Matthew Gottula covered "Season of the Force" for us on opening night, but this weekend my family and I visited for lunch at "Galactic Grill," the rethemed Tomorrowland Terrace restaurant.
Star Wars references abound on the menu, to which Disney has added several new items. (The menu isn't the only place to see Star Wars references here, either. I got a kick out of noticing that the cast member at the counter was wearing a nametag declaring her hometown as "Mustafar.")
The references and puns continue on the kids' and dessert menu, too. Why is the kids' burger called the "Han" burger? Well, in addition to that obvious pun, without cheese and condiments, it's being served "solo." Get it?
We didn't. Instead, we opted for the top two new sandwiches on the grown-up menu, as well as the top item on the kids' menu. Plus a couple of desserts, too.
Frankly, all of this reminded me more of Disney World food than anything I've been accustomed to eating at Disneyland. The sandwiches came wrapped in lined foil, with buns so soggy they stuck to the wrappers and tore when we opened them. The turkey sandwich came wrapped in plastic, as if it had been sitting in 10-year-old me's Star Wars lunchbox all morning.
There's a hint of interesting flavor in the First Order burger and Jedi Order chicken sandwich, but neither I nor my kids cared to try more than a bite of each. The First Order burger aims for Latin flavor, with a blend of chorizo and beef in the patty, with fried cherry peppers and a spicy lime aioli dressing the burger. The Jedi Order chicken sandwich goes more for an Asian-inspired taste, seasoned with Chinese Five Spice powder and adorned with fried green beans, pickled red onions, and wasabi mayo.
In both cases, those soggy buns just serve to mute the flavors of the sandwich, leaving all of us to just shrug, put them down, and await our turn with the "Darth by Chocolate."
A parfait of chocolate ganache and red velvet cake, adorned with a Darth Vader chocolate cut-out, the Darth by Chocolate is sweet and simple. And it's more satisfying than the cloying BB-8, where the icing helps cut the sweetness of the crisped rice, which should tell you all you need to know.
That left me to finish the kid-sized turkey sandwich, which, despite the "Bantha Blue Milk" coloring, tasted exactly like the mass-produced turkey-and-lettuce sandwich on supermarket white bread that I expected it to be.
All in all, if you're looking to mix things up by trying something off of one of Disneyland's seasonal menus, head over to Disney California Adventure and try one of the Viva Navidad entrees at the Paradise Garden Grill instead. I had the Sopes de Barbacoa, and thoroughly enjoyed the spicy shredded beef atop the fried cornmeal patties and chorizo beans. (Served on a real plate with actual serving ware, too!) Now that is a Disneyland meal.
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Is it airport food or the gold standard of theme park entertainment? That's a blind taste test I would like to see.
Looking at the picture, that is some scary looking food.
DLR has dominated the CS options for a while and I hope this is not a sign of things to come.
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