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Good Disney Food Posts Around the Web

I’ve come across a bunch of great reviews and photos over the past few weeks and wanted to highlight a few of them. Thanks for all the good food writing, all!

Scott Joseph Orlando’s Chefs de France Review: Highlights the fascinating history of Chefs de France, including its three famous owners, along with Scott Joseph’s excellent food critique. If you’re a foodie and visit Orlando, you should be subscribed to this blog.

Touring Plans’ Research Results on When to Make your Advanced Dining Reservations for Certain Restaurants: Touring Plans releases and analyzes research here about how far in advance you’ve got to book those Disney dining reservations. Find out the theme park restaurants where you can possibly dine as a “walk up” customer, and which you need to book right at that 90-day window.

Etckt’s ESPN Club review: A great writer and Disney afficionado (who’s been quite close to the Mouse in the past) reviews his recent ESPN Club experience at the Boardwalk. Great photos.

SoloFriendly’s Coral Reef Review and SoloFriendly’s BlueZoo review: Excellent, detailed, and honest reviews of a couple of restaurants not everyone who visits Disney World knows about. And these are from the perspective of an adult, solo traveler in Disney World, which makes them even more interesting.

Laughing Place Paradiso 37 Pictures and Review: A good, thorough review of the restaurant’s opening day, including some comments from E-brands Restaurants CEO Rashid Choufani. LOTS of photos, folks!

Recipe: ‘Ohana Bread Pudding

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‘Ohana, at the Polynesian Resort, is a hawaiian-themed restaurant that serves skewered meats and side dishes family-style. Their menu has taken many twists and turns over the past several years, but at least one of the changes has been embraced by just about everyone who’s tried it.

Bananas Foster Bread Pudding at 'Ohana

The Bread Pudding with Bananas Foster Sauce, although one of the heavier Disney World desserts, has become almost universally beloved among Disney fans. And, as luck would have it, it comes along with your meal at no charge!

Now, my family and I love the dessert so much that one family member (who shall remain un-named) decided to try to make the dessert as part of a recent Christmas dinner. This likely occurred at my urging, but who can remember?

As it turned out, the “flambe” directive was a bit tricky, and we still had quite a bit of rum left in the sauce when it was served. Still delicious, but not exactly the same taste we were used to! From then on, we’ve taken a bit of the alcohol out of the dessert prep… just food for (hiccup!) thought… Recipe follows.

Ohana Bread Pudding with Bananas Foster Sauce

Recipe (This recipe was found on both AllEarsNet and WDWMagic, so I feel pretty confident with it. It’s also the one we used at my house, so take your chances!)

Ingredients
BREAD PUDDING
5 eggs
3 cups whole milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cup sugar
8 cups french or ‘Ohana breakfast bread

1. In bowl mix eggs, milk, salt, sugar, and nutmeg. Set aside.
2. Cut bread in medium (usually 2-inch) pieces and place on cookie sheet pan. Put in 350 degree oven.
3. Bake bread until lightly toasted: about 15 minutes. Remove bread and place in egg and milk mixture.
4. Place mixture in a greased 10-inch cake pan, and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.
5. Let stand 5 minutes; serve hot with ice cream.

BANANAS FOSTER SAUCE
4 oz sugar
4 oz brown sugar
4 oz corn syrup
4 oz unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup spiced rum
1 cup banana slices

1. Combine sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and half of heavy cream in a large pan. Bring to a boil and slowly add remaining heavy cream keeping mixture at a steady boil.

2. Add spiced rum and flambe.

3. Candy will brown slightly; cook 3 minutes until candy forms into a firm ball in cold water. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Add sliced bananas. Serve warm.

Many thanks to Brett Young for use of his photos on this blog!

Kidani Village’s Sanaa Restaurant

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Sanaa Sign

I recently got my first look at and taste of the newest Disney World restaurant, Sanaa, whose tagline is “The Art of African Cooking With Indian Flavors.” Located in the Kidani Village section of the Animal Kingdom Lodge Disney Vacation Club Villas–just opened in May 2009–the restaurant offers Disney diners another “almost authentic” ethnic taste (I say “almost,” only because they consistently have to water down any would-be exotic tastes for visitors like me–you know, the ones whose palates never quite hit puberty and are still stuck somewhere between chicken fingers and pizza rolls.).

