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Apr 14 Top-Notch Restaurants and Gifted Chefs at Walt Disney World® Resort
If dining is one of the most important aspects of your vacation, these award-winning Disney restaurants offer something for everyone. And if wine is your passion, Walt Disney World® Resort has more sommeliers than any other company in the world — more than 300 — and outstanding wine lists that will leave you reeling with delight.
Artist Point. At Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, inspired by historic national park lodges from the early 1900s, Artist Point features Pacific Northwest dishes such as its signature cedar plank roasted salmon, plump steamed mussels or buffalo steak. Order a bottle of wine from an all Pacific Northwest list and finish your meal with fresh berry cobbler, Artist Point’s most famous dessert.
Cítricos. New American cuisine with a Mediterranean twist is what you’ll find at this restaurant at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. Everyone’s favorite starter is the shrimp with lemon, white wine, feta and tomatoes, and the house specialty is a tender braised veal shank. Each entrée on the menu is paired with a suggested wine making it nice and easy. And diners get to watch the chefs at work in the restaurant’s on-stage kitchen.
Flying Fish Cafe. Here at Disney’s Boardwalk is another on-stage kitchen with a gold-tiled countertop for those that would like to dine right in front of the oak-fired grill where Chef Tim Keating and his team turn out nightly specials. And you’ll also find one of Disney’s best wine lists with more than 50 selections by the glass with suggested pairings.
The Hollywood Brown Derby. The best restaurant at Disney’s Hollywood Studios® where tuxedoed waiters and live piano music add to the ambience in a dining room inspired by the original Hollywood restaurant. You’ll love some of the original recipes like a Cobb salad or the light grapefruit cake, but the kitchen also offers new creations like seared pork tenderloin or coriander-dusted grouper. And nice wine pairings are recommended on the menu making it easy to choose.
Jiko-The Cooking Place. African-inspired dishes like chermoula roasted Nigerian prawns, curry-rubbed lamb loin, and grilled wild boar tenderloin are on this most unusual menu at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. And even more impressive is the fabulous wine list exclusively from Africa. After dinner, there’s more entertainment outside on the resort’s own savanna teeming with exotic African animals.
Shula’s Steak House. The theme for this popular restaurant at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel is the ’72 Miami Dolphins’ 17-0 perfect season. There are menus hand-painted on NFL footballs, huge portions of Certified Angus Beef, including a signature 48-ounce porterhouse, all of which is what makes this place famous. Start with the classic Caesar salad then move on to a tender steak with classic sides like hash browns and creamed spinach. Fresh seafood options are also available as well as wines for every taste.
Todd English’s bluezoo. At Chef Todd English’s restaurant at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel is the signature “dancing fish” grill where seafood is cooked over an open rotisserie in full view of the guests. You’ll also find everything from miso glazed Chilean sea bass to grilled beef tenderloin as well as a stellar wines list.
Victoria & Albert’s. Chef Scott Hunnel at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa is at the top of his game with Central Florida’s only AAA Five-Diamond Restaurant and one of only two with the Forbes Travel Guide Four Star rating. Small and romantic, this restaurant also won the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, with 700 selections on the menu and 4,200 bottles in the cellar. Changing almost daily, the menu features a global cuisine. For the best seat in the house book the Chef’s Table in the restaurant’s kitchen.
Yachtsman Steakhouse. The classic steakhouse menu at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort includes starters like shrimp cocktail and lobster bisque, and better yet, just about any cut of expertly cooked meat, from a first-rate filet mignon to porterhouse and tender beef short ribs, can be had. To go along with the excellent steaks are bold reds on the wine list along with nice whites.
For reservations at any Walt Disney World table-service restaurant, call 407/WDW-DINE (939-3463)
