Wonder of the Seas’ new Southern restaurant has touch of 4Rivers flair

PORT CANAVERAL — When Royal Caribbean decided to shelve plans to send the world’s largest cruise ship to China and redeploy it to Florida, that gave its food and beverage team an opportunity.

What was supposed to be a Chinese hot bar that is still simply labeled as “specialty dining” on ship signage became a new Southern restaurant concept called The Mason Jar, one of the unique offerings on Wonder of the Seas, which began year-round sailing from Port Canaveral in November.

The restaurant’s down-home feel combines dinner, lunch and brunch comfort food with equally inviting seating and laid-back vibe complete with a small stage for live band performances.

“We’ve tried to create an experience here that really takes you to that Southern experience. This is supposed to be grandma’s patio. You’ve got the swinging chairs, the recliners and the rockers by the window with a beautiful view of the ocean when we’re sailing, really meant to be comfortable — nice big bar stools to make you comfortable and at home,” said Royal Caribbean’s vice president of food & beverage Linken D’Souza. “These are comfort foods ... all the good stuff.”

That includes buttermilk biscuits and jalapeno cornbread served with Cajun and whipped honey butter, lobster n’ crawfish gumbo, crab beignets, fried green tomatoes, charred watermelon salad, shrimp n’ grits, blacked Cajun catfish and even good old fashioned beef brisket that tasted an awful lot like Central Florida’s own 4Rivers barbecue.

That’s because some of The Mason Jar’s menu pulls inspiration from sister ship Oasis of the Seas’ and its barbecue concept Portside BBQ.

“John (Rivers) worked with us on developing Portside BBQ. I think you’ll find that to be the best barbecue you can have at sea,” D’Souza said. “Our brisket here as well as our ribs are very much kind of our signature dish from Portside, done slightly differently for this menu.”

Beef brisket and ribs are options when ordering the “Meat n’ Two Fixins” with traditional sides like coleslaw, sweet potato fries, mashed potatoes, mac n’ cheese and collard greens.

“John is one of the most wonderful men I’ve worked with,” D’Souza said. “He’s a great friend and a good man.”

While you won’t find 4Rivers’ signature Krispy Kreme bread putting, The Mason Jar’s version is still worth a taste, or one of the alcoholic specialty drinks like the “All Shook-Up,” which features peanut butter whiskey, banana cream rum, whipped cream, brown sugar and caramelized bananas.

The venue also serves brunch with most notably “Meemaw’s fried chicken n’ waffles,” as well as breakfast biscuits, blueberry johnnycakes, the massive sweet-tooth cinnamon roll and French toast stuffed with banana slices, peanut butter, Nutella and of course, “crispy candied bacon really reminiscent of what Elvis used to like,” D’Souza said.

The drinks menu embraces bourbon as any good Southern restaurant should with at least 20 labels on display.

The bar is just as popular as the restaurant with people lined up for the specialty drinks with names like “No Joke, Smoke & Coke” and “Pretty as a Peach Tea.” A drink called “Mississippi Moonlight” featuring blackberry moonshine, fresh blackberries and lemonade. Don’t worry. You can get a mint julep as well.

One of the most popular, though, was the “Far From Manhattan,” which used brown-sugar bourbon, bitters, a cherry and yet again, a strip of candied bacon.

Lead bartender Dmytro Indiukov of Ukraine delicately snared the bacon with a set of fine tweezers from behind the bar gently adorning the cocktail.

“It’s still sensitive,” he joked about the care with which he handles the dead pig meat.

Other beverages worth a try are the Jacksonville-based Duke & Dame salted caramel whiskey and the peanut-butter-and-jelly old fashioned served with dainty Wonder Bread-esque mini-sandwiches on a toothpick garnish.

“Lunchables were kind of the inspiration for that idea,” said Royal Caribbean’s director of beverage operations Ed Eiswirth. “It was honestly one of the toughest things to get out of the chefs because we’re talking to a bunch of French-trained chefs, and we wanted the most basic peanut butter and jelly sandwich ever to make you think of your childhood and nostalgia when you got it with the crust cut off, and they were sending stuff out on ciabatta and crostini.”

Eiswirth said it’s become the signature drink for the space.

Shoehorned off to the starboard side on Deck 15 with its own view of the ocean, it can be easy to miss while the crowds mass into the nearby Windjammer buffet.

“It’s kind of a hidden cool spot. This was an opportunity to do a little bit of a different spin. It’s been a home run for us,” D’Souza said. “This restaurant was really a passion project ... This has kind of never been seen before on a ship.”

Both Carnival and Norwegian, though, have rolled out barbecue-centric venues with bars and live bands in recent yearsl.

D’Souza, though, hammered home The Mason Jar is its own animal.

“This is not our barbecue restaurant. So if you want barbecue, you go to Portside. This is a Southern restaurant. This is about sweet tea. This is about great fried chicken. The barbecue’s really second fiddle here. It’s not a main focus,” he said. “This is about representing all of the different cuisines from the South from New Orleans to South Carolina to Florida to Texas to everything. We try our best to represent the South in a variety of different ways. It’s not one state-specific. ... If you look at some of the food, even the gumbo — whole crawfish hanging off the bowl and okra. It’s traditional. It’s meaningful. It’s done to bring an authentic experience.”

He said the combination of drinks, restaurant and live music complete with a portrait of Dolly Parton overlook the stage has so far proven a success.

“You really have to be on this ship at 8 o’clock at night,” he said. “Restaurant’s full, the bar’s full, the music’s kickin’ up, you’ve got a great cocktail in your hand. There’s no better place to be on this ship.”