WDW Radio # 734 – Best of the Best: Food and Dining in Walt Disney World

Lou Mongello: "You know the thing about good food, it brings folks together from all walks of life. It warms them right up and puts little smiles on their faces." And I agree with that quote from The Princess and The Frog by Tiana's Father James. But it's actually maybe hard to believe, I know, but I actually went from a kid who really didn't like to eat to someone.

Let's just say I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. I, I love food and, and I love what it does for people. It cuz it does bring us together. It helps us share conversation and laughter and stories and learn about each other and create lasting memories. And I don't just mean around our own kitchen table or fancy restaurants, but in Walt Disney World as well.

And, surprise, surprise, it's not just about chicken tenders, which I love by the way. Or burgers and fries, which I also love. But Walt Disney World has some of the best food and dining experiences anywhere. So this week we're gonna look at the best of the best of Disney's Disney World Dining and delicacies from what to Eat where and why.

This is going to be a fun hunger inducing, don't listen hungry, uh, and hopefully culinary inspiring show with information that you can take with you the next time you visit Walt Disney World. And I cannot, nor will I do this alone. So I needed to bring in a bonafide expert, some would say. The experts on Disney food.

And how do I know this? Because I've known her for years and she is the creator of the Disney Food blog. You know her as AJ and I know is one of my favorite people in the entire Disney space and world. Aj, welcome. For the very first time. How has it been this long to the show?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: It mostly it's because you don't respond to your text messages.

Lou Mongello: Uh, it's not that I don't respond, I respond to every one of them personally. I'm doing a lot of research for shows like this. Um,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: this is, oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know this was the Excuse podcast. Yes. I guess, I guess this is the excuse podcast.

Lou Mongello: Top 10 Excuses. I use to not, but this is like, we, this is a long, long time coming.

Right. Because we've known each other a very, very long time and we've been trying to connect. I will take the, I'll fall on the sword. It is absolutely my fault. So we were talking about this before we started to record, but I guess the first time that we actually ate together, was it Yak and Yeti upstairs by the window?

Was it really 10 years ago in 2013? Yes.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: It, it was, I remember it like crystal clear

Lou Mongello: and that

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: was just, cause I, I was, I was pretty pregnant at the time. And it was hard to sit down.

Lou Mongello: And I looked very pregnant at the time. So we were, we were quite the fetching pair. Um, and that was what, so you started Disney Food Blog what, in 2009?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: 2009, yes. Was the first blog post I believe. Wow.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. Crazy. Yeah.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: But I did, I did have my Lou Ello, Lou Mondello, however anybody wants to say it. Um, book like trivia books in my bathroom,

Lou Mongello: which, listen, I understand my place in the circle of life. That's where, that's where they should be.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: The place where you

Lou Mongello: learn, listen, it's, uh, if I can bring you joy wherever you are, and a little bit of Disney magic when you need it most.

Um, so, so tell me just very quickly, like why, why did you start Disney Food Blog?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Because nobody else had done it. Um, I mean, I wanted it to exist. There was a blog that a couple did, like when they went to Disney World, which was like once a year, they would come back and they would, uh, write up the, their, their, their food and take pictures of it.

And I would just sit there and refresh that blog over and over, like, do they go again? Did they go again? You know? And so it's something that I wanted to be there. Um, and I. You probably, you had the best food coverage of anybody, but you were also still covering other stuff, you know, and, and so it was just sort of like, well, I want someone to just show me pictures of everything that you can eat so that I'm not planning to spend a ton of money on stuff I'm gonna hate cuz I'm a pretty picky eater.

Um, so I just wanted it to exist. So I was like, let's, let's do this cuz my, my husband and I were long distance, um, dating and we wanted to do something. Um, Kind of a hobby together and that's something we could do together. I

Lou Mongello: love that you solved the problem that you found existed, right? You just sort of, you know, like for me, I wrote the book that I wanted to read.

You created the site that you wished exist cause that's all you're right. While we were doing was going on like message boards and reading people's trip reports and hoping that they had something food related in there too. Yeah.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Oh yeah. Printing literally staying at work late so I could print out the like 28 page like trip reports to read them on the, on the Staten Island ferry going home.

Oh my gosh. Like, yeah. I mean that's a thousand percent what we were doing then, because that's all that existed.

Lou Mongello: Somebody's Googling what is a discussion forum right now? Just because we're dating. What is the

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: message board

Lou Mongello: exactly? What's a Usenet news group? I have no idea what any of those words mean.

Yeah. But yeah, we've like, it's a bulletin board and we like see each other all the time at events and we've been trying to connect and, and I, we keep saying, yeah, yeah, we're gonna record something. But I, I, I really did think that this is gonna be sort of the best way to, you know, I, I've done sort of best of the best segments in the past, but I think sort of revisiting and, and bringing this, this type of segment back cause it's only appropriate that, that I talk about food.

So the way I thought that we would do this, so it's not a 72 hour show, cuz it could be. Yeah. Right. There are literally hundreds of places to eat in Walt Disney World. Um, we're just gonna go down the list and we're gonna share. Okay. Our, uh, professional, very heavily researched and curated opinions on each one.

And I think it'll be casual and fun. And remember, don't listen hungry. Some of these I'm sure are going to require further discussion. Maybe a top 10 list for some of these individual items. Um, so. We're just gonna go down the list. Um, and I'm gonna, I will give you sort of the, the topic you give me your, your thoughts and I will share mine and then we'll go from there.

Sound good? Alright. Yes. Alright. In no particular order, other than first things first, what is your, what is the best of the best or AJ's favorite recommended call, whatever. Best quick service donning in Walt Disney World.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Okay. So do you want me to answer honestly for me, or do you want me to answer what the majority of people are going to enjoy the most?

Yes,

Lou Mongello: you can. Okay. You can actually feel free to give both, like there's Okay. The rules are, there ain't no rules, so you just Right. Have

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: at it. Oh, great. I love that. I love those games. Okay. The, if I'm getting asked on, you know, National news, what's the best counter service or quick service in Disney World?

I'm probably gonna say SLI Canteen. Yes. Um, that's why I love her. Something like, you know, something like that. Uh, because that's gonna be a little unique. Good variety. Got some healthy stuff there. If you want some healthy stuff, um, you got the cheeseburger pods, you know, so that's a good place for, it's probably gonna please a good number of people and it lets, it lets us kind of be like, look, Disney isn't just burgers.

Right. Um, which is what we always, you know, we're always trying to dispel that, that myth as much as we can. Um, but if I, if I was just going to Disney World and sneaking in and nobody knew where I was going, then for counter service, I usually either end up at Gasparilla Island Grill. Because their mac and cheese is the best mac and cheese on property, it's absolutely phenomenal.

So I usually will get a, a side order of mac and cheese and a kid's chicken nuggets with the barbecue sauce. And I go sit in that little booth that's around the corner and nobody can see you're there. And I sit there and I listen to my audio book about medieval British history, and I eat my mac and cheese all by myself.

Um, or I'm going to chicken guy. Those are the two places that are my guilty pleasure spots.

Lou Mongello: So that, that, that, that's actually fascinating. There's a lot to unpack there. One, we're gonna, we're gonna circle back to this is the best mac and cheese in Walt Disney in the world. Okay. We're gonna, we're gonna come back to that.

I'm happy to have that conversation. Uh, but I love that you mentioned gas. One of the things Id love and gasper I think is one of the overlooked. Dining experiences in Walt Disney World because it's also 24 hours. It's not anymore.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Stop it. No. After Covid, we don't have any 24 hour places anymore. As far as as I know.

We can triple check, we can triple check that. But Captain Cooks, Gasparilla, peekaboo, none of them peekaboo are 24 hour anymore.

Lou Mongello: Peekaboo was the only place I knew for a long time. That was 24 hours over at the Swan.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Yeah, dolphin do. Yeah. And, and Captain Cooks used to be 24 hours. You remember when they had the self-serve Doll Whip?

Yes. You could go at two o'clock in the morning and get self-serve Doll whip there. Um, except when they were cleaning the machine, which they did for one hour, which was always the hour that I wanted to go get Doll Whipp. But as far as I know, Gasper and Captain Cooks are not back to 24 hours. But let's check before this podcast goes live so that neither of us sounds

Lou Mongello: stupid.

So sad. Listen, I'm gonna sound stupid no matter what, so it's fine. Um, same. Give me time to sound stupid. So, um, I, I got very excited when you said Ulli Canteen because I also agree that it is one of, if not the best, quick service for all of the reasons you need. I love that the idea of sort of, Choosing your own adventure, making your own bold, have it be whatever you want it to be.

And yeah, maybe I'm a big fatty, but I like getting an order of cheeseburger pods on the side because I think it's, that's just the way you're gonna do it. Um, and obviously you sit inside unless you're insane, then you sit out, eat, like you don't sit outside. It's Ulli Canteen in the middle of summer.

However, I will see your at Ulli Canteen and I'll potentially raise you Kazu Grill. So I love, really Now wait, don't, I'm, I'm gonna So, wait, wait, wait, wait. So wait. Before I answer that, before I'm gonna re, I'm gonna retract, redact my answer because before I answer a couple things. One, I'm, I'm deathly afraid of this list, right, because one, I know I'm gonna miss something obvious.

Like the fact that we

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: are, that's the problem. We're gonna miss something obvious. I'm so scared. Uh, I'm

Lou Mongello: probably gonna leave out. Something intentionally unintentionally that I haven't been to like in 10 years or more. I've been wanting to go back to flying Fish. If only there was somebody, anybody that would go with me to flying fish.

Cause I haven't been. And I also wanna qualify because

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I was just there two weeks

Lou Mongello: ago. I'm right here. I'm literally down the road. I can almost see flying fish from where I live. Um, and this list is subject to change without notice. So just because we say it today, it does not mean it holds you, uh, for

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: tomorrow.

Because that's the thing about Disney food though, is it changes all the time. Yeah. You can go, I've been to Las Cellier twice in one day for lunch and dinner and had two completely different experiences and I would recommend the first and not recommend the second. So it really does, yeah.

Lou Mongello: Change. Yeah. Ca Kaa Grill used to be like my far and away favorite.

They used to have, it's the first time I ever had okonomiyaki, which is like this scallion, um, uh, like cabbage, like pancake with cake. Oh my God. It was amazing. Yeah, it was incredible. Um, but you're right, that menu too does change all the time. So, but that's where you always

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: used to have your

Lou Mongello: meetups too, up there.

