New Cat Cora Restaurant (replacing Spoodles)

[lacrosse_lady72]

Totally bummed by this. We LOVE Spoodles, hoping that the 9/30 rumor is true so we get one last time on our Sept 09 visit. It was very kid friendly, guessing Cat Cora's place may not be so much. I wish they would replace Flying Fish instead. Or even the brewery.

I don't think having 2 restaurants with very similar cuisine right next to each other would be the best idea.

I hope the 9/30 information is correct too, I'm very excited about this new restaurant but it would give us a chance to eat at Spoodles one last time. We have only dined there once but it was the worst dining experience we had at Disney ever, solely due to the service. The food was good, the server was NOT.

 

[ChelleinNC]

Totally bummed by this. We LOVE Spoodles, hoping that the 9/30 rumor is true so we get one last time on our Sept 09 visit. It was very kid friendly, guessing Cat Cora's place may not be so much. I wish they would replace Flying Fish instead. Or even the brewery.

I don't see why it would be any less kid friendly It'll be the same type of food & it'll still be a Disney owned restaurant.

 

[harlock_jds]

The place was already a Mediterranean/greek restaurant. Sounds to me like all they are doing is attaching a 'famous' chef (who'll never be in the kitchen), and changing the name.

I doubt the food will change much (if at all) and it won't take long to change it over. It might bring in bigger crowds (i liked the place because it wasn't very crowded).

 

[TDC Nala]

Cat Cora's got 2 kids and is about to have 2 more, seems like she'd be interested in kid friendliness.

 

[ImprovGal]

I'd really like to see more offerings at the takeout counter besides pizza. I'm thinking it might be a good location for chicken souvlaki sandwiches or gyros.

Has anyone heard whether or not Chef Tony will remain at Spoodles? If not, will he be moving to another location? I've had good meals at Spoodles, but have really appreciated his culinary skills after a couple of Parties For the Senses and an Exquisite Evening.

Also, I wonder if there will be any downtime if the 9/30 Spoodles closing holds true. If not, Epcot Food & Wine might have a Kouzzina Signature Dinner featuring Cat Cora as an event. Hmmmm...

 

[madameleota71]

NOOOOOOOOO! I've never been to Spoodles and wanted to try it this October. It seems like everything I want to try at Disney is being taken away....so very sad

 

[Uncleromulus]

With the "famous" name attached, more will be expected. It will need to be better than (and have a better menu than) Spoodles. Folks won't long tolerate a renamed Spoodles-and probably neither will Cat Cora.

 

[oybolshoi]

With the "famous" name attached, more will be expected. It will need to be better than (and have a better menu than) Spoodles. Folks won't long tolerate a renamed Spoodles-and probably neither will Cat Cora.

I totally agree with you, UncleR. BTW, love the picture in your signature ... you and your wife make a very handsome couple!

I'm not all that excited about the news - we were looking forward to going back to Spoodles this fall and really wanted to give them a try for breakfast. I wonder now, with a famous name attached to it, if the new restaurant will be considered a signature?

 

[Uncleromulus]

Thanks!! Not bad I guess for a 63 year old (me) and a 54 year old ( Mrs U). Taken at the bar at the Flying Fish in October08' .
Also shows how we dress "business casual"
Hard to say about the Signature thing--may depend if they want Signature competition right next door to the Flying Fish.

 

[PatsMom]

I hope they keep the pizza window open - when we stayed at Boardwalk we enjoyed having a casual dinner of pizza. And, for Disney, the pizza was pretty good. Spoodles is a family favorite of ours. If the September 30 closing date is correct, I think I'll make an ADR for the beginning of my next trip (arriving Sept 26) so I can have the kabobs one last time. And DH will get another chance at the flatbread.

But I like the looks of the dishes Cat Cora prepares on TV and we'll be looking forward to trying the new restaurant too.

 

[jjohnson]

Very sad news. Spoodles is one of our favorites. I do hope they continue to offer a sit down breakfast as there are no other options on the boardwalk.

 

[WizardLarz]

Simple Question! When is Spoodles closing and Cat Cora's place opening?

 

[jpmom]

The place was already a Mediterranean/greek restaurant. Sounds to me like all they are doing is attaching a 'famous' chef (who'll never be in the kitchen), and changing the name.

I doubt the food will change much (if at all) and it won't take long to change it over. It might bring in bigger crowds (i liked the place because it wasn't very crowded).

Totally agree --
Now it might be more difficult to get a reservation at Spoodles. We never had a problem getting one - even at the last minute.
I'm not sure I'm into the whole celebrity chef thing.

 

[Dreamfinder2]

Simple Question! When is Spoodles closing and Cat Cora's place opening?

Looks like mostly rumors out there so far ... you can take a look at earlier posts.

 

[harlock_jds]

With the "famous" name attached, more will be expected. It will need to be better than (and have a better menu than) Spoodles. Folks won't long tolerate a renamed Spoodles-and probably neither will Cat Cora.

But it's not like Spoodles has bad food or a bad menu right now. At most there may be more greek mixed in (or the word greek will show up more).

as for what Cora will tolerate who knows... I don't think she's been involved with a restaurant before this one so there is no track record to go by.

 

[Uncleromulus]

For me it sort of "is" like the menu is pretty bad now!! Which is why we never went back to Spoodles once that new menu arrived.


I still think that if the Cat is going to want to offer up any of her signature dishes, Spoodles menu will have to change. If she dosen't want to change things, makes litttle sense for her to attach her name to a non-signature ,1 TS , pretty ordinary, limited menu, restaurant

But we shall see---

 

[harlock_jds]

i realize I'm probably coming off as too 'anti Cora'. I don't mean to. I just done see many changes coming to the place. They really can't make it into too much of a high end place because it's right next to the Flying Fish so I'd expect the price point to stay the same (and it'll keep on doing breakfast and still have the pizza window). It's still a Disney restaurant so it'll stay 'family friendly'. Cora herself is more of a media person instead of a restaurant person or a 'cooks cook' so i suspect this is to bump up business to a place that may be 'under performing' according to Disney standards (notice a lot of people have commented on the ease of getting reservations and it not being very crowded, these are probably seen as bad things by Disney) and not a radical reinvention of the place.

If they were bringing in someone like Michael Psilakis instead of Cora that would be a sign they were really looking to raise the bar food wise. This feels more like a minor tweak (but still in a positive direction unless you consider the added popularity a bad thing).

Also i'm not sure if Cora has any real 'signature dishes', Like i said this is her first place (that i know of). Thinking about What she does on IC i mainly remember more southern cooking as a 'signature' than Greek/Mediterranean.

P.s It's been a few years since i've been to the place so i just looked at the current menu... It seems to have changed from what i remember so yeah the menu may move back to when it was more 'dareing' rather than what it is now.

 

[MAKHayes-DisneyDiva]

Has anyone heard what is going on with the change at Spoodles? I'm wondering when it is supposed to happen, and if it will still be on the DDP. This has been one of our family faves, and I hope it will be open for our June trip.

 

[TDC Nala]

Although nothing has been announced, it has been confirmed that Cat Cora's Kouzzina will be owned and operated by Disney. It is most likely that it will accept the Disney Dining Plan.

 

[Bob P]

Hi,

This is all we know so far:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining.htm

http://land.allears.net/blogs/dnews/2009/03/celebrity_chef_cat_cora_to_ope.html