For the past few years now, I have been at
I had heard about the birthday ceremony in
Everyone stayed around for the multitude of pictures being taken, and for some inexplicable reason, Anthony Hopkins was up there as well. He hadn't done anything during the ceremony, so I wasn't sure why he was there at all, but it was still cool to see him. I hadn't expected to see him in his big cowboy hat though! Danny must have been there for hours because even later in the day, the times when I walked by
After the ceremony, I ran into some friends and talked to them for a while before I left to wander the park a bit. Trying to decide on where to have lunch, I wandered by various restaurants, including Rancho del Zocalo. It's been some time since I've eaten there, and that always saddens me. Rancho's predecessor, Casa Mexicana, had been one of my favorite dining places, someplace I went back to no less than once every two weeks. I was also a fan of Big Thunder Barbeque. Since the change-over to Rancho, however, which purports to combine some menu items from both restaurants, I'd been very disappointed. The Mexican fare that Rancho offered wasn't close to what Casa had, and though I'd not tried the barbeque side of Rancho, the offerings were again different from what Big Thunder BBQ had, so we've not been back for probably a year or more. I went by and looked at the menu and noticed that they're offering a new entree, enchiladas and tacos, which looks kind of interesting, so I may give that a try in the future. Though I had the opportunity to go anywhere for lunch since I was alone, I ended up for various reasons at Whitewater Cafe at the Grand Californian. It's probably not a well-known eatery, but those who know about it love it. They have a limited menu, but what they do offer is very good and very well priced. I've generally gotten a cheeseburger there, which is made fresh when it is ordered and comes with french fries. My husband and other friends really like the french dip there. I had a nice relaxing lunch there and then headed over to the lobby of the Grand Californian. I'd brought some reading material with me, so I sat in the air-conditioned lobby in one of the comfy chairs and read for a while.
At about
Once the festivities were over, I bid goodbye to everyone and went on my way. I'd been wanting to see More Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln again but hadn't had the chance so headed that way. I'd forgotten until I got to the theatre and heard a CM mention it that it had been the previous July 17 when the new Great Moments show debuted. I really miss the old show, which I liked a lot and saw on a regular basis. This was only the third or so time that I'd seen the new show in the year since its debut. I think it's far inferior to the previous show and conveys much less of the emotion and impact of the previous show. I also particularly dislike the "parlour tricks" now employed in the show. Some people have said that if the parlour tricks keeps people's attention, then they've done their job, but as far as I can tell, it keeps the people's attention on the parlour tricks and only the parlour tricks, not the rest of the message of the attraction. As I walked into the theatre, I declined the headphones being offered to me, and the CM looked at me kind of strangely. The only part of the show that I really like nowadays is
When I exited the theatre, I returned the phone call of a friend, "R", who had called while I was inside. He's a good friend from
When we left the theatre, I noticed that my husband had called, as he was to meet up with us after he got off work. I called him back and the three of us discussed where to have dinner. R suggested Plaza Inn, and that's where we were going to go, but I then asked R if he'd been to Catal or if he'd be interested. He'd not been there before, so we arranged to have my husband meet us in the esplanade and we'd go so R could check out the menu.
Catal is one of my two favorite restaurants at the Disneyland Resort (Napa Rose being the other), and on my search for where to have lunch earlier in the day, I'd considered the downstairs Uva bar, which I really like, even though they've changed the menu from what I used to like even more. In browsing the menu, I also glanced at the dinner menu and noticed that the night's special was the "Surf n' Turf", steak and lobster. My husband and I had talked about coming on a night when he could have that, and I'm always up for Catal, so after checking with the person on duty that our favorite waiter, Ryan, was scheduled to work that night, I had thought maybe dinner there that evening would be a possibility. I figured I could convince my husband to go there, but at the time, I didn't know if R was going to be joining us and didn't know if he'd want to go there.