I did. Cause I love me some Japan. Yeah. Yeah. I love sitting

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: outside. I'm so excited about the new restaurant. I cannot wait. It's

Lou Mongello: all those little prayers that I said kneeling down by my bed finally came true when I heard that. Yeah,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I know. I'm so jazzed. And that, that area needs an infusion of excitement.

Mm-hmm. Like that. Like cuz that's a good view up there. Yeah. And Tokyo dining was not, Yeah, giving it due. So

Lou Mongello: I'm super excited. I agree. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I love Japanese AYAs. I have a favorite one that's off property that I go to all the time. I should take you there next time you, I'm gonna eat again.

It'll, it'll knock your socks off. And

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: let's go to conveyor belt. Hot pot too.

Lou Mongello: Yes. Oh, and there's a conveyor belt. Sushi too. There's a conveyor belt. Sushi place too.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I don't, I'm not a big sushi fan, but I am a big hot pot fan and I go to that conveyor belt hotpot and it, I'm just like hot. The happiest

Lou Mongello: camper.

I'm gonna take you to a Korean hot pot. Ooh. Okay. For those of you listening at home, just talk amongst yourselves. We're making plans. Let's go. Let's go. Alright, let's go. Let's go from table. Let's go from quick service to table service. It's the logical transition. Best table service. Best table service.

And I know there could be sort of subcategories of table service. Cause I wanna.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Good. All right, so let's go with the, if I'm go, if I'm flying into Disney World tonight and I'm all by myself again, you, there's a theme here of me eating all alone just in my closet by myself. Um, if I'm going all by myself to a restaurant today, cuz it'll change tomorrow, but today I'm gonna go to Laier.

Wow. I know, I know. The old habits die

Lou Mongello: hard. Fascinating. I Well, but we do have that, right? We have our personal comfort food favorites, like the places we go that we just know we're gonna have a great experience. We know we're gonna enjoy the food, the services you like. So I get it.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: That's right. And it's like you have you, so here I always like to talk about how you.

How did this, you were on your honeymoon and you were sitting in Italy and you were by the ocean and you had this amazing bottle of wine with your beloved, and it, you just, it was just the most incredible wine you've ever had. And you buy a case of wine and you ship it home and then your, your first anniversary, you've got an infant and it's screaming and there's poop everywhere.

And you crack open this wine and it does not, and you just hate your beloved that day and it does not taste as good. And so it's very much the, the whole package experience is what makes that food incredible, I think. And so to me it's like I have so many good feelings from Laier and it's always been a favorite.

And so I love to ki I've ki kind of go and I feel like I'm in this little cocoon of like, Joy, you know? But if, if I had those same experiences at another restaurant, I'd feel the same about

Lou Mongello: that. You know? Yeah, exactly. And, and my, if you ever listened to the show before, you know exactly what my answer's going to be.

I'm gonna throw out places like, like I, I really we're talking about comfort foods, like there's something comfortable and comforting about homecoming. I love Yeah. Toppino, but Boat. It's boathouse. It's boathouse. Boathouse and like to the nth degree boathouse for a long time. Um, uh, Todd English's, blue Zoo at the Dolphin Yeah.

Was up there. I haven't been there in a long time, but the Cantonese Lobster didn't come back. The miso glee, Miro didn't come back. But I have literally never had a bad meal at Boathouse. Mm-hmm. The service is exceptional. The views are spectacular. The food is incredibly fresh. Like, it just, it ticks every box.

I've never had a bad experience and nowhere that I've ever sent there has ever come back with a bad e experience. Um, and I love Steve Schuler like I do. I just love every single thing about it. I love sitting out by the water and the empty cars and Yeah. It has it all.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Yeah. Yeah. Boathouse is a great, is a great experience.

It's too big and too crowded for me. Like there's too much of a, I'm sitting in a. Cafeteria. I mean, I know it's not, that's a horrible thing to say. That is not at all what it's like, but you know, it just feels, hold on a second, Steve.

Lou Mongello: Big and equity. Steve. Yeah. She just called you restaurant a cafeteria.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: That's not at all what it's like. And I do, and I love boathouse brunch and I love boathouse, Mac and cheese. Um, but like, I mean, but then again, the, the opposite problem can happen at Laier where if you get seated, I mean, cuz I'm always a, a single, I'm a solo going to eat there and they always put me on a, in banquette seating in between two giant families.

And like, it's literally the most claustrophobic feeling in the world. And the last time I was there I just, I absolute, I had to ask for a, a table change cuz I was like, I can't even move. Yeah. Here. So, you know, so the opposite can be super problematic in those teeny tiny restaurants, you know, where you're just like, okay, I, I,

Lou Mongello: no, I can't do this, so I'm gonna take you to boathouse.

Or next time you go solo, like wearing your hoodie, like ask to sit. I think you get special treatment in boat house. No, no. This is, and I shouldn't say this on the show, I should just tell you privately, but what you can do if it's not, you know, blazing hot and crazy humidity like it is 362 days outta the years here.

Asked to sit outside, but not just outside. Like right outside the main, if you go all the way to the, to the back, sort of the, the right hand side, there's almost like a little porch area. Um, that's covered right on the water. You get a beautiful bre like a cross breeze coming. Okay. I, this, there's only about this like four or five tables out there.

It's, it's almost like semi-private and it's beautiful. Beautiful. Like you go golden hour. Oh, it's so nice. Yeah. Okay.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: That sounds really, really nice. That sounds very close to my honeymoon scenario. Yeah. Although I do like to sit in the boat.

Lou Mongello: I do like to sit in the boat, but that like, but you're right in the middle of it.

Like you're right in the middle of the action you are and everybody's like, Hey, are you almost done? Can you get up? Cuz my family wants to sit. Can you leave? Can

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: you? That's how it is at the, if you go to Jo Lindsay's hangar bar, like, like the weird line of people standing outside the diving bell table, just like watching you eat and waiting for you to

be

Lou Mongello: done.

Right. If you could almost close the diving bell door, it would be a little more driving inside. That would be better inside. Um, alright. The best buffet oh, zero, zero. Oh. You're not a buffet. No buffet. You're not a buffet.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: No. I do like, I will answer this question, but I will avoid a buffet if I can. Um, let's see.

Cuz I will go to a table. I will go to a family style before. I'll go to a buffet. Usually I go to a

Lou Mongello: buffet. Well, you all you I like going to a buffet so I can stick it to the man because I'm gonna come in hungry and hot, like I'm ready to go and I don't waste my time with the salad and nonsense. No, no, no.

Like you gotta go for like the good stuff. You go for like the meats and the cheeses and Yeah.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Okay, so if we're go, all right, you gave me time to think and I appreciate it. I am going to say boma. That's

Lou Mongello: it. That's the answer. That's

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: exactly I. Okay. Cause if you have, if you have to eat. From utensils that some child has licked.

Lou Mongello: I'm not sure

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: food's that food is good enough to justify it.

Lou Mongello: Maybe the buffets by your house are slightly different. No,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: this I have seen in the Walt Disney world many times, so many, so much sneezing happening by the buffet. Like we, like we wait to sneeze until we're right next to the mashed adas.

Lou Mongello: I blame the parents.

But no, I think that buffet, if you are, um, if you are a buffet person, I think that that boma is, is off the beaten path, right? Animal kingdom, you have sort of work to get there, but whether you go for breakfast or, or dinner, there's such unique items on the menu that you're not really going to find anywhere else.

I will say as a, as a, as a good substitute or a very, very close second for same reasons. Um, Tusker house, same thing too. Yeah. Tusker house. And if you get, if you do. Is it only for breakfast they have characters or is it for No, it's

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: all the time. Okay. And yeah, it's all the time. And I was gonna say, if you don't wanna go all the way out to, to, um, animal Kingdom Lodge.

Yeah. You

Lou Mongello: animal Kingdom instead it's second,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: but then it's like, it's like those two are up here when it comes to buffets and then y'all can't see me. But there's, I have a visual, they're up here and then, The rest are just like down here. Like, then you're down to like Crystal Palace, chef Mickeys like garbage restaurant three garbage, restaurant four, you know?

Lou Mongello: Yeah. A lot of people like Cape May Cafe. Um, I haven't, again, I just haven't been in years. Um, it's been long until they got rid of the crab, the crab three crab legs. Right. Again, why? Cause people were taking the lu munch, I'm gonna stick it to the man and eat nothing but crab legs, nothing but crab legs.

It was like a scrum when they brought fresh crab legs out. Sometimes I believe

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: it. Yeah. I believe that pe I, yeah. I wouldn't put it past some folks to bring a little cooler.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. You know what else from home when, uh, trails end was, yeah, it was also great value. Such a good bargain. Yeah. It was a great, I think it was the, I think it was the best value on property at that when it

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: was a buffet.

I'm trying to fi, I'm trying to think if there's any other buffets that I would like willingly. Go to maybe the ail encompass breakfast buffet. It's not too bad. Yeah.

Lou Mongello: All right. Best. So I'm the, the best. I'm call, I'm using air quotes food cart and what I mean by it's a cart, it's a kiosk, it's a snack stand.

It's some sort of walkup, like quick service with no seating food place.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Okay. All right. By the way, we should have talked about Ana with table service, cuz that we can talk about that with best view. Okay. Um, food cart. But it can be like a brick and mortar, like not movable.

Lou Mongello: It could be like fire, it can be not move, right?

It could be, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yep. Sleepy Hollow. You know, I almost put Sleepy Hollow on that too. How do you feel about that? It depends on when you go, like, I'm not sure

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: if I'm right or not

Lou Mongello: because it used to ha Well, I, I have, well, yes, even though there's seating there, it, it is. Um, yeah. Okay.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I get it.

Lou Mongello: But it, cause it's a walk around thing. I do, I like both the sandwiches. Like if I could somehow just get like a half portion of the spicy chicken and a half portion of the, we can't call it Nutella, it's the, but it's basically Nutella and fruit

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: sandwich. I can't, we do that. Why can't we do that? Don't.

That's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go with our best friend, you and me, and we're gonna order both. Oh. And we're gonna

Lou Mongello: split. Whew. That's a, that's a good

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: day right there. But then you have to leave cuz I have to eat

Lou Mongello: by my stretch. That's fine. We'll get separate tables. Right. Listen, it's not gonna be the first time a woman said to me, uh, you have to leave.

You just, you can't sit. You have to leave now. I'm sorry. You can't sit here. It's like high school and grammar school law, school dating. It's just, it's just bringing up a lot of bad memories. All right. It's hard.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: It's hard. It's, well, that's another

Lou Mongello: podcast. Um, I had a tough time with this one. Yeah. This is hard because there's a lot of places you like.

