Welcome Back And Hungry Warning

Intro 0:03

Please stand clear of the doors. Por favor, mantangse a las puertas. Please stand clear of the doors.

Alicea 0:24

Hello everyone, I'm Alicea.

Nathan 0:26

And I'm Nathan.

Alicea 0:27

Welcome to episode 225 of Adventures and Mouse capades.

Nathan 0:31

We are back from our trip to Anaheim, and we had an absolutely great time at Disneyland. We took it slow this time since I'm still recovering from my knee replacement. And Alicea, well, this was her first big parks trip since her big surgery last summer. So did that dampen the experience? Absolutely not.

Alicea 0:55

What it did mean was that rather than the attractions, the main highlights of this trip were more delectable in nature. So this week we are focusing on our culinary journey around Disneyland.

Nathan 1:08

Now, fair warning. Please make sure you have already eaten before you listen to this episode.

Alicea 1:14

It's all about food.

Nathan 1:15

It's all about food.

Alicea 1:17

One of the biggest highlights of the week was our dinner at the newly remodeled Napa Rose. This premier signature dining restaurant at Disneyland Resort reopened February 6th after being closed for a remodel for nearly a year. It's open from 5:30 to 9 p.m. nightly for dinner in their main dining room and a chef's counter overlooking a stunning show kitchen. The remodel added an outdoor terrace and revamped the lounge to include more seating and its own kitchen counter experience overlooking the pastry area.

Nathan 1:54

As its name suggests, Napa Rose highlights the beauty and bounty of California in both its decor and its menu. The dining room and lounge are beautifully appointed and feature stunning wood columns and floors. The remodel saw frescoes around the high walls of the main dining space replaced with plaster reliefs depicting California agriculture with images of farms, vines, grapes, and of course roses.

Alicea 2:24

There's also some really cool lighting that they've added. Yeah. There's along um along the wooden pillars, there's something that they look like leaf springs.

Nathan 2:34

Yeah. Like basically big kind of bows of metal, if you will, uh from like underneath a pickup truck, if you would imagine, like the the rear uh the rear uh suspension there. But these are not metal. They are, well, I mean they're probably metal, but they look like wood and they're very thin strips and kind of bowed like I don't know, maybe a bow. Uh it's it's really quite stunning. And they actually have some of them that are used um uh hanging, so they're horizontal instead of vertical on the columns. Uh and they're like double-sided. It looks really, really, really cool. That's really neat. And then that center chandelier that they redid is just amazing.

Alicea 3:14

It looks like uh grapevine with um the grapes coming down as the lights.

Nathan 3:21

Yeah. And the the lights are just kind of like this uh I don't know, uh i it almost evokes kind of like a sparkling wine like uh or a champagne kind of effect like we've seen on uh some of the Disney ships.

Alicea 3:34

Like in enchantè.

Nathan 3:35

In enchantè, exactly. Yeah. It was very neat.

Alicea 3:37

That's what I thought it was at first, actually, was champagne until he mentioned um until our waiter mentioned the grapevine. I didn't even see that part of it.

Nathan 3:47

Oh, yeah. Well, you gotta remember it's not champagne because uh this is California and not France, and so it's uh sparkling lighting.

Alicea 3:54

Bubbles. Fine.

Booking Tips And Dress Code Debate

Nathan 3:57

Well, the core layout of the restaurant largely remains unchanged. The seating does feel somewhat more private, though you're definitely not isolated from the other booths and tables. The color palette is slightly lighter than the darker wood tones we remember before the remodel, but it's been a couple years, so that just may be our own poor memory shining through. Ha ha. Pun intended. That said, the stunning show kitchen and its featured vent hood remains intact. That's right. The vent hood for the kitchen itself is absolutely amazing and is kind of breathtaking in its scale and beauty. And if that's any indication of how much thought and care went into the kitchen, and in turn, your dinner, you're not going to be disappointed by Napa Rose.

Alicea 4:46

As you might expect from what we have just described, reservations are highly recommended for Napa Rose's chef counter, main dining room, and the outdoor terrace. All reservations are made online via Disneyland's website or app at the 60-day mark, especially if you're going to go for the chef's counter. Make sure that you set an alarm and don't miss out. The lounge does welcome walk-ins for its a la carte menu, and that is subject to availability.

Nathan 5:13

Indeed. So it is first come, first serve. Good luck. At the lounge. Well, I guess for everything. It's first come, first serve, either for a reservation or at the lounge. Uh it you have to be there. Now, according to Disney's website, quote, dinner at Napa Rose is an elegant yet relaxed dining experience. Guests are requested to dress in smart, casual attire. This restaurant maintains an environment that complements the fine dining it offers. Thank you for helping to uphold Napa Rose's standard of excellence by wearing an outfit for your dinner that respects its sophisticated and upscale aesthetic.

Alicea 5:54

Well, at our 6 p.m. dinner reservation, we noted a lot of families, and clearly the kids were not in business casual after a long day in the parks. Um, the adults that we saw were in everything from t-shirts to polos and a nice pair of jeans and jackets and slacks. If there's one thing that might detract from the elegant setting and what will surely be Michelin star contending food, it may be the wide range of attire from the patrons. Victoria & Alberts, this is not. But then again, this is West Coast, and we're a lot more relaxed out here.

Nathan 6:30

Indeed. Indeed. So there wasn't like flip-flops and pool stuff going on, but it just it it all

Alicea 6:38

the t-shirts kind of detracted from really.

