No Beef Wellington? It's ok ... Sticky Toffee Pudding saves the day!!!

I had Saturday off this week. This is a rarity, since I do work at the Disneyland Resort where we often say "We work while others play..." hence why I usually work Saturdays.

I asked for this Saturday off because I needed to go to a general staff meeting for Anime Los Angeles. (January 6-8, 2012 at the LAX Marriott ... register NOW!)

Anyhoo ... after the long day of executive meetings, interdepartmental meetings, and general staff meetings, it was time for my friend & me to meet up with another friend in Orange County (Santa Ana to be exact) to partake in dinner.

For some odd reason I have been craving Beef Wellington (I know ... kinda random, right?) ... I mean, I'm searching for recipes on Google, and I'm looking up videos on Youtube on how to make them (the most famous of which is THIS).

It was almost like I NEEDED TO EAT BEEF WELLINGTON SOON. So I was trying to find a local restaurant that had beef wellington on the menu, and lo & behold there was one in Orange County! The Olde Ship is a British pub & restaurant that actually has TWO locations: Fullerton & Santa Ana.

So I suggested this spot for dinner since it was SUPPOSED to have beef wellington on the menu on Saturday nights as a special. (this is what we call FORESHADOWING.)

After driving through dismal traffic from LA to the OC, we finally meet up with my friend at the restaurant. I immediately bust out my camera & prepare myself to take pictures.

It's nice & warm inside, with a loud yet welcoming revelry, one would assume would be at a British pub.

We sit in our booth, which happens to be located next to a private birthday party who hired a bagpipe player to entertain them. Yes ... a bagpipe player. The family was of Scottish heritage. xP

Our waiter came up & took our drink orders, & when he came back I ask the question of the night:

"So, do you have your Beef Wellington special tonight?"

"Oh not tonight. We have our Christmas specials all this month instead."

::jaw drops to ground in dismay::

Instead of doing this ....... ╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ , I order something else, while my friends order their dinners.

The food was relatively decent! Of course my brain was set on beef, pastry, etc., so I ended up getting their roast beef with Yorkshire pudding. The gravy was really good! Beefy, but not too salty. Very hearty, and it was smothered over pretty much most of my plate.

My friends enjoyed their meals too. We all were stuffed, and yet I wanted to try one of their signature desserts (and a British holiday tradition) ... sticky toffee pudding.

So all three of us shared one pudding. I took the first bite ... and let me say ... it made up for the restaurant not having beef tenderloin. Honestly, I forgot I WANTED beef tenderloin. Eating that sticky toffee pudding made me realize that I ended up at that restaurant BECAUSE OF THAT DESSERT, not because of beef wellington. Weird how things work out, right?

The shirt I was wearing to dinner was from a popular Youtube video featuring bacon (watch it here: THE BACON SONG) ... a line from this song is "It tastes like heaven, but it looks like bacon!" Well, this dessert tasted like heaven & looked like sticky toffee pudding. :)

Add all of that, plus waiters & waitresses with legitimate British accents, seeing dudes in kilts, & hearing bagpipes ... my experience at The Olde Ship was a positive one.

Here are all the food-like pictures I took, via my Flickr ... enjoy & keep eating y'all! ^_^;;