Just like go and like grab a snack and I sort of did a, a, a mental flyover of the parks. And then I got to Disney Springs and I'm a guy who loves a good poutine, or as they say, Canada poutine. Oh, nice. So I'm gonna say the daily poutine. Right? Yeah. Hot thick, cut french fries with gravy and cheese curds like, but yeah, they have like seasonal varieties and stuff too.

So depending on when you go you might get something completely different. So there's like Italian poutine and Canadian poutine. They have butter chicken pout. You want a little like Indian action going on Korean? I haven't seen that, that one in a while. Listen, if you are looking for, if you're looking for carbohydrates, just look for Lou.

Oh, fried carbohydrates. There's lou. There he is right there. There's lou and cheese, but cheese too and gravy. Um, but the Korean barbecue is really good. It's got like, uh, kimchi and barbecue pulled pork. A little bit of spicy aiia. It's nice. Good for them.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Good for them. I mean, good for, I was so jazzed to see the poutine place come.

I. Come in and I, I think, I mean, I know Canadians will, disown, will disown it cause it's not real. But I, I dig it. It's, if, if it's all I can get, I'll take it. Yeah. I like it.

Lou Mongello: Especially like on some of those. Random, rare, cool days, like those cool nights. And then there's actually some tables there where you go sit by the water somewhere, which are little thing of put That's a nice, that's a nice day right there.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: That's nice. That's nice. Yeah. And now this, this question is hard though, cuz I'm thinking of like 20 other ones that we should give, you know?

Lou Mongello: Too. And somebody is screaming at their iPod. Yes. Or their Tesla or their dog. If they're like out walking a dog, like how are you people not saying, not saying this place.

Yeah. It is the blessing. It's we thinking

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: about it, right? Like, believe me, it's going through our heads right now. Like we're definitely, we're going like, oh, like you know, eight spoon cafe. We're going like, you know, cheese cheeseburger, spring rolls. Like we're, we're right. It's all in our going through

Lou Mongello: our heads and I'm like, oh, I look a good french fry.

I know I was sort of all, and I'm gonna put these questions just so you know, or put these individual questions. I'm gonna space 'em out over time in the clubhouse at ww radio.com/clubhouse cuz I want to hear from you. And if you just can't wait and you have to call the voicemail (407) 900-9391. Feel free to yell and scream.

Try to keep the cursing to a minimum cuz this is a G-rated family friendly show. But say, my God, Mongiello and aj, how did you not say X? And then we'll feel ridiculous that we didn't,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: we will feel, yeah, appropriately sugared.

Lou Mongello: Um, okay, so I said for for table service restaurants, there are certain categories.

What about if you want to have a nice little fancy night? Right? The best fancy restaurant, I'm using the word fancy, elegant restaurants, um, in all of Walt Disney World. Okay, you wanna have a little romantic evening all by yourself? Where does AJ go?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I wish. Um, so we're supposed to say Victoria and Albert's here, which I think is the least romantic restaurant in, you know, in terms of signature restaurants.

I think it's very unromantic because like, there's like pe, there's like two people who

Lou Mongello: came all the time. So this, this is fancy, not romantic. I actually think I have a romantic question. Later. Oh, romance is later. Okay, well then do

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I have Victoria? Alberts is the fanciest restaurant you can do. Yeah. Okay.

Lou Mongello: Vna but so this is just, this is just fancy

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: pants. Okay. Fancy pants V and a. You have to wear a, you have to wear a suit jacket.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. Yeah. I had, I had a vna Cuz you have to, I had, I think you have to Chico, even California grill can be sort of upscale. Um, yeah, I I'm gonna put toe the house of the artisan Tekume.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Oh, fancy. Fancy. It's if chip pan, then it's blue's

Lou Mongello: favorite. It is not gonna be the last time you hear me say the words. Tekume te I can spoil that ahead. All right. And let's do the opposite. If you don't wanna put on your fancy pants and you just wanna go like with your family, with the kids, where's the best restaurant for kids and families?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Uh, this, this is, um, this is the one if, if anybody watches my YouTube channel, they get tired of me talking about garden grill. But I, oh, that's a good one. Adore Garden and Grill for multiple reasons. I don't know why anybody wouldn't want to eat at a spinning restaurant. I don't know why you wouldn't want to eat in, in a place that gets you even more embedded in living with the land.

Um, you get a bunch of characters who are gonna come around to your table multiple times, not just once because it's a tiny restaurant. And they, you will get tired of the characters. They will come around so much and you get to see Mickey in his little farmer outfit and the food is really good and it's reliably good all the time.

Lou Mongello: I have not been there in probably 15 years.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Okay. Well we'll take you there. You will enjoy it.

Lou Mongello: You'll be eating separately. I understand that. Um, you will get tired of the characters. So, you know, when I, when I thought of this, like, Ohana comes up, chef Mickey's comes up, um, crystal Palace was one that came up.

Like, and you know, I try to think when I thought of kids and families like say, keep bringing all these buffets. I know am is it, is it a place that I'm taking like young kids or if is there a place that I'm taking older kids like it, it's, are we at the T-Rex Cafe age or are we at the, we want character kind of age.

And I think it's sort of, it's maybe it was an unfair question cause I sort of, there's

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: other, it's okay. I still, I still answer Garden Girl for all of those. Okay. I will, I do, I just think it's a no-brainer.

Lou Mongello: I will say Ohana just because I'm craving the noodles at this very moment. I would do, I would like, I.

Do lots of stuff for noodles and wings right now. So you can

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: go get them right now. You can literally get in your car. It's so, and go to Tam Lounge and get them.

Lou Mongello: If somehow someone invented like a Lu Uber Eats, call Tom Disney service. You need to call Tom. I need a Disney Tom. That's what I need. Yes. Just call to, oh my God.

Could you imagine? Um, I'd be broke and, and twice my size. Um, okay. Soundly, the alarms and the bells, the Disney Dining plans are coming back to Walt Disney World. What is the best use of a snack credit? Oh

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: gosh. This, this is, this is research we're doing right now, um, cuz we had it, you know, we had it down for, um, 2019.

Um, to me, I always like to remind people to use snack credits at the festivals, at the Epcot festivals. Um, cuz a lot of that stuff is gonna be snap credit. Uh, eligible and there, there's stuff on those menus that are $8 or $9 that are, you know, you just have to look around and find the, the, the more expensive stuff to get the really good value.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. Like anything over, you know, you wanna make sure it's over, like six bucks, seven bucks to make sure you're over six bucks. Yeah. Yep. Is it, is it one of the waffle sandwiches at, can you use it? Is that a snack credit? No, I have to go to Disney Food Blog and look for the little d d p snack eligible thing when I go through the menus.

Um, you know what, since I'm craving, I'm gonna go with a Mickey pretzel and cheese sauce just because Okay. I have not had carbohydrates, plastic in 15 minutes. Mm-hmm. Listen, it's, you've, you've had a long day. Maybe you just need a little to go and relax. You wanna get together with some friends. What is the best place in Walt Disney World to grab a drink?

Okay,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: this, I have two very different. I have three very different places that really depend on how you feel, right? So if it's me, if it's AJ going to grab a drink in the evening, I'm probably gonna go to Gasparilla. No, not, not Gasparilla. My bad guys are point. I'm gonna go to Geyer point over Wilderness Lodge.

Um, I get, I'll get there a little early, so I can definitely get a nice table over by the water. Watch the sunset. Um, so that's definitely happening. But if I've, if I've got folks with me who are maybe a little livelier than I, then we'll probably go to Trader Sam's and have a few cocktails there. Um, so those two are probably good.

But there's lots of spots at, at Disney Springs too that are Yeah. Are super great options

Lou Mongello: for this. I love Sam's, but I think once you sort of go through the experience, I actually sometimes like sitting outside more than I like sitting inside. Yeah. Especially when they have like some of the musicians out there playing live music.

Tiki torches are on, the sun is going down. It's, you know, it's only 107 degrees. That that's, that's a nice night. Um, no problem. I, I think for the ones that are on my list, it's not just like, I think I'm incorporating the view because I have jocks, but sitting outside mm-hmm. I had guys point on there, Dolly Lounge, um, again.

Oh, I love

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Dolly. That is such a good one to bring up. Nobody

Lou Mongello: goes there, Lou. Exactly. No, but you've gotta work together. Um, even like sitting outside a baseline tap house, like if you wanna be in park and just like grab a drink in park. Um, and Enchanted Rose is nice too, too. There's never any tables

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: available there.

I, everybody loves baseline. I am a staunch anti baseline. Person because there's never any tables. Yeah. And I hate that. And I hate being stressed cuz I'm like an O c D nerve. Like I want, if I'm, if I'm gonna spend this much money, I want it to be perfect. And I, I can't trust baseline, can't

Lou Mongello: trust it. I need a table in the corner with some shade and maybe a little air conditioning if possible.

If you could make that happen, that would be, that's

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: a good night. But it's not, it's not gonna happen. For 99% of you out there, it's not gonna happen at baseline. Don't trust it

Lou Mongello: just for that one guy that gets that one table,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: all right. That one guy gets that table and then you just get to sit there and hate him and stand right next to him until he gets up and leaves.

Lou Mongello: Um, Disney is, is first and foremost a storytelling company. Yes. Give me the best themed dining experience in all of Walt Disney World. Your this, I'm just coming. Upj is dancing by the way. I wish, I wish I could do this as a, as a live video because she's, she's dancing in on the ceiling.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I, these things are just coming out of my brain, uh, right now.

Like I'm not, but, so this is the first thing that popped into my head is, and this is probably not true cuz it's probably be our guest, but the first thing that popped into my head was storybook dining at artist's

Lou Mongello: Point. Well, I, I, I haven't been yet. I have not. Let's go. I have not been yet. It's

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: pretty good food.

Yeah, pretty good food. But so when you

Lou Mongello: obviously, I mean, what are guests incorporating into your people, right? So when you, when I say best them dining experience, what are you sort of the, what are the, the elements that you're incorporating into your answer on

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: that one? I, on that, I recommend that place because I think it is good theming.

They've made like little treat, they like made it look like a little forest in there. It's a great view. It's good food, it's good reliable food. Um, and you get to see characters you don't normally get to see. So that's why I'm going there. But like I said, it's the best. Themeing is still probably beer guests, even though the food is garbage or, um, Cinderella's Royal table, even though they rush you out of there and you're only allowed to spend like 19 minutes in there.

So for the whole package, I'm gonna say storybook dining because I've never, I of had a bad experience there.

Lou Mongello: So that was not on my list only cuz I hadn't been. Um, yeah, be our guest. I like to be our guest when you could go for lunch and order off the menu and sort of. Pick your thing and they took the rows and I really, really liked that.

