At Sea - November 08, 2012

Another fabulous day at sea, mostly sunny skies with a temperature hovering around 26 degrees, bonus days for us. Also the big highlight of the day was our incredible dinner at the Pinnacle’s night at “Le Cirque”. Special thanks for Carla and Ian for this wonderful birthday gift a few months ago, nice to be able to have a birthday go on and on. A bit on Sirio Maccionoi and the Le Cirque restaurant. Sirio is Manhattan’s most charismatic restaurateur, the brains as it were, the energy and the the passion behind this restaurant. Encouraged by William Zeckendorf, the proprietor of the Mayfair Hotel, Mr. Maccioni realized a dream when he opened his own restaurant in March of 1974. Located in Mayfair, Le Cirque was the first privately owned hotel restaurant in the city. It was there with his wife and three sons that Maccioni presented New York what quickly became a most favored restaurant frequented by politicians, entertainers, artists, the social set and royalty. In 2006 Le Cirque re-invented itself with the opening at its current location, One Beacon Court, next to the Bloomberg Tower in midtown. The 16,000 square foot restaurant is an eloquent display of architectural mastery: with polished Makassar ebony panels, a giant abstract “big top” light shade, an illusional all glass bar and a 27 foot steel and glass wine tower. The restaurant walls, adorned with bent wire framed art pieces inspired by Alexander Calder’s magical circus installations, capture the whimsical and playful spirit of the original Le Cirque. A few years ago Holland and America Line teamed up with Le Cirque to bring as much of this magical and whimsical restaurant theme to the high seas all complimented of course by the incredible menu and serving presentation. Luis the Pinnacle manager and his staff took wonderful care of us giving us the best of service as they presented each course to us with expert detailed explanations of all the absolutely delicious items. Here is a sample of our pictures from this wonderful dining experience, including Jan with the foie gras with a chutney, lobster salad, the incredibly presented butternut squash soup, the Seared Black Cod, Chateaubriand and then for desert the chocolate soufflé. Absolutely fabulous...