Sebastian’s Bistro Appetizers – a Caribbean Feast
At the newly remodeled Caribbean Beach Resort in Walt Disney World, a new dining establishment on the water is open for business. Sebastian’s Bistro is a welcome addition to the culinary options for diners. We had the pleasure of sitting with one of our all-time favorite Disney Chefs – Chef James, formerly of Pop Century. After looking over the spectacular menus – as you can see from the photos, we opted to try an array of dazzling Sebastian’s Bistro appetizers.
The menus are a lot of fun. You receive a wooden board with attached menu sheets. The cover of the menu features none other than Sebastian from Little Mermaid fame. Island songs featuring “Sebastian” Samuel E. Wright play in the background. We used to listen to many of these songs when my children were young, so it was a wonderful throwback to the past.
The first page of the menu featured appetizers and lunch mains – wonderful entrees, some of which are also on the dinner menu. As tempted as we were to try the grilled skirt steak, this meal was about the appetizers.
Other menu pages featured sandwiches (we will report about the burger and island curry “eggless” salad in our second blog on this restaurant) and desserts. More about the desserts in that blog, as well.
There are also unique and fun-sounding specialty cocktails and a decent wine list. You can even get a Caribbean Rum Flight.
Although we did not opt for a drink this visit, the “Hoist the Colors” sounds really good. Will have to remember to try that on our next visit.
Our Sampling of Sebastian’s Bistro Appetizers
Our sampling of Sebastian’s Bistro appetizers began with the Marauders Snack. In our goal to provide you with as many gluten-free, paleo, keto, and allergy-friendly options as possible, we omitted the house-made crackers from our plate. They are the only item on this plate that contains gluten. If you have a shellfish allergy, you will need to avoid this appetizer, as well as anything else that is fried. The kitchen is small, and they do not have a dedicated fryer. Now for the bad news, because there is only one fryer, if you have celiac or cannot risk cross-contamination, do not order anything that is fried.
I recommended to Chef James that they get a pan or small counter-top fryer that they can prepare the fried tostones and arepas in for GF guests. Hopefully, that will be a possibility in the future. However, do not let that dissuade you from coming to this restaurant. There are plenty of other options awaiting you.
The Marauders Snack consists of tostones, arepas, black bean hummus, guacamole, and Pico de Gallo. For $15 you get quite a nice portion of food. Since the tostones and arepas contain corn, they do not meet paleo or keto diet requirements. However, this is a great dish for those who are gluten-free by choice (not by need due to possible cross-contamination). Both items had the right amount of crunch, flavor, and salt, and the accompaniments were delicious.
Another appetizer features the Arepa served with slow-cooked pork and chili-mango barbecue sauce for $10. Our server Michael highly recommended we try this dish next time. The pork shoulder is slow-cooked in a mojo marinade and comes as a make-your-own taco experience at dinner time.
Our next selection from the list of Sebastian’s Bistro appetizers was the Raw Sliced Tuna for $14. This dish is served with bell pepper, sweet potato puree, micro cilantro, and is prepared with extra virgin olive oil. Chef James knows me well, and I was pleased to see EVOO listed on the menu. Of course, some of the other dishes to come prepared with the standard canola/olive oil blend that I wish they would make disappear. The tuna comes on a bed of the puree, with thinly sliced peppers and a sprig of the micro cilantro. Move over sushi – there is a new kid in town. Seriously, forget about sharing this dish – you will want it all to yourself. It is that good and extremely refreshing. You can easily omit the puree if you do not eat sweet potatoes on the paleo diet. We do, so it was fine. At $14, this dish was pricey for only 5 pieces of tuna, but it was so good that I would order it again and again.
Our next gluten-free appetizer was the Grilled Jerk Chicken Wings with cilantro-lime crema and carrot ribbons for $12. You can get a main course dish of jerk chicken thighs, as well. The chicken wing appetizer features 6 pieces – 3 flats and 3 drums – all tremendous in size. Sebastian’s Bistro marinates the chicken in a gluten-free jerk sauce that is not spicy. If you like heat, then just ask. They will gladly spice it up for you. You can omit the cilantro-lime crema if you are dairy-free. A side of jerk sauce completes the dish. The carrot ribbons were so good that my only complaint on this dish was that I wanted more – of everything. The sauces were amazing – we used the cilantro-lime crema for everything! Seriously, I could make a meal out of the wings and tuna and be very happy. For those of you on a paleo and keto diet, I am sorry to say that the rub does contain sugar.
The marinated vegetable ribbons consist of rainbow carrots, daikon, and celery cooked with lemon juice, the canola/olive oil blend, salt, pepper, and rice wine vinegar. You can ask the chef to prepare this with EVOO and without the rice wine vinegar to make it paleo and keto friendly.
The Jamaican Meat Pies, Conch Fritters, Crab Cake, and Caribbean Pull-apart Rolls all contain gluten. However, being that I am always ready to try a good Jamaican Meat Pie, I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, this did not make the grade. While I enjoyed the flavor of the guajillo chili sauce, my dining companion did not. The dough for the pie was a bit too thick and dry, and the filling was bland and dry. At $12 for 2 pies, this dish is a skip.
We were intrigued by the Seasonal Tropical Fruit appetizer at Sebastian’s Bistro that is served with ancho chili salt and fresh lime for $9. This refreshing dish consists of mango, pineapple, and papaya with a slice of lime dipped in the ancho chili salt. Once at the table, you squeeze the salt-dipped lime over the fruit. The pineapple was juicy and sweet, and the lime juice brought it to new heights. Unfortunately, the papaya and mango were not ripe. We recommend asking if all the fruit is ripe. If so, get this dish. If not, skip it.
All in all – our lunch of Sebastian’s Bistro appetizers was a complete success. Dining amid the tropical décor made us feel as though we were under the sea. Check out more about our lunch, the décor, dinner options, and the desserts we tried in our other review.