Sanna Table

The restaurant is downstairs from the lobby in a low-ceilinged, rustic room bejeweled with low-hanging lanterns and beaded necklaces (“Kidani” is swahili for necklace, after all). It’s meant to give you the feeling that you’re outside–the ceiling is made of stylized tree branches and leaves, the columns of the restaurant are the tree trunks, and guests are seated among rock outcroppings that continue through the walls to the actual outside area. The windows are floor-to-ceiling–with a magnificent view of the giraffe, ostriches, zebra, and other animals housed on the resort’s Sunset Savanna–which gives a “patio” feel to the restaurant. Finally, the tables and chairs are bulky and free-form, making guests feel as if they’ve just arrived at a rustic outpost lodge after a long Safari.

Sanaa Dining Room

The Food!
Sanaa prepares and serves food influenced by the Indian and African spice tradeline countries. Highlights from the menu are:

–An Indian bread service, which includes choices of Naan, Roti, Paratha, and Paneer (cheese) Paratha along with choices of several different dipping sauces, including raitas and chutneys flavored with fruits and veggies

–Tandoori (tandoor-oven cooked) meats

–Slow-cooked dishes with gravy

–Specialty items like a daily dish of sustainable fish and Dum Biryani

Sanaa Wine Flight and Slow-Roast

The wine list is also available for lunch and dinner. Sanaa has several wine flights on the menu; I ordered the “Sanaa” wine flight, including Gunderloch Diva Spatlese Riesling from Germany, Fess Parker Riesling from California, and Chateau de Montfort Chenin Blanc from France.

For my entree, I ordered the slow-cooked dishes. Guests get a choice of two dishes, including chicken with red curry sauce, shrimp with green curry sauce, paneer cheese and spinach, and beef short ribs, served with basmati rice or five-grain pilaf. I chose the paneer cheese and spinach and the beef short ribs. Both were lovely, though I very much enjoyed the beef. Not sure I could have gotten to the bottom of the bowl of cheese and spinach even if I’d been starving–it was pretty rich.

Slow-Roast with Rice

I’m not at all a food critic, but I found Sanaa to be a decent restaurant that I would plan to visit every couple of years or so. I predict that, because of its distance from the rest of Disney World, its cloistered location even within Animal Kingdom Lodge, and its good, but not outstanding, cuisine, it will probably remain a third choice (after Jiko and Boma) to folks heading to Animal Kingdom Lodge for a dining experience. Though its prime Savanna-view offers it a leg up on the other two table-service restaurants at the Lodge–perhaps that alone will drive the non-DVC member traffic over to Kidani.

See this page for more information and menu links for Sanaa.

Animal Kingdom Lodge Restaurant Tours: Boma, Jiko, and Sanaa

By AJ 13 Comments

One of the great hidden treasures of the Animal Kingdom Lodge is the (free) opportunity to gain insight into the award winning restaurants at the resort: Boma, Jiko, and Sanaa. This review will focus on the Jiko and Boma tours.

Soup Sampling at Boma

A short tour begins every evening at 4:00pm at the Boma podium. As I said, it’s free, and open to all Disney guests as far as I can tell (we weren’t asked for our room keys, and I happened to be staying at the Yacht Club at the time).

The “tour” isn’t really a tour; you don’t get to go backstage, and you don’t get a thorough education on the cooking techniques or menu development. But just the opportunity to be guided through the restaurants, discuss the symbolism of the decor, and sample a few items is well worth the half hour of time you’ll spend.

We begin at Boma, which means “enclosure” or “wall” in Swahili, where our cultural guide explained the items that were on the menu that evening as she walked the group through the buffet line. Boma and Jiko were not yet open at this time, so the tour was quiet and free of the hustle and bustle of the typical buffet restaurant. Once we got to the soups, the guide ladeled a sample bowl (you get to choose!) for each member of the group. The favorites were the Corn and Chicken soup and the Butternut Squash soup. Unfortunately, they did not have the Mulligatawny out that night! We also had the chance to sample the famous Zebra Domes at the end of the buffet line.

