Take a Voyage

Voyagers Restaurant
Perdido Beach Resort
Beach Side
Rt 182
27200 Perdido Beach Blvd
Orange Beach, AL
251-981-9811

local cheese and fruit plate

I will start off by saying that this restaurant is located in one of the resort hotels on the beach side of Orange Beach, AL. In the past few decades hotel restaurants have declined and many have closed because they just cannot compete with the more delicious chef owned restaurants to be had. Well, Voyager is not only competing with chef owned restaurants, it is leading the way in Orange Beach for excellently prepared food. The specialty here is seafood, and many options on the menu include locally caught seafood and and locally made cheeses. This meal we had stacks up to any of the best meals I have had in the USA, including NYC, New Orleans, Boston, and Chicago. I mean really good.

seared scallop appetizer with wasabi gravy

We had the little kiddies with us, and I gotta tell ya, the waitress taking care of our table, and the kitchen, was so accommodating to the kiddies. Since the kiddies don't have the taste yet for some of the intricate sauces and preparations, our waitress said the kitchen could make anything they wanted. Mac and cheese, fried chicken, steak, fries, whatever the kiddies desired. And, I must add, it wasn't just chicken fingers or mac and cheese from some food distributor, it was carefully made from scratch dishes for the kiddies. Very nice, the kiddies ate well this evening, and I think the kiddies felt pampered for the evening.

locally caught Gulf shrimp and snapper

We started off our meal with a cheese plate and the seared scallops. The cheese plate was as good as or better than any cheese plate I have gotten in Alabama. The dairy farm that made the cheese is Sweet Home Farm in Elberta, AL just in the next county west of Orange Beach. The Elberta brie style cheese was delicious, slightly tart and creamy. The gorganzola and the herb cheese were also quite flavorful, and stood up to the flavors that were to come from the next courses. We also started with the seared scallop which was topped with a wasabi mustard, caviar and sake wine sauces. It was amazing! The sauce was a twist on a classic French mustard and white wine sauce, and it really worked for the scallops. I just could not get enough of this sauces! I wish I knew how to make it.

white chocolate cheesecake

For our entrees, we got the classic shrimp and grits, shrimp and snapper in tomato sauce, and a classic snapper in meuniere sauce. In the South, as I am told, you can tell a lot about the kitchen for how they serve grits. This trip the grits were exactly to the liking of the Southerner. We all also enjoyed the locally caught Gulf shrimp. The shrimp have a specific meaty lobstery texture, a soulful flavor from the ocean, and a really nice pale peach color. There is nothing like wild caught Gulf shrimp. The tomato sauce on the shrimp and snapper dish was again just delicious with a tomato umami flavor. But, the sauce to end all sauces was the meuniere sauce made in a creole New Orleans tradition. I have never made meuniere sauce, but it definitely starts off with a flour and butter. There was a little chili pepper kick to this one, but just a little to add another flavor aspect to the sauce. I just can't guess how this sauce was made, but everyone at the table agreed it is the sauce we like the best.

As we ate our dinner, one at our table had eaten here before. He also has been around the block many times in New Orleans, New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong, etc and he knows what he likes to eat, and what tastes good. He said that chef at Voyagers used to cook at the Commander's Palace in New Orleans, and decided to get away from the hustle and bustle by moving to Orange Beach, and found himself cooking at Voyager. This one at my table said he thinks that the meal we had at Voyager is probably one of the best meals he has ever eaten in his 50 years. He also made a claim that this meal was as good as or even better than any meal he ate in New Orleans. Seriously, I believe him because the food was that good.

keylime pie

And to end the dinner we all shared a few desserts. Our waitress brought us a plate full of chocolate covered strawberries as we were deciding dessert. The kiddies loved the chocolate covered strawberries. I think that it was the chocolate they liked the best. Now, what would happen if I covered broccoli, cauliflower and green beans with chocolate, would the kiddies be as excited to eat those? Now that gave me an idea, take dehydrated green beans and dip them in chocolate, I bet that actually would be good.

Anyway, when you are on the Gulf Coast, you have to have key lime pie. It seems that pastry chefs in the Gulf Coast area take key limes and key lime pie very seriously. This key lime pie was perfect. We enjoyed it a lot. And, I have been thinking about cheesecake so we got the white chocolate cheesecake. It was a nice way to end the meal.