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First Look! Epcot Via Napoli Pictures

Hey all! As we reported, Monday was Via Napoli‘s first day open to walk-in guests, and — lucky us — we got some pics from some wonderful DFB readers! Check out these fantastic photos:

First, a few external shots. You can see that Via Napoli has a completely different “look and feel” from the rest of the Italy pavilion. It’s much more “movie-set” than what you see to the right and left.

How Via Napoli Fits In With The Rest of Italy

A Close Up Shot of the Exterior

Lots of Folks In and Out of Italy Today

Heading inside, you’re greeted by a large lobby and a massive check-in desk. You can see the whole restaurant through the windows of the lobby, and the decor and themeing are colorful as well as light and “airy.” It feels somewhat more like “farmhouse” Italy with a contemporary twist; the brightness of the restaurants, high ceilings, and accent colors remind me a lot of Naples in Disneyland, a sister restaurant to Via Napoli run by the same company — The Patina Group.

Check In Area

Lobby Chandelier

Lobby Tile

Lobby Tile Close Up

Servers

From here, you enter into the expanse of the restaurant proper. To your right, you’ll find a room covered in an “aged” fresco depicting nature scenes, trees, grasses, and blue sky. In the center of this part of the restaurant, you’ll find acqua fresca containers holding strawberry, lemon, and blood orange flavors. Outside some double doors is an [Read more…]

First Picture of Epcot’s Via Napoli Ovens

By AJ 6 Comments

Disney social media director, Thomas Smith, treated twitter followers to a special treat when he twitpic’d a photo of the Via Napoli ovens during a test meal last night!

As you know, Via Napoli’s wood-burning ovens in the photo are named after the three active volcanoes in Italy –- Mount Etna, Mount Vesuvius and Stromboli!

The restaurant will open to walk-in customers on Monday, and a media opening will be held on August 5th. The restaurant will continue to take walk-in customers only through September 10th. Grand opening festivities will be held on September 10th. Guests can make Via Napoli reservations for September 10th and later starting on August 6th. Call 407-WDW-DINE or check out DisneyWorld.com.

To see all of the Disney Food Blog coverage of Via Napoli, click here!

Via Napoli Reservations

By AJ 6 Comments

Great news! Pam Brandon over at the Disney Parks Blog has announced a few more details about Via Napoli:

You will be able to start booking reservations by August 6th for the official opening day — September 10th — and later.
A “grand opening” will be held August 5th, and walk-up patrons will be admitted through the September 10th official opening. After that, those with advanced dining reservations will be given priority.

Other news:

Table service only (no pizza window 🙁 )
Disney Dining Plan is accepted (one point per person per meal)
Lunch and dinner menus will be the same

Click the link to see our other coverage of Epcot’s Via Napoli.

“The Best Thing I Ever Ate in Disney!”: Snacks and Drinks

By AJ 53 Comments

We’ve recently started a fun new series based on the Food Network’s (very cool) show, The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Due to some keen suggestions from readers, we’re splitting our series up into different sections: breakfast, appetizers & side dishes, snacks & drinks, entrees (lunch & dinner), and desserts.

School Bread

Today, we’re taking a look at Snacks & Drinks! I’ve done my favorite brand of informal polling (i.e. posted questions on twitter and facebook 😉 ) to find out others’ experiences of the “Best Thing They Ever Ate” — snacks and drinks style — in Disney parks and resorts. To be sure, the answers sounded veeeery similar to our recent post about the Best Value for your Snack Credits, but we had a few different ideas as well!

[Read more…]

Epcot’s Via Napoli Menu

By AJ 23 Comments

Disneyland's Naples Pepperoni Pizza -- Sister Restaurant to Via Napoli

Update: This restaurant is now in soft opening! See full Via Napoli menu here.

Thanks to Pam Brandon and the Disney Parks Blog, we now know that Via Napoli will be opening early — next month! — and we have a good idea of the menu for the upcoming Via Napoli in Epcot’s Italy pavilion!

