The Unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook: Carly Caramanna on the Foods, Restaurants, and Memories Disney Fans Still Miss

Lou Mongello:
I love when things that I love converge. My love of Disney, my love of food, and my love of Disney history. And you put them all together and you get something that I can happily obsess over, which is the history and consumption of Disney food. I also love entrepreneurship and especially the idea of creating the thing that you wish existed. It’s Part of the reason why I wrote my very first Walt Disney World trivia book. those many years ago. And it’s one of the many reasons I am so excited to welcome my next guest because she and her co-author did exactly that. She is Carly Caramanna and Julie Tremaine, and they are the authors of the unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook, which brings together more than 60 nostalgic recipes with the stories of the restaurants and the dishes and The experiences that have disappeared from the Disney parks. And appropriately enough, this whole thing started, I love a good orange story, with a nineteen eighty-one Walt Disney World dining menu, a glass of wine, I’ve met Carly, and one very good idea. Carly, welcome to the show.

Carly Caramanna:
that was the best intro ever. Can I hire you to go around with me? Because that was incredible. I am such a longtime fan of you. So happy we get to see each other out and about and absolutely ecstatic to come on your show. So thank you so much.

Lou Mongello:
Ha ha ha.

Lou Mongello:
Well, thank you. And look, I follow you very closely. Like not in a weird way, but in a following you on Instagram stories kind of way. Yes, I will follow you wherever you go. Because we were saying earlier, like we get to do some very cool things, and oftentimes we get to do some very cool things together. And look, for for the next, you know, three or four hours, I really want to travel through your book. Congratulations, by the way. it is a huge accomplishment being able to do that. And I love this, Carly, because it’s part

Carly Caramanna:
Course.

Carly Caramanna:
Well we go to cool places.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Thank you.

Lou Mongello:
guidebook, part history book and part cookbook. Like this is more than I won’t even say just, but it’s more than sort of just your favorite memories. And and I alluded to it in in my intro that you say in the book that this started when you found this menu from nineteen eighty one and you just couldn’t stop going through it. Like tell us the story of when you saw this thing that made you stop and say, wait a second, what is this?

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
And the incubation of the idea.

Carly Caramanna:
Absolutely. Thank you so much. And I’m so proud because yes, cookbook is in the title, but it is so much more than a cookbook. And that’s kind of what I’m trying to express to people. It’s a coffee table book. You don’t really have to even make anything if you don’t want to, because it’s a lot of history, beautiful images. And I’ve just always been a Disney Parks food fan. I’m very lucky. I’m from New Jersey, as you know. So food was always such a major part of my family, and of course, our Disney vacation. So lucky I was raised by Disney adults. So I was, you know, an Adventurers Club as a kid. I was at the first 1996 Epcot Food and Wine Festival. And my love for Disney food just kind of goes all the way back decades. You know, I’m 40 now. So I’ve been eating and enjoying these dishes for so long. And I think Disney fans all have something in common, is that we crave nostalgia and we have a really, really hard time of letting go of things. And it’s because you’ve made memories there with your friends and family. So when things close, it becomes such a major issue almost and you know the internet kind of melts down and as I often do I was in my little late night rabbit hole where I couldn’t sleep and I found the 1981 Walt Disney World cast member dining guide employee handbook. So this was kind of like the manifesto of every Walt Disney World restaurant at that time and their full menus and I spent hours because this thing was hundreds of pages and I’m looking and I’m thinking Thinking, my God, I used to love going there in the 80s, or I wish I could have gone there, or I don’t remember it. And then I was at, of all places, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company with my friend Julie. And I had told her, I was like, I found this crazy document. It’s 300 pages.

Carly Caramanna:
I think this is something, you know, and I’ve been wanting to write a book for so long that involved Disney, that involved food, but I just didn’t come upon that idea until I found this. And that was kind of the whole catalyst for all of this.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah, but I think there’s there’s a a huge difference and nexus between saying, you know, somebody should make this. Somebody should ri I wish somebody would write this book and actually saying, I’m going to, or you’re in your case, we’re going to make this. And so where and how did that sort of cross the line for you? Because, you know, before you decide to to start writing it and looking for a publisher, you sort of have to have a very clear idea of what this book is.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
And sort of this vision of what it’s gonna be like when you take this thing off the shelf.

Carly Caramanna:
Absolutely. And I think I’m not the first person to write a Disney cookbook. I am certainly not the last, but I have I own like all of the Disney cookbooks out there. And what I was hoping for was to have something with the stories behind it. Because as we know, Disney uses food as another vessel of storytelling. And so I think the stories behind the dishes is, you know, just as important as the dish itself, as well as good visuals, which a lot of cookbooks they don’t have it. I mean, to be honest. It’s really expensive to take pictures, you know. It is it is very hefty if you are familiar with it. So That was what my vision was. I’m like, I if I’m doing this, it has to include the history. You know, I’m I’m a writer. I want to share all about these dishes, these restaurants, and why they mean so much. So it was, and also if you’re in this world of content creation, no one is forcing you to post that day or create something. You really have to maintain, as you know, this constant inner motivation, which not gonna lie, every day is not easy. You know, this is not a normal nine to five where there’s a blueprint of you’re doing you’re literally making crap up there’s no other way to say like we are making stuff up yes and and you want it you have to force yourself to do it which can be half a battle when your mind’s not in it and then you have to hope people will care and that is always the scary part and then once you get over that hurdle of I have to do it I’m not afraid you just have to do it and it took a few months and then I finally put pen to paper and I wrote an example.

Lou Mongello:
Shh, don’t tell anybody.

Carly Caramanna:
of a few of these recipes. One of the first ones was Adventurers Club because that is a place that has always meant so much to me. It’s a place I miss the most. And I was like, let me just make an example. Let’s see what this book could look like. And that was one of the very first chapters that I wrote was the Adventurers Club.

Lou Mongello:
There’s a lot to unpack from that in the best possible right. This idea that there is no sort of blueprint for the things that we do. And, you know, as I was going through the book, I was like, you know, if she took out every recipe from this book, there’s still a fascinating Disney history book in here. So when you start with this idea, did you always see sort of the the recipes as the subject, or was that

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
sort of a a a gateway or a doorway into being able to tell some of these larger, richer, deeper history stories.

Carly Caramanna:
Absolutely. My goal was always to share the history of Walt Disney World and Disneyland through the lens of food, which I feel like it does. And we organize the chapters, you know, we start all the way back at the beginning in Disneyland at 1955. And we kind of break it down into the different eras of Disney, including, you know, the Michael Eisner Disney decade. That’s its own chapter. And it kind of just naturally evolved into the separation of these restaurants and former former dishes. fit perfectly into what the company was trying to achieve at that time, which I thought was really fascinating and not necessarily something I set out to have it organized in this way, but I’m really, really happy that that kind of just naturally happened.

Lou Mongello:
You know, i and I wanna talk about the the way you laid this book out because I think I think it’s really interesting and not sort of a quote unquote traditional cookbook, which is definitely what this nut is, right.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm. Well it’d be desserts, appetizers, you know, which is how they all are organized. But I mean this is so much more than the food and I anticipate people that are gonna get it and not make a single thing and that’s okay. This thing is hundreds of pages because there’s so much text in there.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah. Well, you know, we talk all the time about how music and and our olfactory senses, right, can transport us back to a distant memory. we all have, you know, I think the the olfactory senses are the ones most closely tied with those core memories. But I think food is even more powerful because you have the smells, but you have the taste and the places and the people wrapped up together. So, like, why do you think food is such

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
An effective time machine, because that’s really what this is.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm. Absolutely. I mean, food brings us together. I eat I travel to theme parks a lot of times by myself and I’m eating a snack and that’s one thing, but to be able to Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I I don’t, you know

Lou Mongello:
We’re also Italian too, so we understand getting right.

Carly Caramanna:
live to eat. I or I don’t need to live, I live to eat. And that has always been, you know, kind of one of my core principles and it is with a lot of my friends and family. And just to be able to come together over a dish to share that moment. And a lot of these Disney moments, you know, you think about having that super cold dole whip with your best friend as it’s so hot outside on the Florida sun. Or, you know, you’re starved and you’re running to a ride and you have that Mickey pretzel with plastic cheese that’s so disgusting.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah.