Nathan 6:42

And some people had like, you know, Disney Parks hoodies and stuff like that. And it was just like it took me out of a fine dining experience. And it was just, it was just, it was interesting. It was really odd. I I wonder if they adjust that over time to say, look, if you're going to be the main dining or at the chef's table, then there's one level of expectations. If you want to go to the lounge or maybe sit at the outdoor terrace, which is heated and it is covered and all the rest of that stuff, then there's a different set of attire expectations. That might be a change that I would suggest. But yeah, then again, I'm sure there's going to be lots of people in the Disney community who are going to tell me I'm wrong and stop gatekeeping. And, you know, if I want to wear a t-shirt, I'm going to wear a t-shirt and you don't that shouldn't affect you. I'm just I don't know.

Alicea 7:34

I I with signature dining though.

Nathan 7:37

Yeah. And this is the premier signature dining spot.

Alicea 7:42

Yeah, yeah.

Nathan 7:42

Yeah.

Alicea 7:43

We should mention this is at the Grand Californian Hotel. We just said this was at the Disneyland Resort. And yes, it is at the Disneyland Resort. But the location that it is at is at the Grand Californian Hotel.

Prix Fixe Menu Pricing And Pairings

Nathan 7:54

Indeed, it is. All right. With all of that out of the way, let's talk about our dinner. We enjoyed the main dining room and the five-course prefix menu that runs $188 a person. Now, this is a change from the pre-remodel era, if you will, of Naparos where you could dine a la carte in the main dining room. I'm pretty sure they had a prefix menu then as well. You could do either or.

Alicea 8:23

I do remember there being a prefix menu.

Nathan 8:26

Yeah, yeah. And I'm pretty sure we did the prefix menu. Yeah. Uh, but you cannot do a la carte now. It is only the prefix menu. There are also three wine pairing levels along with the prefix menu for you to choose from in the main dining room. And they run $125, $300, and $500 just for the wine plus the $188 for the food. So a cheap menu and a cheap meal, this is not. No.

Alicea 8:53

Thusly, signature dining.

Nathan 8:56

Right. Right. And and Thusley, you know, I'm gonna circle back to it and then we'll move on. But like this is like the really like jeans and a t-shirt from the parks in the day, and we're dropping $500 a person on a really nice meal. It it's a very odd juxtaposition in terms of the atmosphere.

Alicea 9:20

This is the type of restaurant that gives you a fresh, folded napkin if you leave the table.

Nathan 9:25

Exactly. Exactly.

Alicea 9:27

And they place your napkins in your lap.

Nathan 9:30

Indeed. Now it's worth mentioning there is a children's menu in the main dining room. Uh it is it is a la carte uh because duh. Um there is uh an amuse course, there is an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. It is $48 per child, and that does include a children's beverage. And if you're wondering, based on the table that was next to us, you can get glow cubes.

Alicea 10:02

I think some of the parents had glow cubes for that, honestly.

Nathan 10:06

I mean, we didn't on this experience, but um, we've been known to order drinks with glow cubes.

Alicea 10:11

Yeah, yeah. Definitely. Exactly. Service was friendly, helpful, and attentive at all times. Julio was our main server, assisted by Roberto, and we started off with drinks from their California-inspired cocktail menu. This is a pretty extensive cocktail menu, also.

Nathan 10:27

It was.

Alicea 10:28

I started off with the fruit stand off Highway One, which was a macerated strawberry-infused hanger one vodka, coconut milk wash planter rum, pandan tincture, pineapple, and macadamia blossom honey.

Nathan 10:44

Mm-hmm. There's a quote along with the uh the description or at least the ingredients list for each of these. And for Alicea’s fruit stand off Highway One, the quote here is top-down coastal breeze, strawberries from a roadside stand swirl into vodka and honey, ending with a cheeky lollipop surprise.

Alicea 11:06

A cheeky lollipop surprise.

Nathan 11:09

I didn't write that copy.

Alicea 11:10

I just wrote-I know, I know, I know, I know. This didn't really have a lollipop. It had it had two strawberries on a toothpick.

Nathan 11:19

That's a tincture, I guess. I guess.

Alicea 11:22

Yeah. This was this was really good. Here is my delightful description because I'm so good at this. I could I could taste the creaminess of the coconut milk washed Planteray rum. And that was a nice taste. I haven't had anything like this before. Yeah. The the mix of flavors was very interesting and very good. I'm trying to think if I would get this one again or not. Um I think I would. It was a very sippable drink.

Nathan 11:54

Yeah. I did not try it because I do not like strawberries. I did have the Sequoia Skyline. This is Sir Davis rye, Montenegro Amaro, pink peppercorn infused dry sherry, Angostura bitters, milk washed. I don't know what milk it just is milkwashed. I don't know what milk washed what, but milkwashed, and finished with a distinctive redwood smoke.

Alicea 12:21

And your copy says smoky grandeur towers in the silky layers, campfire warmth, and peppercorn sparks whisper forest tales beneath a crisp cloche of redwood mystery.

Nathan 12:36

This is essentially, as it was described to me by Julio, a Manhattan and an old-fashioned merge together. Yes. And it was absolutely fantastic. And the highlight of the drink was the redwood smoke. This is unlike any other smoked drink I have ever had because it is a different wood that is being smoked. And oh my word, it was fantastic. And it so amazingly added to this drink. 150% would have this again.

Alicea 13:12

The redwood, I guess just that redwood smoke was very good. It added a whole other level to this. Yep.

Nathan 13:18

Yep.

Alicea 13:19

And it smelled good.

Nathan 13:20

Indeed. And we neglected to say we we had ordered and and uh we were were talking to with Julio, and uh he he looked up and looked at the bar and he he mentioned us, he's like, Oh, your drinks are in their final moments.

Alicea 13:35

And I basically lost it. I'm like, that is very ominous. What is going to happen?

Nathan 13:41

Yes. Rut Run.

Alicea 13:43

Haunted Mansion Parlor?

