Disney's California Adventure Food & Wine Festival 2024: A Round Up of Everything I Ate

 

  Hello everyone! 

I had hoped to get all of my individual review posts for this year's Food & Wine Festival uploaded to my Instagram before the festival ended its run at the end of April, but unfortunately that was not the case, so I have decided to make a big leap and create a blog! Instead of individual posts, I will be sharing everything all at once here.

The Festival

This year's festival was held from March 1 to April 22, 2024, with a good mix of returning booths and items, as well as brand new booths and items. There were 10 booths total, as well as special offerings at certain dining locations throughout the park. Throughout my multiple visits to the festival, I was able to try 15 items! Usually, on my Instagram, I would just post the items in the order that I tried them. Instead, I will be listing the items I tried by how I felt about the dishes, under titles such as The Good, The Bad, and the Just Okay. These won't be in any specific order! Just by how I felt about the item(s). I also likely will not be listing prices, as I exclusively used my Sip N Savor pass to purchase these items. 

Let's get started, shall we? 

The Good: 

• California Craft Brews Festival Booth: Cheeseburger Bao with thousand island dressing, grilled onions, and pickle and tomato relish 

 

This little bao bun was DELICIOUS! It reminded me a lot of fast-food hamburgers, mainly In-N-Out, if I'm being fully honest! I think the flavors were done really well. I think one small detail that was lacking a bit was the cheese! I think it could have been a bit more cheese-y, because it’s supposed to resemble a cheeseburger! that little issue aside, the caramelized onions and the sauce on top really made this dish complete. All I needed was a little side of fries and it would be PERFECTION! I feel like this is in a similar category to the famous cheeseburger pods that are offered at Pandora in Animal Kingdom (though, when I went, I did not try those when I went in 2020...). If so, Disney- PLEASE keep these here on the west coast! Especially with Disney teasing the possibility of an Avatar themed land coming to the west coast! 

 

• Nuts About Cheese Festival Booth: Barbecue Pulled Pork Mac n' Cheese with crispy dill pickle onions 

 

This was actually my first item of the festival! This Mac n cheese was creamy, tangy, and savory all at once! The pork was super fall apart tender, and the pickle onion chips on the top complimented the flavors of the overall dish very well! The mac n cheese itself was super creamy and a bit salty, while the bbq sauce was super sweet with a little kick and tang, followed with the pickle chips. This was a very warm and comforting dish to kick off my first visit to this year's festival! And perfect for such a gloomy, rainy day. I'm not always a fan of Disney's mac and cheese, but was quite surprised that I liked it. I also had it a second time on a later visit to the festival! I highly recommend, and hope this one returns next year! 

• D-Lish Festival Booth: Olive Oil Cake, glazed with lemon curd, topped with vanilla bean Chantilly, and finished with fresh candied lemons, strawberry crunch, lemon-lime gelée

I was actually quite surprised at how much I enjoyed this little cake! This was one of the many new items to the festival this year, and since I have never tried olive oil cake, I jumped at the opportunity to try this one! I didn't know what to expect, but for me this was like a slightly dense, yet moist, lemon cake. I think the closest I can get to explain the taste is like a lemon poppy seed muffin, without the poppy seeds. The gelée (which if I'm not mistaken, seemed like a fancy word for jell-o), was surprisingly bland compared to the overall flavor of the cake! However, it was light, which really balanced the overall heaviness of the olive oil cake. This was another item that I had a second time on another visit to the festival, it was that good! And I usually shy away from a ton of desserts at the festival!

• Hollywood Lounge: Chicken Lollipop- beer brined chicken with Poblano mashed potatoes, caramelized fennel, and fried carrots

 

This was one of the non-booth festival items that were sip n savor pass eligible, and was one of the more "explorative" dishes that I tried at the festival! I really wasn't sure what to expect everything to taste like, just based from the description and the promotional photo in the foodie guide that Disney had published ahead of the festival, but I was actually really surprised by this one! The chicken was surprisingly actually pretty tender and full of flavor, thanks to the beer brine. I loved the sauce that was sitting on top of the chicken- it was acidic and slightly vinegary and a little herby! Though I am quite bummed, looking back, that I never figured out what it was. The poblano mashed potatoes were pretty good as well! there was a bit of a kick thanks to the poblano pepper, which is what gives the mashed potatoes their beautiful green color. They were super creamy and flavorful as well, and I would say slightly earthy- a bit hard to describe. The fired carrots on top were an interesting choice, though they did add some sweetness. The caramelized fennel was a unique flavor and texture experience for me- it had the taste of licorice, but the texture of cabbage (I'm sure if you've had cooked fennel before, you would understand what I mean). I had not seen a lot of Disney food enthusiasts post about this one, and I definitely regretting not being able to get my own post up about it either. However, I hope this one finds its way back into the parks somehow, I would love to have it again! 