Carly Caramanna:
That it’s good, these are memories that we create and it’s multi-sensory, which has an even bigger impact than you know, just going on a ride, which we all love. And again, I love the way that food has become a storytelling element for Disney. And it’s kind of always been that way, going back to the original days of Disneyland. And there’s just so something so powerful about that bite that you remember. And I kind of I share this in the book, but my first like light bulb Disney food experience was at the very first Epcot Food and Wine Festival in nineteen ninety six and there used to be a Russia booth and my parents, I was ten at the time and they dared me to try caviar for the first time because that was on the menu. It was Bellinis with little sour cream dollop and caviar. And little me was like, this sounds gross and I tried it. I liked it. So I was wrong. And it kind of just changed the trajectory of you know, my life going forward and then since then I was hooked on Disney foods and menus. I collect menus of former restaurants and Disney parks and just that has become such a cornerstone of my own personal Disney journey.

Lou Mongello:
Your parents were like, let her try caviar. She’ll hate it and never eat it again. And I’m like, Great, the kid loves c I did that with my daughter and oysters. We went to the boathouse. I’m like, Good, try an oyster, you’re gonna hate it. Next thing you know, as she got older, she’s like, I’ll take a dozen oysters, please. I’m like, Whoa, whoa, slow down, sister. What happened to the chicken nuggets? Like

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah. Ooh.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes. These are expensive hobbies. Disney fans, you know.

Lou Mongello:
Right. So you know you were talking about the early days of Disneyland, and I love how you laid the book out chronologically through not just you know park by park, but through the different eras from Waltz Disneyland to Florida Project through Growing Pains, which I love, the Disney Decade, all the way to the modern mouse. So becomes a history of the Disney parks told through food.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
And again, I sort of I was trying to like step back and and imagine you as you were putting this together, as you start to work through all of those different eras, and like do you start to notice how Disney’s approach to dining as a whole evolves? Like, and what do you think about how the food of each era says about what Disney was trying to do, who they were trying to serve, and what they were maybe trying to be from a culinary perspective? at that moment because Disney’s never been we’re just another amusement park. It’s just gonna be hamburgers and hot dogs and get people on rides.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
I think that is the craziest part of it all is you know, I always think about in the 60s, Disneyland goers going on Pirates of the Caribbean for the first time. And if my mind is blown still to this day in 2026 when they go on that ride, I cannot imagine what people were thinking back then. And I think that goes the same with the food. Disney kind of introduced themed dining as we call it today, you know, like a rainforest cafe or a T Rex, these immersive places. This was something Walt Disney was doing since the opening. You know, you have like Red Wagon Inn on the first day of Disney operations that was this beautiful Victorian restaurant. Food was a storytelling element. And it’s just boggles my mind that while Disney was able to achieve that, obviously in the earlier days he had to have corporate sponsorships because they were, you know, limited on funds and first time running food operations is for only the bravest and he needed help. But I think it’s unique that there’s certain moments you can see as you go through the book where you say, hey, this changed The tide. And one of them is when Walt Disney World opened in 1971. You could call Central Florida a culinary void at that time. It was not really known. And still, I mean, Orlando hasn’t been taken seriously for its food until I guess 2022, when Michelin finally was like, okay, we have to include Central Florida. And there’s no two ways about it. Disney World played a massive hand in landing Orlando to be taken seriously on the culinary. inner landscape and it is taken seriously now. Disney has Michelin Star. That is wild. And I think it’s something that still blows people’s mind. And you really have to look at how this all progressed to see how we even got here. Of course, if you want a hot dog or a hamburger, you can just get that. And there’s nothing wrong with it. I will sometimes have, you know, chicken fingers late one night. There’s nothing wrong with that. But what they are trying to achieve is decades in the making and I feel like it’s finally

Carly Caramanna:
Come to fruition as we see with the popularity of Epcot Food Festivals, with the Michelin Star of Victoria and Alberts. And that kind of really all catapulted when Walt Disney World opened, specifically Top of the World, that was at the top of the contemporary, now California Grill. That was really one of the first things that turned the page for Disney to be taken seriously. And it’s still not taken seriously, but it is by a large population.

Lou Mongello:
Listen, Top of the World Supper Club was where you wanted to be if you were in central. I mean, Mel Tormé was playing the Top of the World Supper Club way back when. And kids, you can ask your grandparents who Mel Tormé was, but yeah, I think you’re right. I think that was what started to, you know, introduce a very foreign concept, not just to the area, but to, you know, the f this sort of first theme park as well. Like we’re going to elevate the overall food.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm.

Carly Caramanna:
Right.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes. Go on YouTube.

Lou Mongello:
experience. So when so as your look like you’re cause because I sort of envision you pulling all these recipes and stories together and you’re piecing together a puzzle and you’re putting all these puzzle pieces into different decades during your research, as you’re starting to put all this together, is there something that happened? Was there like a light bulb that goes off for you to help you understand that period and maybe see it a little differently?

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Lou Mongello:
Because of the food and because of the things Disney was doing, like, I see here in the seventies they were trying to do this and in the eighties they shifted to this.

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah, I think I have a much better understanding of the progression of Disneyland and Disney World after doing it. And when I started, there were places that I was like, this absolutely has to be included. You know, Adventurers Club and Pleasure Island, all the way up to the Galactic Starcruiser and Blue Shrimp. Spoiler, they are in the book. And then going all the way.

Lou Mongello:
Lotta people are crying right now, whether it’s about Adventurers Club or the Galactic Starcruiser.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes. Yes. There was just some very obvious places that had to be included. Of course, there was no shortage of, you know, of locations and dishes I could have included. I mean, there are so many that I’m like, okay, this could be another book and a third book. But I think the clicking moment was after laying out all these locations to be included, was kind of how the chapters naturally came together. And that was really the aha moment that this is much more than just, here’s a bunch of places, we miss them, wish we could have went to them. No, this is sharing the history of domestic Disney parks in the context of food, which makes me so excited.

Lou Mongello:
Well, and I think there there’s something else that happens too. Look, I I am a collector of Disney history and Disney ephemera. when I saw when you told me first about this book, I I thought to I have a large bookshelf here and here and a whole nother room with a giant bookshelf. Like I collect I’ve always collected the Birnbaum books, and I have them since the very first ones because those are these wonderful snapshots in time. And I would go through them and

Carly Caramanna:
Hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Yep.

Lou Mongello:
We sometimes say, gosh, I wish I had a chance to experience this thing or this place. Because I think there’s something fascinating about, especially now, I think we’re seeing even more so, Disney fans being nostalgic for restaurants they never actually experienced, right? Like we’re longing, like what are we longing for when we miss a place we were never there to remember in the first place?

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah.

Carly Caramanna:
Right. It it is the ultimate kind of mind trip. And that’s why we’re seeing retro and nostalgic things be so popular now because I don’t know if it’s comfort or what, you know, in an ever-changing world with technology, you are yearning for something. Maybe you did go with your parents, maybe you never went and wish that you could have went. I mean, a lot of people tell me that they never got to go to Pleasure Island. And that’s kind of one of the more modern places. And so thankful I got to make a ton of memories there and I miss it. But that’s one of those places that people Like I wish I could have went. I wish, I wish, I wish. And we’re never gonna get to go there because it’s little capsules of time. So that is what I want people to kind of go down this trip of memory lane. A lot of the places are from my own memory and experiences. And then there are a lot of places I wasn’t at Disneyland in 1955. I wish I can go here.

Lou Mongello:
You know, it’s funny you talked about the Adventurers Club relatively a relatively recent closure. To my kids, the adventures like my kids are like, were the dinosaurs around when Adventurers Club was here? Right. Look, I still think that the 80s were like 15 years ago, and I’m going to just continue in my fantasy illusion. But like you so you mentioned Adventurers Club and you in the book specifically t talk about how you can still taste the Kungaloosh and if you walk

Carly Caramanna:
Right, it feels so far, but it was actually really recent.

Lou Mongello:
Like it was yesterday, right? So forget the recipe itself for a minute. Like what memory comes back when you sort of close your eyes and you imagine yourself tasting that kongalouche in the Adventurers Club? Like, where are you? And what does that sort of first sip memory unlock for you?

Carly Caramanna:
Absolutely. It unlocks sitting in the library room with a live show. It also kind of puts together all of my passions, which not only Disney and theme parks, but immersive theater, musical theater. And that to me is what I think of. And it’s probably why I love Broadway and stuff so much now, as an adult, always did, is because of the Adventurers Club and just having that drink, being there in the room with these incredible performers, understanding improv. That was probably my First experience of improv theater as a kid. And maybe at the time, I didn’t realize these people were improving around me. There’s puppets that someone’s behind there, watching the guests, checking every single thing in this immersive theater. And I think it’s really shaped my passions that I continue to have for this day. So when I think of Adventurers Club, I think of that drink, but I think of so much more and just kind of an introduction to theater for so many of us.

