Disneyland, Stage Door Café: Mozzarella Sticks

Another visit to Disneyland, and another review!

I just wanted a fast snack--and who doesn't love cheese sticks? So I tried the Stage Door Café. The Stage Door is located next to the Golden Horseshoe, right at the end where Frontierland and Adventureland merge.



Sadly, this is the only picture we have to go with, because the rest of them just didn't come out.

The sticks come 5 to a basket and are roughly six inches long and a half an inch thick. The batter is a crumb batter and the cheese is mozzarella.

The batter's only flavor is "salty"...wait, actually the only flavor period is salt. It's crunchy enough, and surprisingly ungreasy, which was a plus.

The cheese itself is rubbery, and there is no flavor whatsoever. It's not even salty. It's just...well, it's just there.

I can't say these sticks are bad in any way. They are just extremely bland.

There are way better things to spend $8.59 on.


PURCHASED FROM:
Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, California

Café Orléans: Disneyland (California)

This is another review of a Disneyland restaurant.



Café Orléans is in the New Orleans Square section of the park (which also home to the Haunted Mansion and the ultra-exclusive Club 33). I know that Café Orléans has been there since at least 1989, that I remember. However, in my hundred-plus visits to the park until today, I had never actually eaten there. I don't think there was ever a particular reason; I just hadn't.

Since I am a cheese lover who is always looking for any excuse to indulge, I had the three-cheese Monte Cristo sandwich. If you have never had a Monte Cristo, the easiest way to describe one is to tell you that it is basically french toast that's been stuffed with cheese and meat (traditionally, ham and turkey). The menu does have the classic ham/turkey version, but as I said, I opted for the three-cheese instead.



The three cheeses in question are Brie, Swiss and Mozzarella. The proportions of the filling to breading was good. It's well stuffed, but not to the point of oozing. The batter/breading is thick, but not so much that you feel as though there is too much. The batter is slightly sweet, but it's not overwhelming. And fear not -- there is no maple syrup involved.

The cheeses -- which, to be fair, are not the most complex or exotic -- are tasty, and while I am sure they are not the finest quality available, they do manage to not be rubbery. The berry sauce reminded me of that mass-made raspberry coulis that can now be bought in a squeeze bottle, its consistency thickened up with strawberry jam. It's good; but good in the weird way of something that was so bad that it shot beyond the limits of badness, and somehow managed to reappear on the fringes of the good spectrum again. (Sort of a culinary wormhole, if you will.)

For a park that is heavy on burgers and glorified microwaved foods, this was a pleasant surprise. It's not great, but it was good in a county fair food sort of way. And I am sure I will be returning. A word to the wise: it is not cheap. A trend that has taken over Disney menus is that they no longer show prices on the posted menus outside the door...and while I had been expecting this sandwich to come in somewhere around $10.00, the actual price is $15.99! (Though it could easily be shared by two.) And this is one of the few places in the park with complimentary refills on soft drinks, iced tea and coffee. With that in mind, depending on how many are in your group, or on how thirsty you are, that may be enough of a savings to warrant the extra expense.

We also shared an order of the Pommes Frites (aka french fries).



The fries are Sysco's finest, but they generously sprinkle them with Parmesan cheese, along with a pinch of garlic and parsley, which does make them tasty. The "Cajun spice remoulade" sauce that accompanied them was really just an average mayo spiced up very,very,very minimally; but even that was not bad. It just wasn't Cajun. (Or remoulade. Or anything else related to Louisiana, let alone to New Orleans itself.)

All in all, Café Orléans is easily one of the best places to eat in the park. If it were a standalone place in the real world, it wouldn't merit a second look. But in the "phood" world of Disney, it's a winner.


PURCHASED FROM:
Café Orléans
Disneyland (Anaheim, California)

The French Market- Disneyland

Now that I have been able to once again join the ranks of Disneyland Passport holders I will be able to make regular trips to the parks again.
While I certainly don't consider myself a restaurant critic (or this to be a restaurant blog) I figured that enough people come to the park from around the world that I at least might be able to help steer them to some of the better options in the park. So from time to time I am going to sneak some Disneyland reviews in.

Prior to today's visit I hadn't been to either Disneyland or California Adventure in five years. One of the places that had always been reliable in the past was The French Market. Like many of the sit down places in the park it's "bufferteria" style- what they really means is think back to high school; Lunch ladies serving from steam trays. And picking desserts and salads off a little line. The food was never outstanding but it was good enough and a decent value for the price. It had a certain cheesy charm to it- it even got practically a whole chapter dedicated to it in a Baby Sitters Club book (BSC #23 "Dawn On The Coast"- damn I am old that I can even make mention to that series)

The menu is changed on a routine basis and normally feature 5 main entree choices, salad and soup (as well as mac & cheese or chicken mickey's for kids). Among today's options were some sort of salmon, skinless roasted chicken, pot roast, veg & four cheese gratin and jambalaya.
We decided to get a few things and share amongst ourselves. Since the menu changes so much I am not going to really go into great details on any of the actual items. What I will tell you that is while the portions are still as generous as they had been the taste and the quality is well... about what one expects from steam table food. If you really like cafeteria food you are sure to love this. Expect to spend over $10 but under $20 per person.

There is one thing that can be found pretty much at any of the food venues in New Orleans square that I love so I do want to mention it:
The Mint Julep. With the exception of the Ultra-exclusive Club 33 Disneyland is an alcohol free park (although it can be purchased at the Disneyland Hotel, pretty much any where in Downtown Disney and throughout the California Adventure park) The mint juleps served here are not the classic cocktail but instead it is a minty limeade type drink. I never make a visit to the park without getting one. They are just really refreshing.


PURCHASED FROM:
Disneyland Park
New Orleans Square