Why is there so little GULF seafood at Disney??

[GinnyFavers]

I'm from New Orleans, most of my life. I know what amazing seafood tastes like when it's fresh from the Gulf of Mexico.

Shrimp, crabs, oysters, flounder, all the wonderful estuary stuff.

So howcome you can't find it in Orlando? Why is all the seafood at Disney made from stuff from the Atlantic Ocean, and often from New England, and cooked like it's being prepared in the northeast??

OH MY GOD I MISS OYSTER POBOYS
sorry

 

[madcoco]

DTD could use a Jazz Kitchen like DTD DL Their PoBoys are pretty good imho

 

[Nanabug02]

I always wonder this myself. I'm originally from Southeast Texas, right on the Louisiana line. They could certainly have some better Gulf seafood available....I'd go for it!

 

[maciec]

I live in Maryland and I agree with you about the seafood in Florida YUCK! It's all in the preparation and in Florida seafood is just not their thing. I won't dare try blue crabs or any crab for that matter outside of DelMarVa.

 

[Ted and Holly]

It isn't just Disney. I find it is difficult to find any decent seafood in Central Florida. For example, most of the places that used to sell "grouper" now switched to "white fish". Meaning, they either switched to haddock or pollock because of price or they never really sold real grouper to begin with.

Surrounded by water and they fly in frozen fish from elsewhere. It is all economics. Much of the country eats shrimp from Southeast Asia!

You need to go to the coast and find small restaurants serving stuff that is in season. Scallops towards the Big Bend, Stone crab and spiny lobster in the Keys. If you are lucky, you can get some local dolphin fish, grouper, or even pompano sprinkled along both coasts. But you need to do some searching. If there is somewhere in Orlando that sells the really good stuff, I have not found it yet. Maybe, maybe Dixie Crossroads.

 

[JPG]

Amen! We live on the Alabama coast, and like you we know good fresh GULF seafood. Every time we go to WDW we crave some decent seafood also. They could have a real winner with a restaurant serving gulf seafood with maybe a little Cajun flavor.

 

[Hootch]

just down in the Orange Beach area a couple of weeks ago. Had royal reds at Doc's. I knew those were local.

 

[GinnyFavers]

I know this is a DISNEY restaurant board, but I did find yesterday a great review of a place in Orlando called Jockamo's. They have a website that's just their name, and a link to reviews, including the one by the Orlando Sentinel that's recent and raves about it.

I guess I will try Flying Fish, Narcoosee's, and of course eat sushi at California Grill, when I want seafood at WDW. From what I've experienced and heard, that's about as good as it gets. Oh, and BlueZoo seems to get good marks, too.

I know I had a piece of fish at Bistro de Paris back in 1996 that was just gross. People rave about Bistro but I'll never go back, if they can't buy fresh ingredients.

Some day we are going to move to Florida, and when I live next to Disney, I think I'm going to start vacationing in the Florida panhandle, because you can definitely get some good New Orleans style Gulf seafood in Destin and then any points west of there are o.k.

 

[GinnyFavers]

just down in the Orange Beach area a couple of weeks ago. Had royal reds at Doc's. I knew those were local.

I think those shrimp are from the deep Gulf. Nobody eats those in New Orleans. They only have the stuff from the estuaries on the Louisiana coast. But you just reminded me of one of the reasons I miss going to Pensacola!

 

[HKinDC]

Hear, hear! I second that Maryland crabs are the best. I wish WDW would make some crabcakes the Maryland way - all lump crabmeat, no strings, no filler, just a little Old Bay on top! Mah-velous.

 

[zipuzee]

I agree - some years back on a trip to WDW - our only stay off-site - and we go to this seafood buffet restaurant somewhere on 192 that was packed each night. The food was blah and the "lobster" were the size of large crawfish .

 

[GinnyFavers]

I agree - some years back on a trip to WDW - our only stay off-site - and we go to this seafood buffet restaurant somewhere on 192 that was packed each night. The food was blah and the "lobster" were the size of large crawfish .

I think that's Boston Lobster Feast. What I don't get, is two of the people on the DIS podcasts are from Baton Rouge, and should know better, and they both swear Boston Lobster Feast is great food.

I was going to give it a try...

 

[Ted and Holly]

That is funny. I grew up in New England. If I want good Maine lobster, I don't get it here in Florida! To be fair, the Celebration Town Tavern has fresh lobster. As long as it is not cooked too much, it is good.

