And that means more than snow on the castle and trees in Town Square. Christmas at Disneyland means special holiday food, too. So last week, I stopped at the Rancho del Zocalo for lunch.
Rancho del Zocalo has put tamales on the menu for the holidays, offering a tamale platter ($9.99), as well as a carne asada and tamale combination platter (pictured above). For $11.99, you get a chicken tamale, along with about a quarter pound of sliced carne asada steak, accompanied by refried beans, rice, sour cream, guacamole and pico de gallo. You also get two, plastic-wrapped flour tortillas for the steak.
I wondered why Disney had cluttered the plate with the plastic wrap for the tortillas. But when a puff of steam hit my face as I opened them, I realized that the plastic wrap was keeping my tortillas piping hot until I was ready to eat. Disney also presents the tamale out of its corn husk for easy eating.
The tamale comes with a green sauce and cojita cheese, which helps liven up the corn masa surrounding the chicken. I wish Disney had spiced up the marinade for the carne asada, though. The steak was a bit chewy and on the bland side, for my taste. I understand why Disney plays to middle-of-the-road tastes at its counter service locations, but Southern Californians are used to some spice in their Mexican food. (The carne asada is available year-round in the red chile enchilada combination platter, also for $11.99.)
Still, it's a pretty impressive platter for a theme park at this price. Even though I didn't finish the steak, the tamale, rice, beans and tortillas more than filled me up.
So much so that I didn't have room for dessert.
Disneyland's Holiday Demitasse Dessert is a peppermint chocolate pot de crème inside that festive Mickey mug, served with butter cookies on side for $6.99. The special holiday selections at Rancho del Zocalo and other Disneyland restaurants (including, among other selections, gingerbread beignets with eggnog anglaise at Cafe Orleans) will be available through the end of the year.
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