Travel
Review and More: Lone Oaks Farm
I recently had the opportunity to eat a simple but delicious meal prepared for some of my colleagues and me at a place called Lone Oaks Farm. So I’ll write up a quick review of that meal to follow my form here, but the purpose of me writing this post goes way beyond writing about a great meal.
I may have mentioned it before on this blog, but I work in IT, currently for the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. I’ve worked in higher education IT for most of my career, and I’ve been with the Institute since late 2013. The Institute is composed of four units, one of which serves as its outreach unit, UT Extension. 4-H is part of UT Extension, and that’s where my trip to West Tennessee comes in, and why I ended up eating a great meal prepared by Chef Allen Cain.
The Meal
After a day of meetings to work on developing a strategy to improve and support the IT infrastructure at Lone Oaks Farm, we were treated to dinner.
Dinner was served buffet style, which was nice because it let me decide how much of each item I wanted. Once I’d tried them all, I was glad there was enough left for seconds.
Everything on this plate was great. The salad had just the might mix of veggies and whatever dressing it was tossed in was good. The sweet potato medly to the right of the salad was outstanding. I don’t know how he did it, but Chef Allen made sweet potatoes exciting and flavorful. The shrimp were great, but I’ll be honest, I worked my way through them with my mind on the steak. The steak was marinated and grilled to perfection, and the second one I snagged off the buffet (yes, I took the last one) was just as good as the first. The cream cheese-filled pastries were also delicious, but I limited myself to two of those.
So that’s the review of the meal - it was outstanding. The one thing I hope is that I will spend another night at the farm when Chef Allen prepares some of the trout you can catch right behind the main building.
The Farm
I don’t have the words to describe just how beautiful a place Lone Oaks Farm is. Lone Oaks exists on 1,200 acres of some of the most inspiring land I’ve ever seen. I didn’t have a clear idea in my head of how large 1,200 acres was before spending a few days on the farm.
What I can tell you is, especially since some of the cabins are located deep within some of the wooded areas, reachable by twisting trails, 1,200 acres is big. My boss and I stayed in a lodge at one end of the property and one of our coworkers stayed at a cabin at the other end. Driving to pick her up each morning took 5-7 minutes.
This is just one of the cabins/houses at Lone Oaks, one of thirteen. It’s called the Waterfall Cabin because it sits next to a lake with its own waterfall. I’d love to drop our son off at my parents and take my wife out here for a romantic few days away from it all.
There’s too much about Lone Oaks for me to go into here - check out the website if you want the incredibly interesting story of its history and plans for its future by UT.
The Experience - Why I Love My Job
I made a second trip out to Lone Oaks Farm recently - in fact I left Knoxville at nearly 9PM and drove the 5.5 hours to reach the farm so I could be there for an early morning meeting the next day. I was exhausted the next morning, but the work being done at Lone Oaks is important, and I was happy to do it. While the purpose of the trip was to work on the networking, IT, and video conferencing needs of the farm, what I saw that morning before breakfast cemented for me why I love my job and am so proud to be a part of what the Institute of Agriculture and UT Extension does across our state.
As we drove up to the Sale Barn for our breakfast meeting, I saw a large group of kids, probably pre-teens, playing volleyball outside. Considering I was working on about 4 hours of sleep, volleyball was the furthest thing from my mind, but those kids soon came inside and I realized they were staying at the farm as part of its role as a 4-H camp. What happened next took my breath away with its quiet power and simple goodness.
Chef Allen had prepared a pancake breakfast for everybody that day, and the 4-H kids were gathered at several large tables near us. Gary Rodgers, County Director and 4-H Agent in Hardeman County, got the kids’ attention and said to them something like, “As is our habit, we guys will wait for the girls to go through the line and get their food. Once we all have our food, we’ll give thanks.” And that’s exactly what they did.
And just like that, I was wide awake and excited about the day and our mission at Lone Oaks in a way that I hadn’t fully understood before. Here was a man, modeling courteous, respectful behavior, and reinforcing it with a group of boys and girls. I was raised in the South, in Tennessee, and this resonated with me. I knew right then that, even though I don’t want my 4 year-old son to grow up any faster, I look forward to the day that he can be in 4-H and be exposed to examples of leadership and citizenship like those kids at Lone Oaks have in Gary. Knowing that the work I do helps just that one part of 4-H and UT Extension be more connected, more technology-enabled, makes those trips across the state more than worth it. I didn’t take this pic, but it shows Gary working with some 4-H’ers.
If you have a chance to schedule an event of the kind Lone Oaks Farm can host, even if it’s just staying a night or two at one of the cabins, you should do it. You’ll see a place like no other you’ve seen before, and you’ll be supporting the great programs of Tennessee 4-H.