Courses Cocktails And Best Bites

Nathan 13:45

That's actually, I think I did say that. I was like, they need to borrow that and use it on the ships. But the haunted mansion parlor, as they're getting your drinks ready and serving it to you, your drinks are in their final moments. Yes. All right, let's move on to dinner, shall we? Yes. We started off with an amuse bouche. This was a portobello cappuccino finished with a brandy thyme foam, and it included a veal stock in there. And holy cow, this was good.

Alicea 14:20

Yes, it was very good. Um, we asked about the cappuccino aspect to it, and um we were like, is there is there coffee in this? And basically it's no, it's just the preparation of it is called a cappuccino.

Nathan 14:33

And it's a cappuccino cup, like that size of a small meant for a hot drink. And it was it was hot.

Alicea 14:42

It was hot. Yeah, he said, hold on, don't, don't just down this because it's right.

Nathan 14:46

It's um now I was just kind of you know slurping or sipping off the top with you know through the foam and everything, and I never really got to the point where I was like, oh, this is really hot. But I could tell like if I did take a swig of it, it was gonna be quite warm.

Alicea 14:59

Yeah. It was a wonderful amouse bouche.

Nathan 15:01

Yes.

Alicea 15:02

My bouche was amused.

Nathan 15:03

Exactly.

Alicea 15:06

Um after the amuse bouche, I ordered the Angel's Camp Bohia or Bohea, or however you say that.

Nathan 15:13

Unknown. There's no way to know. Yes.

Alicea 15:15

This was an Earl Grey infused knob creek bourbon, carpano sweet vermouth, amaro nonino. I don't know what any of that means. Candied orange and lavender.

Nathan 15:28

This says gold miners sip bourbon steeped in earl gray, dreaming of home, lavender and orange sweeten the rugged frontier night.

Alicea 15:39

Mm-hmm.

Nathan 15:39

Mm-hmm.

Alicea 15:40

This was this was actually pretty strong. Uh uh bourbon. So yeah. I did like the Earl Grey. The touch of Earl Grey and Lavender is what I tasted the most. I didn't really taste orange in there at all. It was mainly the bourbon, Earl Grey, and lavender, which is nice combinations together. Um a little a little strong for what I wanted. I think you finished this one.

Nathan 16:09

I I sipped it. I didn't finish it.

Alicea 16:11

Okay.

Nathan 16:12

I think we just moved on.

Alicea 16:14

We just moved on. Yes. That was my that was my drink for my um first course. Yes.

Nathan 16:21

Now, did you have a drink with your amouse bouche or was that well the I had a pairing with my first course, which was a 2015 Dom Perignon champagne, and that was amazing. That was good. And I ended up pairing it with both the Amuse Bouche and with the first course, which was it was actually intended for. And I will say it paired well with both. And the flavor profile of the champagne changed slightly with both. It was I I love how food does that and how how wine and champagne does that. You unfortunately, I love you. A food pairing with a drink like goes downhill and you do not like them.

Alicea 17:03

Nope. It it basically turns to vinegar.

Nathan 17:07

Yeah.

Alicea 17:07

My wonderful super taster palate, whatever the heck you want to call it.

Nathan 17:11

Yeah. You're just fun.

Alicea 17:14

It's fine with cocktails. I don't know. There's just something in the wine that doesn't work. Yeah.

Nathan 17:20

Well, let's talk about first course, shall we, Alicea? What did you have?

Alicea 17:24

I had the wild blue shrimp with avocado and agua chile.

Nathan 17:29

What'd you think?

Alicea 17:30

It was delicious. Um, I didn't necessarily taste the shrimp very much. Um the avocado was very nice, and there was something else in there that it it was like crispy. So you had it started off with a layer of avocado and some beautiful little pearls of something or another on top of it. Um, I think it must have been the shrimp. Then there was kind of a crispy layer and another layer underneath. And just all of it together was was very fresh and citrusy and um a wonderful appetizer.

Nathan 18:06

Oh, it's interesting because I had a very citrus forward dish as well. I had the hiramasa crudo with lime oil, bread crisp, and felen blossom. Felen, not felon. It's not illegal. Anyway, moving on. Uh, like I said, this was paired with the Dom Perignon champagne. This was like a citrusy light fish with a nice light texture crunch from the thin toasted bread slices. I really enjoyed this. Uh, there was only like four small little bites of of uh of fish in here, so it wasn't too much. Um the citrus kept it nice and light and not getting heavy. It wasn't like overly fishy or anything. I really enjoyed this bite.

Alicea 18:50

For our first courses, it was very interesting. These were very bright and colorful dishes. Yours was kind of a red, orange, yellow dish, and mine was very green and um, I guess a little bit of no, it wasn't blue in there, but it's basically shades of green in it.

Nathan 19:06

Yeah, and pops of red here and there. Yeah. Yeah, it was uh the the presentations here are just stunning. Yes, yes, yes. On to the next. Next up, we had our second course. Alicia, what'd you have?

Alicea 19:22

I had the sorp sorpine pasta with California crab broth and Pacific Uni butter. This was very good. Uh it was almost kind of creamy. Um the like I could have had a lot more of this. I don't know what the uni is. Is that? I don't I don't know what it is. I don't know. Um, but there was the crab broth in there, the uni butter, the pasta was such a really interesting shape. Uh it was almost layered upon itself and almost kind of looked like an odd flower type thing. Uh, it was perfectly el dente. Delicious, deliciousness.

Nathan 20:07

I had a sweetbread Analini pasta with wild ramp. I don't know what wild ramp is.

Alicea 20:16

Did we not look it up?

