A SOUTHERN FEAST ABOARD 'REFLECTION'

The Lawn Club Grill (Photos by Gerry)

 ABOARD CELEBRITY REFLECTION -- Up on deck 15, adjacent to that wide expanse of real grass known as the Lawn Club, is where you'll find the Lawn Club Grill. It's a specialty restaurant described as "interactive, open-air grilling with an ocean view."  Guests can grill their own food while getting advice from a Celebrity chef.

On the occasion of the ship's U.S. coming-out party, Celebrity had enlisted Jeff McInnis, the executive chef for Yardbird, Miami's mecca to Southern cooking. In this case, Jeff would be doing all the cooking, and all we had to do was enjoy it. And enjoy, we did.

The motif was family-style, which means big portions and communal sharing. McInnis, a former contestant on the Food Network's "Top Chef," pays homage to his deep Southern roots in all his dishes, and this menu was no exception.

Jeff's team prepares the flatbread

For starters, we had baskets of cornbread and buttermilk biscuits, accompanied by honey butter, apple butter and homemade strawberry jam. It was so melt-in-your-mouth good we had to force ourselves to stop and save room for the courses to come.

Along with the biscuits there was the "Yardbird Charcuterie Board" (charcuterie refers to cooking with prepared meat products). Selections here included molasses beef jerky, wild boar "slim jims," South Florida Herford head cheese with mustard, pickles, pimento cheese, smoked duck ham, house-cured country ham and crackers. While we didn't sample everything, we can report the pimento cheese rated an "A-plus."

Smoked chicken flatbread

Next up were the flatbreads: One featuring homemade bacon, cheddar and green tomato, while the other had smoked chicken, artichokes, grilled baby leeks, collard green pesto and housemade ricotta. Talk about a toss-up! After multiple samplings, I leaned toward the bacon while Pam preferred the smoked chicken.

It was now time for the "Big Salad" -- "big" being the operative word. It was a combination of Florida heirloom tomatoes, chilled watermelon, herbs, celery, oil, sea salt and citrus.

Grilling the Tomahawk Rib Eye

But all that was just the preliminaries. The main event was waiting in the wings. Jeff had not one, but three "main events": "Chargrilled Chicken Under a Brick" (served with Brussels sprouts, green apple and sunflower seeds); "Tomahawk Rib Eye" (aptly named for the biggest rib eye you've ever seen) and a Southern standby, "Shrimp n' Grits."

Shrimp and Grits

Just when you thought you couldn't eat anymore, it was time for dessert. 

It started with another down South delight, a "Big Ol' Waffle" served with bourbon maple syrup, buttermilk ice cream, toasted pecans and candied bacon. Then came the strawberry shortcake and the most decadent of all for last, "Chocolate Mississippi Mud Pie."

It was truly an unforgettable meal, in both quantity and quality. The only disappointment was missing out on Jeff's signature dish at Yardbird -- fried chicken. You can bet we'll be checking that out at his restaurant in the very near future. -- Gerry

Dessert was the Big Ol'Waffle.

Jeff's team takes a bow after it was all said and done. Jeff is 

standing second from the right at the table.