June Reviews: Chefs de France, Boardwalk Bakery, Kona Café, California Grill Part 1

[wilma-bride]

Sounds lovely Laura - I am so glad we are going to be eating at Kona.

 

[TigerKat]

Subscribing! Great KONA review. I discovered the BB Brownie Cheesecake last year, it's amazing!!!!

 

[donaldtutter]

Great reviews so far!

 

[always on vacation]

I was going to get the shrimp & scallops at Kona in February but I guess now I have to get the mahi it sounds great...We actually liked the steak at Kona better than Le Cellier.

We will be in Ocean City Maryland Labor Day week. Those Maryland crabcakes looked fantastic!

 

[jade1]

We just got back and did the DP on the weekend. Funny-we did France with Thomas as well-Tenderloin was very good, then Kona-Filet was even better and the bread before was sensational. Both highly recommend.

 

[disneykidz4]

Hello dear Dis Foodies! This is my first attempt at writing full reviews, and I have but one food related pic, in fact I hardly took any pics this trip. I know you can use your imagination, or look them up on the food porn thread. Our family was on the DDP for the part for this trip when we were on DVC points, had DDE card and shared, so we cover the full gamut I guess!

A little background: Me Disneyholic, trip planner, cancer survivor, love good food and wine, but I do not eat large portions or red meat as a rule, and I have a few other food issues as I have Ulcerative Colitis (a post cancer gift)

Hubby- Tolerates my Disneymania, love him!

Dd #1 teen, what more can I say

Dd #2 Disney adult, eats like a carboholic picky little bird

Chefs de France Dinner
This was our first night, my family’s 2nd time at CdF and my 3rd. My first experience dining here was an adult’s only trip a few years ago with my sister. We had a wonderful window table, terrific service and delicious food. Last year during free dining after me talking it up so much to my family, we were so disappointed in the meal, that it seemed hard to believe this was the same restaurant. We had a bad table location, and an unattentive server. This overshadowed the food. It took some convincing to get hubby to try it again. We were so glad we did!

We were seated at the very end banquette seat which faced the courtyard windows on one side, but the side of the table facing the restaurant has a large mirror, so those seated on this side can still enjoy the view out the window. Our server was Thomas and he was a delight! We had such a good time with him. He told us of some of his travels around the U.S., what he missed at home.

We told Thomas were were sharing 2 TS on the DDP, paying out of pocket for extras and using DDE. No problem.

Appetizers-
Rolls-Everyone gets their own roll on a plate with individual butters…but my carb loving dd #2 took over most of them. This is probably my favorite bread in WDW. As I told Thomas, the French know how to do pastry!


Tarte a la Flame Alsacienne - Alsace specialty. Flatbread baked with cream fraiche, onion and bacon
This flatbread is light, flaky tender, and more pastry-like than a pizza type flatbread. The bacon is not crunchy crispy and a there were a bit too many onions for me, but I simply scraped off the extra and enjoyed the pastry with cream fraiche. Yumm

Cassolette d'escargots de Bourgogne au beurre persille- casserole of escargots (snails) from Burgundy baked in parsley and garlic butter
Not quite as garlicky as my favorite local French restaurant, but the escargots were tenderly cooked. I wrestled one of the soft as air rolls from my dd to soak up the garlic butter...after all what we really order snails for? it's da butta!

Entrees-Filet de limande en ecailles de pommes de terre et mousse de homard, Reduction de homard. Roasted flounder with lobster mousse, potato scales on sauteed fennel, with a lobster reduction
Here I will confess that I am more of an appetizer than entree girl. Give me a good glass of wine and some little things to nibble on and I'm happy! But we were on the DDP tonight, so entree it is! Shared this dish with dd #1, my adventurous eater. Probably not big enough for the average eater to share, but perfect for us. Thomas brought an extra plate for us. The fish was delicate and light. Loved the potatoes!

Filet de Saumon sur lit de pommes de terre ecrasees a l'ancienne, sauce vierge
Seared salmon served on a bed of smashed yukon potatoes, with a shrimp skewer. Olive oil, lime and fresh herbs
Hubby’s dish. I did take a small taste of his fish and the potatoes, fresh and delish, but there were only two shrimp on the skewer so I let him enjoy those himself.

Blanc de Poulet Aux Nouilles - Breaded chicken strip served with pasta
Dd #2's meal. She ate some of it, and said (surprise, surprise) the pasta was her favorite. For the most part her dinner consisted of rolls, she devoured most of them, and of course was saving room for dessert!

Drinks- Hubby and I shared a bottle of the Georges de Bouef Chardonnay and the girls each had a bottle of Orangina… I think I’ve created monsters, they loved it, but at $4.00 a bottle and NOT included on DDP, this is a special splurge! According to the kids, this is more of a slightly fizzy orange juice (with pulp, which they usually hate, but loved in this, go figure) than orange soda.

Desserts- Profiterolles au chocolat - Puff choux with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce
Creme Brulee - Vanilla Creme Brulee served with a Madeleine
Dessert was supposed to be shared by all, and diehard chocolate lover that I am, I can’t for the life of me stop eating the crème brulee long enough to try the profiteroles. The custard was perfectly creamy, flecked with lots of vanilla. The sugar crust was perfectly caramelized, not cremated. I only took a small bite of the Madeleine cookie, it wasn’t very memorable and I don’t think it really adds a thing to the dessert. The kids said the profiteroles were good (I’ll have to take their word for it) but the crème brulee was luscious!

At the end of our meal and having a nice wine buzz on, we asked Thomas to take a picture with us, and he happily obliged along with another server who had only been in the States 3 days! (photo coming) Thomas will be there until Jan., so hopefully we will have him as our server again.

Going in December . . . can't wait!

