed Dressing

Cocktail Hour

Baked Brie with Puff Pastry
and Raspberry Puree

Dinner

First Course:

Green and Red Leaf Lettuce
Apples, Stilton, Honey-Lemon Dressing

From the Range:

“Bear Mace” NY Pepper Steak

From the Sea:

Pecan Crusted Halibut
Blueberry and Cabernet Reduction

Accoutrement:

Smoked Cheddar Polenta
Steamed Broccoli

From The Galley

Brunch

Meatless Eggs Benedict
Smoked Cheddar and Caramelized Onion Quiche
Beet and Potato Rösti with Mesquite Sour Cream
Orzo Pasta Salad
Taku River Smoked Salmon Lox
Caramelized Bacon
Minted Fresh Fruit Salad
Fresh Baked Sticky Buns

Cocktail Hour

Antipasto Platter
Bagna Cauda Dipping Sauce

Dinner

First Course:

Spinach Salad with Marinated Vegetables
Red Wine Vinaigrette

From the Range:

Hunter Style Braised Elk

From the Sea:

Two Fish in Phyllo
Halibut and Sockeye Salmon with Bernaise Sauce
over Sesame Veloute

Accoutrement:

Roasted Red Potatoes with Fluted Mushrooms
and Cherry Tomatoes

From The Galley

Breakfast

Strata Frittata
Fontina, Diced Reindeer Sausage, Red Onion

Lunch

Thai Chicken Wraps
Chilled Rice Noodle and Vegetable Salad
Toasted Peanuts and Chopped Cilantro

Cocktail Hour

Fresh Hummus
Baba Ganooj
Fresh Baked Pita Bread

Dinner

First Course:

Creamed Carrot and White Bean Soup

From the Range:

Cranberry Cornbread Stuffed Pork Loin
Caramelized Onion and Apple Chutney

From the Sea:

Macadamia Rockfish with Mango Salsa
Toasted Coconut Cream

Accoutrement:

Roasted Butternut Squash
Sautèed Zucchini and Bell Peppers

From The Galley

Breakfast

Petersburg Scramble
Bay Shrimp, Cream Cheese,
Fresh Dill, and Green Onion

Lunch

BBQ Sampler Buffet
St. Louis Pork Ribs with Whiskey BBQ Sauce
Grilled Marbled King Salmon with Honey-Soy Glaze
Carrot Gaufrette and Cabbage Slaw
Home-style Potato Salad
Chilled Watermelon

Cocktail Hour

Warm Spinach Dip
Puff Pastry Straws with Argentine Parmesan Fresh Oregano and Thyme

Dinner

First Course:

Coconut Curry Butternut Squash Soup

From the Range:

Duck Breast Caccittori

From the Sea:

Dungeness Stuffed Sockeye Salmon
with Citrus Beurre Blanc

Accoutrement:

Walnut Cranberry Rice
Caccittori Vegetable Julienne

From The Galley

Breakfast

Spinach and Feta Quiche

Lunch

Black and Bleu Bison Burger
or
Chicken Cordon Bleu Burger
Side Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Cocktail Hour

‘Just Caught’ Dungeness Crab

Dinner

First Course:

Pacific Style Smoked Salmon Chowder

From the Range:

Filet Mignon
Brandied Peppercorn Demi-Glace

From the Sea:

Smoked Black Cod

Accoutrement:

Pesto Risotto with Toasted Pine-Nuts
Salt and Pepper Roasted Cauliflower

From The Galley

Breakfast

Croque Madame:

Challah Bread Griddled with Ham, Gruyere
Topped with Poached Eggs and Fontina Mornay Sauce

It has been our pleasure serving you.

- Phillip Bunker
- Angela Tack
- Shelly Hopson

Smiles Go A Long Way In Juneau

Stepping off the boat, up the gently sloping metal-grated dock-access bridge, I had to turn around several times to worry about my galley, my crew, my ship. Very quickly after the hesitant pause I turned back smiling to face my two week vacation. My wife's hand in mine, we walked towards the Alaskan Hotel.

Downtown Juneau is great and small - everything is a few blocks away. Littered throughout the numerous gift shops and bustling sidewalks of cruise-goers, there are plenty of bars, enough restaurants, and various other diversions to keep Carey and I entertained for several days.

