Disney's California Food and Wine Festival 2010 | the disney food blog

takes place at Disney’s California Adventure Park from April 16 to May 31, 2010. The festival includes delicious culinary demonstrations, wine seminars, celebrity chefs and more — all highlighting the wonderful dishes California has to offer along with a look at international cuisine.

Like Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival, some events are included with Park admission, others require separate tickets and reservations.

What Can I Do There?
Here’s just a sampling of the events available at the 2010 Disney’s California Food & Wine Festival. To see ALL of the events available, including dates, times, prices, and reservation information, visit our Disney’s California Food & Wine Festival page!:

“Taste of California” Marketplace: Sample unique foods created specifically for the festival, wine and beer pairings, and tapas-sized portions of gourmet items.
Chef Showcase Stage: See celebrity and noted chefs, including chefs from the Disneyland Resort, showcase their expertise!
NEW! Brewmaster Dinner: The Karl Strauss Brewing Company hosts this delicious and educational event, where gourmet dishes are expertly paired with, well, suds 😉
Date: Friday, May 7
Time: 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Location: Steakhouse 55
Napa Rose Cooking School: Chef Andrew Sutton enlightens guests, leading them through the creation of a 4-course meal. (I hope it includes that hot cocoa he made on the Guy Fieri Disneyland Holidays show!)
Date: Saturdays, April 17, May 1, 8, 15 and 22
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Location: Napa Rose, Disney’s Grand California Hotel®
Wine, Beer and Spirits Education and Tasting Seminars: Seminars will be led by noted winemakers, brewers, and distillers. Some will also include Disneyland sommeliers.
Junior Chef: A favorite from previous years, this is cooking class for chefs ages 11 and under.
Festival Wine Walks: This is a lot like the World Showcase Wine Walk in Epcot! Each walk allows you to purchase a tasting passport and select up to four tastes from around the world, or from a single region.
Festival Beer Walk: Sample beers, lagers, and ales from around the world.
Much More!!: Remember: these are just a few of the options available during the festival! Check out our Disney’s California Food & Wine Festival page for ALL of the details, including times, dates, prices, and reservation information!

I’ll see ya there! 😉

Valentine’s Day Dining Options in Disneyland and Disney World

By AJ 2 Comments

If the candies and cookies highlighted in our Disney World Valentine’s Day Treats post (yum!!) don’t satisfy your “savory tooth”, several Disney hotels and restaurants are featuring delicious Valentine’s Day prix fix meals or specials. Here are the details:

Tutto Italia Carnevale Celebration
Join in the party as Tutto Italia in Epcot’s World Showcase celebrates Carnevale! Bring your own mask or buy one there! You can see details and booking info by clicking on the image below:

Carnevale Menu and Info at Tutto Italia

Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort
Todd English’s bluezoo at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort is introducing a special romantic menu just for Valentine’s Day Weekend (Friday, Feb. 12th – Sunday, Feb. 14th). It includes:

wagyu ny strip and mero seabass for two: caramelize onion rosti, hammock hollows braised greens, béarnaise, lobster jus $90
halibut: parsley root, baby fennel, finger lime, lemon balm $36
cocktail: flaming heart: hangar one raspberry, godiva white chocolate liqueur, pama liqueur, rose petal-tea, fresh muddled raspberries, topped with flaming raspberries $13

For more information or reservations, call (407) 934-1609. Reservations recommended. Tables in Wonderland Valentine’s Day Chocolate Dinner

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with fellow tables in wonderland members with a Chocolate-focused dinner! You can see the full menu [Read more…]

Recipe: Spanakopita from Chef Cat Cora, Kouzzina

By AJ 4 Comments

Kouzzina Spanakopita

I haven’t seen any Kouzzina recipes floating around since its grand opening last fall, so I found this Cat Cora Spanakopita recipe on the Food Network site. I figure, since the restaurant is Cat’s first signature restaurant, the Disney version can’t be too far from this one, right? 😉

The main difference I see is that this recipe is in pie form, where Disney’s portions are clearly made individually. @gbastian suggested via twitter to swap out the pie crust for puff pastry, or you can go Greek and use phyllo.

We sampled Spanakopita when we visited Kouzzina last September, and, [Read more…]

Memory Lane: 1955 Disneyland Restaurant Ads

By AJ 7 Comments

Like Adventureland and Fantasyland, the “Kingdom of Good Eating” at Disneyland is another great attraction.

PaleoFuture

recently published on scribd a scan of the July 15, 1955, Souvenir edition of the Long Beach Independent Press-Telegram. This is a Disneyland edition, on the front of which Walt Disney himself introduces Disneyland’s Magic Kingdom to the readers:

Presented in this special newspaper section are a few of the many delights and wonders that are yours to enjoy in Disneyland.

The paper includes stories about Disneyland’s new attractions, along with ads for Disneyland’s contracted landscapers, gas company, electric company, roofers, bra shoppe (??), and more. Of course, what we’re interested in is the food.