Lou Mongello:
You know, I I wonder if we sometimes think that we miss the food, but what we really miss is that version of ourselves or the people we were with when we were there eating it.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Absolutely. And I think that’s the power of food is sometimes it’s really not even about the taste, even though we want things to taste delicious, we want them to be great, but it’s about everything else that is happening at that moment. And that’s why these memories have crystallized so firmly in my mind. You know, Writer’s Stop is in there. I first remember when the carrot cake cookie came out in 2012, I believe, and running there. And that was kind of Disney’s first big like social media viral. foodie star and now of course every single day it’s something new but just like a carrot cake cookie which you can get today you can eat it not knowing its story but when I take a bite out of it out of trolley treats at Hollywood Studios I’m thinking back to Ellen’s buy a book I’m thinking back to the villains costume shop that was in there it’s each bite is so much more and I know that other people feel the same exact way as me. You know, a cookie can be just a cookie and it could be good, but it could be so much more.

Lou Mongello:
Well, that’s what it is. Like so as you say that, I’m smiling, thinking back to the Writer’s Stop, because it wasn’t just about going in there to get that cookie. It was this small, intimate, comfortable, living room type space. There were books on the shelf that you could just take off. You could buy them, but you could just sit there and sort of browse through them. And they had stand-up tables and they had comfortable couches. And I think that’s what’s gonna happen as people read this. You’re gonna be sort of flooded back with all of these different memories. And I love the fact that it spans

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
so many generations, right? It it’s not just sort of locked into Gen Xers or Gen Y or millennials or whatever it might be. i we were you were talking about things like the top of the world and I was thinking back to the the Casa de Fritos story, right? And how some of these things you you you mentioned how Walt Disney World specifically really helped give birth to the food scene here in Orlando. Casa de Fritos

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah.

Carly Caramanna:
Hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
yes.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
Helped give birth to Doritos. This is a body built on Doritos. And they both established these new levels of dining experiences. And I think when you look at the book, because again, I I am not a chef by any stretch of the imagination. When I was looking at the book from a historical perspective, you realized just how Disney’s cultural influence was so much more. I have to imagine, as you start researching and writing.

Carly Caramanna:
Same.

Lou Mongello:
You start to realize, wait, this is a this is something bigger than what I expected it to be.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm. Absolutely. I think I think of theme parks as living, breathing works of art. I know many other people do, but like you said, the actual impact on our country, on the world, pop culture moments, cultural significance, Doritos were made there. That is crazy to me. And I think a lot of Disney fans know this information, but a lot don’t. And I was reading some like early reviews that came out on Goodreads, and I think the most compliment that I could get is people were like, I’m Huge Disney fan and I learned something new. And I think that’s why I’m a Disney, you know, super fan, is because no matter how much I learn, there is still more to learn about Disney parks, hotels. There are so many factoids, and every single thing has a purpose, be it a book that’s on a shelf in an attraction queue, that came from someone’s mind that wanted to put an Easter egg in there. And even us that are so involved in this world, it’s you know, our lives essentially. I’m learning something new every single day. And that to me is what makes this so exciting. I get excited to learn about it. And there will be things to learn tomorrow and the next day because the parks are constantly changing and there’s truly just so much history.

Lou Mongello:
And I love the fact that I think this book is going to be different things for different people, right? Some people are going to read it and they’re going to have those like warming of the heart moments when you think back to, I remember being there with my parents and having a hand witch. You’re going to have those people who are going to appreciate it from a culinary perspective. You’re going to have people who appreciate it from a an historical perspective. So you were talking about like early Disneyland and the the Casa de Fritos days. And we and and

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
Things that people know or don’t know. Early Disneyland relied enormously on corporate sponsors in the especially in the food area. Swift, Sunkissed, Fritos, Chicken of the Sea, Hills Brothers Coffee, so many. And I think today sometimes we think about quote unquote corporate comp sponsorship and we think about commercialization and things like that. When you’re going back and doing this recharge research and seeing all of these companies that really helped.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Yep.

Lou Mongello:
Walt and Disneyland lay the foundation. Does it change the way you think about early Disneyland and just how much these food-related sponsorships really helped make Disneyland and everything came after it possible?

Carly Caramanna:
Absolutely. And I think Walt Disney by making that choice to say we’re not gonna do this fully in-house, we need help just by him making that decision as an entrepreneur, as a businessman, did change the traject trajectory because they were, as we know from all the documentaries, they were inundated with the opening of Disneyland. It is known as a mess. You know, we’ve seen the newspaper clips. If food wasn’t outsourced, it would have been even worse. So I thank you, Walt Disney, for making that executive decision. And also

Lou Mongello:
Right.

Carly Caramanna:
It gave us some pretty incredible themed dining. The Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship Restaurant is one of those places, if only time travel. existed. That is probably where I am going. It just was beautiful in general. That ship was so towering and stunning. But I would try the tuna burger. I mean, you have to. And it was again, you know, this was before this was a double decker tuna sandwich. And it was the Big Mac before the Big Mac existed at McDonald’s. You know, so it’s another little culinary gem that played into, you know, grand or significance.

Lou Mongello:
Right.

Lou Mongello:
Right. Yeah.

Lou Mongello:
Well, and you make a great point because from the very beginning, all of these places, not just the the the sit-down restaurants, but the the Red Wagon Inn to Tahitian Terrace to Top of the World, Adventurers Club, the Galactic Starcruiser, they were all designed to be experiences. Even things like the carts. And I think there’s an argument and a conversation to be had about, you know, Disney dining really is at its absolute best. And I think the reason why it is sort of leveled up is because

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
The restaurant, the cart, whatever it is, becomes an attraction itself. It used to like we sort of joke around, say, you know, food is just things that you do. I used to wait, the opposite. Attractions are just things you do in between food because food really are experiences unto themselves.

Carly Caramanna:
Right. I mean, you think about the people that make their annual pilgrimage every year to Epcot food and wine, which we recently celebrated the opening of. These have become the reason people travel. The reason people come to Dalt Disney World is maybe it’s their first ever Michelin star experience at Victoria & Albert’s. They are now building trips around these, which maybe people didn’t do back in the day, but they certainly are now. And it’s absolutely amazing. And and Disney knows, and they are constantly announcing new things, revamping. Concepts, doing pop-ups, and a cart is no longer just a cart. And I think the perfect example of that is the spring roll cart, which has been in the history of Adventureland for decades. It’s one of my favorite stories in the book, is because a lot of people don’t remember the hot dog and cheese egg roll from back in the day. I remember in the early 90s biting into it, and it was so molten lava hot of the cheese, and it like burnt my mouth. And we have that, and because of that, we now have the spring.

Lou Mongello:
Right.

Carly Caramanna:
Roll cart, which is no longer just kind of like this floating adventureland cart. It has a permanent spot, and that is an attraction in and of itself. If you’ve ever walked past it, it almost always has a super long line. You might even wait longer for it than some attractions. So that is kind of the power that the people have given and that Walt Disney has reacted. And that is why we have these dining isn’t an attraction.

Lou Mongello:
You know, as we’re talking and as I’m listening to you have this conversation, I I love the fact that when you answer a question, you you give a little bit of context and story behind it. And it’s one of the things that I love about the book is that before you even get into a recipe, you give the history and I think more importantly, the story of the place, the story of the menu editor. And you tell us like who’s behind it. what it looked like, what it felt like, why it mattered and how this place or how this menu item fits into a larger bit of the Disney story and Disney history. Like was that always when you were setting out to write the book, was that always what you wanted it to be? That somebody could sort of sit down and read this book cover to cover, even if they never made a single recipe asking for a friend, not myself, of course.

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah. Absolutely. I don’t think I would have done it if because that was always the vision and the intention from the beginning. I love the history. I love the backstories. Everything tastes better with a little bit of history behind it and the people. And I think that’s what makes it so special. And I don’t think I would have gone on this journey if that wasn’t such an essential piece of it. And there’s so many good examples of that. And I think one of my favorites is the ABC Soap Opera Bistro, which was in the early days of Disney California Adventure Park, which we all know the

Lou Mongello:
Yeah.

