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The food from the galley is worthy of the beautiful water view on the dining cruises.
By CHRIS SHERMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 5, 2002
Some rules of dining are simple.
If there's a great view out the window, I don't look closely at the plate. When I feel the floor of the dining room move, thanks to a big diesel engine in the stern or some bearings on the floor below, my appetite dissipates. I don't get queasy, but my taste buds don't froth with anticipation. I figure it's like a rehearsal dinner, time to focus on the festivities not food.
But there are exceptions, and to my surprise, the StarShip Dining Yacht is one.
StarShip docked here after a stint in Biloxi on the culinary lost coast, winding up at Channelside, not a harbor of good taste either, with a pitch of deluxe dining, moonlight and brunches.
My approach to the ship didn't augur well: The ticket is nonrefundable, parking for the ship costs $6 (the Tampa lot charged other visitors $3), our walk to the gangway was interrupted by two rusting cans of paint and there was no host at the boarding area, just guests asking each other what to do.
My imaginary albatross took flight when we hit the dining salon. The decor was tasteful, shocking in an industry inspired by casinos: blond wood, parabolic bar, contemporary Italian fan seats, restrained stars-and-moon upholstery with crisp linens, cool bathrooms, fresh flowers and frosted oil lamps at every table. The staff was large and looked like waiters, not sailors squeezed into uniforms that need pressing.
Ultimately I can endorse the food as well as the ship, despite a couple of disappointments. Every plate was handsome. Vegetables were bright and crisp -- pencil-thin asparagus and haricot verts as green as nature intended. Sauces were clever and beautifully made, whether a puddle of silky, saffron orange under the chicken or fingerpaint demi glace with the beef tenderloin.
Of course it's a limited menu with four entrees nightly, but they are served to order and it doesn't feel like a banquet hall. Cooking was good enough that I can recommend the chicken breast. It was almost half a small bird, boned but with the wing bone on, with artichoke hearts, cheese and mushrooms tucked under the skin. That's a stuffed breast, but of grand hotel style. Tenderloin of beef is standard for a crowd but crisp beans, mashed potatoes with corn, and that sauce were elegant.
While chicken and beef are staples, fish and pasta choices rotate. I passed up grouper in mango sauce and had seared salmon another night. Big shrimp with tortellini looked great, but I unfortunately chose pasta the night shrimp were tossed with penne, goat cheese and too much annatto oil, a limp, greasy affair.
All came with salads of good greens with raspberry vinaigrette made with recognizable berries, or soup (grouper chowder was too thin). Desserts were limited, yet choice and smartly done, thick chocolatey ganache and a double decker of a key lime cheese cake, tart custard on top and creamy cheese cake underneath. Slick idea.
Appetizers cost extra but a couple are worth splitting -- Fire Island shrimp made with jumbos in a tropical hot sauce, and the oyster shooters, crisp flash fried oysters on tortilla chips with fresh spinach and a bleu cheese sauce. The wine list is short and fair, starting with $19 Caliterra merlot. It includes some surprises, such as a $30 DeLoach fume blanc, a honeyed leftover from 1997.
The food is designed to serve hundreds, yet the wait staff was sufficiently numerous and well-trained so that every table felt special. Since you're on board for two hours, you can dine, dance, or wander the decks at your pace. Servers were friendly, well-versed on the food and wine and thoughtful enough to say clearly that the gratuity was included in the bill.
The extra pleasure is that you are at sea, although the 170-foot ship is so stable you might forget it (the StarShip sails rain or shine and is reportedly solid in rough water as well). The trips themselves are only two hours or so and blessedly unnarrated, a very pleasant way to take our waters.
From Channelside to the tip of Davis Islands and back around Harbour Island, the Tampa cruise offers ample skyline, sunset and waterfront mansions. I found the working port more romantic with big ships such as the Diligence, a big U.S. fuel tanker or the Luigi LaGrange, a hulking ammonia tanker out of Genoa.
Similarly, the Sunday cruise from St. Petersburg's Pier toward the Skyway reveals a wealth of pleasure craft before the high point, a pass around the Coast Guard Station and its proud fleet, from trim Island-class patrol boats to heavy-duty High Endurance-class cutters.
The fun isn't just on the outside. By voyage's end, many passengers are on the top deck, where Luna Soleil delivers a boatload of boogie, blues, and a touch of disco and Buffett, making for a breezy party few want to leave after the ship docks.
The full price -- parking, appetizers, drinks, souvenir photos and tax -- can rise from $60 to $80 a person or more, so dinner on the StarShip is a splurge, more than a gambling cruise (if you don't play) and less than a weekend trip.
But I didn't hear any guests complaining. They were too busy saying congratulations and goodbye to the young couple celebrating a hard-to-believe 20th anniversary.
So was I.
603 Channelside Drive
Tampa
(813) 223-7999 Hours: Sails from Tampa, Monday through Thursday at 6:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30 and 9 p.m. Lunch cruises, including tour of Florida Aquarium, 11:45 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday.
Sails from St. Petersburg's Pier at 12:30 p.m. Sunday for brunch and 5:30 p.m. for dinner. Call for additional schedules.
Reservations: Required. Tickets nonrefundable, but may be rescheduled with 24 hours' notice.
Details: Full bar, wheelchair accessible, no smoking permitted inside.
Features: Live music, outside seating, group rates, weddings, private parties and special events.
Prices: $29.95 to $59.95; drinks, appetizers, parking and tax extra.