Quick Takes III - Five Points Pizza and More
We made an overnight trip to Nashville recently to attend my nephew’s birthday party, so we were able to enjoy an afternoon and evening to ourselves while The Boy got to have fun with his cousin and grandparents. First, we saw Jurassic World, which both my wife and I agreed was far better than we expected to to be based on the more recent installments in the Jurassic series. After walking around the seemingly endless Opry Mills mall, we reviewed the pizza recommendations from my friends on Facebook and decided to try Five Points Pizza, and I’m glad we did.
Several of the reviews mentioned this place is regularly packed, and since this was a Saturday night, we headed over at what we felt was an early time, about 4:30 PM, and still had to wait about 15 minutes for a table to open up. We were seated at a high 2-top near the bar. Normally I offer to wait for the next table since I find perching on a tall chair hurts my knees, but this table was off to the side by itself, whereas all of the other tables were far too close to their neighbors for my comfort, so I made the best of it.
Our server, a young man, was great. He took our drink orders and got us a full order of Garlic Knots. The garlic knots were very good, with or without the marina sauce. Next time I might ask them to skip the marinara and give us just a bit more olive oil.
Five Points has a very large selection of beer on draft, in bottles, and cans, and they also had several varieties of hard cider. I had two bottles - a Crispin Pear and Original Sin Elderberry. Both were very good, and I found the Crispin Pear to be a perfect cooldown drink on this extremely hot day.
For our pizza, we ordered an 18" half and half. Rachael created her how half with pepperoni, meatball, red onions, and green peppers. Our server thought about that for a second and heartily approved. I decided to go with one of the standard pizzas on the printed menu, although I don’t see it on the website, so I’m not sure if it was a limited time special or a new addition. My half had a habanero cream sauce, sliced tomatoes, fresh basil, and bacon. This was NY style pizza and while my wife commented that it may have done better to be taken out of the oven a minute sooner so the crust was less crisp, we both really liked it. Her DIY half was excellent, as I used a slice from it to take a break from the intense heat of the habanero cream sauce on mine. My half was amazing, and while I had to admit it was perhaps not the best choice for a super hot day, I’d order it again in a heartbeat.
I was thrilled with the recommendation for Five Points Pizza, and after we hit a couple of the other pizza spots on our list, I will gladly return.
The Pied Piper Creamery
We asked our server at Five Points Pizza if there was somewhere nearby where we could get some good ice cream and he directed us to The Pied Piper Creamery around the corner and up the street a bit. We walked over and enjoyed some good, if not awesome, ice cream. It’s the best ice cream I’ve had in Nashville, but I wouldn’t pick it over our Knoxville favorite, It’s All So Yummy Cafe. We each got the 4 scoop sampler at Pied Piper. My favorite was the Peanut Butter? I Hardly Knew Her, and my least favorite was the Some Like it Hot, mainly since it was too heavy on the cinnamon and not enough on the cayenne pepper.
I Dream of Weenie
We were stuffed after pizza and ice cream, so I just admired this place from afar. But the thought of a hot dog-selling food truck run out of a VW microbus is too hard to resist, so I’ll be visiting it on a trip to Nashville soon.
Quick Review: Forte's on the Square
On the way back from enjoying Thanksgiving with my family in Nashville, my wife asked me if I wanted to stop for dinner in Crossville. We’d never eaten dinner in Crossville, and based on having lunch there during a couple of work visits, I wasn’t hopeful, and said so. Still, I pulled out my iPhone and checked TripAdvisor to see what the top-rated restaurants in Crossville were, and had my lack of hope confirmed when Cracker Barrel was listed as #1. Still, I saw what looked like a purely local place, Forte’s on the Square, listed as #2, so we decided to give it a shot. After a false start caused by our car’s clock being on Eastern Time but Crossville being on Central which left us sitting in our car for 15 minutes, we walked inside and were seated.
Our server made a great impression right off the bat. We sometimes let our son watch a movie on his iPad when we eat out - and I know, that makes us terrible parents. She glanced at the iPad as she walked up and declared in an excited voice, “Oh! Planes Fire & Rescue! I haven’t seen that but I really want to!” That made our son smile and us along with him.
I rarely mention the bread a restaurant serves in one of my reviews, and mostly that’s because the bread is usually just there as filler and not worthy of comment. The bread at Forte’s was anything but unworthy. It was light, flavorful, and so good that I almost asked for a second loaf. The butter was outstanding as well.
For our son we ordered one of his staples, Mac & Cheese. This was the best kids mac & cheese I’ve ever seen, and some of the best mac & cheese I’ve ever had. As we ordered his meal first and it came out a few minutes before our dishes, I’m not ashamed to admit that I sat there waiting for him to look away and transferred a few bites at a time over to my bread plate. In fact, the main reason I almost ordered more bread was because the cheese was so outstanding that it made a perfect dip for the bread. I’d love to see that as an appetizer next time we stop there - two loaves of bread and a small cup of the cheese for dipping.
