Disneys California Food and Wine Festival 2010

Time for Disneys California Food and Wine Festival again. From now until May 31st Disney's California Adventure theme park will be holding its popular Food and Wine Festival. Highlights include appearances from celebrity chefs such as Guy Fieri:

Each restaurant in the park will also feature a special item throughout the run of the festival such as the chile relleno at Cocina Cucamonga:

Here's some video footage from The Orange County Register:

Cocina Cucamonga - Review #2

Cocina Cucamonga @ Disney's California Adventure 1600 S Disneyland Dr Anaheim, CA 92802 (714) 781-4565 Listing at Yelp Official Site

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Trying to be the master of a particular subject I started this blog so I could be the authority on Mexican restaurants in Orange County. Having been to about 200 of them so far there's still many more to get to and I often get e-mails from people asking, "How could you possibly have not been to such-and-such restaurant yet?" Well, sometime before now and Doomsday (2012?) I may make it to all the Mexican restaurants in the county but any time mealtime comes up for me and I decide I can make it out for a Mexican meal I have literally over 350 choices to choose from, so . . . my goal will be met, it's just not going to happen all at once. Fortunately, other bloggers help to fill in some of the gaps so be sure to check out the other blogs I link to here.

I can however be the guru of a smaller subject so I have found it more readily in my grasp to be on top of all Mexican food at the Disneyland Resort (click here for our extensive coverage). Cocina Cucamonga in Disney's California Adventure is the first one I covered and that was three years ago and now it has just reopened in a new spot with a revised and expanded menu.

New items include Fire-Grilled Citrus Chicken, Carne Asada, Chicken Tamales (which were tested during the recent Wine and Food Festival), Soft Tacos Monterey, and a Fajitas Ensalada.

Click here for better pictures of the menu.

While I admire the fact that they upgraded the menu a minor downside to it is that it is now too much like Rancho del Zocalo in Disneyland proper, when, prior to the upgrade, each of the three Mexican restaurants at the Disneyland resort were very unique. Perhaps a menu revision at Rancho del Zocalo will rectify that.

On one of my visits friends tried out the tacos and burrito:

Soft Tacos Monterey

Burrito Sonora

My chicken tamale turned out pretty moist and meaty while the carne asada it came with appeared at first to be shriveled up and burnt (a little exaggeration here) but turned out itself to be moist and tender with a robust, marinated, cracked pepper taste to it. Beans and rice on all the dishes are very standard. Tortillas come freshly made form the nearby Mission Tortilla Factory.

Carne Asada and Chicken Tamale

Fire-Grilled Citrus Chicken

If you get the citrus chicken make sure they give you the tortillas that are supposed to come with it. Yes, they forgot to give me mine, and, yes, it was probably a fluke, but do check your order before you walk off with it.

Hacienda Chicken Caesar Salad

The caesar salad was light and refreshing, great for a summer day, and surprising that they would put something on it as "authentic" as pepitas (roasted pumpkin seeds) and radishes.

For dessert they have bags of tortilla chips with cinnamon and sugar on them and usually a special dessert as well. The menu board instructs you to ask your "cast member" what the special dessert selection is. The one time I got dessert I was told they had chocolate or pineapple empanadas. I had had the pineapple empanada before at their prior location so I went for the chocolate one this time. It empanada was rather dry and I only about half of it and was not tempted to go any further. I think at a place like Disneyland that if something is not specifically listed on the menu then patrons are much less likely to order it, let alone even ask about it. (UPDATE: The Fall 2009 annual passholders magazine Backstage Pass mentions that sometimes there are also Dulce de Leche Empanadas.)

Also, on my first visit, when I went up to the pickup window I looked at the soda fountain and saw that they had Mello Yello (the Coca-Cola company's answer to Mountain Dew) even though it's not listed on the menu board. On my next visit back I ordered a Mello Yello but the cast member taking my order said they don't have it. I said, "Well, I saw it on your soda fountain the last time I was here." He said, "Yeah, I know, they put the stickers on there for some reason and got all us cast members excited . . . but we don't have it." Sounds like an entry for the FAIL Blog.