Nathan 20:18

No, I don't want to look it up. I just remember this being very good. It was uh just kind of like light in okay, now I really need to know what wild ramp is. A few moments later. Yeah, this is one of those ones where I didn't know what I was ordering. Um the wild ramp was fine, the onions are fine. The sweetbread, um yeah. Anyhow, moving on. Uh I'm glad I didn't know what I was eating. It tasted really good.

Alicea 20:50

We took a second to um educate Nathan on what sweetbreads were.

Nathan 20:54

Just now. I'm cutting that out. You don't need to hear that. If you're interested in what sweetbread is, you can go look it that up yourself. Um what was this paired with? This was paired with a 2023 Fleurie Le Moir. You're the one who did French. You tell me what this is. It was a really nice, kind of fruity but very dry red wine.

Alicea 21:17

2023 Fleur Le Morire from Domain Chignard. I have no idea if that's the correct pronunciation. I mean, with French, it can be pretty much anything.

Nathan 21:28

Anyhow, it was really it was good. Um, and I will say this is why I like going to these kind of dining experiences. If I had known what sweet bread was, I would never have touched this dish. I actually really liked this dish. Um and I have expanded my palate. Would I order this again, knowing what it is? Honestly, yes. I thought this was really well done. It it's good. Yeah. Um, you know, it's it's kind of like escargot. The kids loved escargot until I mentioned it with snails. Then it was then it was not happening ever again. Yeah. Um, you know, uh each to their own. But uh yeah, I love I love these dining experiences. It it expands our envelope and yeah, I love it.

Alicea 22:21

There we go. For our mains, I had the tangerine roasted rocky chicken with green garlic velvet. The server mentioned that they deboned the chicken and then worked that into a broth.

Nathan 22:35

Yeah.

Alicea 22:36

This was amazing. Uh the chicken was very tender. Um, and all of the sauces that were in there were very good. There's a green sauce and there was a tangerine sauce that was brownie tangerine. Uh, and then there was, I guess this is the green garlic velvet. Or no, I don't know what this is. They had something, it kind of looks like mashed potatoes on the side.

Nathan 23:05

Yeah.

Alicea 23:06

But it's not. It's it's a dry, crunchy, but very light, crunchy type thing. It wasn't a heavy crunch. It it felt like it was very porous and I don't know how to say it other than pumicey, just because it was really light. Not a pumicey taste, but yeah. I have no idea what it was, but it was delicious. And the chicken was very good too.

Nathan 23:29

I do believe I recall you saying something along the lines of this is the best chicken you've ever had.

Alicea 23:34

Probably.

Nathan 23:35

Yeah. Yeah. I had the prime eye of the ribeyeye with charred onion soubise. Uh, this was paired with a 2010 Ezelle Vineyard from Napa, Cabernet Sauvignon. Uh, and this was fresh out of the uh the restaurant's uh I don't know what they call it. I'm sure there's a fancy name for it, but it's it's basically like a tap for uh for wine bottles, and it uses nitrogen to ensure that no oxygen gets uh uh intermingled with the wine to keep it as fresh as possible when you're not actually pouring a whole bottle at a time. And it was an amazing wine. This was absolutely fantastic cut of meat, prepared perfectly well. It also had a charred uh uh end on it, burnt end that they threw on the plate as well. The onion was fantastic. I this was this was a great dish. Very well done.

Alicea 24:41

And then for dessert, we both had the elevated and reminiscent Valrona chocolate bar. That was the title of it. It was very weird.

Nathan 24:52

Mentions it has a hazelnut praline with it as well. Uh this was really good. I loved what our waiter described it as. Basically said, it's every single candy bar you've ever had all rolled into one. And yeah, that's pretty much it. Uh it had chocolate, it had uh peanut butter, it had some nutty stuff in there. Caramel, like it was it was fantastic. And mine was paired with a 2011 Chateau, oh boy, Chateau Ludriot, uh Primere Cru as a dessert wine. Uh it's an apricot kind of uh flavor profile. It was absolutely smooth and velvety and lovely, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. Yeah.

Alicea 25:38

And I had with my dessert an Ohi Campfire, which was a cacao-infused hanger one vodka, tempest frugit creme de cacao, and graham cracker toasted marshmallow foam. It's not foam. What is this?

Nathan 25:56

It's an espuma.

Alicea 25:58

I've never heard that word before.

Nathan 26:00

It is a very, a very thick foam.

Alicea 26:02

It's a very thick foam, like extremely thick. Like I had to move the ice cubes out of the way so I could get to the drink.

Nathan 26:09

It's almost like the it's almost like the marshmallow reconstituted itself.

Alicea 26:13

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the the copy that goes with this says stars above, flames below, smoky cacao vodka, and marshmallow espuma conjure s'mores magic in a glass. That's a bit of a tongue twister there. Um this was amazing and very delicious and dangerous. It really tasted like a s'more in a glass.

Nathan 26:39

It is. I had a sip. It was fantastic. And then I had to spend a moment trying to get marshmallow out of my mustache.

Alicea 26:46

Yeah.

Nathan 26:47

Now, I did put the chef to the grilled cheese challenge. We wanted to see what the uh what the kids' menu had on offer, just so we knew and took a picture of it. And then I I happened to notice they had a grilled cheese. And I said, well, I I might need to sample the grilled cheese. And I am so glad I did. This was top two of all time best grilled cheese sandwiches I have ever had. It was very small, two small little triangle wedges, maybe like half of half of a sandwich. And just it was toasted to perfection. And I mean that literally. It was soaked in butter and then literally toasted to perfection. I don't think I understood what toasted to perfection could mean until I had a bite of this, and this is exactly what that was. Now, this is number two because it it will just need to fall in line behind the grilled cheese that we had at Jiko at Animal Kingdom Lodge, because that was also grilled very well, not as well as this, but it had three different cheeses in it and it had a more of a bite and a kick on it in that flavor profile. And and that was fantastic.