So did everybody. Yeah, because that was the best. That was, that was the play. Um, things that came to value, things that, that came to mind. Uh, um, I like Skipper Canteen and if you get the right server, that really sort of helps to sort of complete the story and, and helps you sort dive deep into some of the cool little Easter eggs.

It's great. Um, same thing with, with, um, Like fifties prime time, like your server, much like your jungle cruise skipper can sort of make or break your experience. I've had really, really, knock on wood, I've had really, really good luck there. Um, I haven't been to sci-fi, but sci-fi is cool. I used to like sci-fi when they did Did you ever go to like, to the Star Wars weekends breakfast and they had like Star Wars movies and like you could trade with the Javas?

I did it

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: one of, oh, my team went, cuz we covered it for the blog, but I personally never forgot to go to that, but it seemed really cool and they had really good food there too.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. Um, I'm going, this is a, this I'm gonna scratch and I have a very, very, very late addition to the list cuz I went there for the very first time last night and I don't know if I was just hungry or hungry, but I loved and we had an amazing server.

I, I tipped him a ridiculous amount cuz he earned it. You're waiting with not so bated breath. I'm so baited and I'm gonna watch your reaction. Cause to see, cuz I, I loved. Woody's Roundup, rodeo, barbecue.

She's just not, she's frozen. She's pretending like she was. I did, I loved the theming in there. Our server was great. Like I thought the food was really good, but, and I ate lots of it. Um, and it was not like, I think it was a good value for what we spent too. Like I took my kids and they loved to do. You are not dancing in, in your seat, not dancing.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I'm not sold on this restaurant yet because it, it's expensive. It's $45.

Lou Mongello: And AJ, I'm gonna tell you, they lost, they lost money on me last night.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Remember though, I live in Texas also true where we have barbecue. So it could very well be like that barbecue is about level to. My fourth choice down, go pick it up.

Barbecue around the corner. You know what I mean? So that's probably part of it. But what's weird, Lou, is that I love Regal Eagle.

Lou Mongello: So I, I haven't been there yet either. I can't find anybody who'll go with me.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Oh, I will go with you to all these places if you just answer your text messages. Um, but I love Regal Eagle and I love the options there.

And they have lots of different sauces that aren't just like sweet, regular and hot. Like it's different sauces from around the country. Mm-hmm. Like different types of barbecue sauces. It's just a better experience for, in terms of food. Whereas to me, Roundup Rodeo has, has fallen into the go here for the theming and go here for.

You know, if your kid really likes Toy Story, but I need to do it again, I need to try it again. You know, it's brand new. And it could be that I didn't have the honeymoon experience when I was there, cuz I was just trying to eat everything and I was having with weird

Lou Mongello: conversation jam. Uh,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I mean that's, that is the, that is the winner for

Lou Mongello: sure.

And the plant-based stuff, like we said, oh, let's just try the plant, the plant-based. Yeah. I don't even know what it was. I wouldn't have known, known. It was not meat. It was amazing. Like I was, I was, I was very impressed. That's great. It

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: was very, very impressed. Well, I love the mac and cheese there too.

Like, I really enjoyed the mac and cheese. Like, it was, it was a contender.

Lou Mongello: All right, so we keep bringing this up. We're, we're dancing around. Let's just get to the best mac and cheese. What is the best mac and cheese in Walt Disney World?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I already told you. It's Gasper Island

Lou Mongello: Grill. So I, I thought about this because I had the other night for the very first time, what may be, and I know it's like I'm in.

I'm having the honeymoon phase to use a, an aism cuz I love the shrimp and ondoy mac and cheese at boathouse, of course. Which you could also upgrade to lobster, but I dig the spiciness of the ondoy sausage. Yeah. There's also a spicy, there's also the crispy spicy mac and cheese balls at wine bar George.

They, they

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: are there.

Lou Mongello: However, I went for the first time in ages to Chico and I had the babo mac and cheese with four kinds of cheese, Wagyu beef, almonds, and curry. It was a maze. Balls

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: mind blowing.

Lou Mongello: Mind blowing. I just, I just wanted to sit there all, I mean, I did, I sat there all night and I ate mac and cheese for hours, but it was so, so good.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: There is a lot of great mac and cheese in Disney World, uh, and it and you and at the, um, you know, they can be at the signature restaurants, they can be at the affordable table service restaurants. They can be at the kiosks. Like there's a lot of hidden great mac and cheese that, like, you don't never eat bad mac and cheese in Disney World.

You don't have to. There's something for, there's a, there's a Mac and cheese where I run Mac cheese. Everybody. Homecoming to mac and cheese. Oh, homecomings good too. There's the, the eight spoon Cafe, Mac and cheese with the pulled pork on top. Then you go over to the Flametree Barbecue, get the mac and cheese with the pulled pork and um, onion rings on top.

And gasparillas a completely different situation. It's a very creamy mac and cheese. It was just so

Lou Mongello: many. So many. See this one? This could be a top 10 segment of the, of the best. Oh yeah. Mac and cheese.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Cause even beer garden Beer garden's got that. Brick of mac and cheese, you know? Ugh.

Lou Mongello: Um, alright, so, okay, somebody comes to you.

This will be like a mini lightning round. Somebody comes to you and says, listen, I need to know what is the best in park dining in each park. So give me like, best magic kingdom, best Epcot Hollywood Studios Animal Kingdom. Just gimme the best of the best dining experience table service, counter service, it doesn't matter.

Go off the top of your head,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: okay? Okay. Magic Kingdom. Um, I want you to go to Columbia Harbor House. For counter service and probably, probably Skipper Canteen or Liberty Tree Tavern, depending on how picky your eaters are. Um, animal Kingdom, I want you to go to Tusker House or Yak and Yeti or one of those kiosks that I just mentioned.

You know, go to f go to Flametree for the Mac and cheese, or go to eat Spoon Cafe, um, or restaurant Asurs. If you wanna sit in the coolest table in Disney World in the Airstream. Um, ABCO, I want you to go to Regal Eagle, um, and Losier. Um, but there's a Bajillion and Garden Grill. I mean, hello. Um, and what am I missing?

Hollywood Studios. Hollywood Studios. Lou wants you to go to Roundup Rodeo Barbecue. I want you to go to, oddly, I want, I want you to go to Backlog Express because I love the theming, but I also love the chicken tenders. Um, but I, I, I do like the, you can go to either sci-fi or fifties. Neither of them has really good food, but they're themed and they're, they're fun.

But Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge is probably where you're gonna end up, I hope, in the

Lou Mongello: evening. Yeah. So mine is Magic Kingdom. Was that, was that good? That's perfect. Uh, skipper Canteen with maybe a snack over at Sleepy Hollow. Epcot is Tae and Tae, uh, Hollywood Studios. I'm not gonna say Woody's Roundup cause I just went there last night.

I need to go six more times. I'm gonna say the Brown Derby Lounge outside. Mm-hmm. And for Animal Kingdom Ulli Canteen, um, or Nomad Lounge. Good. Gandhi. I love Nomad Lounge. Oh, how could I

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: forget? Yes. Let's just, just skip everything else that I said. Forget it. Just go to, no matter

Lou Mongello: I, we just did a live review there.

I think we were there for almost four hours. It was like so, so good. That love. Had you been there before? Yes. Yes. And when they changed the menu, I'm like, oh, I have an excuse to go back again.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Yeah. It doesn't even matter when they change it, cuz it's just gonna still

Lou Mongello: really good. And it was so, so, so good.

It was worth driving Animal Kingdom for in summer. Yeah.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Yeah. It's just like the, the Zeist place

Lou Mongello: you sit outside and like, oh, it's super chill.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: But I just sit, I sit inside cuz I can't handle the a the not having the ac. Like I, if it's October or November I'll sit outside, but like now I'm gonna sit inside and I'm gonna be just as

Lou Mongello: happy.

But those big like comfy chairs you sort of like sink into and Yeah. You have to like hoist me outta there with a crane because, alright. I know we did the, the theme parks give me the overall best resort restaurant, like the restaurant that's worth making a special trip to a resort you're not staying at for

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Um, I'm probably gonna go with Sonna and gco.

Um, here, because I, I do love Chico. I think Chico is an incredible restaurant, very underrated. Sana is always good food, and that view is impeccable. You just have to make sure you're not there at night when you can't see the animals. But those two, even, even over like California Grill or Topos, like, I'd still choose those, you know, I love '

Lou Mongello: em.

So I think, and my last name ends Na Vowel, and I'm going to apologize to my mother wherever you may be. The chicken sugo rigatoni at Topo Linos Terrace is like the best pasta I've ever put in my face. I just, wow. I love it so much. Um, like, and then you get, you get the, and everybody's like, no, Lou, you go to Topos for the filet.

I'm like, no, no, no. You get a filet as a side dish because yeah, that's how I do it. So, um, yeah, I really like Topo Heos. Um, a lot I used, I would've said, and maybe I need to sort of give it another shot and say, I would've said Blue Zoo years ago. Cuz nobody goes to the Swan and dolphin unless you have to go to the Swan and dolphin where you're there for a conference.

But Blue Zoo was one worth making the, the trek for. Um, yeah. You know, I'll even, let's just quickly throw in, is there, is there a resort food court that you think is the best of the best?

Are you gonna say gas perilla again? You're gonna say gas. Well, well

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: that's, that's not a food court, but, uh, yeah, I mean for sure. I have a weird, um, love for Sasa. Gula. It was tops on my list. Um, cuz I like their jamaya a lot. They used to have those pra praline. Mm-hmm. Those Mickey shaped pralines. They don't have 'em anymore.

They didn't come back after covid, but they were so good. Um, and of course beignets, you know, so those, that's a good bet. I, I like it over there. Um, how do you feel about, um, to Lado?

Lou Mongello: I have not had a full meal at Toledo yet. Okay. I was only there when I very first opened. I, I enjoyed what I had. Um, but I have not actually had just a sit down, like beginning to end meal.

So I can't

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: judge, I don't hear people talk about it a lot. You know?

Lou Mongello: I think it's off the radar. I wait. Oh my gosh. Where else I didn't mention to, how did I not talk about Three Bridges?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Yeah. I was just thinking the same thing. I'm like, why didn't I talk about that for a place to go get a drink? Cause that's

Lou Mongello: like great place, place a great place to get a drink.

Like great view. Like the food was really good when we went one night.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Food is great. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. And nobody's there. Nobody goes there. I mean, to me, Coronado Springs with the tower has become

a go-to. Like, I, I think the tower rooms are gorgeous. Mm-hmm. I think you've, you know, you've got two fitness centers now. You've got Dahlia, you've got Toledo, you've got Barcelona, you've got three bridges. Um, it's just such a winner now, and it's so cheap to stay there comparatively, you know? Yeah. It's

Lou Mongello: beautiful.

