Month: May 2012

With a nod to landmark diners along America’s historic Route 66, guests will feel as if they have stepped into the town of Radiator Springs at Cars Land, with a contemporary spin on classic tastes from the 1950s. “We started working nearly four years ago on the concepts,” says Disneyland Chef Chris Maggetti.  “For Cars Land, we’ve developed fast-casual restaurants with lots of fun tastes, from dill pickle popcorn to chili and cheese – we call it chili cone queso – in an edible bread cone.”

Cars Land has three spots for guest to fuel up: Flo’s V8 Cafe, Cozy Cone Motel and Fillmore’s Taste-In. Each location has a story, of course.

Flo’s V8 Cafe

Flo’s V8 Cafe will be a indoor/outdoor counter service location offering unique breakfast, lunch, and dinner with seating for up to 300 guests. Inspired by vintage roadside restaurants along historic Route 66, specialties include rotisserie pork loin, citrus turkey and New York strip loin. Signature “veggie-tater bake” is Chef Sean Layne’s vegetarian version of classic shepherd’s pie. For dessert, house-made, single-serving pies are offered including apple-cheddar, strawberry-rhubarb (pictured below), chocolate mud, blueberry-peach and cherry, created by Disneyland Pastry Chef Jean-Marc Viallet. If you’re looking for an alcoholic beverage, beers served are Racer 5 IPA and Red Rocket Ale from Bear Republic Brewing Co. in Healdsburg, Calif. There’s even California wines by the glass, including Fess Parker Riesling, Silverado Chardonnay, Chappellet Mountain Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignon and Eppa Superfruit Red Sangria.

Boasting “the finest fuel in the 50 states,” Flo’s caters to the growing number of Route 66 visitors and race fans coming to Radiator Springs since Lightning McQueen made it his home. Flo’s even has a “showroom” dining area that overlooks the Radiator Springs Racers attraction. Personal memorabilia collected by Flo during her glamorous career as a singer with the Motorama Girls will adorn many of the restaurant’s walls. Flo’s “Motorama Girls” backstory was cut from the original Cars for time, but will play a major role in her story at Cars Land.

The Cozy Cone Motel

The Cozy Cone will also serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but outdoors where it offers 56 seats. A lot of the food offered is easy to carry, so don’t worry about finding a seat. Originally inspired by vintage “wigwam” hotels along Route 66, each of the five teepees offers cone-themed treats rather than lodging in Cars Land:

• Cone Number 1 offers churro bites with cinnamon-chocolate sauce, cinnamon-spiced hot cocoa and Ramone’s Pear of Dice Soda made with dessert pear syrup, mojito syrup and Sprite.
• Cone Number 2 features soft-serve ice cream and “route” beer floats.
• Cone Number 3 offers savory bites all served in edible bread cones, such as a bacon-scrambled egg cone for breakfast, chicken verde or chili “cone” queso for lunch and dinner. Specialty beverages are Fillmore’s Fuelin’ Groovy Ades, all-natural lemonade with wild berry foam, or pomegranate limeade with lemon-lime foam.
• Cone Number 4 serves pretzel bites with cheesy sauce and Red’s Apple Freeze, a fat-free, frozen concoction with apple juice, toasted marshmallow syrup and passion fruit-mango foam.
• Cone Number 5 features two flavored popcorns daily, such as dill pickle and sweet & spicy.  Other flavors include bacon and cheddar, nacho cheese, salt and vinegar. Specialty drink is Doc’s Wild Grape Tonic (Sprite with wild grape syrup and wild berry foam).

As the story goes, the Cozy Cone Motel becomes home to Sally’s Snack Cone-anza when all the fans flock to Radiator Springs for the big races.

Fillmore’s Taste-In

This is dimply a fruit and beverage kiosk with fresh whole and cut fruits, bottled water and juices, and soft drinks. Radiator Springs’ resident hippie, Fillmore, offers a variety of healthy snacks to visitors at this tie-dyed geodesic dome.

For full coverage of all of these delicious Cars Land pit stops, stat tuned to Disneyland News Today as we provide continuing coverage of the re-opening of Disney California Adventure, as well as the special media event June 13-15, 2012.