Carly Caramanna:
Opening was a mess. And that restaurant, super cool, immersive theater, really Disneyland’s first kind of crack it-fine dining, but it speaks largely to kind of the identity crisis of the park at that time, how popular ABC soap operas were, and the partnership with Disney. And it’s so much more than just this really cool immersive dining experience. It really speaks to what was happening at the time at the Disneyland resort. And that’s what kind of pulled out from everything. You know, I knew that history and the story behind each dish was important, but it really became like it took it on its life of its own to very clearly pinpoint what this meant and why this was significant for that time.

Lou Mongello:
I was smiling because as you said that, right? It as we’re talking, I think as you read the book, all these memories are gonna pop up. It made me think of Super S A the ABC Super Soap weekends back in Walt Disney World. Did Susan Lucci ever win an Emmy? I remember that was like the big thing. Poor Susan Lucci Okay, good. Yeah.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes. I I used to love those and they had the little car parades and they would also sign at the writer’s stop some of the soap opera stars. So it kinda all ties together. Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
And there was always themed food, whether it was Super Soap weekend, ESPN the weekend, Star Wars weekends, like that was sort of our first introduction to this Star Wars themed food, which is sort of, you know, grown into what it is. And I think I think that’s the fun thing is that the stories I I think for some people, the stories are even more interesting than the recipes themselves. Like what

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah, and I think that’s definitely gonna be a a common thread throughout. There will be hardcore cookbook collectors because it’s such a such a thing. You know, there are people are really feverant about retro cookbooks and whatnot. And I’m so excited, but I’m also excited for, you know, the Disney file that loves the history.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah. Is there a single story? Is there a single dish in the book that in your opinion or or for you personally sort of tells the quote unquote best story? Like not necessarily the tastiest recipe or the best restaurant, but that one plate of food that maybe reveals the most about that time in Disney history or has the most interesting or intriguing story behind it.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah, I think just for me personally, the ABC Soup Opera Bistro was one I was really excited to include. And that was because I never got to go there. It was very short-lived when DCA first opened. It’s been one of those things that I’ve dreamed and dreamed I can go to and there’s really not a lot. I mean, this is before, you know, YouTube and whatnot. There’s really not a lot out there on it. So for me personally, it was just a really fun challenge to uncover all of this. And I actually got in touch with a lot of former employees and managers and some of them now are like really successful in the entertainment industry and got their start there and I detail that in that chapter and for me that was just personally one of those moments when you’re like wow okay a lot of celebrities got their start working at the Disneyland resort and it probably was a heck of a lot better than working at you know Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood. They got to go to Disneyland and yell at like Bruce Willis who was a a regular at Soap Opera Bistro. That’s crazy. And it was just just that story is one of like

Lou Mongello:
Right.

Carly Caramanna:
my favorite to dive into again because it was so hard to find information. I had to find a former manager to get the recipe for there’s a the dish is called plot twist pasta. And there were no descriptions out there. And I was able to find a manager and they shared with me the recipe, the flavor profile. And that was just something I’m really excited about because some things were really easy to cover, you know, especially stuff with a lot of my first person own experience. But then some of these spots, you know, was like Trying to search for something.

Lou Mongello:
That was my next question, because you’re really you’re writing two books at the same time. You are now you’re writing a history book, which obviously has to be accurate, and you’re also writing a cookbook that is based on quote unquote authentic recipes. And your job is now to sort of figure out and recreate the ingredients, right? But also recreate what somebody remembers tasting, right? You gotta

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
How do you go and find those old menus? Or when you do find that list of ingredients, I have to imagine, as a cook, as a chef, as a baker, there’s a secret sauce because you have to sort of be able to replicate the feeling that dish gives you. And I’m sure there’s probably not a lot of photos of the chicken of the sea tuna burger from 1955 because nobody’s like, wait a minute, kids, you can’t eat yet. Mommy’s gotta take, you know, her picture of the the tuna burger.

Carly Caramanna:
Right. And it’s also modernizing it for today’s palette. I think a great example is Tahitian Terrace. No alcohol was served at Disneyland during that time, but you know, it was a classic, you know, Hawaiian Polynesian show. You have to have that fruit cocktail. And for them, it was the Tahitian Terrace punch, non-alcoholic, but that relied heavily on mostly Tang. And Tang for today’s mouth is just so cloyingly sweet. So I developed all

Lou Mongello:
Yes, right.

Carly Caramanna:
cocktails in the book, you know, and mocktails. And that was one where I was like, I I want to have the taste of it, but I cannot use tang. Tang, you know, it’s not widely ava available at your grocery store anymore. You can get it online. It’s also so sweet that your teeth feel like they’re rotting out of your mouth. So that was one where like we’re going to keep the flavor and essence and spirit of it, but we’re going to modernize it today with ingredients that you could readily get at your store, but also has the similar flavor profile, which is

Lou Mongello:
Fight.

Carly Caramanna:
Definitely a challenge.

Lou Mongello:
Right, because that’s what I was wondering. I was like, there has to be a point where that sort of historical accuracy and making something delicious for a modern palate and a modern home cook have to come into some sort of conflict. And you have to decide maybe that truly authentic version might be something that history is better off leaving behind the way it was, but I can tweak it for a modern palette, a modern audience.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes.

Carly Caramanna:
Absolutely. another good one is like the Redwagon Inn. They were famous for their lamb chops because they worked with Swift Meats, which was a purveyor of meats. And we do have a classic dish, which is a a classic lamb chop with mint jelly. And definitely super retro, but still, you know, familiar enough to the modern palate that they’re not gonna be like, Whoa, this is absolutely crazy. Like you will still find people that make and eat that today. It’s it’s it’s a recipe that has stood the test of time. And I feel like they could probably still serve it somewhere. at Disneyland today. As a nice little throwback.

Lou Mongello:
Right. Did you as you were doing your research and and coming across all these different menus? And again, it was a very different time, right? Fifties, sixties, seventies, the the palettes and some of the menus, and I think back to some of the things that, you know, were common around the holidays. Was there anything that you uncovered that sounded absolutely terrible on an old menu? But then you made it and you’re like, wait a minute, these guys were on to something and this one deserves to be in the book. And just trust me, it it’s gonna be better than it sounds.

Carly Caramanna:
Ooh, that is such a hard one because I’m actually I think that one would be for me the tuna burger from Chicken of the Sea. I’m not a huge tuna fan or mayonnaise fan, but is one of those things that I feel like we couldn’t not. In include it because it’s such an iconic dish from the early Disneyland days. And if it was in the parks today, I I don’t know if I’d be like running to get it all the time, but I think just because of the historical significance and a lot of people do love a nice, you know, tuna fish and mayo. It’s very popular. That one, although you know, might be a little bit adventurous for some people, it has stood the test of time and it’s still a beloved dish. So that was like we have to include that. And you know, people love tuna fish.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah.

Lou Mongello:
Not necessarily like in the middle of the summer when it’s a hundred and seventeen degrees outside, but

Carly Caramanna:
Yes, yes. But you know, we’re we’re accustomed to standing over Epcot trash cans eating ramen, so there are harder things. Yes.

Lou Mongello:
That’s right. Don’t don’t judge us. I I was thinking too. So the the title of the book is the unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook. And I love the fact that you did not necessarily define retro, quote unquote, as old. Galactic Starcruiser, I’m looking at you, which closed relatively recently, but it already belongs in a book about these.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
gone but not forgotten Disney experiences. Like at sort of I so I was like, at what point for her does something become history as it like as soon as it’s gone, it becomes history. And how important was it for you to include something as relatively recent like the Starcruiser? Blue shrimp, I’m looking at you.

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah, I I think what’s interesting is things of the past outside of Disney parks. We could say, this is vintage. It’s over 20 years old or whatnot. At Disney, when something is taken away from us, like Muppets Courtyard, we go into nostalgia and retro mode as Disney fans instantly. The second that closes, I don’t know what it is, it becomes very finite, very finalized that this place is gone. So I think retro we use loosely, but retro can mean a lot of things to someone else. I still miss Pizza Rizzo. That is retro to me, even though that only just closed. But you know, you you can’t even go online every day without seeing someone post about it. You know, we love that place. And the way that

Lou Mongello:
Wait, do you miss the pizza or do you miss the experience? Because I think they’re two very different things. Right.

