food IS a theme park
We enjoyed a lovely meal earlier this summer at the signature California Grill in Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
California Grill
From cocktails to bread service to Beer and Cheese Soup and MUCH more, our meal was filled with highlights. That said, we couldn’t help but notice that one of our favorite items was not on the menu during our most recent visit: the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli. [Read more…]
If you ask us, trips to Disney World are pretty great — but what if we could make them even better?
Magic Kingdom
You’ve probably heard us talk about how to upgrade your Disney trip (like with a fireworks dessert party!). BUT, many of these upgrades can be costly! A Disney trip is super expensive on its own, but you still might be able to fit a few surprisingly inexpensive upgrades into your budget.
We’ve got a super fun list of 50 Disney World upgrades for under $50 that could add a LOT of EXTRA to your next Disney trip for…not a lot extra. 😉
With Le Cellier Steakhouse now a TWO table-service credit restaurant for both lunch and dinner on the Disney Dining Plan, the restaurant has changed over to an all-day menu (effective January 16, 2013).
Located in Epcot’s Canada, this signature restaurant’s all-day menu means that guests looking for a burger will no longer find one here. (Total bummer, as it was one of our favorites.) But the lobster mac ‘n cheese will now be available for lunch and dinner.
For starters, Le Cellier’s chopped lobster salad or bowl of the cult favorite Cheddar Cheese Soup are excellent choices. Don’t forget about the poutine fries, too (Hubba Hubba)!
Plus, the seasonal salad now being offered is greens with duck prosciutto, blue cheese, fig-almond cake and a soft-boiled egg.
Poutine Fries...two orders...don't judge
Entrees are still plentiful, and steak-focused. Canadian-raised beef choices include a grilled bone-in ribeye, New York Strip, and the famous (and awesome) Filet Mignon.
That Filet Mignon is a fan favorite with its white truffle-butter sauce and wild mushroom risotto.
Mushroom Filet Mignon with White Truffle Butter Sauce and Micro Chevril
Vegetarians will continue to enjoy seasonal offerings, including a winter squash ravioli with sage brown butter. And the menu includes year-round sustainable seafood by Chef Al Youngman.
For dessert, the Maple Creme Brulee and Trio of Chocolate are [Read more…]
When planning meals for our October trip to Walt Disney World, I realized it had been a LONG time since we’d visited California Grill at Disney’s Contemporary Resort! And I haven’t reported on it here on the blog for over a year, so I figured it was time to get a little updating in!
Let’s head over to the check-in desk, shall we…?
To access California Grill, guests need to head to the 2nd floor of the Contemporary Resort and visit the restaurant’s check-in desk (you can get here by elevator, or by taking the stairs/from the back of the lobby).
Once you’re checked in, you’ll be waved over to a special elevator — one used only for California Grill guests — and taken up to the restaurant itself on the 15th floor of the hotel!
Entry from Elevators
I’m always immediately impressed by the nearly 360-degree view of Walt Disney World. The gorgeous, sprawling Grand Floridian Resort in front of you; the spires of Cinderella Castle, Big Thunder mountain, and Space Mountain to your right; and the Wilderness Lodge and Epcot to your left will make it difficult for most folks to tear themselves away from the walls of windows to take a look at the menu!
When you walk in, you’ll be greeted at the podium and (likely) handed a pager. No worries; there’s lots to do while you’re waiting. Start walking toward the windows and you’ll pass the California Grill Bar and head into the lounge area.
California Grill Bar
California Grill Bar
California Grill Lounge
Here’s a tip! If you don’t have a [Read more…]
We’re so excited to have a review of Disney’s Aulani Resort’s premier restaurant just a few days after its opening! Mark Hickson is a Disney fan, a former Disney Imagineer, and a Hawai’i resident and food blogger (among many other things). We’re honored to share this article with our readers. Thanks, Mark!
'Ama 'Ama Beachside Restaurant
So the resort has been open for five days now and I thought it would be the perfect time to dine in the resort’s signature restaurant, ‘AMA ‘AMA. The restaurant is named after the tasty mullet fish ʻamaʻama that us locals enjoy.
The setting is an open air thatched roof fishing shack and a minimalist fishing factory with concrete pillars and a large fish holding tanks complete with pipeline and spigot. Of all the beautiful facilities at Aulani Resort this place’s theme is the only one that doesn’t work.
Our reservations were for 5:30pm and my wife and I were seated directly. Unfortunately since it is an open air dining area (no walls), the sun was low enough to shine in so it was very bright and hot at our table. In retrospect I would wait until sunset to be seated.
Take a look at the official ‘AMA ‘AMA menus below:
click image for larger version
click image for larger version
For drinks I ordered a Pineapple Papaya Cosmo. It was fun, tropical and fresh with a light foam on top. Good enough to order a second, which I did! My wife’s coffee was [Read more…]
One of Disney World’s “signature” restaurants, Bistro de Paris is a truly elegant getaway from stereotypical theme park dining.
The restaurant is the concept of French chefs Roger Verge, Paul Bocuse, and the late Gaston Lenotre; these three also created concepts for — and originally ran — Chefs de France downstairs from the Bistro and the Boulangerie Patisserie next door. Today, Chef Bocuse’s son keeps an eye on the proceedings here.
Bistro is expensive and high-end, and service is usually excellent. I’ve heard raves about this restaurant, but I’ve also heard that it can be disappointing. My review lands somewhere in the middle.
The entrance to the restaurant can be tough to find! Guests must walk into the France pavilion and all the way around Chefs de France before coming to a small, residential-looking door marked with a small Bistro sign and menu. I can imagine wandering around the pavilion for quite some time if I were looking for this place in the dark!
Once you enter, things become much more…refined. The general feeling of the Bistro lobby is one of richness.
Entryway Ceiling
Lighting
The deep red carpeting, brass fixtures, milk-glass light treatments, and drop-dead gorgeous art nouveau staircase and “chandelier” are [Read more…]
You guys are in for a treat today. One of the best food photographers I know has agreed to write a guest blog about her experience at Artist Point in Disney’s Wilderness Lodge! Thanks to Morgan Rooks for this culinary adventure.
Artist Point
I had long wanted to try Artist Point, located at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. I would often eye the menu listed at AllEars, my eyes lingering over particularly alluring delights like venison pot stickers and cedar plank roasted salmon, while my fiance would frown at the suggestion — having remembered a bad experience from years past.
Finally, my chance would come in January 2010, due to my dear fiance’s parents, who have rekindled their love for the establishment. It was the last day of our vacation when we boarded the boat from Magic Kingdom. The hull cut its way through inky black waters, past the lights of the Contemporary, headed to the dock of Wilderness Lodge. We reached our destination, and the long wooden dock, flanked with intricate lanterns that called us into our Pacific Northwest inspired destination.
Wilderness Lodge Walkway From Dock
Atmosphere
The restaurant is elegant, yet earthy and rustic, which gives it a relaxing and welcoming atmosphere. Lighting — styled like the lanterns we saw outside — hung over head, and a wall of long windows offers a view of the wooded lands that surround the resort.
Artist Point Lanterns
Tall wooden beams emulate the majestic trees of the [Read more…]
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