It's beautiful. And I, I really like three bridges. Um, like, I like it so much. Mm-hmm. I'm actually willing to walk down the bridge all the way that, I mean, it's a long walk for me, so I'm actually, it's a long walk. It's, for me, it's, that's like a hike. I need like special boots to make that walk. But it's, um, you know, some things are worth, worth waiting for.

Um, yeah. Yeah. We sort of mentioned it in passing and we're sort of touching on it here. Mm-hmm. What has the best, what lounge has the best menu overall experience in all in resort, out of, in park, wherever it could be? I.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Prob, I mean, probably nomad like. Now we're just gonna say nomad for everything. So just like fill it in the blank

Lou Mongello: for every question.

Alright. Best. Okay, so best. Um, what about outside of a park? What about Best lounge outside of a park? I have a new potential favorite Oh,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: oh oh. Cuz I, I mean, I, I do like Geyer Point. I do like three bridges. Um, you know, trader Sam's Tiki Terrace, you know, all the, all those. But what, tell me your new favorite.

Lou Mongello: So you, you don't get the views, but if you go and now it's only on weekends, Uh, I have this affinity for New Orleans and Jazz. I had, we did a, like a meetup at Scat Kats on the weekend. Yeah. Like the jazz band comes in there. They have a great menu. It's air conditioned. There's nobody in there unless, like, you wait until, you know, eight o'clock on a Saturday night.

It was a super, like, chill vibe. The food was great. They had like Po Boys and beignets, like, they had a really, like good and, and um, relatively extensive lounge menu. And you can get also Beignets next door and there's also Sasa Gula right there. Like it was, we had a really, really nice time at, at SCA

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Katz.

Okay. That's great. That's awesome. I, I mean, I think it's, I think it's a great option if you can get over there. Um, you know, people like River Roost too. Mm-hmm. Like that, that can be a fun night. Um, so yeah. But

Lou Mongello: they have these, like, I'm, they have these like potato puffs with, um, It was like pulled pork and I think it had beer cheese sauce on it.

It was really, really good. I mean, it's shareable, but I don't share, so Yeah.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Right. They have those pimento cheese fritters sometimes too. They're

Lou Mongello: like, oh yeah, the Mardi Gras fritters with the pepper

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: jelly, the Mardi Gras fritters that are, what I think how we describe them is they are what mozzarella sticks wished they could be when they grew up.

They're really good.

Lou Mongello: I like that. Did we, um, did we talk about the best brunch at Walt Disney World? I'm a brunch guy. I dig, I dig me a nice brunch, and there's a lot of places that have brunch that I think people don't even have on their radar. What is the all time best of the best brunches in Walt Disney World?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Do they have to be classified as brunch or can it just be like a late breakfast that you have? You

Lou Mongello: can, you can define brunch, however you see fit.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Okay. All right. Well,

The only one that's coming to mind, cuz I do, I do like to go to Ohana for brunch sometimes. Cuz then you're right there by Magic Kingdom. But, um, oh, you know what, we also haven't talked about, we haven't talked about Steakhouse 71. That's a, that's a good one

Lou Mongello: too. We should talk. It's been like on my lists, but I, but it gets like, pushed down a little bit, but it might make the list for, you know, that's,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: that's what it always, it always gets that.

Lou Mongello: But I love going, there's like, like I love going there. Um, I know I did a review. It's even if you like sit at the bar or in, I miss the old blue rooms. But like, I will promise you Steakhouse at 71 is gonna come up very, very soon.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Okay. Okay. Um, boathouse has a great brunch. Yeah. So I'd probably go with that.

Lou Mongello: Didn't Steakhouse 71 have a brunch last year for like a, a short window of time?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: They do serve

Lou Mongello: breakfast, but like an actual, like brunch me, they have like a brunch menu with like avocado toast and, but it was like a limited, it was like a limited time thing. Uh, homecoming

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: probably cuz I know the wave. Cuz the wave used to have brunch.

Yeah. And they had the, um, buffet open for it.

Lou Mongello: Homecoming is a really nice brunch. Homecoming's. A nice brunch that's like, and that's like a stretchy pants brunch. Like you're gonna walk out at least seven pounds heavier in the best possible way when you come out.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I mean, they're okay. They're all coming back.

Raglin Road has a good brunch

Lou Mongello: wine bar. George has a nice

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: brunch. Wine bar. George has a nice bar, so if you're gonna do brunch, go to Disney Springs. Right.

Just

Lou Mongello: do the brunch flight. Just sort of hit all of them. Own.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Own. That's what, that's what we need to do. We need to just do all the brunches one day.

Lou Mongello: What about straight breakfast? What about like straight best? Cuz some, you know, breakfast is one of those things like, hey kids get up at six o'clock, we gotta get out, we gotta hit the parks commando style. Or some people like, they like to do their leisurely breakfast or it's like that sort of writer passage thing.

Where is the overall single best breakfast in Walt Disney world? Hmm.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: This is really, really hard because there's so many qualifiers. Like, like you could say for a quick breakfast, the best place to go is probably lay all. Just get, get in there, get your mimosa, get started early. Right. Or you could also, I think.

Oh, I had an, I had a couple other ones that I really, really like. I mean, steakhouse 71 has a good breakfast, um, ale Encompass has a good breakfast. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, I'm, there was one that was prime in my head, but I can't remember what it was now. So let's see if you, if you know it.

Lou Mongello: So I know a lot of people, you ask them in, in a heartbeat, it's toppino because mm-hmm.

It's the characters, it's the views, it's the menu. Um, it's a, it's a prefix. I think it's 45 per person. So you're gonna, you're gonna pay for the experience, but it's a very, very nice breakfast. Um, Kona Cafe sometimes is nice for breakfast. I think we mentioned earlier, if you want little dual unique buffet, which I know you don't do, uh, BOMA should be something that's on the list too.

Boma should be

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: some on the list. Garden Grill, garden Girl. Garden Grill, breakfast just reopened. Last week.

Lou Mongello: So there you go. It's time for me to go back. Um, alright, let's talk about some individual items, right? Let's talk about some individual best of the best. And I know this could be a very long and deep rabbit hole, but That's okay.

So let's hit it. You mentioned it before, which made me think about this. What is the best, and, and I'm, there's ongoing research still happening, but what is the best burger in Walt Disney World? And this is tough cuz there's like different types of burgers, like the same ladies, different types of table over restaurants.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Yeah. But I, you know, I think there are fewer great burgers than people think in Disney World right now. Like I've got about five coming to mind and I, there aren't any others that I really, really like. So like coming to mind right now, the Gibson Sandwich, king Burger at the Boathouses been phenomenal. Um, when they do that burger right.

And the right guy's on the grill. That thing is killer. Um, I love the Steakhouse 71 Burger. Yeah, that's a great burger. Um, deluxe has some good burgers for a, for a counter service place. Um, but there, there aren't a whole lot more that I, maybe the Eisenberg at Geyer point, but there aren't a whole lot more that I just, you know, I,

Lou Mongello: I love, I think if you want like a simple good burger.

I think the Stack House, the Stack Burger at Steak Cast 71 is really good. I had it the other day. It's so good. I, I loved it. Like, are you doing like a simple, like, I just need a good burger. Um, I think the bison burger is on there. I agree. The first thing that came to mind and I, and I think that I can qualify this as a burger because I just feel like it, um, Can we, it's, it's not really a burger.

I'm cheating. I'm lying. I'm cheating.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Okay. It's okay. It's okay. We, you said we make the

Lou Mongello: rules right, but if you wanna sort of stretch the idea of like a meat sandwich that is a burger. Um, I think the filet sliders at boathouse are just in ridonculous saying, and the secret come closer. The secret for the sliders is that you get 'em with grilled onions.

It will literally change your life forever. Okay. Okay. And it's only like 16 bucks. So it's not even like, and it's two like nice size, like it's buttery on a, but they just melt and then you get the fries. Or you can upgrade to truffle fries if you want. I'm, I need to go to boat. We we're done with, I have to stop recording.

I need to go to boathouse right now. Sorry. Sorry. We're Call Tom you later. Call Tom. Call Tom. Call Tom. Um,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: did you, did you ever have the prime rib sliders at Cruise Cup, at Yacht Club before Covid? I did not because those, that how you're talking about those sliders is how I felt about the Cruise Cup sliders.

Well, because they used the onion rolls from yachtsman, um, that, you know, that would come out in your bread, the mm-hmm. The layered, like flaky, layered onion rolls, and they put prime rib on 'em with, um, onions and like a, an AI aioli. And it was, oh my goodness. They were just unbelievable. And I, and I talked about them constantly and then reopen after covid, they're gone.

You can get prime rib there now, but not the prime rib sliders. And it's just sad.

Lou Mongello: So AJ sometimes, like I'm a simple man, right? Sometimes you just want a good sandwich. What is the best sandwich in Walt Disney World? And again, this is, this is a pretty wide spectrum. It doesn't have to be two pieces of white bread and, you know, little bologna and mayo.

I mean, like, what is the best sandwich

she has thrown herself back into her chair. She's, this is one

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I'm, I'm gonna get in trouble cuz I'm gonna forget something is what's gonna happen right now. That's the fun. Yeah, I know. That's the best part. Um,

can

Lou Mongello: I s Yes. Whatever you wanna do, you can do it because

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I, so there's just so many in my head. Like, I love a good solid earl sandwich sandwich. I like a cheeseburger pod. That's kind of a sandwich. Mm-hmm. Um, so. I like the waffle sandwiches at Sleepy Hollow, like we talked about before. Like it's, this is, this is very difficult because I know I'm forgetting like 5 million

Lou Mongello: incredible sandwiches.

So the first thing that came to mind, and this way, if you wanted to think of anything else, the first thing that came to mind, and I'm going to say something that is potentially controversial. Okay. Because it is not only a sandwich, but it is a fried chicken sandwich. Ooh. And I'm going to, I'm going to continue to plant my flag that the best fried chicken sandwich Arch Smith.

I'm sorry, is the funky chicken at ever glazed?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I haven't had it yet. I

Lou Mongello: haven't had it. Oh my gosh. We're gonna go for funky chickens and fries. Okay. And then get an UBE donut and an iced coffee. It's crispy and it has this like crunchy, like ranch coleslaw with spicy mayo and it's got a little bit of sweet and a little bit of heat. And like the, it's got the, like these pickles on there and it's soft bun I Oh it, you don't think about going to a donut shop for a spicy, for a funky chicken, but no, that's the, that's like the, the extra surprise.

