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| Bacon! Bacon! Bacon! |
I have just discovered something about the food in Florida. Those of you that have followed my blog know how much I berate the bacon at Disney World. Well I might owe the people of Disney an apology in singling them out. Currently, as I write this portion of the blog post, I am sitting in the Miami-Dade County airport on a long layover to go to Manaus Brazil on a business trip. The journey started early this morning when I left Indy at 6:30 in the morning. My first priority upon arrival in Miami was to find a restroom of course, then find the gate area for my 5:00 pm flight for Manaus. Then it was time to find a bit of breakfast. I found it in a fairly large cafeteria area in the center of D concourse called La Carretta. The food was hot, tasty and fast. The Standout dish for me was the creamy grits they served as a side dish to the eggs. But low and behold what did I discover when I was eating my breakfast. The same weak floppy bacon that Disney serves. I am surprised that Bacon like this even exists. Anyway, It seems that bad bacon may be found across Florida. I'm sure somebody in this beautiful state makes bacon that is crispy and thick and flavorful, but I don't think I have found it yet. As these recent posts have been about food in Disney World I though it was probably appropriate to talk about Bacon.
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| I think this would be a great value even if i paid for it. |
Recently, I received some advice that i should keep these posts shorter, making them quicker to read. This is really Something that i'm am afraid at which I will fail miserably, However, my post on food would have been a lot longer had I not broken it up into two posts. This time around I want to talk about some of the other Signiture restaurants that serve up some of the best food at Disney. Some of these restaurants were not visited on our most recent trip to Disney World. Some I have tasted the food as recently as last December. A few of the restaurants I am going to write about have been refurbished since I have eaten there and warrant another visit. Once again, I'll include the cost for the dinner in Disney Dining credits where it applies.
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| I wanted to eat here, but now it is gone (I think) |
By no means do I claim any sort of record for the number of visits to Disney World. There are hundreds and probably thousands of people who have been there more often. Many of those thousands have enjoyed food at Disney World where I haven't eaten. For instance, I have never eaten at Citricos or Narcoosee's in the Grand Floridian, We did however have reservations for Narcoosee's once but canceled them to book a dinner package for the Candle Light Processional in 2010. I guess my point here is that you can be a 15 or 20 year veteran of Disney Trips and still not eat all of the wonderful eateries Walt Disney World has to offer. A few, like the Noodle Terrace in Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom have come and gone without a visit from me, leaving a little bit of regret behind that I didn't get a chance to go there. The Noodle Terrance was a quick service credit on the Disney plan and I'm awfully fond of noodles both Asian and Italian. So i think it would be best to spend the rest of This post talking about restaurants where I have actually eaten and that still exist.
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| Poutine and Steaks.. MMmmmmm! |
First, I would like to write about one of the smaller but more popular restaurants in Epcot. We already know that Epcot is full of varied and interesting places to eat. We have talked about the Italian restaurant and touched upon some of the other restaurants that encircle World Showcase Lagoon. But if you are in the mood for a steak dinner, one of, if not the best places in all of Disney World for steak is Le Cellier in the Canadian section of the world showcase. The first visit my wife and I made to Le Cellier we were introduced to Prince Edward Island Mussels. Up to this point I'm pretty sure I hadn't had a good fresh mussel before. I had had them in pasta dishes at Olive Garden before but while they were ok, they were nothing like the delightful steamed treasures that were served to us at Le Cellier. The mussels were garlicy and delicious. Traditionally, PEI mussels are served with toast points to soak up all that delicious juice that exude from the Mussels when they cook. Le Cellier was no exception. The only suggestion I would make is to include more toast. We ran out of bread long before we ran out of sauce. With this meal, I enjoyed a piece of beef tenderloin. Wow, it was tender and delicious. My wife would call it buttah because the beef cut so nicely and was so tender. We both had the same thing at that meal, However, I like my beef a little more on the rare side than my wife. Our next visit, last Christmas, opened the world of poutine to us. Poutine is french fries covered in a gravy with cheese curds melted over the top. Sounds like a nice simple dish doesn't it. Well, while Le Cellier was traditional in its service of the dish, the dish itself was a lot more than the sum of its parts. The balance of cheese curds to fires to wine reduction gravy was amazing. The taste of the fries were wonderful and still had a bit of crispness. The wine reduction gravy added just the right amount of tartness. and the fresh cheese made the dish rich and delicious. We have had poutine in other locations. A delicious version is served at a restaurant not 70 miles from us in Illinois. But this was the first and the poutine against all others will be measured and it take a great dish to measure up to Le Cellier's Poutine. For my Entree for this meal I had the Kurobuta pork. While it was special and tasty. I kind of wish I had gotten the filet again. Le Cellier is a Signature restaurant and will cost you 2 dining credits for both dinner and lunch. Once again, this restaurant is well worth the cost in credits.