My wife ordered one of her staples, Chicken Parmesan. She let me have a bite of it and I thought it was fairly good, but chicken parmesan isn’t one of my favorite dishes. She really liked it, and shared a few bites of it with our son, along with some of the broccoli.
I was torn as to what to order, and again our server impressed us. I told her I couldn’t decide between the Chicken Alfredo or the Pork Chops. She said that both were excellent, but in her opinion, pork chops were not that common at restaurants, so she’d go with them. But she solved my dilemma by offering to substitute pasta for my baked potato, and said she would be happy to put the Alfredo sauce on it for me. I took her up on that, and in fact my wife asked to do the same substitution for her potato. The pork chops were quite good, and the honey balsamic glaze they were served with was exceptional - both simple and full of flavor.
Here’s a picture of the pasta each of us received. It is no shame to say that while we liked our pasta, we both loved our son’s mac & cheese more. I would rank this Alfredo sauce better than most in Knoxville, with only Savelli’s beating it out, and not by a wide margin. Since I’d eaten a decent portion of our son’s mac & cheese and because I’d seen homemade desserts listed on the menu, I left about half of my pasta and my wife left about three quarters of hers uneaten. That I asked for a to-go box, something I almost never do, is an indication of how good the pasta and sauce were.
When our server brought out the dessert tray, which included several kinds of cheesecake, as well as a “Death by Chocolate” cake and a Coconut Cake, my wife wasn’t sure what to get. She and my son really love chocolate, so the cake was a possibility, but there was also an Oreo cheesecake, with chocolate sauce drizzled over it. Our server again helped out, offering to be generous with the chocolate sauce. My wife said the cheesecake itself was quite good, and she was glad our server added the extra chocolate, because she felt there wasn’t enough Oreo topping. She also commented that she liked the crust itself, which is unusual for her.
My choice was simpler. I would prefer plain cheesecake every time, but that wasn’t an option and I’m not fond of chocolate desserts. So I took the each option seasonal option - Pumpkin cheesecake. I can’t say the cheesecake blew me away, but it was good, and I take every opportunity I can during this time of year to eat pumpkin-based desserts, so I was happy to have it.
All in all, we were very happy with our first stop in Crossville for dinner, and we’ll be making an effort to eat at Forte’s on the Square again the next time we’re heading back to Knoxville. On that note, do keep in mind that while Forte’s is open for lunch Tuesday through Friday, its website lists it as being open for dinner only on Friday and Saturday.
This is post 30 in the #NaBloWriMo #vDM30in30 30 Day Blog Challenge
Quick Review: Forte's on the Square
On the way back from enjoying Thanksgiving with my family in Nashville, my wife asked me if I wanted to stop for dinner in Crossville. We’d never eaten dinner in Crossville, and based on having lunch there during a couple of work visits, I wasn’t hopeful, and said so. Still, I pulled out my iPhone and checked TripAdvisor to see what the top-rated restaurants in Crossville were, and had my lack of hope confirmed when Cracker Barrel was listed as #1. Still, I saw what looked like a purely local place, Forte’s on the Square, listed as #2, so we decided to give it a shot. After a false start caused by our car’s clock being on Eastern Time but Crossville being on Central which left us sitting in our car for 15 minutes, we walked inside and were seated.
Our server made a great impression right off the bat. We sometimes let our son watch a movie on his iPad when we eat out - and I know, that makes us terrible parents. She glanced at the iPad as she walked up and declared in an excited voice, “Oh! Planes Fire & Rescue! I haven’t seen that but I really want to!” That made our son smile and us along with him.
I rarely mention the bread a restaurant serves in one of my reviews, and mostly that’s because the bread is usually just there as filler and not worthy of comment. The bread at Forte’s was anything but unworthy. It was light, flavorful, and so good that I almost asked for a second loaf. The butter was outstanding as well.
For our son we ordered one of his staples, Mac & Cheese. This was the best kids mac & cheese I’ve ever seen, and some of the best mac & cheese I’ve ever had. As we ordered his meal first and it came out a few minutes before our dishes, I’m not ashamed to admit that I sat there waiting for him to look away and transferred a few bites at a time over to my bread plate. In fact, the main reason I almost ordered more bread was because the cheese was so outstanding that it made a perfect dip for the bread. I’d love to see that as an appetizer next time we stop there - two loaves of bread and a small cup of the cheese for dipping.
My wife ordered one of her staples, Chicken Parmesan. She let me have a bite of it and I thought it was fairly good, but chicken parmesan isn’t one of my favorite dishes. She really liked it, and shared a few bites of it with our son, along with some of the broccoli.