Carly Caramanna:
The experience, yes, the the banquet hall upstairs and you know it’s op

Lou Mongello:
Because that was like every Italian wedding we went to in New Jersey. It looked exactly like this, right? I didn’t love the pizza, but man, I just love that space.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes. my gosh. Exactly. It was like code for code, right out of the book of a New Jersey Italian wedding. Yes. And it’s it’s something very fascinating that in other fandoms, I’m not sure if they’re the same way, but we just turn that mode on the second it closes and we want it back. We create merch celebrating its closure. We think about it and we talk about it. And that is just something that I think is so unique in Disney. So yeah, retro could be something, you know, top of the world that closed a few decades ago, or it could be something like the Galactic Starcruiser that, you know, it’s still so fresh on the minds of all of us that, you know. some that got to experience it, but these it’s just a different switch in our minds. And I’m not sure how to explain it, but we are Disney fans and we miss stuff the second it closes. Yes. Yes. Right.

Lou Mongello:
Right. I I call it the ex-girlfriend effect. Like you don’t miss something until it says it’s going away. Like nobody rode Maelstrom and then it’s like, my God, Maelstrom, I love you. Don’t go. We we did we felt the same way about, you know, insert favorite attraction here. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Horizon, Tom S Too soon. Too soon. You can email Carly. You can call Carly at home.

Carly Caramanna:
Absolutely.

Carly Caramanna:
Tom Sawyer Island is a great recent example, yeah. And we have we have Aunt Polly’s in the book. Yeah. Yes. And we everyone came out of the woodwork and was like, my gosh, we loved it. And then you’d be like, when was the last time you went there? Yeah. Yes.

Lou Mongello:
I haven’t been there in thirty five years, but I love T you can’t take Tom Sorry Island away.

Carly Caramanna:
No, absolutely. I mean, again, that’s another spot for me. Like I remember in the nineties when they had the cold picnic fried chicken. I remember sitting by the water with my parents at Aunt Polly’s, you know, and eating this fried chicken and being like, Why is this so good? It’s cold. It was prepared off site, brought over on a raft. You know, it’s kind of crazy when you think back on it. And that was another spot that I was like, we have to include Aunt Polly’s because it was such a weird spot that would barely be open, be open like 30 minutes a day, if even.

Lou Mongello:
Listen, you’re making fri

Carly Caramanna:
but it still was so important, especially, you know, Tom Slayer Island was a direct blueprint of Walt Disney himself. So that was a a t a tough loss for us, but we will remember it fondly.

Lou Mongello:
I remember because I go to I’ll go to Publix and I’ll get fried chicken and I’ll put it in the refrigerator and around twelve thirty, one o’clock in the morning I’ll just open it up and I’ll stand in front. And I’m like, this is exactly minus the heat and humidity, this is exactly like being at Anne Polly’s.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes.

Carly Caramanna:
That’s it.

Carly Caramanna:
Yep. Cold picnic chicken. You know, you’re not reinventing the wheel. It was great fried chicken. That seasoning and coating stayed on so perfectly. And again, it was cold, which was nice.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah, listen, it’s that’s a whole nother conversation. I get a lot of grief about things I eat cold.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes, no, it it is delicious. I love cold pizza, I love cold fried chicken, it all is delicious.

Lou Mongello:
Cold meatballs, like the day after, right? The sauce has to like set in the meatball and then you just stand there with a fork or your fingers. It’s fine. Don’t judge me and my eating happens.

Carly Caramanna:
So good. No, no, I I I love that my when I go home to New Jersey to visit my mother, she is getting a text days ahead, you better make your famous meatballs. Non-negotiable.

Lou Mongello:
Nice. God, I miss. One of the few things I miss from Jersey is like a good chicken cutlet sandwich. If you can bring me back a chicken cutlet next time you go home. okay, so wait, going back to this idea of of the retro cookbook, if you or someone else follows in your footsteps and writes the unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook 2076 edition, 50 years from now.

Carly Caramanna:
Ugh. Ugh, I I would gladly. So good.

Lou Mongello:
What restaurant or what menu item that exists today in a Disney park are they absolutely gonna have to include in that?

Carly Caramanna:
That is so good. I haven’t really considered thinking about that, but I personally would include one of my favorite current dishes at Walt Disney World, and it’s the lobster biscuits soup from Narcoossee’s, which I think is the greatest underrated of the fine diming table service experiences at Walt Disney World. It is my favorite soup at Walt Disney World. And I just think it’s it’s perfect for that restaurant. You know, you’re right on the water looking at Cinderella Castle in the distance. You have an amazing menu of seafood which speaks. to you know Florida in general and that is what I would include. I would also probably include a Ronto wrap because who knows if in 2076 we’re still gonna have Ronto roasters. It’s a very crazy thing to think about because some of these places do stand the test of time and others do not.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah, and I think I think the the lobster soup, and I think to a certain degree narcusias, is one of those relative hidden gems, right? It’s not a place where it goes to. I think the Ronto Roaster a lot of people know of, but what what sort of current Disney food or menu item do you think people are completely taking for granted right now, but are gonna lose their minds over when Disney eventually takes it away?

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
Like what’s the Tom Sorry Island or maelstrom of Disney food right now in twenty twenty six?

Carly Caramanna:
Wow. It’s probably gonna be something from Nomad Lounge, where so you know, probably the churros, which again, it’s so interesting. When you’re in this bubble like we are, and a lot of Disney fans are, you think everything is, you know, common knowledge. And but a lot of it is actually inside baseball. You know, a lot of people still, their their list of places they’re going, they might come once a year, you know, they’re still getting Tonga Toast, they’re getting Dole Whip. And so I always forget that a lot of these places, like a Narcusi’s, you know, fine dining. Everyone’s like, California.

Lou Mongello:
Nice.

Lou Mongello:
Nice.

Carly Caramanna:
California grill, you know, these places that to me seem so popular and wow, this is one of the best restaurants. A lot of people still don’t know about all of these dishes outside of you know the usual suspects, like a cheeseburger spring roll, for example. So I think going in the future, it’s gonna be something like a nomad lounge churro or the mushroom bisque from Territory Lounge at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, which is another great, like if you’re in the know, you know about it. But you know, again. And we are speaking inside baseball. So it’s always good to kind of take a step back and realize that, you know, there’s the greatest hits of Disney Eats. And those are awesome. But it’s fun to keep going a little bit deeper to locations that, you know, you might not always frequent and whatnot.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah.

Lou Mongello:
I love the inside baseball. I love the deep cuts. This is part of the reason why we’re friends. I mean, the cookbook is really sealing it up. But we know we’ve been talking really about the historical context of of the book and the menus and the stories and things like that. But it is also like from the Twilight Zone, it’s a cookbook. I think it can be, for those of us who don’t cook, something that we enjoy and we look at and we don’t, but it also is a very accessible.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
cookbook as well too, right? You don’t need to be a culinary genius in order to be able to get these ingredients and make these items. And what I imagine for people who can cook and do cook, I wish I could cook. Like it’d probably be so fun to almost have like a family or friends like potluck retro Disney dinner and make some of these rest recipes because they really are relatively simple for the most part, a lot of them and things you can make very easily at home.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah.

Lou Mongello:
Even if you don’t consider yourself, you know, an expert in the kitchen.

Carly Caramanna:
Absolutely. I think these recipes are all of them but one are for the home cook. It the one that’s complicated, which i I understand we had to include it, is the steakhouse 7120 layer. Cake that was from Grandvilles and Steakhouse 71, which we still miss, love the Broken Spell Lounge at the Disneyland Hotel, but wish they brought that back. That one is gonna be complicated for an experienced confectionery, but everything else can be done at home. And what I’ve loved hearing from people is that, like you said, cooking through the decades, there’s some cookbook groups that are doing a weekly cook through where they’re picking a different chapter, so like a different genre, and they’re gonna cook stuff from

Lou Mongello:
Right.

Carly Caramanna:
From specifically that genre for a weekly series. And I think that’s such a great idea, you know. If you pick, like, let’s do, you know, a Michael Ezner Eisner themed Disney party, and we’re gonna make stuff from the Disney Institute and everything else that he had his hand in the hand witch. Obviously, that was, you know, his his greatest invention. I think that’s such a fun take on it, is like honing in on one Disney decade and going all in on that.

Lou Mongello:
Right.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah, if you like the cozy cone now, you can thank Michael Eisner and the hand which which came.