Jiko Decor

From Boma, we headed into Jiko (Swahili for “The Cooking Place”). This section of the tour was much more interesting in my opinion. Our (new) guide discussed the decor of the restaurant first, and despite my having dined at Jiko many times before, I learned so much! Designed by Jeffrey Beers to mimic the colors and scenes from Disney’s The Lion King, here are just a few of the interesting decor points:

1. The rings around the columns represent the neck rings worn by the women of the Ndebele tribe of South Africa. You can see that each column has a varying number of rings, just like the women they represent.

Bread and Dip Tasting at Jiko

2. The entire restaurant is watched over by the beautiful, stylized birds, which get smaller toward the back of the ceiling giving an interesting depth perspective. What I didn’t know was that the lighter designs in the wooden floor represent haystacks, and that these birds flying over the haystacks on your African farm represent good luck!

3. The back wall of the restaurant, representing the African sunset, slowly transforms from yellow to orange to deep red through your meal. Another truly interactive and interesting experience in Disney dining.

After our design discussion, we moved over to the onstage kitchen where salads and appetizers are prepared for guests. We were greeted with a serving of the restaurant’s most popular appetizer–the African breads and dips sampler–which was wonderful, of course (and oddly salty).

Jiko Bread Appetizer

Our guide discussed the restaurant’s name: The Cooking Place, and indicated that we were seated at the cooking place at that moment. She also pointed out the domed bread ovens and the beautiful wine room (Jiko has the largest collection of South African wines the USA).

My tour companions were a great group of folks who had some good experience with the restaurant. We all discussed our favorite dishes–top of the list being the spiced ostrich filet appetizer, barbeque beef short ribs entree, and numerous desserts, including the pistachio creme brulee and, my favorite, the house-made lemon curd.

Jiko Trio of Dips

The tour was well worth the time, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting a few tastes of these restaurants (especially when I knew I wouldn’t be dining at them for a while). For anyone who’s a fan of Animal Kingdom Lodge or its restaurants, definitely stop by the next time you’re in the World for the culinary tour.

Kungaloosh Recipe!

By AJ 13 Comments

It’s been almost nine months since the last “curtain” on the Adventurer’s Club in Disney World’s Downtown Disney, and I figured some of us might be in withdrawal.

Radio-a-thon at Adventurer’s Club in Disney World

Kungalooshes are few and far between these days (they pop up from time to time in Disney World, and you can get them at Trader Sam’s in Disneyland), but when it’s late…and you’re lonely…you can always mix up a pitcher at home.

Well, it doesn’t HAVE to be late…and you don’t HAVE to be lonely…:

Kungaloosh Recipe (Frozen)

1 cup Daily’s Strawberry Daiquiri Mix
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum
1/4 cup blackberry brandy

Toss it in a blender with enough ice to make it slushy, or serve over ice.

Kungaloosh

Kungaloosh Recipe (On the Rocks)

1 1/4 ounce vodka
1 1/4 ounce Malibu Rum
3/4 ounce Midori (melon liqueur)
2 tablespoons pineapple juice
1 splash cranberry juice

Mix well.

Kungaloosh Old Style from Trader Sam’s in Disneyland

These recipes are from All Ears Net. The Frozen version is the recipe used from about the year 2000 forward. (It’s certainly the one I remember.) And the on-the-rocks version is the recipe used in the 90s.

Kungaloosh!

What are your favorite Adventurer’s Club memories??

Contempo Cafe

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Contempo Cafe

The Contemporary Resort went through a re-model not too long ago, which included the destruction of the Concourse Steakhouse and the creation of the Contempo Cafe in its place.

Contempo Cafe isn’t significantly impressive at first look–it’s a standard counter-service place that happens to be in the middle of the Grand Canyon Concourse. What I love about it, though, is the ordering system that’s in place. The “TV Touchscreen Ordering” is, quite simply, a picky eater’s dream come true.