The following are several ads for the new Disneyland restaurants, along with one of a few journalistic stories about the dining options. If an image is too small to read, just click and enlarge.

Intro to the “Kingdom of Good Eating” in Disneyland

An intro to Eating Land at Disneyland

[Read more…]

Disney World Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop

By AJ 22 Comments

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Girardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop!

Ghirardelli Soda Fountain Downtown Disney

I hope you’re hungry, because we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. But let’s talk about atmosphere first:

Atmosphere
I know, I know — you want to see ice cream. Okay…you can be naughty and scroll ahead to see the photos, but come back up here when you’re done to read all about the place or [Read more…]

New Angus Burgers at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe

By AJ 13 Comments

Update!@marcomboy

tweeted to me the following regarding his Pecos Bill’s Angus Burger review!:

Tried the new Angus burger @ Pecos Bill. Manager was going around and asking for opinions on its first day of being served.

The burgers are pretty lean. Not too greasy. They had a decent char on them, like you would over BBQ at home. Good stuff.

Then, based on comments I’d received on this post, I asked him if the buns were falling apart. He responded:

I don’t remember them crumbling like I know wheat buns can. Both my wife and I took full advantage of the condiment bar. Onions, mushrooms, lettuce, tomatoes, the works — and they seem to hold up just fine.

______________________________

WDWInfo is reporting that there are two new burgers on the menu over at Pecos Bill’s! They will now be serving a one-third pound Angus burger and a one-third pound specialty Angus burger.

No word yet on price, or on what, exactly, differentiates a “specialty” angus burger from a regular angus burger, but I just figured I’d let those of you who like some serious meat know about the change!

Thanks to Kelly Tressler for the heads up!

Restaurant Review: Yak and Yeti

By AJ 25 Comments

Today, guest blogger Shayne Newell, author of Shayne’s Project 365, has kindly contributed a great review and some gorgeous photos from Animal Kingdom’s Yak and Yeti Restaurant! Take it away, Shayne!Background and Restaurant Atmosphere

Yak & Yeti is one of only two full service restaurants completely within the gates of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. My husband and I recently returned from a trip to Walt Disney World (without our kids!). In my research leading up to the trip, I had heard a number of good things about Yak & Yeti, but also saw a few not-so-favorable reviews. As we started to plan our vacation and realized that we would be spending one morning at Animal Kingdom, with our main goal being to ride Expedition Everest a couple of times, Yak & Yeti seemed like a natural choice. We actually ended up eating there twice during our vacation and so were able to try a variety of dishes. [Read more…]

Disney Parks Blog Confirms Epcot Pizzeria

By AJ 11 Comments

Construction From Front of Pavilion

The Disney Parks Blog has confirmed information about the Italy pizzeria that we already knew…:

There will be a pizzeria in Epcot’s Italy
It will open later this year (DFB Note: we’ve heard September 1st floating around)
It will have authentic Neapolitan pizza and other Italian dishes
The restaurant will be run by the Patina Group, who also runs Tutto Italia

BUT — they’re also telling us some things we didn’t know:

The restaurant will seat 300
It will have “traditional Florentine architecture,” including vaulted ceilings and outside dining
The pizzeria will be “family style,” which could mean several different things
The pizza will be from a wood-burning oven
They’re…um…importing the water — though they don’t say from where they’re importing it…

It’ll be imported from a source where the composition most resembles water used in Naples, Italy, to make the authentic Italian dough.

Even though Disney Parks says the restaurant doesn’t officially have a name, we still think it’ll be a lot like Naples 45 in New York and Disneyland, and that the menus will be close to what we reported last week. But, Disney’s been known to pull the old switcheroo, so we’ll keep our ears open and our eyes peeled! Click here for Epcot Italy Pizzeria construction pics.

Free Tortillas in Disneyland

By AJ 4 Comments

The OC Register recently reported a fun fact about the Mission Tortilla Factory next to Paradise Pier: free tortillas!

If you’re hungry during your California Adventure touring, duck over into the Factory for Disneyland’s very own tortilla tour! At the end of an interesting tour about California’s tortilla history and the inner-workings of a tortilla factory, guests are sent off with a fresh tortilla for free!

Valentine’s Day Treats (and One Super Bowl Treat!) in Disney World

By AJ 9 Comments

Disney World is already gearing up for the sweetest holiday of the year and pushing the heart-shaped goodies to the front of the store! A huge thank you goes out to the wonderful Ms. Erin Foster, who snapped some sugary photos on her recent MLK weekend trip. And a big hug goes out to my Dad, Papa Food Blog, who contributed a few more while on a last-minute escape from snowy western New York.

Erin also grabbed a shot of the one Super Bowl treat she found — a lonely (but yummy looking) rice krispies treat. (I know; we need more Disney edible goods that celebrate the wonderfulness that is American Football. But this is a start!)

Go Saints! Go Colts! (Not sure who I’m rooting for, yet… ;))

Since the Super Bowl comes first chronologically, we’ll start with that treat and follow it with the pink and red ones! [Read more…]

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