Oh,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I love it. I love that for you. That's fantastic.

Lou Mongello: She said for you, like, not for me, but for you that's,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: no, I'm a big crispy chicken sandwich fan and I'm so excited that every place is now doing a crispy chicken sandwich because that's just the trend at the moment. And I

Lou Mongello: So where do you go, where does AJ go for a, a crispy chicken sandwich?

In, in Walt Disney World?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: In Walt Disney World. I mean, I would probably do chicken guy cuz I, I just, I have a, a devotion to, um, to those chicken tenders, which is interesting because I hate Planet Hollywood and it's owned by the same company and I, planet Hollywood can. Stuck it. I hate them, but I do love

Lou Mongello: chicken.

And chicken has a great, a great value too. I think chicken rice a really good value too. It is. And

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: that's how they set it up. They set it up so that people would be able to afford it. And I love that cuz that's never kind of an imp impetus. Um, now it may be a marketing tactic, but it's working

Lou Mongello: for me and they haven't raised the price.

I was afraid, like when they first opened, I'm like, oh, five tenders for eight bucks. That's not gonna last long. And it's still five tenders for eight bucks. Yeah,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: exactly. Um, I don't like that. I have to pay extra for sauce, but I get it. It's fine.

Lou Mongello: Well, or you get two sauce yet two sauces and then you have to like buy the extra two sauces is never enough.

I know. Two sauces is never I I'm, I'm with you. I, I'm, it's worth it for me.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Like, have you ever been to Kane's? No. Cane's chicken tenders? Nope.

Lou Mongello: I know not of the word you speak.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: It's it's not, it's not a Disney world. Um, it's a, but it's a chain. And they're, they have some in Florida, but they, they have the sauce, Cannes sauce and it's like, 250 calories a cup and I probably eat seven, eat, it's probably D right?

I am going to die. Um, but it's so, like I am a soft fan. Okay. Other, other, I I think there's, I'm, I'm, I'm obviously missing a lot of sandwiches cuz like some someplace else that we haven't talked about yet that we probably should is like cooks of Dublin. Like they have, they have some good sandwiches there and they have like the best, um, cheese dipping sauce, like the, they have the vintage bacon and cheese dipping sauce, which is like a really, really strong sharp cheddar with bake.

Oh, it's so good. Uh, that has nothing to do with the question you asked me though, so let's

Lou Mongello: move on. Alright, this next one is very important. Um, for a lot of reasons, because this is a, it's a go-to food for people. And I think that unfortunately there are some places, and again, I'm biased, I, my last name ends in a vowel.

I come from the northeast, Hey, you

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: know what, my last name ends in a vowel too, and I am not Italian at

Lou Mongello: all. I only know is your name is A and j. So that's it. That's the only thing I know you asked, so, but it is sometimes very difficult to find good pizza. Yes. Right. And, and ugh. You could write, there's some ugh pizzas depending on where you go.

But what is the best pizza in Walter's world? Somebody says, aj, you are the keeper of all things Disney food blog. Where do I go for the best pizza?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: You go to am mare at the swan reserve. What? And you get the am mare flatbread.

Lou Mongello: I ate there and I didn't get the flatbread.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Really Amari flatbread is exactly like what I used to get in Switzerland, which sounds weird cuz we're talking about pizza.

But they had something called a Fleming Kosh, which was um, basically like big thick juice, juicy bacon like lardons or however you wanna say it. And onions and cream sauce and cheese. And so it's not the pizza you're thinking about, but it will change your life. And that's what that flatbread is like.

Right. And I was just like in heaven when I got it. Um, so I do love, I love that. And I will go, I will, I will

Lou Mongello: stand by it. Wow. I cuz I love, I think the swan and dolphin, I. Yeah, as a whole has some of the best food on property, which is often overlooked. Yeah. Because people just don't go there. Now I need to go back to Yeah.

Amaria at the reserve. Um, I know a lot of people, and I do too. I think if you want something like quick and custom, I think Blaze is, is a great option. Um, I think, I think Monopoly is still the best pizza. It's because they import the water and it's because they import the flour. Yeah. And it matters. And it makes a difference.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: It's so, it's so

Lou Mongello: expensive, but its so good. It's, it's expensive and you can't just like have Tom bring it to your house. They have time. You bring it to your house. A car trophy pizza. It's a white pizza with artichokes and fontina cheese. Thank you

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: for telling me how to say that. Oh God, yes. My whole life I've been saying carciofi,

Lou Mongello: so thank you.

And the people at, at, at Monopoly, were not happy about that. But that's okay. Cuz God knows the, the things I've mispronounced, but that, uh, the artichokes and the truffle oil, it's just, it is so, it is worth going to Epcot just for that. It is so healthy too. It's very healthy. It's got vegetables on it, so it's good for you.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Come on. It's like a charcuterie. Um, I, I, I do, I do very much enjoy Indianapolis. I think they have the, some of the best pizza on property for sure. Um, I, I'm, I'm not mad at, um, oh, can't think of the name of it now. Next to the Addison. What is it? The little pizza place. Oh, pizza Ponte. Pizza Pon. I'm not mad at it.

I'm not mad at that place.

Lou Mongello: It would be my second, it would be the second thing on my list. Cuz they've got big slices. Um, yeah, they have a nice spicy slice there too, if you want. And they're, they're big. Um, and they've got some other, um, they have some other stuff on the menu. That's pretty good too. Yeah.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Some days they have really respectable pepperoni cups. Ooh. You know, on their, on their pepperoni pizza. Like, I love a good pepperoni cup. Mm-hmm. Like, cuz I lived, you know, we you, you lived in New York for a long time, didn't you? Jersey said same thing. You live in New York? Yeah, same thing. Jersey. Oh no.

Yeah. And I lived in uh, Staten Island, which is East Jersey. So, but so we, but we know good pizza and that and, and the pep cups make a big difference cuz you gotta have the pep cups cuz you gotta have the, um, pepperoni grease in the

Lou Mongello: pep cups. Right. You need something to drip down your arm as you're folding.

Yeah. And eating your, as you're folding it. Mm-hmm. Um, what about the best, and I get this question a lot. I'm sure you do. You get it a thousand times more than I do. The best stake on property. And this is one that like people will, will, they'll go to war for. Yeah. Yeah.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: This is a toughie.

Wherever you can give me actual imported Japanese Wagyu is what I will, is what I will vote for. I think Maori Moto has the best on property. Wow. It's very expensive. Wow. Um, but I've, you know, I've had good Wagyu at Victorian Alberts. Um, so I, I do, I do big that if I'm just gonna go get a ribeye or a tomahawk or something like that, um,

I will, I will probably go to Shula's because I like that it has the shareable sides. Mm-hmm. Like, that's my kind of steakhouse where they, you're gonna bring your steak out, but it's just gonna be on its own plate all by itself, and you're gonna get a bunch of sides to share with the whole table. Um, but, you know, I mean, Again, steak is so subjective and it'll be different from meal to meal.

It really just depends. It depends on who's on the grill and who, who knows how to season that thing, how, how long it needs to be on there. Like it's, to me, I'm a huge steak fan, as you can tell. So it just really depends.

Lou Mongello: I I, I know I sound like a broken record. I said Boathouse cuz it's a Gibson Steakhouse and they have, yeah.

Really like, they have very, very good steaks there. But there was one that I had, and it's been years since I've had it, but it left like an indelible mark on me. And this is, I think a lot of people don't go to the Four Seasons, but if you go to Kapa, They have a strip that has a black garlic puree. It's not gonna be the least expensive steak that you or meal that you have, but wow.

It was, and maybe it was the wine pairing too, but I remember it being like a ridiculously delicious steak. Ugh.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Amazing. You can't beat a good steak. Yeah, you can't beat it.

Lou Mongello: So, but can you beat it with the best seafood on property? Where's the best seafood now? All right, now we're gonna start doing, we're gonna do like lightning round, right?

We're gonna start doing lightning, right? The best seafood on property.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I am not a, I'm not the biggest seafood fan, so I will probably say nais. But I will let, I will let you own this one because I'm, I'm not reliable.

Lou Mongello: I haven't been to Kui since it reopened, so it's a, I have to put a sort of an asterisk on that one. Uh, I, I am. Mm-hmm. I mean, I'm saying boathouse again because it's the freshest, the raw bar stuff is amazing.

Uh, if you're looking for sushi, I actually think that the hidden gem of sushi at Walt Disney World is kimonos. Oh, kimonos for sure. With like, I'm not a karaoke, I'm not a karaoke kinda guy. You go do your thing. I'm gonna sit there by the sushi bar. But yeah, the sushi at kimonos is exceptionally good. Um, yep, yep.

I agree. The best of the best on

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: property. I'm surprised since you're such a cat sewer a grill fan. I know,

Lou Mongello: but, but listen, I, you go to where the sushi bar is an actual, like real sushi bar. Um, yeah. Yeah. Somebody asked me this the other day and I'm like, I don't know the answer to this. Where would you go for the best spicy food?

Right? And, and over the last few years, I think, and I'll give you time to think, I think over the last few years, I, I think that Disney has sort of been more adventurous in turning up the spice a little bit, right? Because sometimes people would ask for spicy food and it's very sort of, you know, pedestrian, very sort of middle.

You can find a couple of spicy dishes here and there. If somebody wanted like, some little heat with their meal, where would they go?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: This is, this is tough. I would probably figure out how to go to someplace Mexican, maybe, um, Chinese sometimes, sometimes you can find some, some decently spicy stuff over at, um, nine Dragons. Um, which is not as bad as everybody says it is. Um, Over at maybe Spice Road table, you can find some interesting stuff.

Lou Mongello: Um, sna I think sna you can, that that was the first thing that came to my mind was sna

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: sonna, you're gonna have to go non-American. Mm-hmm. Like, you're gonna have to find some, some sort of, of type of, of ethnic cuisine. I think

Lou Mongello: you mentioned morimoto. They have a really good spicy miso ramen that has some heat, and you can sort of dial that heat up a little bit more if you want to.

Um, oh, that's, that's a good tip. Yeah. Really good. Um, all right. Best sweet treats, desserts, anywhere on property. It can be counter service, cart, table service, you name it.

It's a broad stroke of the brush. I know.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: And just a broad stroke. And I'm not being very lightning lightening lane about this, lightning round about this. It's their lightning lane. All

Lou Mongello: right, I'll, I'll babble, I'll babble so you can think. How's that? So when I say this,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: tell me yours first. Tell me yours first.

