D-Luxe Burger in Disney Springs

D-Luxe Burger is one of the restaurants which recently opened in the new Town Center section of Disney Springs. The restaurant's theming was seemed to be modeled off a Florida cattle ranch, located alongside the new spring that has suddenly started to bubble up in what used to be a Downtown Disney parking lot.

The menu reminded me of a Shake Shack or a BurgerFi in both format and choices. I ordered the El Diablo Burger. The menu described this as a chorizo-and-signature blend patty, fried banana peppers, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, and chipotle mayonnaise. A small box of fries was also ordered.

The chorizo did add a bit more flavor that isn't generally found in a plain beef burger. The meat itself didn't provide much spice, nor did the fried peppers, but the chipotle mayonnaise did have a nice kick. The main issue I had was with the burgers being served vertically. Gravity pulled all of the sauce down. This resulted in a sandwich where the top end was dry and bland. The bottom end had plenty of the tasty sauce, but was also really soggy with all the sauce pooling downwards.

Overall, the burger at D-Luxe was good enough. I wouldn't call myself a burger expert (I don't understand the gourmet burger trend that seems to be going on right now), but the burger here had more taste than just plain, bland ground beef and ketchup, so that's a good thing. They would have been better if the burgers were served flat though...

Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney, Lake Buena Vista, FL

I recently braved the massive construction at Downtown Disney as it is transformed into Disney Springs and ate dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. This is one of two Wolfgang Puck restaurants in Downtown Disney. This particular restaurant is located in the Marketplace section of Downtown Disney and is the lower priced of the two. Wolfgang Puck Express is a quick service restaurant and they seem to specialize in pizzas, pastas, and sandwiches. According to their menu, the ingredients used are organic and locally sourced.

There were three of us who ate here on this particular visit. We each ordered a different pizza and traded slices to compare. I ordered the Fennel Sausage Pizza. This consisted of crumbled sausage, pesto, roasted sweet peppers, and mozzarella. The pie was tasty, although the crust seemed to get very soggy underneath wherever the sausage was. The slices seemed to loose some of their structural integrity because of this.

Barbecued Chicken Pizza was another pie that was tried at our table. This was topped with chicken, grilled red onions, cilantro, roasted tomatoes, and barbeque sauce. I can't exactly pinpoint what it is, but variations of barbecue pizzas don't do much for me. This wasn't necessarily a bad pie, but I wouldn't order it on my own. Perhaps it the unexpected (even when it is expected) barbecue sauce rather than a more standard tomato sauce that catches me off guard.

Finally, I also tried the Four Cheese Pesto Pizza. This one was my personal favorite of the three pies. The four cheeses were mozzarella, goat cheese, parmesan, and fontina. It was topped with pesto, fresh tomatoes, and sun-dried tomatoes. Goat cheese should be put on pizza more often because it is delicious!

Overall, I enjoyed the pizza at Wolfgang Puck Express. I know there's a celebrity chef name attached to the restaurant, but this is still essentially food in a theme park's outdoor shopping mall. With that in mind, Wolfgang Puck Express sets a pretty high bar when it comes to pizza catering to the theme park demographic. The prices are relatively affordable as well. I'd return.

Food Quest in Downtown Disney

DisneyQuest is a virtual theme park in Downtown Disney. Back when they opened, Disney had big plans to expand this concept to cities all around the world. After one more failed attempt in Chicago, this is the one and only DisneyQuest.

The last time I was at DisneyQuest, they had a fast food version of the Cheesecake Factory that took up multiple counters, each serving a different foods. On this visit, the Cheesecake Factory was gone and was replaced with a Disney run snack bar. They only had one counter and the menu was pretty limited with stereotypical theme park food.

I wasn't feeling burgers or personal pizzas, so I went with the Chicken Caesar Wrap with fries. I've had similar wraps before elsewhere at Disney (Blizzard Beach). The wrap here was okay, but it definitely wasn't Epcot food. The chicken didn't have much flavor, but I suppose that's what the caesar dressing was for. Overall the food was pretty average. Disney can do better than the food served at Food Quest...

Some of the desserts, which I unfortunately didn't try, did look good though...

 

This doesn't have to do with the food, but I got a weird vibe from almost everyone working at DisneyQuest. Rather than the overly happy, stereotypical Disney Cast Member, most of the employees here were giving off the vibe that they hated their jobs. They seemed way more like Wal-Mart employees than Disney employees. Here's a food related example: It was taking a while to get the food. When ours was finally ready, there was someone else asking what happened to his order. The employee behind the counter looked at his receipt and responded with 'We must have lost your food.' He then walked away and went to take someone else's order instead of helping the complaining park guest. Very atypical of what I've seen at Disney in the past...