 

• Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta: No-Bake Peanut Butter Pretzel Cheesecake with cookies and cream crust topped with chocolate-coated salted pretzels and chocolate ganache 

I may have lied a little bit in the introduction to this blog post- this dessert was one of two festival offerings that I paid for, as it was not eligible to buy with the Sip n Savor pass. Listen, I am usually a cheesecake hater, but this little no-bake cheesecake reeled me in. It had a thick layer of peanut butter (actually, looking back, it may have been chocolate ganache), on top with flakey salt, then under that layer was creamy cheesecake, and then finally when you reach the bottom, there's that cookie crust! You get some salt from the top, and a bit of tanginess from the cheesecake filling. I would say if you're not a peanut butter fan, then this dessert was not the item for you. This little dessert's most dominant flavor was peanut butter. This was perfect for me though, as I LOVE peanut butter! I didn't really see where the pretzels come into play except for the chocolate covered pretzel topping, and maybe the extra salt on top? Either way, this was one good little dessert! I unfortunately did not end up finishing this one because my dislike for cheesecake creeped in, but it was great while it lasted! 

• Clarabelle's Ice Cream: Butter Cake a la mode- Butter cake with vanilla ice cream, strawberries, and whipped cream

 

This dessert was one of the many non-festival booth offerings from this year's festival, and actually was a last-minute try, as I was on my final visit to the festival and still had a few tabs left. I'm not entirely the biggest fan of a lot of desserts that Disney offers, but something really urged me to try this one, and I am very glad that I did! The butter cake came out warm and was so sweet, buttery, and delicious! I actually wasn't expecting a warm cake- I've had a similar dessert in the past at Disney where the cake was served cold. I would say that this butter cake was close to ca big, dense, buttery sugar cookie! The vanilla ice cream was the perfect pairing, and the cold ice cream balanced the richness of the butter cake very well! This was a simple yet great dessert, and went beyond my expectations! It would have been a great item to share! This dessert made me very excited for strawberry season and summer desserts, just around the corner!

• Smokejumpers Grill: Pastrami Fries- Crinkle-cut fries topped with cheese sauce, pastrami, Smokejumpers Grill sauce, and pickles  

 

I originally avoided trying this dish as I really am not a big fan of cheese sauce, but after seeing so many Disney food bloggers and tiktokers post positive taste test videos, I had to cave in, put my dislike aside, and give these fries a try! This was one of my last sip n savor pass items, and was a last-minute decision. I was quite surprised! my grandma and I had split this order, but we both liked it so much that we went back and had 2 more orders of it. Seriously this was unexpectedly REALLY good! All of the elements REALLY well together! the combination and ratios of the meat, pickles, cheese sauce, and whatever SJG sauce is (I think it’s basically a thousand island adjacent sauce, or a burger sauce?), all worked together in harmony! There was a good balance of sweet, salt, savory, and acidity. I would definitely get it again, but am still so bummed that I only got around to trying it on my last festival visit! I hope that Smokejumpers Grill gets to keep these or something similar in the future! 

The Bad:

• Peppers Cali-Ente: Shrimp Papas Locas- Cheddar-bacon potatoes with jalepeno cheese sauce and chipotle shrimp

When I first saw this item on the foodie guide, I was pretty excited to try it. However, as the festival began, I started seeing negative reviews about it. I still went ahead and tried it myself to see if I could prove other reviewers wrong, but unfortunately I think they were right. I was pleasantly surprised that I received warm potatoes at least, because on my first visit to the festival, half of the food items I had tried were cold or just room temperature. I really wanted to like this, but the shrimp came out cold, and a few bites tasted more fishy, than like shrimp. I honestly couldn't taste the chipotle marinade from the description as I was overwhelmed by the fishy taste. The cheese sauce definitely had a kick! Honestly, the only redeeming part of the dish was the cheddar-bacon potatoes. I would not recommend this one and would skip over this item if it returns in a future festival. 

• Willie's Churro Cart: Butterscotch Banana Churro- churro rolled in banana sugar, topped with butterscotch icing, butterscotch drops, and banana chip crumble

I usually do not get the churros at Disneyland, unless there is a special flavor that sparks my interest. I saw a lot of positive reviews about this new churro from the festival and thought I should give it a try. I really wanted to like this churro, but it was extremely sweet and overall very unpleasant. I understand what they were trying to do with the general flavors- I think when executed well, banana and butterscotch can work well together. But that was not the case here. The icing didn't really have a butterscotch flavor to me; it just felt like a lot of sweet goo. If they really wanted the butterscotch to shine, I think the icing should have been a drizzle of real butterscotch, and scrap the butterscotch chips altogether. The churro itself was hard, and combined with the hard banana chip crumble on top, was a very uncomfortable eating experience. I usually do not get the churros at Disneyland for this specific reason. I used my final Sip and Savor tab on this churro and walked away very disappointed. I will be very cautious next festival when it comes to event-specific seasonal churros. 