Alicea 28:19

But the one at Jiko, I will say, was also spur of the moment. Yes. Creation. The one here was on menu.

Nathan 28:30

Yeah. If this is what their kids' menu is doing,

Alicea 28:34

bravo.

Nathan 28:35

This is the nicest meal your kids will have ever had. Just it is fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway.

Alicea 28:47

Lastly, we wanted to touch on the chef's counter. This is a different menu from the main dining room or the outdoor terrace, and it features a nine or ten course prefix menu. We had some friends that had reservations at Naparose the night after us, and they were able to take advantage of a late chef's counter cancellation to upgrade to that elevated experience. Since we weren't there, we can't speak to the details, but from what we heard in our quick debrief over drinks the following evening, it made us instantly put report returning to Napa Rose to try the chef's counter high on our must-do list next time we have the opportunity. Yes. And it is a price fix menu, but you you I don't know if you see the menu ahead of time.

Nathan 29:34

I think they just bring it. Do you just they just bring food eat this? And the chef explains what they have made and why. Yep. And it is enjoy. I think they probably well, I'm sure they start off with, hey, do you have anything you're allergic to?

Alicea 29:49

Yeah.

Nathan 29:50

And so they know what not to put on your plate. And other than that, let's go. Exactly. And uh yeah, let's go. Let's go. Let's go. That we gotta do that. Anyhow, Naparose is highly recommended.

Alicea 30:11

It's very good. It is an amazing dining experience. If you have the chance to do it and the means to do it, do it. Especially if you're doing a wine pairing. Yes. Nathan did the mid-range wine pairing. I did not do a wine pairing. I did a couple of cocktails, but still, very expensive. It was absolutely amazing, delicious.

Nathan 30:32

It was it was up there, but um, this is one of the best meals we've ever had. Uh it is right up there with Remy on the Dream of the Fantasy, the Disney cruise ships. Um it is it is what I expect to be coming out of Victorian Alberts at some time, whenever we get to go there. Like this is these are quintessential meals. I am very excited to see how Napa Rose does here uh in the coming year, uh, after its reopening. I I really do think it could be fighting for a Michelin star. I'm I wonder if the ambiance of the place will be what holds it back. And it's not for lack of trying.

Alicea 31:20

Yeah.

Club 33 Dinner Highlights

Nathan 31:21

It's for all the other things that we we kind of talked about that are unfortunate detractors uh in some people's eyes. And yeah, that that was that was that was good. That was good.

Alicea 31:34

So that was that was Naparose. We also had the opportunity to have another fancy dining experience.

Nathan 31:41

Indeed.

Alicea 31:42

And we had dinner at Le Grande Salon over at Club 33.

Nathan 31:47

Indeed. We are blessed to know some folks who can get us a reservation, and uh we availed ourselves of that. Uh not going to really go into the Club 33 experience. Uh

Alicea 32:01

we'll go over the dinner that we had.

Nathan 32:03

And we'll we'll talk you know briefly about what we had. Yeah. Um, but it is a an exclusive club. Think of it kind of like as a country club. We have an old episode about Club 33 uh based on public info uh that you can look for in our back catalog uh if you're interested more in uh about club 33. But uh uh we're not gonna share uh intimate details of of what we experienced other than to say that we are so thankful to the folks who helped put that together for us. Uh and uh Alicia and Sterling and myself just absolutely enjoyed our dinner at Club 33. And Alicia uh made uh uh available herself uh thoroughly of the merch uh on our way out the door at the end of the evening.

Alicea 32:51

Every time.

Nathan 32:52

Every time. Alicia, do you I don't want to kind of drain the whole menu. Uh you know, it's a seasonal menu, it rotates. I I expect, you know, Napa Rose to be is a seasonal menu as well. It will rotate. Um any highlights from the meal that you want to call out?

Alicea 33:10

Um I had the largest petite filet ever. It was like a I think he said like it was an eight or ten ounce fillet.

Nathan 33:18

It's a contradiction in terms.

Alicea 33:19

Yeah, it was very good. Sterling actually had something that I was surprised he chose it. It was the lamb cheek. And he enjoyed it. Nice. It had uh Rodachio kimchi and scallion fried rice, and he quite enjoyed it. He's got a good palate.

Nathan 33:40

He's he's starting to try he's he is learning to do what we have learned to do, which is just like, you know what, I should try some stuff because I might find some stuff I like. And I'm sure my mom is yelling at her radio right now, going like, yeah, like pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving all those years ago, where you refused to eat it until I forced you to have some, and then I loved it. Thank you, mom.

Alicea 34:03

Yeah. He also tried a scallop and enjoyed that as well. So um I think one of these days he would enjoy going to Remy.

Nathan 34:12

Yes. He needs to be uh uh four years older.

Alicea 34:16

Well, yes.

Nathan 34:17

But uh I think he will endure that. Yeah.

Alicea 34:20

Our our eldest has told me she's not interested in in a meal like that. It is too fancy for her, she would not want to do it. Um she's gone to 33 with us and didn't know what to do with herself, she said. So I'm like, okay. It's it's a fancy meal. It's okay.

DCA Food And Wine Basics

Nathan 34:36

It's okay. It's okay. Well, let's talk about something that is a little bit more Caitlin's speed. Let's talk about the Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival that happens to be going on right now.