AMC Dine-In Theatres in Downtown Disney

I was invited to the media event for the opening of the new AMC Dine-In Theatres in Downtown Disney. AMC offered us bloggers and other media type people to come try their food and watch TRON Legacy for the complete dine-in theater experience.

The theater itself had extra wide rocking seats. There was a counter for the food in every row, although I personally thought it was too far away from the seat. I wasn't able to comfortably reach my food without sitting on the very edge of my seat which was especially distracting when the movie started. One cool little feature on each counter was the call button to summon your server for drink refills or whatever.

For food, we started out with two appetizers. The first appetizer was the Parmesan Fries. These were standard French fries with grated cheese on top.

Wings & Things Sampler: Came with buffalo wings, potato chips, onion rings, and mozzarella sticks.

Smoked Salmon BLT: For some reason I was really hoping for lox on here, but it was the more traditional type of smoked salmon on the sandwich. Big slab of fish on a bun with bacon, lettuce, tomato, and a garlic basil sauce. More potato chips came served on the side.

Buffalo Chicken Flatbread Pizzetta: Pizza made with buffalo wing sauce rather than the more traditional tomato. Was topped with blue cheese and chicken.

AMC had tables set up in the lobby with many of their menu offerings on display. Here's a few of the foods I didn't get a chance to try:

Overall, I liked my food at the AMC Dine-In Theatres. The prices were good too, with some of the sandwiches being equivalent to what a large popcorn costs at other theaters. The Downtown Disney AMC was already one of my favorite theaters in Orlando, so now food makes them even better!

Cookes of Dublin in Downtown Disney

It has been a while since theme park food has been featured on this blog. That's too bad since theme park food can be surprisingly good, especially at Disney. The last time I had Disney food was for the pre-opening of Star Tours back in June where we were treated to an ice cream buffet. The last time I ate in an actual restaurant at Disney was for the media opening of the AMC Dine-In Theaters in May. Seeing the pictures that were popping up all over the internet of delicious looking foods from the Epcot Food & Wine Festival (which I did not attend - too expensive), I figured it was about time to go on another Disney food adventure. The Festival of Masters was going on at Downtown Disney so we ventured out to view some artwork and eat lunch. The mentioned lunch happened at Cookes of Dublin.

Cookes of Dublin is the fast food Irish restaurant attached to Raglin Road in Downtown Disney. They have foods you would expect like fish and chips, but I was intrigued by their pies. I've actually though of eating here a few times in the past to try their pies and they always end up being sold out. It must have been my lucky day on this visit, because they had plenty to choose from. I went with the Fisherman's Pie, filled with mashed potatoes, carrots, shrimp, salmon, and scallops in a doughy pie shell. I wasn't exactly sure what would be inside the pie when I ordered, but the variety and size of the seafood was a nice surprise. The swirly mashed potatoes on top were a nice touch as well. I suppose this was sort of like a seafood version shepard's pie...

Fried Shrimp were also ordered at the table. These were exactly what they were described as, battered shrimp deep fried and served over fries. My pie was definitely the winner by far...

Cookes of Dublin is definitely worthy of another visit to try more of their pies. Expect to pay Disney prices, but they are cheaper than Raglin Road next door (which I really want to return to one day). Best of all, they satisfied my craving for theme park food for the moment...

House of Blues in Orlando, FL

A few months ago, I was invited to attend the House of Blues Gospel Brunch in Downtown Disney. That was an awesome food experience, and since then I've attended a few concerts at the House of Blues. I've definitely gone to the House of Blues enough in the past year, but I never actually ate at the House of Blues restaurant on all those visits. Last time I ate at the restaurant was at least three or four years ago, so when I met up with some relatives visiting Disney and found a good deal on restaurants.com, I figured it was about time I return to the HOB...

I ordered the Jambalaya, consisting of rice, chicken, shrimp, and ham, topped with andouille sausage and green onions. I liked it, although I personally thought I could have used a little more spice. Otherwise the portion was large and very filling. House of Blues was kind of overpriced at $18 and it would have been nice if some sort of bread was included, but it is on Disney property. You have to expect it to be overpriced...

While House of Blues isn't my favorite restaurant in Downtown Disney, I personally think it's one of the better ones. I seem to like most anywhere that serves Cajun food, and this is no exception. I would definitely visit again!