Just before we walked into the oldest Hotel in Alaska (established Sept. 13th, 1913) I spotted a familiar face across the street. Drew, a friend from the UAA Debate Squad was walking along brightly and we hugged in surprise greeting. The chance meeting was brought about by Drew's employment at the Alaska Democratic Party office in Anchorage. They flew him to Juneau the day before to film Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens. Always a good idea to film guys like Ted Stevens. We parted quickly as he bobbed down the street to meet some friends over coffee.

At the Alaskan Hotel desk, we had a nice long chat with Chuck. Chuck is a writer and former Psychologist who pays the bills by working the hotel desk. He served up some interesting tidbits about the Alaskan Hotel. As late as 1957, legal prostitution was the hotel's main attraction. Chuck claimed that there's been live music in the bar on the ground floor every night for something like seventy years. Prostitution still went on after its prohibition here until 1974 or 1975. Chuck was chuckling as he shared the reason for the continued outlawed trade; a political battle between the conservative Mayor and the un-scrupulous Chief of Police kept Juneau's other goldmines running for many years. John Wayne reportedly visited the hotel (pre-1974) and graced the stairs with his own stumbling-down-them.

Carey and I booked a room with two beds that Chuck said, "most people would push together." We were one of the lucky patrons with a private bathroom in our very own room. Since we were located towards the back of the hotel, the live band amid bar sounds were dull and distant. The open window made more noise than the bar; rain splattered on wood and concrete outside with big drops channeling down the many broad green leaves of summer, making an occasional puncuated 'slap' sound against the drizzle. Sleep came slowly with the worry of my galley, my crew, my ship, and my next menu, beginning two weeks from that day.

I rested better than any night in recent sleepy memory, and soon realized I had slept past my usual breakfast cereal by two hours.

Good morning Chuck.
"Oh, hey, the sane people, Carey and Phil, right? You wouldn't believe how many crazies we get in this hotel."
"How ya' doin'?"
"Good, you know..."
"We like our room."
"Oh good."
"We're headed to breakfast."
"Okay, you want my suggestion? Go to Costa's."
"Where's that?"
"You know the 'Y' junction of streets at the end of the block..."
"Yeah."
"...to the left is Front Street..."
"Okay."
"...take a left at the next block...blue building at the seaplane dock..."
"Yeah, okay, I think I know."
"...yeah, it's right there - great place. Local place."

And let me tell you about a wonderment and truly good breakfast. Get a mug off the the wall, get your coffee - ground fresh and brewed in aluminum bottomed diner standard coffee pots. Write down your order on a notepad and place on the counter - in order - left to right - no order hopping allowed. Inside Costa's - menu includes a kick ball game announcement, biscuits and gravy, corned beef hash, breakfast mashers, banana walnut pancakes, tomato soup and grilled cheese, piled high reuben sandwich, and more. If you forget to specify what kind of toast, you don't get toast on your plate. If that happens you can ask for it, and tip a bit more if you feel bad. Add up your own total, and deposit your cash in the copper bucket. If you need change, just take your change out of the copper bucket. Fan-friggin'-tastic.

Food wass good with a little love from the condiment bar and S&P shakers. Good coffee - one time fee of $1.00. One large eight-ish capacity table, funky decor (to say the least), 4 person bar seating on stools, and a squeezed-in feeling two-top in the restaurant. There's ice cream and fresh griddled waffle cones we noticed on the way out; also noticed two picnic looking four-tops outside the big blue building's mall-way hallway. Yeah, hey Wal-Mart, rollback that into your imported pipe and smoke it. Nothing beats a small town.

That day we walked, pin-ball moving across willy-nilly, knick-knacky, and sassy-tacky shops in Juneau. Clearance-d and stacked, expensive and handcrafted, carved or furry, ornate to simple, some wretched and wonderful, some perfect and breath taking. One just doesn't seem to mind all the rain. Dinner was Sushi . . . again. Finally Carey has taken a liking to sushi. That means I get to eat it too! We chatted with Choy, the sushi artist. He's been here eight years, married about that long, roughly our age, and like us is thinking of having kids in the next year. His tasty Sea Salad and Squid Salad were amazing - and on-the-house.

Later that night we poked our heads into the bustling Alaskan Hotel Bar. A good twangy bluegrass act was playing, but we didn't stay (too tired for drinkin'). Outside, an inebriated fellow was lecturing a bum-looking guy on how to shape up his life.

Good night Juneau.