Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cafe
on the West Side show not sports or movies but the cooks at work, a fad English
has also adopted.
Celebrity status notwithstanding, neither Puck's café nor the Estefans' Bongos
has drawn much praise from diners, though bluezoo is very good (but also quite
adult). House of Blues, surprisingly enough, has done much better with its Louisiana-
inspired fare and gospel brunch.
If your kids haven't had their fill of robotic crocodiles, Abraham Lincolns,
singing parrots, and the like,
T-REX
and
Rainforest Cafe
will serve up all they can
handle. T-REX features animatronic dinosaurs and an occasional woolly mammoth,
while Rainforest Cafe is stuffed with jungle critters. Both, of course, have gift shops.
There are not one but two Rainforest Cafe branches, one at Downtown Disney Mar-
ketplace and a supertheatrical version at the entrance to Disney's Animal Kingdom,
where the decor and animatronic elephants make it fit right into the scenery there.
Not surprisingly in a place where the sky “rains” and the stars flicker overhead, more
thought went into naming the dishes than perfecting the recipes. Also, note that the
Animal Kingdom Rainforest Cafe serves breakfast.
If your kids prefer dinosaurs to pachyderms, try T-REX, which is located within
spitting distance of the Rainforest Cafe and operated by the same folks. The food is
better than Rainforest, and children go nuts about being surrounded by a life-size an-
imatronic brontosaurus, triceratops, and such.
In fact, although the official guides to Walt Disney World describe various res-
taurants as
delicious, delectable
, and
delightful
, the truth is that only perhaps a dozen
of the nearly 100 full-service establishments are first-rate. And some of the most dis-
appointing restaurants, in general, are the often attractive but commissary-bland eth-
nic kitchens.
Though a blessing in disguise to many children and picky eaters of all ages, most
of the “ethnic” food at Walt Disney World is Americanized, or rather homogenized,
especially at Epcot, where visitors from so many countries, as well as the United
States, tend to have preconceived notions of egg rolls and enchiladas.
Teppan Edo
in the Japan Pavilion happens to be one of the better restaurants in the World, with
pretty good teppanyaki (and good tempura next door)—but it specializes in a partic-
ularly Westernized form of Japanese cuisine, first produced in New York only about
30 years ago.
Nine Dragons Restaurant
in the China Pavilion serves satisfying dim