 

[wideeyes]

Great reviews, Kona sounds fab, can't wait to try it myself

 

[mousiemom]

I enjoyed reading your take on Kona' and the crabcakes. I am also a blue crab lover!!!! (eat dozens at a time) and I going to order the crabcakes and I think after reading your report i will get the mahi-mahi!!!
thanks a bunch!!
mousiemom

 

[laurabelle]

We tried CA Grill for the first time last year and ended up going twice in the same trip. Would it be as good this year??? Yes, dear readers, it is that good! Now it’s official, our very favorite restaurant in WDW! We must go twice each visit, we love it that much!

First visit this trip, still on the DDP. We arrived a few minutes before our 6:00 reservation and surprisingly the place was packed! We love dining here early because, well that's all we know. It's usually quieter and more relaxed. This night it looked like lots of locals celebrating. BTW- this was our first June trip and I have never seen so many Mickey Bride and Groom Ears!

We asked for and received a window table, this time on the left side of the restaurant, not overlooking MK, but it was still a fabulous view! We had the same server as last year, and she did a very nice job, sorry I can’t recall her name. We let her know how we were sharing DDP credits and paying OOP with DDE discount. And off we go…

Bread- Warm Sourdough Bread with olive oil The thing I really like about this bread is it smells like it's baked in a brick oven...I just love that smell! It tastes great too! I'm holding myself back and only eat a little bread...

Appetizers-
Sushi Spicy Sensation - Scallops, Tuna, Avocado, Tobiko, and Fireball Sauce
Tempura Fried Soft Shell Crab
Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers (guess who dined on this as her, um, sushi???)
We have become sushi connoisseurs thanks to CA grill and we could happily make a meal out of these selections, and in fact we did on another night! The three of us shared and allowed dd#2 to enjoy her goldfish alone. She nibbled through her portion and proclaimed them to be divine!

The spicy sensation is hands down my favorite sushi in the whole wide world! It’s just melt in your mouth delicious. The combination of flavors is fabulous and we discovered something interesting about that on our next trip, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
I don’t have the exact name of the fried soft shell crab sushi, as it was new on the menu and not listed online. These rolls were huge, can’t do it in one bite, crispy and delish! It had some sort of sauce with it. Love the crispy little legs, yumm.

Entrees –
Roasted Free Range Chicken Breast
Oak-fired Beef Filet - Served with Boniato mashed potatoes, blue lake beans, and teriyaki barbecue sauce
Mom's Homemade Macaroni & Cheese

Here’s an instance when I let my DD#1 order for the two of us to share, and I shouldn’t have. We shared the chicken dish, which is not on the online menu. It comes on a bed of pearl pasta with a tomato reduction. It was good, but really not fabulous. Again, hubby had the star of the evening, The Filet! Remember dear readers, I don’t eat red meat as a rule, but as we all know, some rules just beg to be broken. And this is one place I do love the filet, but DD wasn’t feelin’ it, so I only got a bite of hubby’s dish. I suggested he order the sauce on the side. The sauce is really good, but this steak needs nothing. I had one bite … It’s Butta! No, it’s Betta than Butta! Chicken, shmicken, I hate chicken…ok, not really, the chicken was fine, it’s not it’s fault it’s not the filet. Order the filet, you’ll thank me!

DD#2 cleaned her dish of mac & cheese again. She never eats like this at home. We have to bring her to WDW at least twice a year just so she’ll eat!

Drinks Since hubby and I were eating different types of entrees this night, we ordered house wine by the glass, which was actually really good. Even the wine steward said so as he poured me an extra large tasting to try. I ordered a chardonnay and I think hubby had a pinot noir. Kids had Sprite.

Desserts-Raspberries, Chocolate, and Raspberries - Warm valrhona chocolate cake with molten center, Raspberry ice cream, and raspberry sauce
Rice Krispy Sushi Plate

DD#2 was pouting because the Strawberry Goat Cheesecake wasn’t on the menu... so was I. She didn’t want a double order of Valrhona Cake, which I was pushing for, so we ordered her the “sushi” which she devoured, alone. It was cute, they used Swedish fish candy and fruit roll ups in it.

The Valrhona cake was decadent as usual. This is similar to the Kona Café cake, but more luscious… warm gooey chocolate center…you could serve this with anything and it would be delish, but the raspberry ice cream is wonderful!

After dinner we stopped at the desk and begged for a reservation here another night, but nothing was available. They suggested we could eat either in the lounge area or at the sushi bar without a reservation...We'll be back!

 

[laurabelle]

Great reviews, do you have any more for us? I can't wait to try CdF, our last time was 11 years ago. I am laughing at 4 people sharing one brownie, it was either huge or you all have tiny appetites!

Believe me, the whole time we were eating it, I was thinking, I bet someone on the Dis is watching and will report back...

I was going to get the shrimp & scallops at Kona in February but I guess now I have to get the mahi it sounds great...We actually liked the steak at Kona better than Le Cellier.

We will be in Ocean City Maryland Labor Day week. Those Maryland crabcakes looked fantastic!

Hubby had the steak at Kona last year and said it was really good! The mahi rocks though! Funny, we'll be in WDW for Labor Day weekend...our anniversary trip! Enjoy all the crabs, they are $$$$ this year!

We just got back and did the DP on the weekend. Funny-we did France with Thomas as well-Tenderloin was very good, then Kona-Filet was even better and the bread before was sensational. Both highly recommend.

I agree!

I enjoyed reading your take on Kona' and the crabcakes. I am also a blue crab lover!!!! (eat dozens at a time) and I going to order the crabcakes and I think after reading your report i will get the mahi-mahi!!!
thanks a bunch!!
mousiemom

You'll be very happy!