Figment's Diamond Anniversary Celebration in Disneyland Resort
Figment was lucky enough to visist Disneyland Resort over the Diamond Anniversary Celebration weekend. He got to be in the parks on July 17, 2015...the actual anniversary day! It was a busy trip, but a lot of fun.
PCH Grill (Dinner)
Figment saw the announcement in the
Disney Parks Blog that PCH Grill would be debuting a new "Beach Side Bonfire Dinner Buffet" at Disney’s PCH Grill on July 17, 2015. So had originally planned to have dinner on Saturday at Big Thunder BBQ, but the new buffet looked interesting, so he decided to go to PCH Grill instead. (In some ways it worked out really well because it was rainy on Saturday, which meant places like Big Thunder BBQ would have been closed because they only have outdoor seating.)
Entrees
Dry-Rubbed Smoked Tri-Tip Beef and Baby Back Ribs - the beef was pretty good (Figment's piece was medium-to-medium rare) and the ribs were moist.
Spicy Rubbed Pork Shoulder - the pork was very moist and flavorful, but not terribly spicy. THe veggies had excellent flavor!
Vegetarian Tacos - Figment forgot to ask what was in these tacos.
Beer-Battered Sustainable Fish Taco - Figment liked the beer-battered fish (a white fish with a slightly sweet coating), but there was bit too much cabbage on the bottom of the taco.
Mac N' Cheese - Lobster or Regular - the lobster version had a slight bread crumb topping. The Mac 'n Cheese was very creamy, but kind of bland (it needed salt). Figment could not taste any lobster in the lobster version (no pieces of lobster were visible either).
Littleneck Clams, Chorizo and Potatoes Hash in PCH Grill Signature Broth - This was Figment's favorite dish at the buffet. The clams were very flavorful, as was the hash. It was not spicy, but it was very rich in flavor. So yummy!
Shrimp Scampi with Cavatappi Pasta - (no shrimp in the photo) - This was a very creamy scampi without a strong garlic flavor. The shrimp was good and the pasta was fine.
Whole Roasted Salmon - The salmon was moist, but needed flavor. The edges, where the spice rub was had great flavor, but the middle was kind of bland.
House-Fried Chicken - Very good flavor and moist. Figment liked this chicken (but he still likes the one at the Plaza Inn better!).
Magherita Pizza - Figment oped to try the Margherita pizza, which was a little different than what he's used to. This one came with sun-dried tomatoes and regular tomatoes. It was good and he enjoyed this thin-crusted pizza. There was another option (with figs and goat cheese, so it sounds like each night there may be more than one pizza choice).
Veggie Kabobs - Figment did not try one of these, but they looked pretty good.
Mini-Hot Dogs and Mini-Cheeseburgers - These were pretty typical looking hot dogs and cheeseburgers, just mini-sized!
Side Dishes and Salads
Roasted Garlic Herb Bread Crostini - It was basically garlic bread. Great for soaking up the littleneck clam broth!
Mini Smashed Potatos with Shallots - It was like a mini-baked potato with sour cream and cheddar cheese on top. It was okay.
Roasted Potato Salad - It was okay, but nothing about really stood out.
Heirloom Tomato-Mozzarella Tossed in Creamy Pesto & Aged Balsamic Reduction Finished - This was Figment's favorite salad. It was a lot like caprese salad, but with kalmata olives and a creamy pesto sauce.
Deviled Eggs - Pickled and Traditional - Figment liked the pickled version (the egg white part was pickled).
Green Beans with Sauteed Shallots - Figment really liked these green beans. Very flavorful!
Desserts
Mini-Cones - There were three different version: Passion Fruit mousse with mango compote, Vanilla mousse with mandarin orange compote, and berry mouse with berry compote. Figment really liked the passion fruit one. They came in cute little mini-cones!
Fresh Fruit Kabobs - A nice variety of fruits.
Coconut Haupio Pudding - Figment thought this was an interesting dessert...the bottom was tart and the top was a little bland.
Make Your Own Strawberry Shortcake - Figment likes strawberry shortcake and he enjoyed making his own.
Milk Chocolate Caramel Tart with Bacon Brittle - Figment thought this dessert had a little to strong of a caramel flavor - it pretty much over-powered any chocolate and bacon flavor.
Brioche Fresh Fruit Pizza - Another dessert offering, but Figment forgot to try this!
Make Your Own S'Mores - Housemade marshmallows (regular, coconut, and strawberry), chocolate sauce and graham crackers. The marshmallows were really good (you could taste the strawberry and coconut flavoring).
Seasonal Berry Cobbler - The cobbler was okay, but it needed ice cream!
Figment with his dessert dish!
The only major drawback was that things seemed a little slow to be replenished, especially the littleneck clam dish, the shrimp pasta dish, and the strawberry shortcake dessert. The chef making the clams and shrimp was also making the pizzas, so he was very busy and couldn't really keep up with the demand. So, hopefully in the future they'll split his duties or have bigger dishes of the items available. Otherwise, things seemed to be going fairly well at the second night of the new buffet (despite the rain outside)!
Overall, Figment really liked the new "Beach-Size Bonfire Dinner Buffet" at PCH Grill. There was a fairly good selection of items and they had a wide variety of flavors and styles. His favorite savory dish was the Littleneck Clams with Chorizo and Potato Hash and his favorite dessert was the Passion Fruit Mousse cone. He hopes that PCH Grill continue to have this dinner buffet for the foreseeable future![/I][/I]