Carly Caramanna:
Exactly. So many things. I mean that really laid the foundation for a lot of things that we have today. I wish they would bring it back. I feel like it just wasn’t the timing of it just kind of didn’t work out. I don’t think and this is before the internet. If they had it back as the hand witch today at Walt Disney World with social media, it would go nuts. Yeah.

Lou Mongello:
Forget it. Forget it. The lines for the hand witch, even if influencer just going to take a picture and throw it away, the lines for the handwitch would be insane.

Carly Caramanna:
Right. It it it would be. It would be instant, you know, gold moneymaker. I can already imagine the people doing their pictures with it. It was one of the dishes I was most excited to include because the story is great. It ties again into the history and like Michael Eisner got there and was trying to flip the script on everything. So I think it is such a great little piece of history. And yes, please Disney, I know you bring it back from time to time. I love the version at Hollywood Studios in the twenty tens. Let’s bring it back because it would be so easy.

Lou Mongello:
Right.

Carly Caramanna:
to do little seasonal varieties. We need a permanent hand witch stand. Please. Yes. Let’s let’s do it.

Lou Mongello:
If you go to save the handwitch dot org, you can sign a petition to I gotta get that domain very quickly, right? Think of the merch. Think of that cool remember that retro logo of the old handwitch from Tomorrowland.

Carly Caramanna:
I I love that the all the imagery and marketing for was absolutely brilliant. I know we would be purchasing the pins, the hats, the shirts. this is a gold mine. Disney please.

Lou Mongello:
Well, a and the other thing too, s speaking of design, I love the design and aesthetic of the book. it is it is gorgeous. And you s when we talked about this when you first told me, you’re like, wait until you see it. Was this something that you had in your mind from the beginning, or was it inspired by a dish or a recipe or something you came across along the way? Or did you just have this abstract idea and say,

Carly Caramanna:
Thank you.

Lou Mongello:
Designer, this is what I’m thinking, and somebody was able to bring that idea to life.

Carly Caramanna:
Absolutely. I think the vision all along has always been 1950s, 60s, mid-century modern, Disneyland, kind of a lot of that early visuals that are so, you know, seared in our brains. And that is what we told the art team. I can’t take any hand in actual designing because I did not. It was such an incredible team. And we were like, this is our dream. Our goal is this mid-century Palm Spring Southern California vibe with colors vibrant, but also just kind of that real. vintage flare and when they brought it to us I was like I I couldn’t believe it. I mean the the graphics the the designs of each chapter they absolutely nailed it it is everything I could have dreamed of and more it looks fabulous.

Lou Mongello:
Every word you use to describe the book, that Southern California vintage design, flair, energy also describes the person that wrote the forward, who is one Bob Gurr. And I love the first of all, I God bless you, Bob Gerr, man. He he may he just live and keep doing what he’s doing forever. But I love the fact that the wrote the forward was written by somebody who can actually say to those recipes from 1955, I ate there. Like what what

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Crazy, yes. Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:

Lou Mongello:
What did it mean to have somebody who was literally present during those earliest Disneyland years to look at what you were trying to preserve and really also understand why it mattered?

Carly Caramanna:
Absolutely. I mean, not many people can say they actually worked with Walt Disney and also got to take their lunch breaks at Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship Restaurant. And I love that he included it in the forward, how he’d go off to lunch and try these different spots that weren’t just backstage. They were, you know, public-facing guest experiences. He’s a Disney legend. Literally, absolutely wild that he was willing to talk about it because there’s really not many people that can say they’ve done the things that he has done and mean so much.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah.

Carly Caramanna:
in the Disney world than he does. So it was an absolute honor and privilege to have. And I mean, he had the tuna burger for real life. That blows my mind. Blows my mind.

Lou Mongello:
I’ve I’ve had the incredible pleasure of of meeting Bob and and I’ve interviewed him before. I very quick story, because this is it is food related. And this is one of the things in the twenty-some odd years of of doing whatever you call what I do, I I interviewed Bob on stage at a Disney fan event. It’s gotta be 15 years ago. And at that fan event, there were a different vendors and food and things like that. And there was somebody who brought in a dole whip machine, and we got a couple of dole whips and I we sat down.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
And Bob’s like, I’ve never had a dole whip before. And I leaned, I’m like, what did you say? He’s like, Yeah, I’ve never eaten a dole. I’m like, Whoa, whoa, wait a second. Am I sitting down with Bob Gurr for his very I just happened to be there when he but for me, that is like kids on my deathbed, like I had Bob Dole. I had a dole whip with Bob Dole for his very Bob Gerr for his very first. I don’t know if that’s a real first real truth. I don’t know if that’s true or if he was just saying it for my benefit, but that for me was like one of the coolest, like

Carly Caramanna:
That is legacy.

Lou Mongello:
true Disney Legend experiences I ever had and I’ve and I’m so happy that it was food related.

Carly Caramanna:
you need that on a shirt. I had I had Dole Whip with Bob Gurr. That is absolutely insane. You know, it’s you know, you you think they’ve experienced all these things, but you know, a lot of times creatives make a ride, make a product, and then they don’t even go out and get to experience it for themselves, you know, as we as guests and you know media members do. So that is absolutely brilliant the best story ever. my god. Did he like it? That’s what I need to know. Okay.

Lou Mongello:
Right.

Lou Mongello:
I wish somebody would recorded that. So he loved it. He loved it. I mean, is you I mean you’ve seen Bob, right? Even to this day, he still lights up when he goes to these places. I have to imagine that as he was reading this book, his face probably lit up as well. Carl, I have a thousand other questions, but I want to be respectful of your time and I want so we’re talking about Bob, we’re talking about history. If Walt Disney could sit down with you and Julie tonight.

Carly Caramanna:
Whatever, I am here.

Lou Mongello:
at one restaurant from the book. Where are you taking him? What are you ordering? And what’s the first thing that you want to ask him about Disney food?

Carly Caramanna:
Absolutely. it would have to be somewhere that he didn’t get to go to. Probably Be Pleasure Island because I would love for him to see how, you know, his vision for a family vacation destination evolved to what it was. And I think Pleasure Island is just such a great example of mastery and storytelling and just the layers and layers and layers of backstory and lore. You know, you have C the Soci Society of Explorers and Adventurers that he never got to to see, even though obviously he laid the foundation for it. I think I would take him. To Pleasure Island, maybe comedy warehouse, so he can see that little Rambo Dumbo on the wall. I mean, I’m not sure what he would think you would think. he would he was a Scotch man, so it might be difficult to get we do have the Scotch Mist in the book, which is a simple but excellent cocktail. It might be difficult to get him to try the Kongalouche, but I would probably have to teach him the handshake.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah.

Carly Caramanna:
And have a little cheers with him and see I’m sure his mind would be blown.

Lou Mongello:
is I I was like, she’s I that was the last thing I would have expected. You’d be like, yeah, let’s take him to Fireworks Factory and get him some ribs at at Pleasure Island. My dad loved fireworks factory.

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah. my gosh. I I love the fireworks factory. That was on the it didn’t make the book. Yes, but that was on the shortlist to include because they were known for their barbecue sauce and their like authentic smoked ribs. So I was sad that I couldn’t fit it in. There’s so many places of the past, especially like modern-day Disney World that are gone, that it just there’s not enough room. But I think I would want to take him out to Pleasure Island and then we’d have to stay for the midnight fireworks. So he could just so he could see.

Lou Mongello:
Just I’m just envisioning you and Walt Disney in his full suit. And I’m like, you mean Pleasure Island in its heyday, like 21 and older. There’s ice luge shots outside of the rock and roll beach club. Like it was a very different place than what Disney Springs looked at.

Carly Caramanna:
Any suit.

Carly Caramanna:
Yep. Mm-hmm. You know, maybe I would take into the early days so we can go when you can inline skate inside Rock and Roll Beach Club, that genius idea someone had to let people skate as they imbibed. He might be shocked. god.

Lou Mongello:
Nice. Walt, we’re gonna go to Mannequin’s Dance Palace and just forget the fact that there’s a rotating dance floor, but yeah.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes. No, that would that would be absolutely amazing. And then another one would probably be Galactic Starcruiser, because that would really be like, wow, look how far we’ve come with storytelling and immersion. And that’s just such a great example of the foundation that he set and how evolved and you know how innovative it has become today with Walt Disney Imagineering. And I think he would be really happy with it.

Lou Mongello:
Let’s just do a quick lightning round. We’re gonna do ten questions, like lightning round ish. I’m sure this will take forty five minutes, but who cares? This is fun. I don’t care. What is one extinct Disney restaurant that you could reopen tonight? What would it be?

