Restaurant Review: Yak and Yeti

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…]

Disney Food Round-Up: January 24, 2010

By AJ Leave a Comment

Eat here

Welcome to a brand new week with a whole lot of Disney food news! Let’s recap of the news covered right here on the Disney Food Blog, just in case you missed it:

Pizzeria News: Suspected name and menus for the Epcot Italy Pizzeria
Epcot Construction Pics: Italy Pizzeria and Cantina de San Angel
Speculation: Disney’s Aulani restaurants and Saratoga Springs quick-service spot
Refurb and Re-opening: Disneyland Wine Country Trattoria and wine bar
Interview: D23 Expo and F&W Festival Official Artist, Tim Rogerson

Also, Disney food fans should check out the latest WDWToday Podcast — I got to sit in and talk about eating healthy in WDW!

WEEKLY ROUND-UP
Scott Joseph’s Orlando Restaurant Guide, restaurant critic extraordinaire, reviews San Angel Inn.

SamLand’s Disney Adventures visits the Tiki Room Lanai in Disneyland and shares his Dole Whip. Did you know the Tiki Room was envisioned by Walt as a dinner theater restaurant?

Daveland takes us to the Hollywood Brown Derby. (Amazing photos, yet again.)

Main Street Gazette takes us on Epcot’s World Showcase Wine Walk!

Duckman’s Blog shares a fantastic story about a custom cake at the Polynesian.

TouringPlans.com goes to Kouzzina! Opa!

AllEarsNet has an incredible report about a vegan meal at ‘Ohana. Chef TJ does it again!

All Things Cupcake spotted some great cupcakes at Disney World!

Only WDWorld shares a delicious look at Epcot’s Tangierine Cafe.

Orlando Sentinel’s Daily Disney shares a blast from the past with six recipes from Spoodles, and also asks Is Rainforest Cafe or T-Rex better for kids?

Speaking of Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex, WDW Central wonders if the entertainment justifies the expense.

Thanks again for all the great food posts! Looking forward to this week’s delicious Disney posts.

Disneyland Wine Bar Re-opens During Wine Country Trattoria Refurb

By AJ Leave a Comment

The OC Register is reporting that a long-closed wine bar in Disneyland has been reopened for a few months.

The bar is open while the Wine Country Trattoria restaurant is closed for refurbishments. Workers are expanding the seating area and kitchen, which is being renovated, said John McClintock, a Disneyland Resort spokesman.

The Trattoria will re-open in April or early May, and the renovations will provide more seating in the upper-level Vineyard Room area.

Robert Mondavi operated the Golden Vine Winery area during the first eight months of Disney’s California Adventure’s existence, but the wine maker pulled out of the restaurant and wine bars because of losses at the time.

Cheers!

Breakfast and a Good Read

By AJ 11 Comments

Jeff Kocan, who comments around here as JeffK, sent along this photo. I’m considering using it as a desktop screen. Or maybe I’ll make a calendar out of it.

Main Street Bakery Cinnamon Roll

To go along with this delicious breakfast, Jeff sent along a hilarious blog post titled “The Stars (?) From Disney’s All Star Music Resort.” As he says, it’s “poking a little gentle fun at the All-Star Music food court mural–my girlfriend and I laughed about that thing every morning during our December trip.”

It’s pretty funny, and it mentions Nigel Tufnel…and any mention of Nigel Tufnel within a Disney context worth a read, don’t you think?

Thanks, Jeff.

FriedDoughFunnelCakeElephantEar

By AJ 24 Comments

I’m honored to say that I got the chance to tape another WDWToday show yesterday (You can listen to it over on WDWToday.com)! The show is about healthy eating in Walt Disney World, but somehow we ended up talking about Funnel Cakes — and I quickly realized I’ve never mentioned Funnel Cakes here on the blog.

What’s a theme park food blog without a Funnel Cake post?!

Forgive me for the oversight, and let me appeal to you with a few photos.

Funnel Cake with Powdered Sugar

As you can see, funnel cakes are basically a bunch of sweet dough pushed through a funnel and fried into a funny shape in a whole bunch of oil. You can have them plain, covered in [Read more…]

Speculation: Disney’s Aulani Restaurants & New Saratoga Springs Quick-Service

By AJ 5 Comments

There are a few new, yet-to-be-named restaurants that we get to start speculating about. These include the two restaurants at Disney’s Aulani Resort and Spa in Hawai’i, and the new quick-service dining location scheduled to open with the upgraded Paddock Pool at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort. All are set to open in 2011.

Aulani Restaurants
According to several articles posted about Disney’s new Aulani Resort and Spa in Ko Olina, Oahu, Hawai’i, the resort will have two restaurants. I haven’t found any [Read more…]

Epcot Italy Pizzeria: Naples 45 Menu

By AJ 21 Comments

New York's Naples 45

WDWNewsToday is reporting that the Epcot pizzeria currently under construction will be another Patina Restaurant Group “Naples 45 Ristorante e Pizzeria.” (See Construction Pics here.)

This is a chain restaurant with its original location in New York City (on 45th St., which is where the name “Naples 45” was born), and another location in Disneyland’s Downtown Disney.

Both the Disneyland and New York City locations are table-service, and the menu includes a wide variety of appetizers, soups and salads, fish and meat dishes, and pizzas. No word on whether the Disney World location will be table-service, counter-service, or both.

Here are the New York restaurant’s menus — no idea if they’ll be the same, but I bet they’ll translate at least some of these dishes to the WDW location:
Naples 45 Breakfast Menu (note — the World Showcase location means breakfast might not be served in the Disney World Naples 45)
Naples 45 Lunch Menu
Naples 45 Dinner Menu
Naples 45 Dessert Menu

Looking for something?

STAY CONNECTED