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| What a view. Wonder what it looks like now! |
During the summer of 2009 we made a trip to Disney with my daughter, son, her then boy friend (now husband) and my wifes mother. On the top of the Contemporary resort is a wonderful restaurant called the California Grill. Reservations at the California grill can be hard to come by so for prime seating times, like durring the fireworks you should probably try to book as soon as possible. On that trip we didn't have the dining plan so we paid for the food we ate there. The California grill is one of the priciest restaurants in Disney World save for the Restaurants at the Grand Floridian were everything is style and everything costs a lot. this is where I discovered the Cheese plate that many Disney restaurants serve. It had a delightful mix of soft light cheese to hard full flavored sharp cheeses each with an accompanying item. The soft cheeses came with crustinni on which to spread the cheese. some of the semi soft cheese had fruit or jellies to accompany them. the sharp cheeses had dried grapes, dare I say raisins that were still on the stems. I loved it and have been ordering the cheese samplers ever since. for my entree i had a flat bread with duck and onion marmalade that was amazing. My son in law had a chicken dish that he swears to this day was the best chicken he ever had and i believe him. Maybe the best part of the meal was when the lights went down and the music for the Wishes fireworks swelled over speakers in the restaurant. The top of the contemporary resort is a wonderful place to view the fireworks show at the Magic kingdom. the fireworks were amazing and beautiful, especially over a decadent chocolate desert or a delicious Creme Brulee. This made for an amazing evening. The California Grill is going through a complete renovation, and will reopen in the last quarter of 2013. It was a 2 dining credit restaurant and probably will be again when it reopens.
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| Surprisingly good. Loved it each time I've been there. |
Near the Animal Kingdom in Jambo House of the Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of the best and most surprising restaurants at Disney World. My wife and I have found Jiko - The Cooking Place one of our favorite places to eat in all of Disney. Jiko - The Cooking Place offers a fusion of American and African cuisine. The chefs there are very talented at taking familiar items and adding an African twist using different spices and additional ingredients to make what they offer different. Often, when we are at one of the Signature Restaurants, we choose to buy a number of appetizers for our meal. Our choices at Jiko were along the lines of appetizers even though i'm not sure a flat bread would be considered an appetizer. Our meal almost always starts with a Taste of Africa. the Taste of Africa is a bread service with a variety of spreads and dipping sauces for the bread. The variety of bread served is amazing as well from a delicious cracker bread to Indian Naan bread to yeast rolls with which we, as Americans, are more familiar. The dipping sauces are concocted from many different spices and peppers and ingredients giving all the bread flavors that i'm not sure you can get anywhere else. We also ordered the Cheese plate again. This was very similar to the cheese plate we had at the California Grill, Of course the cheeses were different but each was delicious. I think we discovered Triple Cream Brie Cheese on this plate of which i have been a fan ever since. At the signature restaurants, if you aren't using the dining plan, the flat breads offer a less expensive way of enjoying wonderful food with out busting your wallet to badly. My wife and I enjoyed the flat breads whose toppings included things like lamb, chicken and blue cheese and pear chutney. The flavors were amazing. The mixture of the sweetness of fruit and the savory meats and cheeses make for a wonderful meal. Jiko - the cooking place is a two dining credit dinner. We often choose to pay for it and not use the credits.
I realize that most of these past two blogs have concentrated on the Signature Restaurants in Disney world. The reader might get the feeling that except for O'hana and Mamma Melrose's every restaurant is a two credit restaurant. Actually there are many good single credit restaurants in Disney World. I spent a lot of time with the signature restaurants because the are so darn good. However, there is good food all over Disney that doesn't cost as much. Some of our favorite places to eat only cost a counter service credit. We will explore the less expensive but just as tasty places in the future posts.