I was torn as to what to order, and again our server impressed us. I told her I couldn’t decide between the Chicken Alfredo or the Pork Chops. She said that both were excellent, but in her opinion, pork chops were not that common at restaurants, so she’d go with them. But she solved my dilemma by offering to substitute pasta for my baked potato, and said she would be happy to put the Alfredo sauce on it for me. I took her up on that, and in fact my wife asked to do the same substitution for her potato. The pork chops were quite good, and the honey balsamic glaze they were served with was exceptional - both simple and full of flavor.
Here’s a picture of the pasta each of us received. It is no shame to say that while we liked our pasta, we both loved our son’s mac & cheese more. I would rank this Alfredo sauce better than most in Knoxville, with only Savelli’s beating it out, and not by a wide margin. Since I’d eaten a decent portion of our son’s mac & cheese and because I’d seen homemade desserts listed on the menu, I left about half of my pasta and my wife left about three quarters of hers uneaten. That I asked for a to-go box, something I almost never do, is an indication of how good the pasta and sauce were.
When our server brought out the dessert tray, which included several kinds of cheesecake, as well as a “Death by Chocolate” cake and a Coconut Cake, my wife wasn’t sure what to get. She and my son really love chocolate, so the cake was a possibility, but there was also an Oreo cheesecake, with chocolate sauce drizzled over it. Our server again helped out, offering to be generous with the chocolate sauce. My wife said the cheesecake itself was quite good, and she was glad our server added the extra chocolate, because she felt there wasn’t enough Oreo topping. She also commented that she liked the crust itself, which is unusual for her.
My choice was simpler. I would prefer plain cheesecake every time, but that wasn’t an option and I’m not fond of chocolate desserts. So I took the each option seasonal option - Pumpkin cheesecake. I can’t say the cheesecake blew me away, but it was good, and I take every opportunity I can during this time of year to eat pumpkin-based desserts, so I was happy to have it.
All in all, we were very happy with our first stop in Crossville for dinner, and we’ll be making an effort to eat at Forte’s on the Square again the next time we’re heading back to Knoxville. On that note, do keep in mind that while Forte’s is open for lunch Tuesday through Friday, its website lists it as being open for dinner only on Friday and Saturday.
This is post 30 in the #NaBloWriMo #vDM30in30 30 Day Blog Challenge
Disney Vacation 2014: Review - Liberty Tree Tavern
Our first dinner at Magic Kingdom was at Liberty Tree Tavern. We’d never eaten here before, and since my wife handled all the planning and reservations for this trip and I didn’t pay quite as much attention as I should have when she was explaining them to me, I had no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised.
We had an early dinner reservation - just after 5PM if memory serves. We arrived even earlier than that, but they weren’t ready to begin seating people. My son had some excess energy to burn and I didn’t, so my wife took him off to play for an extra 15 minutes while I waited inside in the air conditioning. My water bottle had run dry, so I refilled it from the large iced water dispenser in the waiting area. I gratefully accepted a piece of delicious sweet cornbread at some point during my wait.
My wife and son returned just in time for our party to be announced. That’s one of the cool things about Liberty Tree. All the employees are dressed in period-appropriate dress, and your server picks up your reservation and announces to the crowd waiting to be seated that he or she will be seating the ____ family from such and such town. It was kinda cool. She led us through the restaurant to our table, and that’s where I’ll pause for a bit of a detour. Every dining experience on Disney property was just a bit more difficult than we’re used to because at every restaurant, we ate at a table. We always request a booth when we eat out, and will even wait for one if it won’t be too long, because we have a two year old, and it’s just plain easier to block him in against the wall. I don’t fault Disney for not having booths - they certainly would cut down on available seating - but it is something to keep in mind if you have a toddler.
There isn't a menu as such at Liberty Tavern. The food is served family style, and youget what they're serving that night. Thankfully the food was both varied and tasty. Here is a picture of the "Bill of Fare" from that night. Something I didn't notice that night but do see now is the sponsored message at the top of the menu - "Hosted by Ocean Spray Craisins." Like Disney isn't making enough money from the park tickets and inflated food prices, our menus get to be sponsored by condiments. Still, the menu was nice to look at, and having no choice in what we would be served actually was somewhat calming after a long day in the park. Truth be told, aside from noticing Mac & Cheese was on the menu, I didn't pay much attention.
Our server quickly delivered a bowl full of salad for us to share. While I’m not a huge salad fan, I did have some with a couple of pieces of bread. The salad was good and the bread was fantastic.
Luckily, our server realized we wouldn’t be spending tons of time enjoying salad, so she delivered the main meal to our table soon after the salad. In the meantime, we had fun (not really) trying to convince our son that he really wanted to stay on his chair, with my wife repeatedly offering to let him sit in her lap.