After checking out the menu, R decided he wanted to try it, so we went upstairs. I asked for us to be sat at one of Ryan's stations but was told by the hostess that he'd just gotten a couple of large tables and it would be a bit of a wait. When I asked how long, she said about 15 minutes, which didn't seem a big deal, so we sat down to wait. During our wait, Ryan walked by and saw us and said hi, and we told him we were waiting for one of his tables. After about 30 minutes or so had gone by, we started getting a bit antsy and not knowing how much longer the wait would be, we had just decided to tell the hostess that we'd just go with another waiter when Ryan came up to us and said that one of his tables was ready to pay their bill and leave, so it would just be a few minutes. So we waited a little bit longer and then were taken to our table. We ended up sitting on the balcony, which overlooks that section of Downtown Disney. In our previous visits to Catal, we'd never sat outside before, and we really enjoyed it. On a nice summer evening, it was very comfortable sitting outside, watching the sky get darker and the lights in Downtown Disney come up and be able to hear the sounds rising up. The atmosphere was just perfect. As we perused the menu, Ryan mentioned that the menu had changed, as they were now on their summer menu. In looking over the menu more closely, we indeed noticed that it was slightly different from our last trip. Ryan pointed out one of the new items on the appetizer list - "spicy seared rare ahi tuna with avocado, pickled cucumber, tomato gazpacho and citrus croutons". Ryan described the dish further to us and mentioned that the spice being used is something that one of the sous chefs had found in a little out-of-the-way shop, from an independent vendor. They liked the spice a lot, but they've been unable to find that vendor again so for the moment, they figure they have enough of the spice to last the summer. Based on Ryan's description, my husband and I decided to try it, and R ordered the Caesar salad. The ahi was absolutely marvelous. My husband and I are big sushi fans so the slightly cooked fish was very much to our liking. The spicyness was really interesting in that it had very much of a kick to it, but it didn't deaden your taste buds as some do, and it had no lingering effects. The added combination of the tomato gazpacho was really good as well.
For dinner, my husband did indeed order the Surf n' Turf, which he really enjoyed, and both R and I ordered the osso buco on creamy polenta with melted tomatoes and white truffle oil. I'd known since my last visit that I'd be having osso buco on my next visit (and I know what I'm ordering on my next visit as well - highly unusual for me in that regard), and it's a dish that R particularly likes. It was incredible. The meat was very tender and tasty, and with three others of my favorite ingredients, I loved my meal. R loved it as well and was raving about it for the rest of the evening.
Since we'd waited a while for our table, we were at the restaurant later than I'd anticipated. I had figured we were going to return to DL to see Believe, but the three of us instead decided to finish off our meal with a leisurely dessert. As much as I love Believe, I wasn't ready for dinner to be over. When Ryan brought the dessert menus, we also noticed a few items that hadn't been on the list on our previous visit. I am particularly enamoured of creme brulee, something I'd had for the first time on my first visit to Catal in May 2001. I asked Ryan what the creme brulee flavors were that night, and he said they were vanilla, hazelnut and rose. I asked what the rose was, and after a funny retort from Ryan, he confirmed that it was in fact the flower. As on my previous visits, I decided to have the creme brulee, which I did really enjoy. I wouldn't have been able to pick out that the one flavor was rose, but I did like it a lot. R ordered the blackberry and lemon butter tart, which he liked. He did say he would have preferred if it was a bit more lemony, which I agreed with when I tried a bit of it, but then I like real lemony flavor. My husband ordered the chocolate mint mousse cake. As both R and I tried it, we both had the same reaction that my husband did upon his first taste. I do like mint ice cream, but I also am quite aware of the taste and texture of mint ice cream. The incredible thing about this mint ice cream is that it tasted and felt like you were chewing on a mint leaf, even though you'd just put ice cream in your mouth. It was an absolutely amazing feeling. And tasty too!
Before dessert arrived, the executive chef, B, came out to say hello. Because of a special dish that we'd ordered, Ryan had brought him out to meet us on our previous visit, and we'd found him to be very friendly and personable, and most of all, passionate about his creations. Both R and I complimented him on the osso buco, which is his favorite dish. We all also told him how much we enjoyed the ahi appetizer and in discussing the ingredients some more, B tossed out a few ideas for various other dishes, as he'd done the previous time. It's wonderful to listen to him talk about dishes because he shows such excitement about them that it's contagious. I'm not particularly fond of cooked fish dishes, but after his description of one particular cooked fish entree, I'm actually considering ordering it on some future visit. There were a few other ideas he threw out that we were interested in, so he said he might include them on the fall menu. (The restaurant has slight menu changes for each season.) When we later asked R jokingly if he'd be interested in returning to Catal in the fall, he said he was interested in returning to Catal the following evening! We thanked B for coming by our table.
Thoroughly satisfied, we settled our bill and paused to chat with Ryan a bit more. This was our third visit with Ryan as our waiter, and Ryan is very attentive and knowledgeable about the restaurant's offerings as well as being very funny. I would definitely recommend asking for Ryan on a visit, but we get first dibs if we're there at the same time!
We wandered back into DL and strolled around the park for an hour until the park's closing, did some last-minute shopping on
What a wonderful birthday. Thanks,
For Catal's current dinner menu offerings, please click here.
For coverage of Disneyland's 47th birthday ceremony by LaughingPlace.com, please click here.
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