For upgrading and improving overall, but with still some improvements to be made, Cocina Cucamonga gets a 3¾ Panchito rating:

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We have covered all the Mexican food and restaurants that can be found at the Disneyland Resort. To read about them click here or anywhere on Panchito's message:

Disney's California Food & Wine Festival

I knew Disney's California Food & Wine Festival was coming up soon. They have one every year. But when the website for it went up this year I went to it to see if there would be any facet to it with a Mexican bent but I couldn't find anything. Then yesterday a neighbor of mine who is a cast member at Disneyland left a cast member reference guide for the festival on my doorstep. I rifled through it quickly expecting to confirm that there would be no Mexican food featured this time. But I found out that on Monday, April 27, at 11:00am there is going to be a Mexican cooking demonstration on the Chef's Showcase Stage at Sunshine Plaza. How fortuitous that I was already planning on being at Disneyland that day with a group so expect some pictures, or even try to make it there yourself.

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Okay, so I went earlier today and watched the demonstration. Chef Francisco Origel from the Napa Rose restaurant at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel demonstrated how to make halibut ceviche.

The Festival continues through June 7 and I have found out there will be more Mexican cooking demonstrations.

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During the Food & Wine Festival the Cocina Cucamonga restaurant at Disney's California Adventure is featuring two special items, Chicken Tamales and a Dulce de Leche Empanada with Tropical Fruit:

UPDATE (May 11, 2009):

Went back today for the Tortilla Jo's cooking demonstration. Chef Torr Kelso showed how to make huitlacoche flan:

Remaining Mexican-related cooking demos are:

• May 20 @ 11am (Tex-Mex)
• May 24 @ 2:30pm (Celebrate Mexico)
• June 5 @ 12:30pm (Celebrate Mexico)

Cocina Cucamonga Holiday Dessert

This is probably the last in my recent line of "quick mentions." Was at Disneyland yesterday and for the first time in three decades of living just a few miles from Disneyland I signed myself up for an annual passport. When I did they gave me the current issue of Backstage Pass magazine for passholders. One of the things it pointed out is that the Mexican restaurant inside Disney's California Adventure, Cocina Cucamonga, is offering for a limited time a holiday-themed pastel de tres leches dessert. Hope to get a picture of it soon. For further reading on Cocina Cucamonga, check out our prior review.

UPDATE (November 29, 2006):

Went back to Cocina Cucamonga today for a quick lunch. Found out that they do have the holiday-themed pastel de tres leches dessert as well as holiday-themed "Crispitos" which I suspect are like the old Cinnamon Crispas from Taco Bell. Also noticed that their regular menu has now dropped the fish tacos, pork tacos, and nachos.

The tres leches cake was perhaps the most mass produced I've ever had. It was dry around the edges but moister as I worked my way to the center. The frosting seemed liked it had been zapped from a Zinger and I suppose the red sprinkles on top were what made it "holiday themed."

Cocina Cucamonga - Review #1

(Click here for an update on the new Cocina Cucamonga.)

Date of Visit: July 7, 2006

Cocina Cucamonga
@ Disney's California Adventure
1600 S Disneyland Dr
Anaheim, CA 92802
(714) 781-4565

Official Site

While on a recent trip to Disneyland I hoped to make it to the Mexican restaurant in Disneyland itself or to the one in Downtown Disney but it wasn't until I was there that day that I found out that there is also a Mexican restaurant in Disney's California Adventure and that is the one I ended up at (I'll still get to the other two eventually).

Menu Board

Cocina Cucamonga is next door to and uses tortillas from the Mission Tortilla Factory where you can watch tortillas being made. Their menu focuses on tacos and, while it doesn't explicitly state such, each platter comes with two tacos and you can mix and match what kinds you get. I ordered the steak taco platter and switched one of them to be a fish taco. The steak taco was average; couldn't complain about it but it didn't inspire. Same with the chips and the beans. However, the fish taco was surprisingly fresh with a hot, crispy, battered fish fillet and tangy chipotle chili sauce, cabbage and a lime wedge. I'm glad I saved it to eat last.

Taco Platter and Dessert

I rounded out my meal with a little carton of Minute Maid apple juice and some Cinnamon Rice Pudding. I used Disney Dollars to pay for my meal, little known currency that can be used at just about any official Disney location in the country.

Nachos

After I ate my own meal another person in our party went and bought some nachos and brought them back to our bench where we were waiting for the Electrical Parade to begin.

For being slightly more authentic than I expected Cocina Cucamonga earns a three and a half Speedy Gonzales rating:



UPDATE: Here's some pictures from when I went there for lunch on February 11, 2009, and got the Veggie Tacos:

(Click here for an update on the new Cocina Cucamonga.)