 

[stitchsgrandpa]

I also live on the Alabama Gulf Coast and have yet to find a decent place for seafood. Most places try to cover the real taste with sauce or breadcrumbs. To top it off they overcook everything. I guess the best seafood is cooked at home!

 

[DisneyKevin]

The answers to your questions are easy....economics.

There have been a couple of decent Creole / Gulf Coast eateries in Orlando that died on the vine. The Laigniappe Cafe comes to mind. They didnt survive due there being not enough business.

Dining in the resort area is all about appealing to the masses so you get chain restaurants that cater to the lowest common denominator.

There are also other factors that come into play. Being from the northeast, it difficult to find decent bagel or pizza. It's also hard to find good crusty bread. I understand it has something to do with humidity and the FL water. And good luck finding a decent deli. The deli of choice in town is Toojay's and while it's ok....in my opinion it's not a real deli.

To be fair... as for the folks on the podcast...none of us are in the restaurant business. We try to offer advice based on what's available. Is it as good as home (where ever home may be)...no...but it's whats available. And based on the feedback we get...folks want BIG portions for small prices. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

Folks that live in the resort area also suffer restaurant-wise due to the fact that restaurants do not rely on return business. There is a new crop of hungry tourists every week to fill the seats. There is no real penalty for serving mediocre food. The table will be full again next week.

These are my opinions.

Kevin

 

[GinnyFavers]

Hey Kevin!

I agree with you on every review you do, except my hot and sour soup at Nine Dragons was excellent... nothing else was. I am looking forward to seeing what they do with that place next year.

Too bad no really good Gulf coast regional cuisine places can make it in Orlando. Maybe the people really are all from New Jersey, so they don't want southern food. Maybe I should be looking for great Puerto Rican restaurants instead, if I want a regional specialty!

I don't know what's up with the bread. Nobody can make it like in New Orleans, and it's humid there, so that can't be it. I actually found Pillsbury's frozen French miniloaves http://www.pillsbury.com/View/breads/miniloaves.aspx
to be about as close as I can get. Maybe Disney could buy a bunch of those!!

The answers to your questions are easy....economics.

There have been a couple of decent Creole / Gulf Coast eateries in Orlando that died on the vine. The Laigniappe Cafe comes to mind. They didnt survive due there being not enough business.

Dining in the resort area is all about appealing to the masses so you get chain restaurants that cater to the lowest common denominator.

There are also other factors that come into play. Being from the northeast, it difficult to find decent bagel or pizza. It's also hard to find good crusty bread. I understand it has something to do with humidity and the FL water. And good luck finding a decent deli. The deli of choice in town is Toojay's and while it's ok....in my opinion it's not a real deli.

To be fair... as for the folks on the podcast...none of us are in the restaurant business. We try to offer advice based on what's available. Is it as good as home (where ever home may be)...no...but it's whats available. And based on the feedback we get...folks want BIG portions for small prices. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

Folks that live in the resort area also sffer restaurant-wise due to the fact that restaurants do not rely on return business. There is a new crop of hungry tourists every week to fill the seats. There is no real penalty for serving mediocre food. The table will be full again next week.

These are my opinions.

Kevin

 

[zipuzee]

The answers to your questions are easy....economics.
.....
Folks that live in the resort area also sffer restaurant-wise due to the fact that restaurants do not rely on return business. There is a new crop of hungry tourists every week to fill the seats. There is no real penalty for serving mediocre food. The table will be full again next week.

These are my opinions.
Kevin

I totally agree - tourists in that area are plentiful and the food doesn't need to be great.

I know a lot of people complain on the various restaurants at Disney - frankly, I've never had a bad meal there. I think part of it is expectations. I've experienced excellent dining in New Orleans, as I've lived here all my life. But I realize that you won't always find excellent meals at all restaurants. So we go in with open minds and no expectations, and are usually pleasantly surprised with our meals.
Just food for thought (pun intended )

 

[N2THRILLRIDES]

I live in the Mississippi Gulf Coast area and great seafood restaurants are hard to come by here in this area. Some of it may be due to Hurricane Katrina leveling these places out of business. The casinos have also made it very difficult for the mom and pop restaurants to maintain quality food at competitive prices. Unfortunately there are hard to come by in WDW.