Here is a picture of the main meal, both the meats and sides. The turkey, beef, and pork were all excellent, although I’d say the turkey was best. The sides were very good, especially the sweet potatoes, mac & cheese, and green beans. The gravy was quite good, and the bread, as mentioned, outstanding. We ended up asking for seconds of nearly everything, and our son ate very well. One lesson we learned during this meal was that keeping a movie from iTunes (Planes) stored on my wife’s iPhone was a lifesaver. We often let our son watch a movie on his iPad when we’re out to eat (I know, we’re horrible parents), but we didn’t want to lug his iPad around the park. I can already see that upgrading to one of the larger styles of iPhones in the future will be helpful - either that or getting an iPad mini.
I wish I’d taken a picture of the dessert - white cake filled with apples, craisins, and cranberries with ice cream. I remember it tasting pretty good, but not so much so that I thought to take a picture, obviously.
I enjoyed our dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. The food was good and the service was pleasant and attentive. I believe we only had to pay for my meal and my wife’s, as our son was 2, so while the price was a bit high for the quality of food, it wasn’t outlandish for Disney. Compared to the fairly disappointing meals I had at various Disney Quick Service restaurants, it was definitely a better experience. I’d eat there again for the same price, but definitely not if we had to pay the same for our son as we paid for us.
Disney Vacation 2014: Quick Service Dining Multi-Review
My wife and I were Annual Pass holders for several years, making multiple trips to Walt Disney World each year. In all that time, we never ate at any of what Disney calls its “Quick Service” eateries - essentially fast food restaurants. We used to stay in the Animal Kingdom Lodge resort, and typically had a large breakfast at Boma, skipped lunch, and had an early dinner at various nice “Table Service” restaurants in Epcot such as Le Cellier or Alfredo’s. That plan made sense for two adults, but we didn’t think it would work for two parents with a toddler, so we changed our strategy and embraced Quick Service Dining during this trip. In this post I will quickly review each of the Quick Service restaurants we tried.
Flame Tree Barbecue
The nicest thing I can say about Flame Tree Barbecue is that the Fruit Plate we ordered was surprisingly large. While it didn't include the "Honey Yogurt" mentioned on the menu for some reason, there was half of a huge orange, a large bunch of grapes, some pineapple, and some other melon. Given how expensive everything is at Disney, this was the only item I ordered at a Quick Service place that struck me as being worth the money. We also ordered the Pork Sandwich and the Onion Ring Basket. The fruit was good, and if I had it to do over again, I'd probably just order 2 or 3 plates of it for the three of us. The pork sandwich was mediocre, as were the onion rings.
The ordering experience at Flame Tree would be repeated at each of the Quick Service restaurants to varying degrees. I stood in a really long line to order food for which I paid too much money. I waited in line again for a really long time to have the food handed to me. Kinda like eating at an In-N-Out during the lunch rush, with much lower quality food.
The “dining experience” at Flame Tree was fairly pleasant because my wife had found us a table under one of the many pavilions that was located right next to a small body of water. Our son was out for his nap, so we shared the sandwich and onion rings and sampled the fruit while waiting for him to wake up. He liked the fruit and especially liked watching one of the white crane-like bird that wandered around the pavilion, begging for scraps.
The Lunching Pad
I'll be up-front - I was pre-disposed to not like the Lunching Pad because we ate dinner there on the night we attended Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, and by the time we ordered dinner we'd endured a solid three hours of rain.
We ordered a Kid’s Hot Dog for our son and 2 Coney Island Dogs for ourselves. The line wasn’t nearly as long this time as most of the day’s crowd was gone and many party attenders were doing the smart thing and staying indoors wherever possible. One thing I did like about the kids meals at the Quick Service restaurants is that each one came with both carrots and grapes in an attempt to be somewhat well-rounded. Our son would eat nothing but grapes every day if we let him, so he was happy. I wasn’t impressed with our chili dogs, seeing as how they were about the same quality as the ones you could get from Sonic for 1/3 the price, but they weren’t terrible.
What was terrible was a Pumpkin Spice Bubble Tea that I ordered purely to be able to post a picture of it to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for one of my buddy’s to see. It was extremely sweet, but the worst part was these strange gummy blobs in the bottle - the bubbles, I guess. Would definitely skip it if I had it to do over again.
Still, while the food was borderline and the tea terrible, the roof over our heads was nice to have, and the relatively calm break it gave us while waiting and hoping for the rain to subside was very much appreciated.
As you can see from this picture, neither my wife nor son let the rain dampen their spirits.
The best part about the Lunching Pad was that, after deciding to pack up and brave the rain again, the downpour began to lessen, and within just a short while, we were able to give our son one of the most memorable experiences of the trip for him - meeting Buzz Lightyear.
Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe
We had lunch at Pecos Bill's Cafe after, you guessed it, waiting in a really long line. In fact, we waited in a long line to get into the building, then when I saw how long the line was to order food, I sent my wife and son off to secure a table for us. Probably a minor jerk move, but I wanted a shot at eating inside with some air conditioning if possible.
I was so hungry by the time I sat down with our food that I forgot to snap a picture of the entire order, but I did get a picture of the receipt, so I can report not only what we ordered, but what the total price was. We ordered a Kid’s Turkey Sandwich with milk for our son, and both my wife and I ordered Angus Cheeseburgers - hers with fries and mine with corn on the cob. We also ordered an extra side of Corn on the Cob for our son, and I splurged and got one of our Diet Cokes in the Souvenir Boot Mug with a Mickey Straw. You can shake your head at how much that cost - I know I did.
It should come as no surprise that the food was mediocre. The cheeseburgers were what you might expect from the Shoney’s buffet and the corn on the cob was about a third of an ear. I didn’t try the fries. At least the drinks were cold. I will say the kid’s turkey sandwich seemed OK, and our son was intrigued by the fish-shaped bread.
If I hadn’t been so hot and tired, I might have found the energy to be more annoyed that the souvenir boot didn’t even come close to matching the picture on the menu. On the menu it is clear, and while it looks like glass, I expected it to be plastic. As you can see from this picture, it’s actually black. I’ve done some Googling and it looks like Disney actually did provide a clear boot at one point, but we ended up with this boring black one.
Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe
We had dinner at Cosmic Ray's one night. One good thing was that, perhaps due to timing, we didn't have to wait in line to get into the building, just to order and wait for our food. Our wait was made a little less dreary by one of the Disney employees noticing my Green Lantern shirt. He commented that he didn't see many of those and I mused that it might be because Disney owns Marvel, not DC, and we both got a kick out of that. When he slid over the first tray of food, he asked if I needed anybody to help carry the second, and his manager noticed my wife and son standing off to the side, both in Green Lantern shirts as well, and laughed, "They've got the whole Green Lantern Core here, I think they'll be fine." The belly laugh I got from that almost made up for the food I was about to eat - almost.
We’d ordered cheeseburgers for lunch, so I thought i’d go for something different for dinner. My wife still ordered a Cheeseburger, but I went for the Deluxe Chili-Cheese Dog, and we ordered Chicken Nuggets for our son. Everything was terrible - all of it. I would have been dissatisfied with the food at Sonic Drive-in prices, much less Disney prices.
To add unintentional insult to injury, a well-meaning Disney employee stopped by our table and asked if he could take our tray away, as it looked like we had all of our food mostly eaten in its own containers on the table. What I didn’t notice was that my son’s bag of grapes was still on the tray, and since I was watching him and my wife dance down by Sonny Eclipse himself at the front of the restaurant, I told him sure. I felt a jerk when they returned to the table to find his grapes gone, but another Disney employee at the counter was nice enough to replace them when I asked.
Still, even though the food was terrible, it was an interesting experience, and certainly a fun one for our son. He was fascinated with the animatronic Sonny Eclipse playing his “cosmic piano” or whatever it was called. He even swayed and sang along with one of the songs during the meal, and as much as I shudder at the memory of eating the junk they served us there, I would do it again for just that moment.
Earl of Sandwich
Our final Quick Service Dining experience was at Downtown Disney. I'm guessing Earl of Sandwich counts, even though it's not in one of the theme parks. It certainly had the requisite long lines and high prices. I liked the food at Earl of Sandwich better than the rest of the Quick Service Dining places we tried combined.
I ordered the Avocado BLT. It was quite good, I have to admit. Maybe not as good as I would expect from a dedicated sandwich restaurant back home, but head and shoulders better than the crummy burgers and hot dogs at the other places. My wife and I traded pieces of each of our sandwiches, and she agreed mine was very good.
She ordered the Philly Cheesesteak. It was pretty good as well, although not as good as my BLT. We ordered a Kid’s Turkey Sandwich for our son and he liked it quite a bit. I ordered a large side of Mac & Cheese for us to split. It was pretty good as well, and more than the three of us could finish after eating our sandwiches.
We were worried we’d have to sit outside at Earl of Sandwich, as it looked completely packed as we walked up. I’d even had my wife grab a table outside as I went inside to order, but as I paid for our food, I spotted a couple just standing up to leave at an inside table. I made a beeline for their table, walking right past a couple of people who looked like they might have wanted to sit there but were too unsure about moving in for the kill before the current occupants were gone. I felt a little bad for snatching the table away from the rookies, but hesitation isn’t the way to win when dealing with crowds of this size.