Carly Caramanna:
Ooh.

Carly Caramanna:
I don’t care.

Carly Caramanna:
reopen tonight, it would be the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship Restaurant. I think it would do really well, theming alone. It’s a visual landmark. It would draw people in. I think we could change the menu up a little bit, but still have the namesake Tuna Burger.

Lou Mongello:
I know you talked about the the soup and the bisque and things like that. What’s one discontinued Disney food that you want back tomorrow that I think you would have sort of like the broadest appeal and the internet would lose its marbles?

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
One that I want back tomorrow, I think this goes like super modern, but Mama Melrose, which was in the Muppets Courtyard that closed, they had that spaghetti and meatball cupcake, which is super visual. And I think Disney fans, social media, which is like a lot, a big driving force in what Disney does now. I think if they brought that back somewhere, I think people would love it. It was a great cupcake and it was just really fun. And I think in this day and age, people just wanna, you know, have something whimsical. And when food is not only

Lou Mongello:
Wow.

Carly Caramanna:
Yummy, but also looks really pretty. I think that does really well.

Lou Mongello:
So as you were answering that question, I’m like, did this Italian girl from New Jersey say Mama Melrose’s spaghetti and meatballs? Like my mother was rolling over in her grave. But then you said cupcake. I’m like, okay, I get it.

Carly Caramanna:
I know, I I know. I know. Yes, the cup the cupcake. I’m I’m gonna be honest. I didn’t go there to eat. I went there for the atmosphere because it was so chock full of detail and Easter eggs and just the history of the Muppets Land that we never got, which I’m still sad over in the early 90s. So much history there. I wish we got they were gonna do a a hard rock cafe style Muppets restaurant. That is crazy. Yep. Yep. Absolutely. That is like I’m still so mad we never got that.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah, the gonzo’s Pandemodium Pizza Parlor was yeah.

Carly Caramanna:
So one day maybe.

Lou Mongello:
useless WW radio trivia, Mama Melrose’s was the fur was the first ever live dining review I ever did.

Carly Caramanna:
That is so cool. So it has a sp see, it has a special place in your heart too. Obviously we love Italian food. It was it was not the best Italian food, but the atmosphere was pinnacle of Disney storytelling.

Lou Mongello:
It does, it does. The atmosphere was awesome. And at all those celebrity photographs at the beginning because when when MGM Studios first opened, they had the stars of the day and like you could see celebrities walking around and possibly eating at Mama Melrose’s.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Carly Caramanna:
Exactly. Exactly.

Lou Mongello:
What is the best decade in Disney dining history?

Carly Caramanna:
I’m gonna say the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971 in that chapter, just because that was really when Disney started to like really flex its culinary muscles, try stuff, really try to go elevated. And again, everything that we have today is because of those choices and risks that they took when they first opened. So that is kind of like I think just such a turning point for Disney Park’s culinary scene in general and just super fascinating.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah, putting pineapple and teriyaki sauce on a hamburger in Adventureland, it was I understand it was sponsored by Kiko Man, but yeah, it was a it was a time. Tonga toast. Tonga toast.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, tonga toast, that is also an opening day dish, which we still have today, but it has been in various forms over the year. Like they had mango in it. You can get it grilled. Apparently, Elvis Presley was a really big fan of the original version, which was like a grilled tonga toast. So the culinary significance of that dish alone blows my mind. It is Walt Disney World’s longest mainstay menu item. Over 50 years. Yeah. It’s crazy.

Lou Mongello:
Wow. I dig that little trivia nugget in there as well. Disneyland or Walt Disney World for retro food history.

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah.

Carly Caramanna:
my gosh, that is so hard. I love a good origin story, and of course it all began at Disneyland, so I gotta go with Disneyland.

Lou Mongello:
Right now today, who do you think has a better culinary overall experience? Like better food, is it Disneyland or Walt Disney World?

Carly Caramanna:
God, it’s it’s so hard because Disney World is great table service. Disneyland does not, Disneyland kills it at the snack game. I just snack all day. Their quick service snacks are really next level and something I like. We have snacks in Walt Disney World. They’re just not to the level that Disneyland snacks can go out. So personally, I’m more of a eat constantly throughout the day as opposed to like a sit-down meal. So Disneyland, I am thriving in the food and beverage. Scene because I’m getting my Bengal barbecue skewer, I’m going to tropical hideaway, and I’m getting a Bao Bun, going to Maurice’s treats, and I’m getting that garlic bread, and I’m just snacking all day. Where I don’t love their table service dining, I’ll be honest. But if you that is something for that your family values, I would say Disney World is better at the table service game. It’s just so weird. Sorry, I’m dropping truths.

Lou Mongello:
Carly, I didn’t think I could like you anymore, yet here we are after that answer. Like just it’s off the charts. we didn’t even mention that the the in addition to, you know, the sweet and savory dishes in the book, you also have a number of of cocktails and beverages. We’re doing rapid fire ish. Kungaloosh, monorail purple, scorpion cocktail, or back scratcher. Which one do you pick?

Carly Caramanna:
Okay, so I’m gonna pick the back scratcher, but like everything with Disney, this is just about personal preference. I know so many of us, it’s hard, your views get clouded between, you know, subjective and objective thoughts. But I Polynesian was where I stayed as a kid with my parents, and that cocktail has been around for decades. And I remember sitting at the Polynesian, you know, tamboo lounge has been there for decades as well, and my parents having this drink with a back scratcher in it, and my mind just being like, This is crazy. Can I have the back scratcher? You know, and walking around the rest of the day holding this back scratcher. So to me, that is such a really special cocktail. It just has so much personal story and meaning. And I’ve celebrated, you know, I had a Disney wedding, our after party was at Tambu Lounge where everyone got back scratchers. So I think a lot with Disney is just your own personal memories that cloud the judgment. Something may not even be good. A back scratcher is a really strong drink. People don’t realize, you know, it does look like it’s fruit.

Lou Mongello:
Wow. Nice.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah, you have a few k

Carly Caramanna:
forward, but it’s strong. So it’s a little misleading. It’s a you know a complex drink, but is there’s just something about it and it’s it all down to personal memories.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah, you have a backcratchers, it’ll cloud more than just your judgment.

Carly Caramanna:
my gosh. Yeah, you got two types of rum and a floater of jack. That’s crazy.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah, kids don’t try this at home. Kids don’t try it at all. so there’s all kinds of goofy names for drinks, right? We just mentioned what is the best name of a Disney food ever? Is the the Ta-Cup, the handwich, the kundaloosh, or something else?

Carly Caramanna:
No, d do not try it at all.

Carly Caramanna:
I think I’m gonna go with the Ta-Cup from Casa de Fritos. so much history again at that restaurant which we talked about with the Doritos, but also, what is there not to love about a tortilla that’s then deep fried? And you put a little taco salad in it, so it’s like healthy, but also not healthy at the same time because you have this Ta-Cup. It’s also super easy to make, and you can make it in the air fryer if you don’t wanna deep fry it, and which is so easy to use the air fryer that it’s kind of user-friendly for anyone that may not be an experienced home cooperative.

Lou Mongello:
Yes.

Carly Caramanna:
cook and it’s just it comes out so visually cute and that restaurant is just such a special place.

Lou Mongello:
Carly, what’s the one recipe in the book that when somebody makes is gonna most surprise them when they taste it?

Carly Caramanna:
Ooh, I think that might be. Ooh. The blue shrimp from Galactic Starcruiser because that was such a highly photographed item. But when’s our mind plays tricks on us when we see an item and it doesn’t look like we think it should look like, and they use butter, butter pea essence in it to turn it the blue color. And so you’re really not getting any sort of like crazy flavor added to shrimp. I love shrimp cocktail. So I think people will be surprised at not only how easy it is to make, but this just comes out to be like a delicious shrimp cocktail that you could really Wow, people if you’re having like guest over holidays are essentially coming up, you know, in our world, it’s basic Christmas already. So you could make this and people will be like, wow, how did you make this? I mean, if you want to go all out and do the dry ice, but you don’t even necessarily have to. You could just do the fun little seaweed bed and it’s delicious, easy to make, and visually a crowd pleaser.

Lou Mongello:
That’s right.

Lou Mongello:
Quick aside, I love the food at Starcruiser. I love the breakfast at Starcruiser. I love the whole experience at Starcruiser. May you rest in peace and come back someday in in a slightly different

Carly Caramanna:
Mm.