Alicea 34:49

We've talked about this festival in some of our back catalog chat. Um this is it it's great that we were able to be in Anaheim during this. We love this festival. And they offer something called a sip and savor pass, where you can basically pre-buy different entitlements, they call them. You can get either a four entitlement pass, it is $34 for that, or an eight entitlement pass, it is sixty-four dollars for that, or fifty-nine if you are Magic Key holder, which is the um Disneyland Resort version of an annual pass. Right. So if you get the Sip and Savor pass, the entitlements are they are smaller tasting size portions. If you just go up to the booths and order something, it's a larger portion. But if you use the sip and savor, it is a little bit smaller.

Nathan 35:44

I didn't realize that. Yep. Yep. I actually think, though, that the entitlement size that's such a horrible name. The smaller portions that we were getting with the prepaid package, I think were the right size for us. Uh and you know, it allowed us to try a few bites of something. If we didn't like it, it was fine because it was pretty much all the way gone anyway. If we really loved something, you know, there was plenty of it to go around to share with with two or three people. And, you know, uh the whole point of these, this is like the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. You know, there's a bunch of boosts. Now it is much scaled down. Yeah. Uh, but uh it's it's a fantastic way to go try a bunch of stuff.

Alicea 36:31

And so we did. One of the things, uh a tip for you, one of the things that you can do is you can order any of the dishes with a few exceptions at any of the locations. So if you have a list of what you want to order, you can go up to any of the locations and say, I would like this, this, this, this, and this. Now, if you do that, you must consume those that same day.

Nathan 36:57

Which would have been nice for the person to have told you before you ordered them.

Alicea 37:02

Yeah. It is now, it does say it online.

Nathan 37:06

We just missed it.

Alicea 37:07

We just didn't read through it.

Nathan 37:08

No, it all worked out.

Alicea 37:10

Yeah. No, it all it did, it did all work out.

Nathan 37:12

And I think everything schedule-wise, of the the whole we had four days in the parks, I think it was fine. I think it actually worked out perfectly for us. But it was a surprise to us that we didn't realize and just so if you know, or now you know, uh, if you are gonna pre-order a bunch of stuff, which saves you a bunch of time. You don't have to stand in the the ordering line uh at every single one of the booths. You just do that once, and then you go to the pickup line at every uh place that you want to get something from, and they just check it off the uh receipt.

Alicea 37:47

You just have to save your receipt.

Nathan 37:49

Save your receipt.

Alicea 37:50

Yes. Otherwise, out of luck.

Festival Booth Reviews And Favorites

Nathan 37:52

Yep. Yeah, so so that is it can be uh super helpful and save a bunch of time if you if you do it that way. Just know what you're getting. You've got to eat all that stuff in one day. Yeah.

Alicea 38:02

One of the things that we got was something that I had last year as well and quite enjoyed. This is from the Cluckadoodle Moo booth, which I love that name. It's hilarious. And it's called the Asa’dos. This is grilled skirt steak and chipotle chicken with Spanish rice and salsa verde.

Nathan 38:21

That doesn't sound so bad.

Alicea 38:23

No. The skirt steak, very good. The chipotle chicken, very chipotle, quite spicy.

Nathan 38:34

Quite spicy. Uh uh, I stayed away from this because I am spice averse. Yep. Uh Sterling decided to go in for a try. Even though they had a try last time and were like, whoa. Yeah. What was Sterling's reaction again this time?

Alicea 38:50

Hot. I did record a video of Sterling reviewing this, so this will go up this week. Sterling was unable to keep it brief. So it's gonna be in multiple parts.

Nathan 39:08

Let's move on. We also stopped by a booth called Garlic Kissed. This is again a returner from last year, at least from our menu. We once again sampled the Sirloin Guyere mac and cheese. This has a black garlic chimichurry along with it, plus garlic buttercrunch and fresno chili slices.

Alicea 39:33

We didn't eat the chili slices. I put them off to the side. Yes.

Nathan 39:38

But everything else we mixed all together, and this is a great dish.

Alicea 39:43

This is a great dish. I think this was my favorite that we had. Um, I could, if they have this, I could easily get this every year.

Nathan 39:53

Yeah. Oh, that's a good question. I haven't thought about all of these. I don't know what my favorite is. Hmm. Ask me once we're done talking. Okay. All right.

Alicea 40:04

We also got something from the Golden Dreams booth. This was the Masubi fried rice brought to you by Disney Vacation Club's Alani Resort. Um, inspired by Alani. Steamed rice with egg, glazed spiced ham, umami mayo, and furi kake. Furru furru, I don't know.

Nathan 40:24

Something. It's probably not furry kake.

Alicea 40:28

It's probably not. My apologies. I don't know what it would be. We had this last year as well. We are creatures of habit.

Nathan 40:37

Yes.

Alicea 40:38

Uh this is very good though.

Nathan 40:40

It's fantastic. Yeah. It's fantastic. The spiced ham has a little bit of a kick on it, but it's not bad at all. This is a we love Hawaii, we love that food, and this is just a little slice of that heaven and in the a little bowl, and and yum.

Alicea 40:59

You can't go wrong with egg and rice.

Nathan 41:00

Cannot go wrong. Cannot go wrong. Now we did try something new this year. It's not just returning favorites. Yeah. We went to the LA style booth for a carbonara pizza. This is a very small pizza, uh, kind of as you would imagine.

Alicea 41:21

Pizzetta, if you will.

Nathan 41:22

Indeed. It is a white sauce with applewood smoked bacon and a black pepper drizzle. Uh, I will say this was fantastic. They absolutely nailed the Carbonara taste profile for me. I love spaghetti carbonara. Um, and that drizzle, I almost thought of it kind of like an aioli, um, really had a kick though.

Alicea 41:46

And so it's black pepper, but yeah.

Nathan 41:48

Yeah, I definitely scraped some of that off. I kept some of it on because I enjoyed that the the profile, but like there was a lot. Well, there wasn't a lot on there, but like it had a lot of kick for a little bit of it didn't need uh didn't need as much, at least for me, as they had on there. But I really like this a lot.