Lou Mongello: So I'm not a sweet guy, and I say that all the time. And then they're like, oh, look, there's a, there's Luke eating an entire hummingbird cake all by himself. So I'm not really a sweets guy, but, um, like, I like the hummingbird cake. I think the ube donut at Everglades is delicious. I don't know what sort of magic, uh, Steve puts in the cookies at Gideon's.

But Oye, that triple chocolate cookie, the dark chocolate crumb cake cookie that you can only get at night is amazing. Um, and boathouse used to have a blueberry cheesecake that they, the pastry chefs made fresh air, which was, it was like New York style cheesecake. It was insane. It's off the menu now.

Boathouse, please bring it back.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: That's what this whole podcast is about. That's why Lou's talking about you. Every si at every single question. He just wants that cheesecake back. Hold on. I have to cough.

I'm just getting over Covid. Um, I, the first thing that popped into my head was the cakes at Gideon's. Um, because I am a fan of more frosting than you can, could ever eat, and they have that. Um, and I like the cakes better than the cookies. Um, I will, I will get the cakes first. So to me, that's. Those are a game changer.

But I also, I, I use the trick where I just drive over to East End Market and, and get 'em,

Lou Mongello: it's easier there,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: it's just so much easier to just do that. Um, but, and I'll, and I'll like load up, like I, I think I've gotten on the airplane with like two big bags full, like ready to rip of cookies and cake and stuff like that.

Um, but yeah, I think that's, I think that's a winner. Um, but, you know, I'm, I am a sweet eater. I, I love, uh, you know, I love Sprinkles cupcakes, but I can get those here in Dallas, so I don't, I don't go there very much in Disney World. Um, hummingbird cake is exquisite. Mm-hmm. I absolutely adore that. And I don't mind the shine cake either, even though it doesn't have any frosting.

Like it's still really good. Yeah. And they just brought that back. Um, so yeah, I mean, I'm. Anything

Lou Mongello: sweet at Disney World, as long as we're showing love to Art Smith and his homecoming. Get the pecan pie, bring it back to your room and have it with coffee the next morning. Mm, you're welcome.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Okay.

Lou Mongello: Okay. Got it.

What is the best Hi, treasure in Walt Disney World, A food item, something that is overlooked, a place that's overlooked. What is a place or an item that, that is just overlooked, that's just off the radar, but people should go to at least once.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Probably a place that people don't get to enough is, is, is Sinat or, or the, the restaurants over there in, um, in the animal Kingdom Lodge, cuz the Mara is really good as well.

They have, speaking of sweet treats, they have an incredible, um, uh, peanut butter brownie that I absolutely adore. Oh, something else that's really good that nobody, nobody ever gets because it doesn't look. Good. It doesn't look interesting, is a, the turtle brownie at Sunshine Seasons in epcott. Hmm. It is phenomenal.

And, um, they have two ways that they make it, the, the one way isn't good and the other way is really good. And that's what's there right now. Basically it's like a, a layer of really moist brownie and then they have a giant layer, like almost half an inch thick of super, super rich caramel. Um, and then like chocolate frosting and nuts on top.

It's, it's just great.

Lou Mongello: Um, I'll go super quick because the first thing that came to mind, and I haven't been there in years, but last time I went, I really, really enjoyed. The jambalaya and the 40, 42 or 43 pieces of cornbread that I had at boat rights, um, at Riverside.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: And Oh, I love that you're talking about boat rights.

Bless his heart.

Lou Mongello: And, um, Pepe, which is the little quick service place at Jjo, has great, like sa the bread is so good, like really, really nice. And it's sort of like you can eat there or even sort of grab a little like, um, and I'm not gonna mispronounce any of the words, so I just won't say them, but like the ham and the cheese that, like the serrano ham on the bread, you can almost like walk around Dizzy Springs with it is really, really, really good.

Um,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: yeah, I. I like it a lot. I, I don't know that it's open reopened yet from Covid. Is that I

Lou Mongello: was, yes, I was there. You were there? A few. Okay. I'll use weeks cuz it could just be an, an open term. Yeah. I was there x number of weeks ago. Uh, okay. Okay. Yeah. And I really, and there's nobody ever there, like, I think just people just wander right by it

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: and they, no, nobody knows it's there.

Yeah. And I clearly think it's closed. Um, but Ile was another one that, that's a hidden gem. Like, it's, it's really phenomenal. It's way too expensive and I hate that they want you to pay for individual bottles of soda. Like, that makes me mad because you have to actually buy, you know, those little tiny glass bottles of Diet Coke that I have to pay like two 50 for each one.

That's garbage. No. So I will, I. Don't tell anybody this, Lou, but I have snuck in diet soda from the kiosk

Lou Mongello: outside out. I kinda wanna follow you around. I just wanna watch you eat at all these restaurants cuz it's fascinating. Like there's you in the corner of Gasparilla Grill, there's you sneaking soda into la

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: It's too expensive because I am a Diet Coke junkie.

I'm a Diet Pepsi junkie, but I can't drink Diet Pepsi there. And it's, and I, I, I have to have it. And so I had to go out to the little popcorn stand and buy like two bottles of diet soda, which cost me, you know, cost me $10. But if I'd stayed, if I kept buying my soda in Jeo would've cost me 50.

Lou Mongello: So do you know, one stupid trivia question, do you know that at one point they used to sell Coke and Pepsi in Walt Disney World at the same time?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I'm sure they did. Cuz Pepsi was a, Pepsi was a, a, um, sponsor of Disneyland originally. Right? Yeah. And in world, when, when did they, when did they do this In Disney

Lou Mongello: World? Uh, at the mile long bar. Because it was sponsor by Fido. Where's that? Where's that? Uh, so a Mile Long Bar is connected to, um, country Bear Jamboree.

So when you came outta Country Bear, there was a, there was a bar there that had mirrors on each end. So if you look down the bar, it looked like it was a mile long. Got it. And there was it, the heads of Melvin Max and Buff on that side too. And it was sponsored. Okay. By one point by Frito. I'm, I'm going down a Yeah.

But yeah. Nope, nope.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I love it. This is all good. This is all good. And, and I, I never got to see Frito Kid in Disneyland, which I wish we all place

Lou Mongello: with Doritos kid. The

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: birthplace. I know I invented that, right?

Lou Mongello: Isn't that amazing? Magical uh, best drink in Walt Disney World Cocktail. Non-Alcoholic Ladies' Choice.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Lapu. Lapu.

Lou Mongello: Okay.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Because it's a, it's a drink and a snack

Lou Mongello: and you can get it like everywhere. Like Right. You can get it at Ohana and Kona and bu, right? Or can you only get it at Tambo? I think you can get it everywhere there.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: You can get it everywhere. Cause that's the, that's the, yeah, that's the bar for all those.

I'll

Lou Mongello: throw a non-alcoholic one in there. I like a little Fuze brew in the middle of summer. Really? Yeah. I don't like it. Wait, no, I take that back. The frozen iced tea at Woody's Roundup Rodeo Barbecue, Andy's house thing that my son had and I drank half of it. And the cold brew black calf, um, it's a cold brew with the Coco puffs and sweet cream cheese and cocoa puffs.

I mean, anything with Cocoa puffs, Coco Puffs is, is sure. Um,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I literally just bought a box of Rice Kris of, of, of cocoa crispies at the grocery store this weekend because I can. Because I can,

Lou Mongello: I like the fact you're not saying it's for my son, but I had some too. Like it's just for you and it's fine. No, it's for

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: me and he can't have any and they're on a high shelf and they're mine.

Lou Mongello: AJ has it. They're on a high shelf in her office. She doesn't even have them like in the kitchen. She just keeps 'em in her office. Um, well I

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: probably should.

Lou Mongello: Best wine. Best wine collection. Best place to get a, a glass of wine.

I dunno if you're a big wine drinker. Um,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: okay. Um,

Lou Mongello: is it Wine Bar George? Is it Tude Gusto, the wine cellar? It's, you know,

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: it's probably Wine Bar George, because I do love that you can get wines by the Ounce so that you can try stuff that you're not sure that you like. I feel like, what I love about Wine Bar George is they're really unpretentious about wine.

Like they don't care if you don't know anything about it. And they're not weird and. Uppity about explaining it, and you can just try a wine, just an ounce and see if you like it. So I,

Lou Mongello: and I love that he's there all the time, like not for special events. He lives, he just, he lives there. He just sort

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: of hangs out there.

He bringing

Lou Mongello: tent. Um, I like to gusto. I think Kapa is another place. Um, it's, it was like one of the top hundred or 75, top 75 like wines in the United, like, um, wine restaurants in the us. Um, I'm not a huge wine drinker, but that's

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: what the internet says. And then you got all those African wines at gco. Yeah, like that is a pretty sub substantive wine list.

Remember when, um, the wave first opened and they were super proud of their screw top wine list. It was like all screw top wines.

Lou Mongello: Would you like to smell the bottle cap? It's one of my favorite lines from the Muppet movie. Um, um, I think we hit a couple of these already. Best romantic dining experience. Did you, did you feel it was, I think we did.

We hit that one.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I don't think we said what we believed about it, but you

Lou Mongello: said it's not v and a.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: It's not v and a. I don't know.

Lou Mongello: Probably like, like you like to eat alone. So it's a, it's an unfair question for you.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: You do. I have my own romance. Um, um, no, but I think to me, I think the best romantic place would probably be a, a lounge outdoors at night watching the sunset.

Mm-hmm. Like, I, I feel like restaurants are almost too formal. Um, You know, so I, I'd rather just get a, get a drink and go out to the beach.

Lou Mongello: Right? Cause I think the answer is for a lot of people, oh, it's, it's v and a, it's Marsha Paul, uh, it's Kui or California Grill. But I think romance is sort of what you make and I like that idea too.

So, so it's not just where you're eating, but it's also the views that are, are really important as well. Um, yeah, we talk about Best Bang for our buck a little bit, um, trails and I think for years, chicken Guy, like everything's under $10 a chicken guy, which is amazing. Um, and the b Laundry in, in France. Um, mm-hmm.

So, wait, so tell me, so where, what restaurant does have the best view in all of Walt Disney World?

And this is interesting cuz view does not necessarily mean an outdoor view.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: No, no, because I always talk about SNA and Coral Reef as having views that will keep your kids in interested and invested. And like, I took my three year old to SNA and like, I didn't have to like, play a game with him for like at least four minutes, which is like a huge deal, you know?