Pollo Campero in Downtown Disney

Pollo Campero is a new fast food restaurant that opened in Downtown Disney, replacing McDonald's. Anything is better than a McDonald's in my opinion, even if it's another fast food restaurant (which is very similar to Pollo Tropical). A few weeks after they opened, I found myself in Downtown Disney to try Pollo Campero's Latin-American style chicken...

On my visit, we ordered the Citrus Grilled Chicken family meal. This came with four 1/4 pieces of chicken (basically a whole chicken) and a large side of black beans & rice. Also included were several corn tortillas.


I liked the food here. The chicken had plenty of flavor, as did everything else I tasted. Pretty good for fast food!

Earl of Sandwich in Orlando, FL

Earl of Sandwich is a fast food restaurant located in Downtown Disney. I found it interesting that the restaurant was actually started by the real life Earl of Sandwich and the founder of Planet Hollywood.

The majority of the menu consisted of hot sandwiches. Each sandwich sold for $5.99 which is pretty good for Disney prices. No sides came with the sandwich, but still, $6 isn't bad given the location.

The Caribbean Jerk Chicken sandwich and The Earl's Club were ordered.

Caribbean Jerk Chicken on the left and The Earl's Club on the right.

The Caribbean Jerk Chicken was filled with chicken, roasted red peppers, banana peppers, and a jerk sauce. The Earl's Club had turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and sauce. Both sandwiches were really tasty, but I think most of the flavor actually came from the sauce. Unfortunately, on both sandwiches, they were somewhat stingy on the meat and other fillings. I guess they hope you don't open the sandwich to look inside...


Overall, Earl of Sandwich was pretty good. The sandwiches were a bit small, but one sandwich still filled me up. As far as the price goes, these are probably one of the best values in Downtown Disney. I'll be back!

Zatarain's House of Blues Gospel Brunch in Orlando, FL

The House of Blues Gospel Brunch takes place every Sunday morning in Downtown Disney. It's something I had never seen in my years of living in Central Florida, but when I was invited to try the new Zatarain's sponsored Jambalaya Bar at the brunch, I figured it was time to give the Gospel Brunch a try!

It was strange seeing the House of Blues filled with large round tables instead of concert goers...

The Zatarain's Jambalaya Station was the first thing that greeted everyone near the entrance of the House of Blues. Here, a chef prepared freshly made jambalaya from whatever ingredients you selected. The Zatarain's sponsored food are offered for a limited time in October and November, so hurry in if you're after the jambalaya.

Several other buffet tables were also set up. There was a salad bar with several different types of salads. The breakfast bar had a nice selection of typical southern breakfast items, including eggs, waffles, biscuits & gravy, grits, meats, and pastries. The lunch bar featured foods like fried catfish, rice & beans, macaroni & cheese, collards, and chicken. Nearby was a carving station providing freshly sliced meats, and the dessert bar can't be forgotten either.



At the far side of the House of Blues, there was also an Omelet station providing custom made omelets.

After checking out the food choices, it was time to eat! I started with with the jambalaya, catfish, and cornbread. In my jambalaya, I choose crawfish, shrimp, andouille sausage, as well as all of the vegetarian toppings. I really enjoyed the jambalaya, especially with good Cajun food being a rare find in Orlando. The cornbread was also really good. It was really moist with great flavor!

I didn't get a chance to try the omelets, but that didn't stop me from snapping a picture of one...

Next came a plate of salad and breakfast items. One of the salads was Caesar and the other was a mixed green salad with crumbled blue cheese. For the breakfast, I tried scrambled eggs, sausage, home fries, cheese grits, and a biscuit. The standouts here were the cheese grits and the biscuit.

A visit to the lunch buffet table came next. I had red beans & rice, collard greens, macaroni & cheese, roasted chicken, and some more of the awesome cornbread. I liked everything here with the exception of the macaroni. It was very dry in my opinion.

Finally, I picked up a plate of bread pudding, key lime pie, apple cobbler, and a brownie for dessert.

After forty-five minutes of eating, the show started. Apostle J.L.Cash came out and did a good show for another forty-five minutes. There were many mentions of Jesus, god, and similar topics. These are not musical themes I normally seek out, but this was expected in a Gospel Brunch. Much of the audience was getting really into the show with lots of dancing and crowd participation, so I suppose the show was a success!

I enjoyed the House of Blues Gospel Brunch. The food was really good and was definitely on par with the nearby breakfast buffets elsewhere on Disney property. Getting the show along with the food was an added bonus!