Instructions

If you’ve ever seen Meg Ryan order food in When Harry Met Sally, you’ll know exactly what my dining companions must endure! I substitute this for that, I order most things without one or two of their essential ingredients, I need my sauces on the side…you get the idea. So what I love about the ordering system at Contempo Cafe (reminiscent of my beloved Sheetz Gas Station Made-To-Order service), is that you can make all the little specifications you want! It’s the ultimate “have it your way.”

So, if you’re a picky eater like me–or just like to try out touch-screen technology–

Ordering Screen

head over to the 4th floor of the Contemporary for a yummy flatbread (loaded or naked), a deli sandwich (build it as weird as you want it), or an omelet (with or withOUT those pesky veggies…).

Disney Nixes Pickles?

By admin 4 Comments

Just got word (through hearsay, of course) that Disney World has restricted pickle garnishes as a cost-cutting measure! Intriguing… I wonder how much Disney can save through pickle abolition…

Disney World Online Dining Reservation Info

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Disney Online Dining Reservations System

Keith at MouseMisers has posted his experience with the new Disney Dining Reservations system, currently available only to Travel Agents:

Walt Disney World launched the long awaited online reservation system for dining reservations. Originally due in 2008, it was launched late last night, currently for Travel Agents only. No indication was given when the tool will be made available to the general public, but my guess is 2 weeks of testing should do. Currently, only reservations May 26, 2009 and after are available in the system, so the logical launch date would be May 26, 2009. I guess we will have to wait and see.

Read more of his experience–and see screen shots of the system–on his blog.
mousemisers-logo1

Cheese Plate Series: Citricos

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Citricos Cheese Plate

Ah, another cheese plate post (you can see the first in the series, Narcoossees, here). Let’s stick with the Grand Floridian and head to a restaurant that I truly love and think is one of the best in Walt Disney World.

Citricos has exceptional food and wonderful service. It’s consistent, which we always like. The cheese plate isn’t one of my favorites, unfortunately. There were other appetizers that were just as good, if not better. But the waiter this trip mentioned that they change out their cheese menu often, so perhaps it will improve in the future (this plate is from February 2009).

Cheeses
Lemon Ricotta (Cow’s Milk; upper right hand corner of photo)
Yours truly is NOT a big fan of ricotta, and this was probably my least favorite cheese on the list. I think the lemon taste, along with the texture, was what I least enjoyed. This was the only local cheese on the list and is from central Florida.

Corsu Vecchiu (Sheep’s Milk; lower right-hand corner of photo)
Anything they serve with honey is always going to be my favorite; I’ll just get that out into the open right now. This was the “moderate” cheese on the plate and was undoubtedly our favorite. This is imported from Corsica.

Oregon Blue (Cow’s Milk; lower left-hand corner of photo)
The strongest cheese, as usual, was a blue. From the Rogue Creamery in Oregon, this is an award-winning blue that’s aged for 90 days in Roquefort modeled caves. We enjoyed this–especially with the raisins. It’s one of the weakest blues I’ve had recently.

Citricos Cheeses

“Book Early” Series: California Grill

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California Grill Logo

I’m sorry, but it has to be done.

I know it’s redundant, expected, and utterly stereotypical (three things I try to avoid), but I have to give props to the California Grill.

The General Overview (e.g. My Opinion)
I have had good meals there, and I have had not-so-good meals there. There’s been good service and bad service. And the tables that aren’t window tables make the dining experience decidedly “less than.” But, all in all, California Grill–sitting high atop the Contemporary Resort in Disney World–is essentially a great, expensive restaurant with good food worth paying for. And while you might expect the atmosphere to be a
little “nose-in-the-air,” the staff, in my experience, have been knowledgeable, down-to-earth folks who just want you to have a great time and enjoy yourself. For this, I love the California Grill.

Sunset at California Grill

Booking Early and Watching the Fireworks from California Grill
So why do you need to book early? Well, most of the time, you don’t. But I put it in my “book early” series
because one of the much-touted experiences in Disney World is watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks from your table at California Grill. This makes the reservations around the fireworks hour go quickly–you’ll need to book the full 180 days in advance to get a table during the fireworks if you’re headed to Disney World in a busy season, and at least a month ahead to get one during the slower months. That said, fireworks-view
tables aren’t guaranteed–all you can do is request a window table when you check in for your meal.

