Disney’s California Food and Wine Weekends Disney’s California Adventure

DCA's First
Food and Wine Weekends

by
Laura Gilbreath
All Ears® Disneyland Correspondent

Ever since I attended Epcot's Food and Wine Festival last fall, I had been thinking, "Why can't we have something like that here in California? DCA would be perfect for it…they could set up food kiosks around Paradise Bay…it would be great!"

I didn't actually wish upon a star, but someone was obviously listening, because this spring Disney announced "Disney's California Food and Wine Weekends", to be held at Disney's California Adventure each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from April 28-May 21.

Information on the event was rather hard to come by, but about three weeks before the first weekend an official web site appeared on disneygallery.com. (At that time there was still no information on the official Disneyland site, and I found the disneygallery site with a Google search.) I think the web site does a good job of describing the event and the available activities, including all of the culinary events that are available for an additional cost. On-line registration for those events is available on the web site – another nice feature.

Since I have not had a chance to try any of the extra culinary events this review is going to focus on the aspects of the Food and Wine Weekends that are available inside Disney's California Adventure.

Based on what I'd read on the disneygallery web site I was expecting a small-scale version of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival with just a few food locations and some complimentary wine and cooking demonstrations in the park. And for the most part that's exactly what I found – though with a few pleasant surprises along the way.

Most of the event is held in the area in and around the Golden Vine Winery – and when you think about it, what's more natural than for a food and wine event to take place at a winery? Though there was no signage (or none that I noticed) at the entrance to the park, there was plenty of it around the Winery area – banners that fit in well with the winery theme, signs posting both the general schedule of events and the specific schedule for that day, and stacks of Food and Wine Weekend information brochures. The queue areas for the complimentary events were well-marked and easy to find.

There are four complimentary cooking demonstrations each day and four complimentary beer/wine/spirit tasting sessions every day. Each session is about 45 minutes long. I attended the Boudin Hors d'Oeuvres cooking demonstration by Boudin Chef Derek Brandes. The session was held upstairs on the terrace of the Vineyard Room. With the installation of the demonstration kitchen the area only accommodates 36 guests, and they had to turn people away. But it made for a much smaller and more intimate setting. Chef Derek demonstrated the preparation of three different kinds of appetizers (all using that famous Boudin sourdough bread, of course!), and to my surprise, at the end of each segment we were all served our very own sample of each one of them. All wery nicely plated and presented. There were also notepads and bottles of Dasani water for us on the tables. After the demonstration the recipes, already pre-printed on recipe cards, were available to us.

My husband attended the Beer Seminar, hosted by a Beer Ambassador from Karl Strauss Brewing Company. This event was held on the lower patio of the Vineyard outside the Trattoria restaurant. There was seating for about 80 people, and though this session wasn't full, the later wine-tasting sessions were at or near capacity. After some premilinary instruction in the art of beer tasting (who knew there *was* such a thing?), they received samples of four different beers to taste. There was water and crackers available to cleanse the palate. He found it a very educational and enjoyable experience.

Then it was time to check out the foods available at the Festival Marketplaces. While we didn't have a chance to try all of the available selections, between the two of us we managed to try a reasonable cross-section, and for the most part we were very impressed.

Food items are available at two locations: the Farmer's Market and the Lucky Fortune Cookery. Both locations were quick-service restaurants in the past, and so they are equipped with full kitchens. This gives them an advantage that the temporary kiosks at Epcot do not have in that they are able to freshly prepare food items and plate them in a visually appealing manner. For example, the Tomato Salad I tried had a slice of tomato topped with a thick "patty" of breaded and fried goat cheese. It was warm and still gooey in the middle – really excellent. The freshness of the tomato was also an indication that the warm cheese had not been sitting on it for very long.

I really enjoyed the Mixed Seasonal Berries – this is a dessert I would be happy to have served to me in a restaurant. It was served in a lovely tall plastic goblet with a blue base/stem and a clear bowl – I felt guilty throwing it away afterwards. The mixture of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries was nestled in a light sabayon (custard), and garnished with a sprig of mint.

My husband sampled the Baja Beef skewers, and said the beef was very flavorful and tender. He also tried the Knockwurst – this had a very appealing presentation – sliced diagonally and garnished with roasted red bell peppers and onions.

We shared the White Cheddar Cheese soup, which was served in a Boudin sourdough mini-boule. It had a very good flavor and the sourdough boule made it quite generously-sized, as well as filling. We also shared the Bruschetta with five-olive blend tapenade. This was visually the least appealing of anything we tried, but it was quite tasty and the bruschetta was crisp and crunchy.

There were suggested wine/beer pairings with each food item, and each Cast Member who served us asked if we wanted to try the suggested pairing. I sampled the Rosato with the Tomato Salad, and the Moscato d'Asti that went with the berries. Both were excellent choices and complemented the food well. The only thing I can say I was really disappointed in is that there weren't more people trying the foods – I never saw a line at all, and many people walked up, looked at the menu or the samples outside and turned away. They didn't know what they were missing!!!

We noticed many Cast Members, especially managers, around the area – handing out "vouchers" to those in line to attend the sessions, talking to guests, answering questions and making sure things were running smoothly. Everything we observed looked like it was working very well.

Cast Members we spoke to were uniformly enthusiastic about the event, and indicated that they were starting small this year to see how the event was received, with the anticipation that this will become an annual event, and grow larger in the future. What I perceived as a lack of publicity was intentional, to keep the event from getting too big when they really can't (with what they currently have in place) handle it.

Based on what I've seen so far, and conversations that I had with other guests, the Food and Wine Weekend concept has been quite favorably received…at least among those who are interested in food and "edutainment". Whether it will appeal to the larger, more general population and increase the attendance of DCA still remains to be seen, but I really hope that it does. I'd like to see this become an annual event that I could return to each year – without having to fly all the way across the country to Florida!

Disney's California Food and Wine Weekends run Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from April 28-May 21. Admission is included with your park admission, but there are several special events that are an additional charge. Some of these are already sold out, but others have openings still remaining. For more information or to make reservations on-line, visit
http://www.register123.com/event/profile/web/index.cfm?PKwebID=0x422573ea3

You may also check availability and make reservations by calling Disneyland Dining at 714-781-DINE (3463).

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RELATED LINKS
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Food and Wine Weekends General Information
Food and Wine Weekends Part 2
Festival Marketplace Menus and Prices
Food and Wine Weekends Photo Gallery

If you have comments or tips to share with others about touring Disney's California Adventure, please email us. Thank you.