Quick Service Dining - Not for Us
I doubt we'll eat at any of these places, or other Quick Service locations again. With the exception of Earl of Sandwich, the quality of the food was mediocre at best, and mostly not even that good. It's also not much less expensive than some of the Table Service restaurants we tried in the parks, and certainly as expensive as much nicer, better restaurants located off-property.I don’t know how old our son will need to be before we can make a big breakfast, no lunch, and early dinner work for him, but until that works, I think our plan will be to take some snacks of our own to the parks to eat during the day, and just avoid Quick Service Dining entirely.
My biggest problem with Quick Service Dining, in addition to paying way too much for poor quality food, is that it makes being at Disney seem like being at any other amusement park. I grew up going to Opryland and eating crummy hot dogs for lunch. I spent years going to Disney World and experiencing something more special, more (I hate to put it this way) magical. Breakfast at Boma, a day at Animal Kingdom or Epcot, and dinner at Le Cellier was more like a special date than a day at an amusement park. Maybe that was always an illusion, but Quick Service Dining shatters it pretty thoroughly.
Disney Vacation 2014: Review - Raglan Road Irish Pub
Having spent the night in Lake City, we arrived in Orlando around late morning on Thursday. We grabbed some lunch at a place that wasn’t review-worthy, checked into our resort, and made a bee line for Disney’s Art of Animation resort to check out the Cars area. I’ll write about both our resort and the Disney resorts we visited in another post. This post is about our first dinner in Orlando, which was at Raglan Road at Downtown Disney.
The first thing that hit me about Raglan Road, after seeing the pretty Irish dancing girls hanging out in the entryway greeting customers that is, was how absolutely packed it was, even at 5:30. Due to traffic caused by construction delaying my wife’s sister and brother-in-law, I got to spend a lot of time wandering around the shop just outside the restaurant and worry if we would ever get a table. Luckily, though, we were seated soon after they arrived since my wife had made reservations for us. We followed the hostess, weaving our way around a line of Irish dancing girls performing for a large table of people, and were eventually seated right in front of and just off to the side of the main stage.
Our server took our drink orders and made my day when I asked if they had Magners. His response was, “Yes sir, would you like apple or pear?” I didn’t know Magners made a pear cider, so I ordered one. It was delightful. So good, in fact, that I quickly ordered a second with a glass of ice over which to pour it.
I love Magners apple cider on draft, and while I’m not ready to declare that Magers pear is better in every way, it was better for me on that night. Lighter and a bit sweeter, it was exactly what I needed after a hot day in the sun. I mentioned it on Twitter and Facebook and a couple of buddies confirmed they liked it as well. I can only imagine they didn’t mention it to me in the past because they knew I would be sad without access to it in Knoxville.
When it came time to order, I did a double-take at the prices. We hadn’t eaten at a Disney restaurant in several years, so I had forgotten how pronounced the “Disney Tax” can be. Still, we were on vacation and I had expected to pay more for meals in Orlando than I typically do back home, so I ordered my usual at any Irish place - Bangers & Mash - called Bangers and Booz on the menu.
Strangely enough, the Bangers & Mash at Raglan Road come in a bowl with a ladle of beef stew mixed in with them. The beef stew was quite good, and I would have been satisfied with it on its own any other night, but it was more than a little odd as a part of this dish. Were I to order it again, I’d ask for it on the side, as I didn’t care for it mixing with the potatoes. The bangers, however, were outstanding. I commented both to the rest of the table and to the manager when he came by that, as good as the bangers are at my favorite Irish place in Nashville, McNamara’s, these were better. The mashed potatoes were very good as well.
My wife and son split the Fish & Chips. I didn’t think to snap a picture of it because I was still too giddy at trying Magners pear cider for the first time, but I did try the fish and it was quite good.
While we ate, we were able to enjoy two types of entertainment. The house band, The Brayzen Heads, was playing. They were good, if not quite awesome. I am a sucker for banjo music, however, so I really liked the songs they played that made heavy use of it. I grew up in Nashville, so it’s my habit to always tip a band I like, and they were offering CD’s for $10 each. I picked up a copy of “Floored” and have been enjoying listening to it as I write this review. In addition to the band, a group of Irish dancers, mostly young women but sometimes with a young man, would make their way either to the main stage or to a tall table near us. I’m not a huge fan of their feet stomping style of dance, but they were lively and our son certainly enjoyed it. At one point the young women gathered up some kids from the audience and danced with them on stage, and as a parent I got a kick out of that.
For dessert, we ordered The Bread and Butter Pudding, and I made a big mistake here. Bread pudding is my favorite dessert, and when my wife suggested she and our son could just share mine, I shook my head and said definitely not - they needed to order a separate one. You may not be able to tell it from the picture, but the serving of bread pudding was enormous; easily enough for three people to share - even if one of them is a two year-old with a bottomless tummy for sweets. So we each ate about half of our respective servings and enjoyed leftover dessert at the resort for the next couple of days.
