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My friend Ricky (@rickybrigante) from Inside the Magic invited me on short notice to join him and our Dream Job friend Gordon to enjoy some appetizers at the all new Cathay Circle Theater dining. I was holding a blue zone World of Color Fastpass that I was exited about seeing, so I thought about it for a while. Okay, .076 seconds is about all it took to dump the Fastpass! This new high-end dining facilty is booked solid for months on end, so this would be my only opportunity to try it out.
Our struggles with the restaurant, designed to compete on the level of the Napa Rose, were two fold:
1. We had just eaten a huge lunch a few his earlier at the members-only Club 33.
2. We had also devoured the dessert bar.
We decided upon ordering the duck wings, which reminded us of Darkwing Duck for some odd reason, the watermelon salad and the pork Skewers appetizer to share. The duck was perfectly prepared; fried golden and had a nice spice that stuck with my lips an hour after dinner. It wasn’t harsh or hot like a Mexican dish, but had a twang that I really enjoyed. I think it might have had an oaky, nutty flavor. Okay it didn’t but I wanted to make a Remy reference.
The watermelon was nice and light and I’m not a food critic, so as Forrest Gump would say, “that’s all I got to say about that.” It’s kind of difficult to mess up anything with watermelon, right?
The pork skewer dish was cooked to perfection and it could be cut with a fork. Seasoned well and just the right amount of bites to share. I could insert a Porky Pig joke, but you get the point.
The decor of the restaurant certainly made me feel under dressed in my khaki shorts and obligatory theme park t-shirt, but the staff is super friendly so, even though it’s higher end dining, it didn’t feel stuffy. We were told that Disney invested a great deal of money in this new construction and some managers were concerned that deluxe dining may not work inside Disney California Adventure. They had experimented with it before and failed. With the elimination of “postcardland,” as I used to refer to the main entrance, and the beautiful new addition of Buena Vista Street; the Carthay Circle Theater dining fits right into the new feel.
We made our way to the balcony area to watch Magical being propelled into the sky majestically over the Main St Train Station. I used my little point and shoot camera to take pictures while Ricky demonstrated his prowess at video taping and Photographing simultaneously. There was no music, but the fireworks were still terrific!
It was also great to see our friend Lindsay who served as the VIP guide for the Haunted Mansion Butlers during Dream Jobs in 2007. She is now the sommolier at the restaurant and is a great fit with her quality customer service background, work ethic and always present smile (we get hugs too.)
I highly recommend booking this restaurant and my only regret is not stuffing myself by trying the house biscuits. Enjoy the cell phone photos!
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