Um, so they, they might keep your kids a little bit interested. I think California Grill has a beautiful view, especially at Sunset. Everybody wants to go there for fireworks, but I love it at Sunset. I think it's gorgeous. Um, I, you know, I think the gas, you know, guys are point, uh, I think that's a nice view.

So, and then of course Topos and, and Toledo. Toledo, actually you can, you can see I think two fireworks shows from up there. So, yeah, and I haven't said it. Value Lounge has that good

Lou Mongello: view. Yeah. I haven't said it in seven minutes, so I should say boathouse too. Boathouse is beautiful. Like yeah, just, just say boathouse.

Just, just to say, um, but I like, you know, again, and the reason why I said it is, is Space two 20 has, you know, the views are, are interesting and Yes. And I love sort of the themeing of that restaurant. I'm gonna throw in a counter service location because if you go to Flametree Barbecue and go down all the way and sit down by the water, you get a beautiful view of like Everest.

And sometimes like the boat with the characters will go by, uh, it's really, really nice. And it's covered down there too. You can sort of get out out of the heat a little bit.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: That's a great, that's a, that's a great aj. Sneaking away to eat alone place as well. I do that a lot. Um,

Lou Mongello: it's funny, people go down and be like, wait, why is AJ sitting there and Lou sitting over there?

They're just eating alone together. Yeah. That's just the way we, we like to do things.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: That's the way we do it. It's what we like best. But

Lou Mongello: there is, Disney World is a great place to go alone. Like there's something to be said for like solo dining. Um, you know, there are great, especially with wait, oh, I just thought about this one.

The best place to go to Dine Solo. Right. Because so many restaurants have like the bar that you can go sit at, and so you don't feel weird about sitting at a big table by yourself. Yeah.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Yeah. I, I never feel weird about sitting at a big table by myself, but, um,

Lou Mongello: I need room for all my food. So that's

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: what exactly like when I, when I actually, when I check into a restaurant, I'm like, I will get enough food for three people.

So if you could put me at a four top, please, I would appreciate it. It'll make everybody's life easier. If you could. Just put me at a four top. Um, cuz I do, I order, like I, I order, you know, three, three entrees easily. It's research. Research. I get it. It's research. It is, it is. Um, best place for solo. Um, you know, beer Garden is fun for solo because you're probably, you know, if you are an extrovert, um, which I am not obviously, but you will be seated with other people, so you're automatically gonna make friends and there's gonna be a show to watch, you know, the, um, so there's, there's, there's a lot going on and it's a buffet so you can just kind of do your thing and then leave, you know, it's not a situation where you have to wait for a server to come, you know, so beer garden's a really good one for solo.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. Gosh, because I, I like so many of 'em that you can go and just, um, eat at the lounge or eat at the bar and still have access to the full menu. I don't, you know what they're like, they're all, I think they're all appropriate to dine so low. Like I know that's a cop out answer, but I really do. I think that they really are, um, you know, it really, I You did all of them solo.

Yeah. Uh, I mean, I, I, I do, I eat solo a lot too, especially like when I travel and stuff, and I think Walt Disney World is a, is a great place to do it. And, and the servers are, are great about it as well. All right, last couple of ones. Best Character, dining Experience, garden and Grill. I'll just, just to be different.

I'll say Topos. Um, okay. Especially because I, I love the costumes that are on. Uh, you get Mickey Min, mini Daisy and Donald, I thought you were gonna say storybook dining with Snow White at, um, artist Point. Because you, no, I'm

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: sorry. I take a hard line on, I take a hard line on this. Okay.

Lou Mongello: All right. Um, this is it.

This is the big one. Okay. The best of the best of the best overall dining experience in Walt Disney World. You define that, how you, like, you can qualify it. You can. What is the best overall dining experience at Walt Disney World?

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: The, um, the chef's table at Victorian Albert's, because I prefer the chef's table to any of the tables in the dining rooms, cuz the dining rooms are real stuffy. But the chef's table is in the kitchen and it's just you and whoever you're with and the chefs. And you can make that what you want to make it.

It can be the, you know, you can just keep to yourself and just do your own thing or, what I like to do is I love. To hang over the railing and talk to the chefs because a lot of 'em are very young. And they are so excited to be in that kitchen and they are jazzed and they get to try different stuff and they get to learn so much.

And so that to me is watching people just have an incredible time. They're, they're so grateful to be there and they're willing to talk to you and tell you, like, cuz I don't, you know, like we, we talked earlier, we're not big, you and I aren't big chefs ourselves. And so I'm like, what's that? Why are you doing that without octopus?

And, and what, you know, what's that machine do? And, and, and it's just fun to me because I love learning about food and learning how they make food and, and why, why is this so expensive? You know? And I'll ask all those questions and they, they answer me very honestly. And like, well this is better than this because of X.

You know, it's just so fun and it can be made really fun. Plus, you know, you're gonna get good food and you know, you're gonna, you're gonna be able to tell them kind of what you like and don't like. So the, the meal's gonna be somewhat customized. Um, So to me that I've been, I've been there three times and every single time it's just been so much fun because you make it fun.

Mm-hmm. You know? So that to me is the best experience.

Lou Mongello: So I have a, a definitive answer and this is gonna come as a shock. Is it the boathouse? It is not the boathouse now. Okay. Is it PEs or grill? The boathouse is the place that I will go 99% of the time. Uh, whether it's for brunch, lunch, dinner, for all those reasons.

Yeah. And I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna ask you a question cause I don't know the answer to this when I give you my answer, but the most exceptional dining experiences I've had at Walton, I've only been there twice. And I don't know if it's gone back to the full menu or if it is still in Omakaze mode, but I think Taku TE is a remarkable.

Experience, um mm-hmm. For a while after covid, and, and you might know the answer, it has been omakaze, which is basically means like, as the chef selects, and I believe it's $150 per person, um, when I think there's a $250 option, there's a plant-based option, but the chef will, will prepare and bring out seven or nine courses.

I don't remember exactly what it was, but between mm-hmm. The atmosphere, the service, the, the, the food you were gonna, you were gonna try things in and prepared ways that you probably have never had before. Yes, you have to be a little bit of an adventurous eater, but you can also tell them, Hey, I don't like this.

Please don't include, you know, whatnot. And then they're very, very accommodating. But you forget that you were dining. Forget about dining in Walt Disney World. You forget that you were dining inside of a theme park. Yeah, while you were in there. Um, some people don't like that there's no windows. I love that.

There's no windows because you are immersed in this environment that tells a story. Um, there is a level of authenticity to that place that I just think is exceptional. And if you time it right and you make a reservation later in the evening, you're gonna be there for a few hours. Um mm-hmm. And it, and there's stuff for kids.

I've taken my kids, uh, there to eat as well. And when you come out and there's nobody in World Showcase, right. And it's like silent except for the music and you sort of feel you wanna about a romantic experience or, you know, going by ourselves, walking out onto that promenade and it's sort of just you after that meal is a really nice way to punctuate a day of vacation, whatever it is.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: I think that's a great point. Yes, absolutely. I, I find it to be very romantic when I'm by myself on in the World showcase at night after it's closed.

Lou Mongello: And do you know if they've gone back to, I should have, I should have gotten the answer for this, but I know it's

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: not a la carte at all. Okay. This is a, this is something I just checked cuz I'm doing a YouTube video and we had to double check this.

So it's still, it's still omakaze. It's still prefixed, it's still, you can't kind of pick and choose. So yeah, I think it's still

Lou Mongello: the same. It's still, yeah, it still is incredible and, and a great introduction to Japanese food if you've never done before. And the last question I have for you is, if you could snap your fingers right now and visit Walt Disney World and only eat one thing obviously by yourself, what is it going?

It will absolutely, without a quote question be what

Monte Cristo Monte Crito from.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: No. No. Cause remember I told you before we started recording, when I made a myself, I say chicken nugget. Chicken nuggets. Um, ah, well now I'm in the mood for a steak cuz we talked about steak. So I would probably say I would go to Maori Moto Asia and I would have their Wagyu.

Lou Mongello: I can't say that. That sounds really good, right? Yeah. I can't say the coriander seared tuna at boathouse. Um, and because I'm super hungry right now and I've got this sort of savory that, that mac and cheese at Chico the other night was, was really, really, really good. Um, I loved it. There you go. I loved it.

Um, we covered so much yet so little, but there's so much we

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: didn't cover. There's so many things we didn't talk about.

Lou Mongello: How are they not talking about the best this, I know, I know that we missed things. We know we're sorry. Tell us what we missed. We could maybe revisit at another time. We'll have the conversation over in, um, the clubhouse.

But if you, our friend who's been sitting here starving, listening along with us, has any questions, you could also, uh, email me, come into the clubhouse and certainly go to, uh, disney food blog.com. This much I know, aj, if you are what you eat, then I only want to eat the good stuff. It's from Rati. I love that movie.

Um, tell, I know everybody already knows, but tell people where they can find you and why.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Well, I'm not t is that second one? No, when we're at disney food blog.com we're at Disney Food Blog on all the social channels. Um, we're at D f B guide on YouTube. Um, that's, that's where, that's where you can find us.

And I think you lose so much for the opportunity to chat with you here and that you finally responded to my text messages and

Lou Mongello: that well be careful what you wish wrote. Cause now you're not gonna be able to get rid of me, cuz now I'm gonna be like, oh, we have to do this one. We have to talk about, wait, you know what else we have to do too?

I know you like to dine alone, but what if we recorded a live review together somewhere Next time you come down to you don't ever wanna listen to

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: people eat. This is a problem. I don't wanna listen to you eat Lou. But here I think we should probably, have you ever done the water room at Tekume? Te Have you ever?

Cuz it's that private dining. I haven't dining room.

Lou Mongello: I haven't because Covid happened and they closed it down. They

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: closed it. I think we should probably do that. Oh my god. I would love

Lou Mongello: to. Let's do that. I'm all in the table's. The table's so cool in there. I know. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Okay, we should probably do that.

Yeah. Toay is sort of based on the elements and there's a private water room, which here's an amazing experience. So we will add that to the many places that we need to eat. And this was, oh my gosh, this was so much fun. It's it, I don't wanna wait 10 more years. I'm gonna come up with a no idea. I don't. Or we could be dead.

We, that's right. We could be dead in 10 years. You at home are in the car. You need to email me or go in the clubhouse and say, the next show you need to do with AJ is X. And we will make it happen.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Maybe, maybe in 10

Lou Mongello: years. I'm not, I'm not gonna let 10 years go. Uh, this is so much. We'll, we won't let it happen.

This was great. Thank you so much for taking, uh, time tonight. Um, I really appreciate it.

AJ fom DisneyFoodBlog: Thank you so much for the opportunity. I love talking to you.