Category: Walt Disney World Resort

According to Scott Joseph of Scott Joseph’s Orlando Restaurant Guide:

Scott Hunnel, the much celebrated chef de cuisine at Victoria & Albert’s restaurant, a position he has held for more than 20 years, has been named executive chef for Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. In that position, he will oversee all the hotel’s restaurants, which, besides Victoria & Albert’s, includes Citricos, Narcoossee’s and the Grand Floridian Cafe.

For now, Hunnel is continuing on at Victoria & Albert’s, but sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity say that a new chef de cuisine will be hired. Hunnel says that Victoria & Albert’s will continue to be a focus of his, even if a new chef de cuisine is hired.

Hunnel, 52, has held the position since 1995 when he moved up from the kitchen at Ariel’s restaurant at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resort.

He is one of the most respected and talented chefs in the region and has been nominated for a James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef South eight times. In 2008, Hunnel was recognized by Sante magazine as its Culinary Professional of the Year.

Hunnel’s move is the culmination of a number of changes among top-tier Disney chefs in recent months. Brian Piasecki left California Grill for another position within the company, as did Phillip Ponticelli, who had been chef de cuisine at Citricos. Tim Keating left Flying Fish Cafe — and the company — when the Boardwalk restaurant closed for renovations earlier this year.

Dennis Thompson has been named chef de cuisine at the California Grill, the popular restaurant on the 15th floor of the Contemporary Resort overlooking the Magic Kingdom. Thompson replaced Brian Piasecki, who left CG in February to accept a new position within the company with the cumbersome title of Executive Chef WDW Resorts, Moderate, Value and Standalone DVC Properties. He must have the biggest business cards in the company.

For Thompson, the new job is a return to Grill. He began his 16-year career with Disney in 1997 cooking at California Grill under opening chef Clifford Pleau. He moved on to Jiko — The Cooking Place at Animal Kingdom Lodge and then to Narcoossee’s at the Grand Floridian Resort, just across the lagoon from his new office.

A native of Worthington, Ohio, Thompson, right in photo with Piasecki, graduated first in his class at Columbus State College in 1991. His training included a three-year program in an American Culinary Federation apprenticeship. He has acheived the first of three levels of the Court of Master Sommeliers.

Thompson’s wife, Victoria, also works in food and beverage at Walt Disney World Resort as a front-of-the-house manager.

California Grill is one of the restaurants considered to be among the resort’s top three best, along with Citricos and Flying Fish Cafe (now known simply as Flying Fish). Dominic Filoni was named chef de cuisine at Citricos in November after longtime chef Phillip Ponticelli moved to Golden Oak. Flying Fish is still searching for a replacement for Timonty Keating, who left the kitchen and the company earlier in the year when the Boardwalk restaurant was closed for a planned multi month renovation.

Beginning May 21st, Trail’s End at Fort Wilderness began offering a weekend brunch every Saturday and Sunday from 7:30AM until 2:00PM. This brunch features the usual breakfast buffet plus some additions. Here’s the menu as Disney announced it:

• Hot Foods
  • Scrambled Eggs
  • Bacon
  • Sausage
  • Hash brown potatoes
  • Canadian Bacon Benedict
  • Pasta (Veg-pesto)
  • Mix Vegetables
  • Fried Chicken
  • Baked Mac and Cheese
  • Mash Potatoes and Gravy

• Omelets to order
  • Diced Ham
  • Andouille
  • Bacon
  • Shredded Cheddar Cheese
  • Diced Onion
  • Diced Peppers
  • Roasted Mushrooms
  • Pull Pork or Brisket
  • Chili
  • Salsa

• Eggs to order
  • Over easy
  • medium
  • hard
  • Sunny side up
  • Poached

• Mickey and Belgian Waffles – with various warm toppings:
  • Blueberry Compote
  • Banana Fosters
  • Maple
  • Praline Sauce
  • Whipped Cream

• Dessert Island
  • French Toast Bread Pudding
  • Assorted Pastries (4 different Kinds)
  • Red Velvet Cake -Cookies (2 different kinds)
  • Apple Cobbler
  • Corn Muffins

• Fresh Fruit
  • Watermelon
  • Melon
  • Strawberries
  • Citrus Wedges

• Breakfast Cold items offered from 7:30am to 11:00am
  • Smoke Salmon
  • Sliced Cheddar Cheese
  • Sliced Salami
  • Slice Ham
  • Yogurt (Strawberry)

• Items introduced at 11:00am
  • Shrimp
  • Caesar Salad
  • Cole Slaw
  • Potato Salad
  • Mix Green Salad (with 3 dressings)

• Soup Station:
  • Chili
  • Grits

The buffet price is $23.00 for adults and $13.00 for children and all usual discounts will be accepted for this brunch offering.

Given the overwhelming positive response we received when I first posted about the new menu, I knew we had to go and check it out. I was already a HUGE fan of the Trail’s End dinner buffet for both the quality of food and very reasonable pricing, but I had never done breakfast here even though it comes highly recommended. My problem with Trail’s End lies solely in location. If I’m looking to just go out to dinner, I’m really OK with investing a fair amount of travel time to get here via the internal bus system at Fort Wilderness. If I’m going to Magic Kingdom, The Wave breakfast is usually my option for the proximity to the park and the breakfast buffet which I would place on the same plateau, if not even higher, than Trail’s End. In the end, it’s really just a convenience thing, nothing against the quality of the buffet.

My only real complaint overall has to be the shrimp. First of all, you have to peel them, secondly, peeling them only means you are about to eat pretty much the foulest tasting shrimp on planet earth. I’d rather they just remove this from the buffet rather than replace it with another item. They are that bad.

Other than that, I was upset there was only corn muffins and not corn bread. I know this is probably just about the most childish complaint you can have, but I think the cornbread tastes slightly better than it does in muffin form.

The breakfast pizza was a solid option, fun and delicious

Fried chicken at 9am? OF COURSE I WANT SOME!

They serve the “Jungle Juice” here now, under the term specialty moonshine. Nice to have it offered here.

My significant other chose to have a pretty plate…

This was my first plate…

You will have to ask if you want an omelette as there is no station and the server may not even mention it. We ended up getting an omelette with the famous chili in it and it was pretty spectacular.

In review, I think I would prefer to take advantage of this brunch buffet over going during the week for just breakfast or dinner buffets. It’s a nice mix of items, the price is good (slightly more than breakfast of course), and I’m as big a fan of the brunch as I am of the dinner service. Trail’s End brunch is definitely worth your time and money, if you can spare it.