The Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival is back. Disney invited us out today to try some of the new items on this year's menu. So we did, and ranked them from (our) worst to first.
The festival runs daily through April 21 at Disney California Adventure, with restaurants at the Disneyland Resort hotels and in the Downtown Disney District also getting in on the fun with special menu items. But the heart of the festival are the eight festival marketplaces in Disney California Adventure. You can order (almost) any item from any of the marketplaces at each one, so - if you plan in advance - you only have to wait in one queue to order.
The Disneyland Resort also has brought back the Sip & Savor Pass for this event, which can provide some cost savings, if used wisely. The eight-item pass costs $63 plus tax, while a four-item version is $32 plus tax. That works out to an average of $7.88 per selection for the eight-item pass and $8 for the four-item. Use the pass only for marketplace items that cost more than that, and you are money ahead. Magic Key holders can get the eight-item pass for $58, which brings their magic number down to $7.25 an item.
You also can use the Sip & Savor Pass for snack-sized items at select DCA restaurants. We tried items from Aunt Cass Cafe and Paradise Garden Grill among our 10 tastes today.
The only item of the 10 we tried that Laurie and I both disliked was the Asa’DOS [$9.75], a piece of grilled skirt steak on a mini tortilla and chipotle chicken leg with Spanish rice and salsa verde, from Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo. Neither of us liked the sharp taste of the chipotle chicken, and the skirt steak was just too tough for us.
On the flip side, our top four recommendations were:
4. Burrata Toast on sourdough with onion jam, tomatoes, arugula, and balsamic glaze [$8.49], from Aunt Cass Cafe: Maybe I was just desperate for a nice green leaf, but I enjoyed the flavor combination here, especially since it was not nearly as salty as the other dishes at the festival. Disney generally does a good job with textural contrast on many of these dishes, and the toast with burrata provided a perfect example of that.
3. Chicken Taquito Ahogado with salsa verde, Spanish rice, avocado crema, sour cream, pickled onion, cotija, and cilantro [$7.99], from Paradise Garden Grill: This was a mess, but a delightful one. It's an abundance of toppings held up by a large and crispy chicken taquito. This also comes in an entree size at a higher price that is ineligible for the pass.
2. Birria Mac & Cheese [$9], from Mercado de Antojos: The crushed tortilla chips atop this help provide needed texture to the tender, slow-cooked beef and nacho-flavored macaroni. An avocado/onion/cilantro sauce also provides some welcomed sharpness to this dish.
1. Lemon Pepper Wings with garlic ranch [$9], from California Craft Brews: Our unanimous favorite, this offered perfectly crispy wings with just the right amount of brightness from the lemon to balance the sharp pepper. The accompanying garlic ranch also played well, offering a nice contrast to the wings. This was the one item we could not help but finish even as we were trying to pace ourselves through the day of eating.
Beyond the food, the original Soarin' Over California is back for the duration of the festival, and the Cookin' with the Jammin' Chefs show returns to Paradise Park, as well. Multiple culinary demonstrations are available on the weekends, as well.
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"bring it to fl" - Too many brawls already at the most magical place on Earth.
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