Alicea 42:06

We had a bite of this. Um it was not very warm, and it could have been crispier. I think the pizza could have been crispier, and I would have enjoyed it more. Yep. The taste was okay. Um, but like I said, I just I needed that to be a little warmer and a crispier pizza, and that would have been spot on.

Nathan 42:26

Yep, agreed. Agreed.

Alicea 42:28

Next we stopped at the Mercado da Antojos and had the I had the what is this? Torta ahogada, which is braised pork carnitas and frijoles charos with pickled onion and salsa. Basically pulled pork bread bowl out of a dinner roll. Yeah. Um a little spice is a good bite. I actually I really liked this.

Nathan 42:52

Yeah, I did too.

Alicea 42:53

Yeah. The beans were kind of hiding under the meat. Yes. Um didn't really get to it, but until after we finished the meat. It's like, oh look, there's beans.

Nathan 43:02

There's beans. Yeah, I wish it was a little bit more mixed up and and and things, but I this was really good. I enjoyed this. Yeah, yeah. Next up, we visited the peppers cali ente. Ha ha um California Cali. Anyhow, um, we had a ramen mac and cheese. This is again the furi kake.

Alicea 43:27

See? I mean,

Nathan 43:31

yeah, the uh I guess we're gonna go with that. Furi kake crumble, a fish cake, green onions, and chili crunch. This was an interesting dish. I mean, it's it's basically noodles. It was a ramen flavored mac and cheese. It's very flavorful, like very, very savory. And I think that's kind of that ramen kick. But at least for me, it was almost too over. Done, like it had a an almost salty profile, and it wasn't like it wasn't salty, but it was like that savory taste that like edges towards salt, but not actual salt. It was just too much. And I think we had a couple bites of this one, and we're like, Yeah, we're and we're done.

Alicea 44:17

I ate the fish cakes. Um

Nathan 44:19

I did not.

Alicea 44:20

No, I knew you wouldn't, so I just ate them. Uh I didn't like the cheese part of this at all. Uh yeah, we each had a buy. Sterling wasn't with us.

Nathan 44:33

No, I don't think so. Not for this one.

Alicea 44:35

I don't know that they would have liked it anyway. And yeah, just a couple bites and it was gone.

Nathan 44:39

Yeah. And he likes ramen, but I don't think this was liked this one. No, no.

Alicea 44:46

And then the last thing we got, last thing I got, was from the Lucky Fortune Cookery. And because this was a restaurant and not a booth, I could not pre-order this. Had to go to the restaurant itself to order. This was over in the San Fransokyo area. And I got the pan pandan pandan milk tea. I don't know what flavor that is. I've noticed that in something else that we had as well. This was oat milk and toasted coconut with brown sugar tapioca spears topped with coconut cold foam. This was delicious. I really, really liked it. I don't know what the flavor was. I tasted the coconut and whatever the other thing was. It was it was a green color. I could definitely taste the coconut and the brown sugar tapioca spears. Very good. I liked this. It was nice and refreshing. And you had a beer.

Nathan 45:35

I had a I had a Mexican beer. Yeah. It was very good.

Alicea 45:38

Yeah.

Nathan 45:40

All right. I'm going to keep myself honest. What was my favorite? Uh I think I'm going to go with the Sirloin Gruyère. Yeah. Mac and cheese. It was just a fantastic bite. Um, the Masubi fried rice was was also excellent. I liked the Carbonara pizza from a flavor profile perspective, but you're right. I think it needed to be warmer right out of the oven and a little bit more crispy. I I I think the the torta ahogata was actually really good too. Yeah. Um, but it needed to be mixed up a bit.

Alicea 46:19

I think just the overall flavor profile of the sirloin and gruyere mac and cheese. Yeah. Um excellent. Beat most everything out.

Nathan 46:27

Yep. Yep, yep, yep.

Alicea 46:28

So I looked up Pandon, Pandon.

Nathan 46:31

Okay.

Alicea 46:31

It is the vanilla of Southeast Asia. Oh. As a unique, grassy, sweet, and nutty aroma resembling vanilla, coconut, and almond. Hmm.

Nathan 46:40

There you have it.

Alicea 46:41

It was very good. Nice.

Nathan 46:44

I mean, obviously, we had a few other things over the four days that we were in the park. Yep. Um, a few highlights, uh, Sterling and I were uh walking over in Pixar Pier, and Sterling noticed the Angry Dog booth and wanted to go get an Angry Dog uh until I pointed out that that was a spicy hot dog. And he said, Oh, never mind. And I said, Well, if you look at their menu, they do have one other thing on the menu. They have a regular hot dog that is titled the Slightly Annoyed Dog. That was very good. Uh Sterling enjoyed that very much.

Alicea 47:20

And I had over um at Schmoozy's in California Adventure the banana and Nutella infused Mickey waffles. Delicious. The waffles themselves had like the batter itself had like a banana flavoring to it. And then they injected it with Nutella. That's cool. It was very good. And it had like a butter or a whipped cream that was banana flavored with it as well.

Nathan 47:47

Nice. Alicia, the uh green milk at Galaxy's Edge on uh Batuu, as as we know, Batu West there in Disneyland is no more. Uh blue milk still survives, and it has been joined by pink milk.

Alicea 48:05

Yep, I got a pink milk. What'd you think? I liked it. Uh you would not like it because it is strawberry flavored. Uh creamy strawberry flavored. Um they did still have green milk there. Really?

Nathan 48:18

Yep. Huh. They must just be trying to get rid of the last uh.

Alicea 48:23

Yeah. It was it was on a a um stand-up sign. It wasn't on like the menu on the board.