The bread pudding was delicious. Lighter and fluffier than I’m used to, and the heavy cream and caramel sauce were delightful. It may be hard to believe, but I’m not really fond of sweets or desserts, but when I come across something this good, I add it to my short list of “must-have” dishes.
We had a great meal at Raglan Road, and I’d happily eat there again. The only thing that dampened the experience for me was the Disney Tax. There’s simply no reason why a couple of sausages, some mashed potatoes, and a ladle of beef stew should cost $19. They were great, but I would have plenty of meals outside Disney’s property over this vacation that were just as good, for consistently less money. Still, we were on vacation and not unfamiliar with how inflated Disney food prices are, so I just mention that as something to be aware of, not a reason to avoid Raglan Road. When you go visit the Mouse, you pay his tax, after all.
Disney Vacation 2014: On the Road Review - Mike's Cafe & Grille
We left home a bit later than we’d planned (isn’t that always the case when you have a toddler?) on Wednesday, and we got on the road about mid-morning. After stopping for lunch, we were making pretty good time and decided that, rather than stopping in Valdosta, Georgia, our normal first night resting spot, we’d push on to Lake City. One great thing about living in the age of smartphones and ubiquitous Internet access is that I was able to both book an hour or so ahead of arriving, and scope out an interesting spot to have dinner.
We chose Mike’s Cafe & Grille. The name appealed to me, of course, and it was the #3 rated restaurant in Lake City on TripAdvisor. Luckily I didn’t check the Urbanspoon ratings before ordering, as it only got a 72% at the time.
We arrived around 7PM and the place was almost completely empty, which worried me at first. But the hostess was polite and our server was very friendly as well. She earned points with me and my wife by making over our son numerous times, and he did what he always does when he’s told he’s cute - he giggled and smiled.
Since I wasn’t familiar with the restaurant, I did what I normally do and asked our server what her favorite dish on the menu was. She said she really liked the Salmon Piccata, so I ordered it. It came with this delicious sauce and several shrimp on top and was outstanding. The vegetable medley was pretty good, and the macaroni & cheese, which had both bacon and onions mixed in, was outstanding.
My wife ordered the Chicken Parmesan, and it was quite good. She also ordered a salad (good), and the mac & cheese. She shared her meal with our son and they both liked it.
For dessert, my wife ordered the Death By Chocolate. While it was far too rich for my tastes, I can’t hold that against it because I’m not a huge fan of chocolate to begin with. Both my wife and son loved it.
I ordered the Creme Brulee and it was very, very good. Coming in just behind bread pudding, creme brulee is my second favorite dessert, and Mike’s Cafe did it well.
Here’s a picture of my wife and son showing just how much he enjoyed the dessert. Believe it or not, this shot came after the first attempt to wipe his face.
I was very happy with Mike’s Cafe & Grille. We’ll be making more frequent trips to Disney in the coming years, and I’m looking forward to trying them out again. For both the quality of the food and the friendliness of the service, I heartily recommend them if you’re in the area.
New Series - Disney Vacation 2014
I’m going to branch out just a bit with this series, but don’t fret, most of the posts will be food and/or restaurant related in some way. Our family just returned from an amazing vacation to Walt Disney World - the first vacation my wife and I have taken in quite a while and the first real vacation we’ve taken with our two year old son. We had a great time overall, did a lot of things “right” and got a few things “wrong” - but I wouldn’t change any of it (well, almost any of it) for the world.
We drove from Knoxville to Orlando in our little Kia Spectra 5. I’ll admit right now that is one thing we’ll do differently next year. We weren’t sure how our son would handle air travel, and we’ve mostly driven to Orlando in the past, so we tried it this time. Next time, I’m thinking we’ll either fly or, at the very least, rent an SUV or minivan if we don’t upgrade to one in the meantime.
We did something for the very first time for us - we didn’t stay on Disney property. My wife and I used to be regular Annual Pass holders, and we always stayed on property, but we decided to try something a little different this time. More on that in a later post.
Here are a few details and highlights about the types of posts you can expect in the comings weeks in this series, including some tentatively titled special posts:
- No fewer than 19 restaurant reviews. These will span our trip down, our time in Orlando, and our trip back.
- Tips & Tricks for a Successful Disney Vacation from Rookie Parents* (*Edit - Rachael ended up doing a version of this on her blog, linking to that)
- Top Ten Jerk Moves at Walt Disney World
- Geek Gear to Improve your Disney Vacation
- Disney: On Property or Off? (lodging)
- Disney: On Property or Off? (dining)
- First Vacation with a Toddler: Lessons Learned
Looking forward to sharing our experiences with you, both about the vacation itself and the great (and not so great) food we had along the way!