The Just Okay:

• D-Lish: Huckleberry-Citrus Cooler- Gold Peak Black Tea, huckleberry and agave syrups, grapefruit soda, lemon and orange juices garnished with an orange wedge 

This was interesting! it was like a carbonated... lemonade and tea? Its hard to describe. The huckleberry flavor was hidden under all of the citrus flavors. Honestly since the citrus flavors overpowered the huckleberry, and even the black tea, I'd say this is closer to just a sweetened citrus soda, like a Seven-Up with even more citrus flavors. This was refreshing though as it was very warm and sunny when I tried it! I wouldn't necessarily jump in line for just a drink, but overall it was a refreshing drink in the moment. This drink was at the same booth as the Olive Oil cake, which to me was better at balancing citrus flavors. 

• Golden Dreams Festival Booth: Blueberry Pancake cold brew- Joffrey's Coffee & Tea Co. Mexican Origin Coffee, maple syrup, brown butter, demerara syrups, and oat milk with blueberry sweet cream, garnished with cinnamon-flavored cereal crumble

I had this cold brew at last year's festival and seem to have lost my review from that experience, so when I saw it returned this year I knew I needed to try it again. This was the first drink I had on my first festival visit! I took a sip and was very shocked at how almost sickeningly sweet this coffee ended up being! I like my coffees on the sweeter side, but even I think this one was too sweet. I know that the description listed flavored syrups like brown butter and maple syrup, but those flavors weren't very distinctive with how sweet everything was! The blueberry sweet cream topping was good on its own, but I tried to mix it into the rest of the coffee, and it got lost under all the other elements. This was a great caffeine kick to start my visit, but I don't think I'd wait in the super long line again to get this again. Maybe I was given a weird batch? Who knows! 

• Earth Eats: IMPOSSIBLE Chicken Parm Bites with tomato and cheese sauces, grated parmesan; IMPOSSIBLE Beef Stroganoff- egg noodles tossed in a mushroom cream sauce with IMPOSSIBLE beef and sour cream

IMPOSSIBLE stroganoff on the left, IMPOSSIBLE chicken parm bites on the right

The chicken parm bites was the second food dish I tried on my first visit to the festival, and it certainly made for an interesting dish! I was hopeful for these IMPOSSIBLE chicken nuggets, as I liked the Indian curry IMPOSSIBLE chicken bites offered at the Festival of the Holidays. My first festival day was unfortunately on a very rainy day in March, and as I received my dish from the pick up window, of course the rain intensified. I have to say- the cheese sauce was odd, but it kind of worked. It had the texture of an alfredo sauce, and not really that cheesy. The marinara sauce was good though, but as I kept eating the sweetness from the sauce started to give me an ick and i could not eat it anymore. If the cheese sauce had a little more salt or savory taste to it, I think it could have cut through that sweetness and balanced it out. I liked the dish overall until the sweetness became overwhelming. It also could have been warmer! it was maybe room temperature at best. I had the same problem with the IMPOSSIBLE stroganoff- it was served lukewarm at best. I wasn't a super big fan of the flavors overall from the stroganoff at first (likely because I'm not a big mushroom fan- mainly the texture), but the more I ate it, it started to grow on me. the caramelized onions gave it a sweet flavor and balanced the dish well! I think if it had been served hot, I would have liked it way better. 

• Paradise Garden Grill: Tacos Gobanador- chipotle marinated shrimp tacos with pepperjack cheese 

 This was an interesting taco! The flavors were good, a little bit on the salty side, and the shrimp were cooked well! My only true complaint here was that there was  WAY too much sauce. For me, the amount of sauce overwhelmed the entire taco. It was a tasty sauce though- it reminded me of the creamy chipotle sauce at Rubio's. I don't think I would get it again as a Sip n Savor pass sized portion, just because of how much sauce it had. I think as a full size portion it would be good because you could offload some of the excess sauce to the rice and beans that the full size portion is served with, but as a Sip n Savor pass portion... I would probably pass! 

• Paradise Beer Garden: 2 Towns Ciderhouse Strawberry Lemonade Cider

Ironically, This festival is all about food and wine- but I actually am not a fan of wine at all! So when I saw that there was a new hard cider being offered for the festival, of course I jumped at the opportunity to try it out! This one was interesting, it had a borderline artificial strawberry taste and smell to me upon first sip. As I kept drinking it, it didn't feel like there was much of a specific flavor (unlike apple ciders, where apple really stands out as the star flavor, for example)? It was just bubbly and bitter like a typical hard cider! I took a drink of water to cleanse my palate to see if that would help me figure out more of the flavors in the cider. Once I did that, I started to get a faint strawberry lemonade, almost strawberry banana taste (re-reading my review while putting this blog post together definitely made me sound kind of crazy, I'll admit). This was just okay for a hard cider alone, but I bet it would be great as a float paired with a strawberry popsicle or sorbet! 

Final Thoughts: 

I love the food festivals at DCA! It's always fun to go outside of your comfort zone and try things you might not otherwise have a chance to try! As always, there are hits and misses, but I like to make these reviews for fun. I cannot wait for the next festival!