Nathan 48:30

By the way, we're trying to get rid of this on clearance. Bye now. Let's see. Something I did like, I had a Jack Jack's num-num cookie, a warm chocolate chip cookie. Those are very good. Yeah. Over by the Incredicoaster. Highly recommended. Mm-hmm.

Alicea 48:46

We had popcorn and churros along the way as well. That popcorn is so buttery. Yeah. Sometimes it smells great. Other times I'm like, no.

Nathan 48:55

No. Alicia, after one of our tours, which we'll talk about next week, you had a Matterhorn macaroon. What'd you think?

Alicea 49:05

It was delicious. I still haven't finished it. It's downstairs. Um It looks like the Matterhorn. And it's it's the it's not the circular macarons. It's the macaroon. Okay. Which is a coconut uh-based cookie type thing.

Nathan 49:23

Got it. Got it. And it looked good.

Alicea 49:26

It's frosted on the top. You can still have some, you know.

Nathan 49:30

I'm not a huge coconut fan. Maybe I'll take a little bite. Yeah. Okay. All right. Let's see. We had uh we we uh frequently did drinks and chill while we were waiting for rides to come back up or just trying to kill time and enjoying the vibes of being in Disneyland. Uh we sampled things in San Fransokyo. We spent some time over at Pym’s at Avengers campus, and we even scored a uh a walk-up at the bar at Lamplight Lounge. Yeah. Drinks were consumed, they were great.

Alicea 50:04

Yes. I had like a scream count canister, I think, or a yeah, it was a scream canister and something about the color red.

Storytellers Brunch And Margarita Math

Nathan 50:15

I had a couple old fashions at Lamplight. They were they were excellent. They were good. Yeah. And then we ended the trip over at Storytellers. We had a character dining, lunch, brunch experience. Uh and uh that was really, really, really good. Uh the the characters there are fantastic. Yes. And um we we got some bonus time. Uh I will note I I had a margarita, and they had you could order one drink or a a carafe for two or a pitcher for four.

Alicea 50:52

And I'm glad you didn't do the pitcher.

Nathan 50:54

I'm glad I didn't do the pitcher because the carafe, I was thinking like it's not for two people, but like it was kind of described as like two drinks, right? Like, if you're getting two drinks, just get the carafe. And so I I just got the caraf. I figured I'd I'd have one, and they brought the the margarita glass over, and you know, it's fairly small. And I'm like, great, I I'm glad I didn't just get one. Um, and the carafe was huge. I had four drinks out of that carafe for two.

Alicea 51:23

Two two drinks for two people.

Nathan 51:25

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Alicea 51:26

Two drinks per person. So you had you had a lot of margarita. I had a lot of margarita.

Nathan 51:30

I've had more before in Mexico and and uh ask Rachel from HR about that one. Um but uh it was good. And I I felt fine. It wasn't like it wasn't a heavy pour. Yeah. It was just a lot of liquid.

Alicea 51:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Storytellers was good. It was a little um loud in there, but I mean it's a it's a character buffet. So yeah.

Nathan 51:52

You you you get what you get what you pay for.

Alicea 51:54

And we had it was brunch time, so we had uh choices of breakfast foods and lunch foods.

Nathan 52:00

And we had a little bit of everything. Yeah. And we saw Mickey and Chip and Dale and Pluto and we saw Pluto.

Alicea 52:07

And Minnie.

Nathan 52:08

And Minnie. That was the other one. Yeah. And they were all they were fantastic. Yes. Great character experiences.

Alicea 52:14

I was a little bummed that Daisy was not there. We had walked by one evening and saw both Daisy and Clarabelle in there, and they are there for the dinner time, not the brunch.

Nathan 52:26

So not guaranteed to get specific characters at any specific time. So uh yeah, when we were heading over to Napa Rose, we saw Clarabelle and uh and Daisy. And uh I guess we'll just have to keep going back to these places, Alicia.

Alicea 52:40

We'll have to do another trip sometime. Oh no. So I can get my Daisy fix.

How To Reach Us And Support

Nathan 52:47

Well, I think that's about it. I mean, we're not gonna sit here and talk about every single bite we had. I mean, Sterling and I did grab a an exit churro on our way out of the park. Uh as is as is required before you go to the airport. Uh everybody needs a churro. So yeah, that was that was a really good trip, food-wise. Good trip all over. All over. Yeah. We will be back again talking about a few of the things we did, some of the rides, and we did two tours with uh the Disneyland tour guide hosts there. And we will be talking about those next week. We did the uh women who make the magic tour, and we did the 70th anniversary celebrate happy tour. Yeah, both very good. Yeah, both are very good. So we'll share some insights and some cool facts that we learned about uh that next week with you. And so, with that, please do remember we're not affiliated with Disney or their subsidiaries. These are personal opinions and suggestions based on our own experiences, but we are affiliated with fun, snacks, and questionable decisions.

Alicea 53:56

And fancy dinners.

Nathan 53:58

Indeed.

Alicea 54:00

We recommend working with a travel advisor or contacting Disney directly to plan your perfect vacation.

Nathan 54:08

If you have questions or suggestions, or would like to be interviewed on our show to share your Disney experiences, please send an email to podcast at our mousecapades.com.

Alicea 54:18

If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a rating and a review. It really helps other Disney fans find us and makes us feel happy.

Nathan 54:26

Yeah. You can follow us over at Our Mouse Capades on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads, and we're over at Our Mouse Capades Pod on YouTube. Please share us with your friends, your family, and that one coworker who still thinks FastPass is a thing.

Alicea 54:42

Thank you for listening. We'll be in your ears next week.

Intro 54:45

Thank you for flying Star Tours. Bye bye.