Appetizers will include:

Sicilian eggplant with olives and raisins
arancini (fried saffron risotto balls) with meat ragù, mozzarella and pomodoro sauce
corn-crusted fried calamari
minestrone with basil pesto
A shareable plate of arancini, mozzarella, calamari, portobella mushrooms, asparagus, zucchini and carciofi (artichokes) is also available

Main course salads

will include:

Manzo (filet of beef) with greens, red onion, gorgonzola, apple and cucumber with a red wine-mustard vinaigrette
chopped salad with lemon chicken, greens, cantaloupe, cucumber, red pepper, green beans, onions, almonds and pasta crisps with honey-citrus vinaigrette
calamari with arugula, carrots and fennel with orange vinaigrette

Pasta dishes

will include:

candele (long, tube-shaped pasta) with sausage ragù
linguine with seafood; malfadine (ribbon pasta) with guanciale (unsmoked Italian bacon) and pomodoro sauce
lasagna verde

The Wood-fired pizzas, which is what Disney is hoping the restaurant is known for, will be made with caputo flour imported from Southern Italy, San Marzano tomatoes, handmade mozzarella, and water from a local spring just like in Italy’s Campania region. The 10-inch, 20-inch or 1/2 meter-sized pies will come in a dozen choices, from a simple pizza Margherita with tomato, mozzarella and basil to carciofi with artichoke, potato, pecorino cheese, prosciutto and cantaloupe.

Also available will be Piatti alla Parmigiana, which are dishes topped with Parmesan and mozzarella gratinée. These will include veal, chicken, and eggplant.

Finally, the desserts! These will include:

tiramisù
zeppole di ricotta (ricotta cheese-fried dough, whipped cream and chocolate sauce);
apple cake with almond sorbetti
vanilla gelato with almond cookies and amarena cherries

The pictures I’ve linked to in this post are what we sampled at Naples in Disneyland, a restaurant also run by The Patina Group. You can see the full review of Naples here.

To see more of our coverage of Via Napoli, along with specifics about the restaurant’s interior decor, three massive pizza ovens, and more, check out this page for links.

As always, check out the Disney Parks Blog for further info on Via Napoli.

Disney Food Post Round-Up: June 27, 2010

By AJ Leave a Comment

The Frito Kid

It’s been another big week in Disney Food news! Here are a few of our favorite stories from the past few days:

Animal Kingdom welcomes the Taste of Africa Street Party this summer. This event is free to park guests. Click the link to learn more!
Lots of new 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival info, including: a list of 2010 International Marketplace booths, timing for many of the Food and Wine Festival events, and more! Check our “Breaking News” section of the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival info page for details
Tables in Wonderland July Events were announced, including two more dinners IN the Great Movie Ride

Also, just some quick reminders:
1. Disney Food Blog now has a Flickr Group — Disney Food Blog Photo Extravaganza! If you’re a flickr user, come peruse and post Disney Food pics!
2. The Disney Food Blog Foodie Fest is scheduled for October 3rd, 2010! Save the date, and sign up for The Disney Food Blog newsletter for all the latest updates on this and other Disney Food Blog events.

Now, on to the round-up!

Kevin Kidney, whose blog is one of the most interesting things in the Disney space, has sent me into Disney Food heaven with this post on the Frito Kid. You MUST (must, must, must) click this link of Jim Campbell’s Frito Kid “interactive experience.” Just drop the coin in the slot to sample a taste of Disney history. (Click here to read the history of the Frito Kid. To see more of Jim Campbell’s work, click here.)

Cookie Madness (hands-down one of my favorite baking blogs of all time) has put together a new recipe for Minnie’s Bakeshop Inspired cookies! Yum!

The Disney Blog has details on Adult Cooking Classes in Disney World’s Downtown Disney on July 10th, 2010! If you go, send pictures! 🙂

Party Through the Parks has taken Drinking Around the World to a new level.

Main Street Gazette Heads to two rarely-open Magic Kingdom counter-service spots!

Scott Joseph Orlando shares a rumor that the Empress Room might make a reappearance — for one night — this Fall.

50's Prime Time Cafe Malted Milkshake

Touring Plans had a foodie kind of week on their blog! Two of my favorite bloggers showcased favorite treats in Disney World and a meal at the 50’s Prime Time Cafe!

The English Disney Blog reviews dinner at the California Grill.

Chip and Co. posted a video about the central Disneyland Resort bakery and the work they do throughout the resort.

WDW Public Affairs released info about a Disney World-sponsored Chef’s Gala raises $170,000 for a local United Way Chapter. Thanks to StitchKingdom.com for the tip.

The Disney Website has a couple of fun interactive games for kids that will help them learn about food groups and how to choose healthy foods. I liked Mickey’s Mess Hall and Lilo’s Luau — just watch the animation and click to train for and play the games.