And if you don’t care whether you’re there for fireworks or not, you should be able to get a table at California Grill realtively easily, as long as you’re willing to eat at unpopular times.

Potato Celery Soup

I will say that I actually don’t enjoy watching the fireworks from California Grill. The vantage point of the restaurant is too far to the right of the castle, giving you a rather skewed view of the show (many of the fireworks are actually set off about a half mile behind the castle–being able to see this distance could essentially ruin the show for some people). Nope–I don’t care about the fireworks; but one of my absolute favorite Disney World experiences is watching the sun set from my table at California Grill. It sets behind the Grand Floridian, and the resulting skyline reflecting off of Seven Seas Lagoon is phenomenal. This I can highly recommend!

Soup Ingredients

Finally–the FOOD!
California Grill food is amazing. Now, I’m not a food critic by any stretch of the imagination; I have a 12-year-old’s palate at best and still LOVE me some chicken fingers and fries. But the fact that California Grill can please the food critics AND me has to be saying something!

On my most recent trip, I fell for the new potato-celery soup. It was so delicious that I asked our server for the recipe and, unable to do so, kindly brought me a list of the ingredients. California Grill’s market inspired menu means that the soup and other highlights change frequently, but I can only hope they’re all as wonderful as this.

Cheese Board

My other favorite (as you know if you’ve been following the food blog) is the cheese plate. California Grill has a lovely one, and every time I’ve tried it (it changes occasionally as well, of course), I’ve been pleased. I’ll do a blog in the near future highlighting the plate here.

My companion and I also tried the famous (it’s been on the menu since California Grill opened in 1995) Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli with sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, shiitake mushrooms and basil. This was superb. Along with the interesting (and surprisingly light) flatbreads, you could easily make a meal out of the appetizers at California Grill.

But why would you want to?!? From there, I indulged again in the always delicious Oak-fired Filet of Beef with cheesy Yukon gold potato mash, sautéed broccolini, and teriyaki barbecue sauce. Yes, it’s 44 bucks. But if a meal is going to be worth 44 bucks, it’s this.

One of the Many Flatbreads Available

Desserts are never the highlight at Disney’s “signature” restaurants (and nothing’s going to come close to ‘Ohana’s bread pudding), but California Grill is quite famous for its butterscotch and banana creme brulee.

Of course, with a theme like California, the Grill is known for its wine list (and extremely knowledgeable accompanying staff). And the restaurant also has a selection of sake to accompany its sushi bar.

Just Go. You’ll Be Glad You Did.
My parents recently asked me to suggest a “signature” restaurant where they could celebrate their anniversary in Disney World, and I immediately settled on California Grill. Although I do enjoy most of the

Filet of Beef and Cheesy Yukon Potatoes

other “high-end” restaurants in Disney World, one of the most celebratory and beautiful–not to mention delicious–in my estimation is easily the California Grill.

Make your reservations up to 90 days out by calling 407-WDW-DINE. Don’t forget that California Grill has a dress code (no ripped jeans, bathing suits, flip flops, etc.), and that the check-in desk is on the 2nd foor of the Contemporary Resort while the restaurant itself is on the 15th.

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Good Disney Food Posts Around the Web

Recipe: ‘Ohana Bread Pudding

Kidani Village’s Sanaa Restaurant

Animal Kingdom Lodge Restaurant Tours: Boma, Jiko, and Sanaa

Kungaloosh Recipe!

Kungaloosh Recipe (Frozen)

Kungaloosh Recipe (On the Rocks)

Contempo Cafe

Disney Nixes Pickles?

Disney World Online Dining Reservation Info

Cheese Plate Series: Citricos

“Book Early” Series: California Grill

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POLICIES & CREDITS

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Category: disney resorts

Kungaloosh Recipe (Frozen)

Kungaloosh Recipe (On the Rocks)

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER EBOOKS

POLICIES & CREDITS