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah, I I think it was so important to include it because of the lore, obviously. And it was a place that so many people wanted to visit to, but because of the short life, they didn’t get a chance to. So I wanted to bring just a little bit of that story of Disney’s, you know, most ambitious project forever, at least, you know, as of today. And to share a little bit of that and the tastes. And of course, a lot of people knew about the blue shrimp.

Lou Mongello:
Finally, I will let you go back in time once and you get one reservation. Are you going to the Red Wagon Inn, the Top of the World Supper Club, with or without Mel Tormé, the Tahitian Terrace Adventurers Club or the aforementioned Galactic Starcruiser or somewhere else? Like you get one reservation in the past. Where do you go?

Carly Caramanna:
Okay. Yes, this one’s really easy. I wish I can go so much. I think the evolution of the Disneyland Hotel is fascinating because the Disneyland Hotel that we know of today wasn’t even the original site. And I think there’s a lot of great history there with the marina. But I’m going back to the 1960s and it’s the Monorail Lounge, which was when they expanded the Monorail to include service from the park to the Disneyland Hotel. They bought they created this adjoining. Bar that was literally at the station. It was like a Penn Station bar attached to the monorail. And you’d be able to watch the monorail come and go. And there’s really there’s so it was really hard to do research on because there’s like two pictures in existence. And they’re actually in the Disneyland Hotel right now in that little gallery area by

Lou Mongello:
Right.

Carly Caramanna:
Goofy’s kitchen. And so that to me, if I can go back in time, I’m going there because I would just love to see it. The bar was like a trolley with this like big glowing light at the end. It was kind of like a celebration of the history of transportation and trains, which obviously Disney loved. And then the monorail was that next evolution. And it was classic cocktails, like a caboose and whatnot. So I don’t even really care about the drinks, but I’m going to the monorail lounge and I’m watching that monorail depart. And keep going in and out of that station.

Lou Mongello:
I dig that. And look, I I I dig obviously a lot about all this and the book and the conversation. And what I love about it is I think the book reminded us that Disney history is not just preserved in attractions and photos and YouTube videos and maps and guidebooks. Like sometimes it’s preserved in those smells and those flavors and those meals that we shared with somebody and maybe even in a restaurant that we never got to experience, but somehow we still have

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
a connection to. there’s so many times I was going through this and I’d see a menu item or a story or a place and would bring up memories that I had thought I had forgotten about. Mile-long bar, Empress Lily, the space bar and Magic Kingdom. I am looking directly at you. And I think because Disney is is always in this constant state of change, so much that we love eventually becomes part of history. I think what you and Julie have done is

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah.

Carly Caramanna:
Mm-hmm.

Lou Mongello:
given people a way not just to read about some of these places, but I think to bring a little piece of them back into their own homes, whether it’s by reading the story or making one of those items. I am not a cook. In fact, I am legally barred from stepping foot into a kitchen in 47 states other than to just clean up my plate. I don’t know how those magical boxes called ovens and grills work. Microwave the extent of my culinary prowess.

Carly Caramanna:
Ha.

Lou Mongello:
but I love this book and I want this book not just in my kitchen, but in my office bookshelf, because it is a snapshot of Disney history. The book is the unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook, 60 plus nostalgic recipes and stories of yesteryear’s. It’s beautiful. Carly, thank you so much for putting in the work and doing the research and preserving the stories, and I think bringing back some wonderfully

Carly Caramanna:
Thank you.

Carly Caramanna:
thank you.

Lou Mongello:
strange and delicious pieces of Disney history and most of all for being so generous with your time today and joining me and sharing with us. the book is available now for pre-order, correct?

Carly Caramanna:
Yes, yeah, we are on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, basically wherever you purchase your books. And it is so appreciated. Holiday season is coming up, so I heard a lot of people, you know, even if they’re not like Disney fanatics, they’re like, I’m gonna buy this for my cousin that goes to Disney World all the time. So it has been really exciting.

Lou Mongello:
I love the fact that it’s gonna be a target. Like you know you’re gonna go to every target in your area and be like, Look, it’s my book and you should. You absolutely should.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes. my gosh. I so I go on like a daily walk. It’s how I clear my mind and I live right by a Barnes and Noble and I go in every single day and I look through because I’m like, I can’t wait to hopefully be in there. And it’s such a bizarre, exciting feeling. So I’m just so happy that people care about the things that I care about. Disney food, Disney food history, and it’s really exciting. And you know, it just kind of goes to show if something is out there that doesn’t exist that you want to exist. you can you can create it you know and this was kind of how that happened is it’s just this is something that I wanted as a fan and I was like I have to do this and I will say the researching stage was one of the the funnest parts ever. It was so much fun. A lot of eBay purchases of menu sorry not sorry but I have I have a great collection now.

Lou Mongello:
Right.

Lou Mongello:
Love that. I love the story and the journey and the reason and the heart and the passion behind it. last question, I promise, maybe. What is the one thing? We talk about the way food makes us feel. What is the one thing that you hope somebody who reads this book feels or remembers or maybe even does when they close it?

Carly Caramanna:
Absolutely. I I want them to be transported to some memory that they created with their friends or family at Walt Disney World, at Disneyland, just to kind of go back to a time where you were, you know, super happy. Maybe it was your childhood and you saw I don’t Winnie the Pooh for the first time. I want people to have that kind of moment. And it’s so it means so much more now when I look back and pictures of me and my family there as a kid. You know, it’s like you might not be able to pinpoint that exact. Moment, but it’s just so fun to go back and think about it. And then also, it’s a place where you create memories and you continue to create memories, and there’s just something so special. I don’t know why I keep going back every single week, but I can’t stop. And so many other people have this magnetic pull to these parks, and food is such a big part of it. So I want people to, you know, just kind of go down their own little memory lane journey and reminisce about their earliest trips.

Lou Mongello:
I love it. I love it. I love you. I love everything about all of this. where can people find you and connect with you on social or otherwise?

Carly Caramanna:
Yes, thank you.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes, I am on Instagram at Adventures by Carly. I am sharing all about, you know, my recent eats from food and wine festival to new menu dishes. I’ll I’m in the kitchen dressed up in retro outfits making cocktails from the book. I made all the the monorail cocktails recently, which was really fun and something I’m really excited to share about because a lot of people don’t know about it.

Lou Mongello:
Yeah.

Lou Mongello:
Dig it. Thank you so very much for joining me. I by the way, don’t read this book hungry because you’re gonna be in tri yeah.

Carly Caramanna:
No. But if you are hungry, I promise you there’s a lot of really easy home cook recipes you can make, or make a little cocktail or mocktail.

Lou Mongello:
That’s right.

Lou Mongello:
All right, if you could snap your fingers, you and I can go to dinner any restaurant, past or present, in Disneyland or Walt Disney World. Where do we go?

Carly Caramanna:
Well now it’s gonna be fireworks factory since we both clearly loved it or Portobella Yacht Club. I was such a fan, which is not in there. I was s sad I couldn’t include it, but the garlic that would come out fresh out of the oven and you would spread it on the bread. I still like think about that. so good.

Lou Mongello:
Ha ha ha. Wow, poor depression.

Lou Mongello:
Have you been to the overseas parks yet?

Carly Caramanna:
I’ve done Disneyland Paris a bunch. I haven’t done Asia yet, but it is something high on my list. It’s kind of become one of those places where I keep putting it off because I’ve built the anticipation and hype so high in my mind that I’m really nervous about it all come crashing down. I I know I will that that too. I mean, that’s what I always hear.

Lou Mongello:
Don’t do it. Don’t do it. It’ll ruin the rest of the world for you. Like if you go to Tokyo, you’re in trouble because not yeah. And the food, oi vei.

Carly Caramanna:
Yeah, which is Disneyland Paris, I love it. It’s beautiful. Their food is not great, so that’s not ruining anything for me.

Lou Mongello:
food is not great. Do you know whose food is surprisingly amazing? Is Hong Kong.

Carly Caramanna:
That’s what I hear. I know I have to go to Hong Kong Disneyland.

Lou Mongello:
If you need somebody who’s been there before to help you along the way, I will volunteer my services. Yay.

Carly Caramanna:
Yes. You could be my culinary tour guide, please.

Lou Mongello:
Alright, wait a minute.

Carly Caramanna:
Amazing. Thank you so much. This this was so wonderful.