Sunshine Seasons: Fresh Food Fast

By AJ 27 Comments

Sunshine Seasons in Epcot’s The Land continually tops reader favorites lists for best quick-service eatery. Everyone seems to love this place, and I’m not arguing with them. It offers a wide variety of high-quality dishes and includes some healthier items as well. It feels more like a resort food court than anything else, and those extra options make it desirable as a quick-service spot.

Atmosphere
Sunshine Seasons is housed on the ground floor of The Land pavilion, which is essentially a massive room with attractions shooting off in all directions, spoke-and-wheel style. The food-court style ordering area is situated in a free-form semi-circle across from the Soarin’ and Living With The Land attractions. [Read more…]

Epcot Germany’s Karamelle-Kuche to Open in Late September

By AJ 10 Comments

New info has surfaced about the Werther’s Candy Shop in Germany, set to open in September 2010.

The official name will be Karamelle-Kuche, or “caramel kitchen,” and the shop will take over the prior Glas and Porzellan shop in Epcot’s Germany. The store will feature a show kitchen, in which cast members will be making caramel popcorn and apples, and caramel-covered strawberries.

The shop will also sell gourmet caramels, cookies, brownies, fudge, and cupcakes. This is the only free-standing shop in the world for Storck, the makers of Werther’s candies, so there will be some one-of-a-kind items there as well.

Source: Disney Parks Blog

Epcot Via Napoli Menu Items and Storyline

By AJ 21 Comments

Disneyland's Naples Pepperoni Pizza -- Sister Restaurant to Via Napoli

Update: Via Napoli reservations available August 6th. The restaurant will soft open on August 5th and grand open on September 10th.

According to a press release from the Patina Group, here’s a bit more information trickling out about Epcot’s new Italian Pizzeria, Via Napoli, set to open in September 2010:

Menu Items

Featured on the Via Napoli Menu will be several authentic Neapolitan pizzas. Here are just a few that were mentioned in the press release:

pizza bianca (the restaurant will likely offer several different types of white pizza)
quattro stagioni (featuring artichokes, ham, eggplant, mushrooms, tomatoes)
piccante (with chicken sausage, tomatoes, hot pepper, provolone, mozzarella)
traditional margherita pizza

Famed Pizzaiolo Charlie Restivo will serve as executive chef, and ingredients will include Marzano tomatoes, Caputo flour, handmade fresh mozzarella, Parma Cotto, crumbled sausage, and water calibrated specifically to the pH found in Naples.

Storyline and Restaurant Features

The three wood-burning ovens of Via Napoli will be named after the three active volcanoes in Italy –- Mount Etna, Mount Vesuvius and Stromboli (ah ha — a Pinocchio reference! Or is that the other way around…).

Each oven will be sculpted with the “face of the volcano” — reflecting the gods whose mythology surrounds each volcano’s history.

That’s what we know so far! Check out our other coverage of Epcot’s Via Napoli here.

Two Le Cellier Meals. One Day. It Can Be Done.

By AJ 36 Comments

And we did it. That’s right, folks, I actually booked two Le Cellier reservations in one day. I know you think I’m crazy, so just know that our two visits to the steakhouse on the same day were due to a crazy turn of events…we’ll leave it at that. 😉 Luckily, our two visits translate into a whole lot of food pics and info for the blog, so yay!

Atmosphere

Located in Epcot‘s Canada pavilion, Le Cellier means “The Cellar” in Canadian (ha ha. just kidding. it’s French), so walking into the restaurant means you’re gloriously shoved from the (often) hot, humid, sticky Florida sun into a cool, dark, stone room. While I realize this is probably not ideal for the Canadian Cast Members who work there and probably came to Florida to get a little sun, it’s great for us tourists who are baking all day in the parks!

Le Cellier Entryway

The rooms of Le Cellier Steakhouse are made up of stone-textured archways lit by dripping “candle” sconces — it really does feel like you’re dining in someone’s wine cellar. And the tiny size of the dining room means that reservations here are some of the hardest to get in Disney World (thus my two in one day debacle — if I wanted to eat at Le Cellier twice during our trip, I had to do it twice in one day as all other reservations were taken for the entire trip).

Le Cellier Dining Room

FYI: My mom’s favorite part of Le Cellier is that the tiny dining room is invisibly broken up into the Canadian provinces. Her favorite thing to do as soon as we’re seated is ask the server “where we’re sitting.” It’s always fun if we’re in Ontario, because then we can talk about how we’re from Buffalo. Anywho — on with the review!

Eats

It isn’t 100% clear to me what constitutes “Canadian cuisine.” I’m extremely [Read more…]

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