Disney News Blog

Guests get VIP treatment at the elegant Chef's Table in the back of the kitchen at Victoria & Albert's at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. Chef Scott Hunnel and sommelier Brian Kozial offer award-winning cuisine and fine wines.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., Oct. 2, 2008 — Several Walt Disney World Cast Members were among the top hospitality-industry professionals to receive honors for outstanding culinary achievements in the annual Santé Restaurant Awards presented by Santé, a magazine for restaurant professionals. As the only peer-judged restaurant and hospitality competition in North America, the awards program recognizes excellence in restaurant food, wine, spirits and service hospitality. Disney’s Chef de Cuisine Scott Hunnel received the Culinary Professional of the Year award for his outstanding achievement in culinary service and hospitality at Victoria and Albert’s restaurant at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.

"It was like winning an Oscar," Hunnel said of his award. "Working for Disney has been very gratifying because they support my continuous growth, along with the other Cast Members who work in the restaurants," he said.

As a Disney chef for nearly 20 years, Hunnel said a true leader realizes that it takes more than cooking a good meal to be successful—it’s a team effort. "It’s really taken years of building the foundation of this restaurant and building the team," he said of his fellow chefs at Victoria & Albert’s. "We had to really instill the philosophy of continuous evolution."

Understanding that evolution helped Hunnel capture the attention and taste buds of his peers. The fundamentals of cooking don’t change, he said, rather it’s the extra love that goes into the dish that makes his cooking and the restaurant menu different from others. This culinary expertise is tastefully demonstrated in one of his signature dishes -- the applewood smoked buffalo tenderloin with melted fennel, leeks and salad greens with blood orange vinaigrette.

Other Disney professionals setting themselves apart from competitors include Gary Kaikaka from California Grill at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, who received the Service Professional Award for outstanding achievement in food, wine and spirits service. The restaurant managers and servers at Jiko—The Cooking Place at Disney’s Animal Kingdom also received the Wine Hospitality Award for outstanding achievement in wine service and hospitality.

The Santé Restaurant Awards are based on a variety of criteria, and winners represent a broad spectrum of restaurant- and hospitality-industry professionals with a common passion for their work and a commitment to excellence. Award recipients will be honored for their achievements at this year’s festivities, to be held at Silverado Resort in Napa, Cal., Nov. 4.

Sanaa (pronounced sah-NAH), the new table service restaurant at Animal Kingdom Villas' Kidani Village is set to open May 1, 2009. Named for the Swahili word for "artwork," Sanaa will feature African-inspired cuisine with an Indian touch and will be open for lunch and dinner. The restaurant will serve familiar foods prepared in tandoor ovens, along with slow-cooked specialties showcasing the flavorful spices of Africa.

The following are some of the dishes that will appear on Sanaa's menu:

Lamb Kefta with Tamarind and Papaya Sauce.

Grilled Flank Steak, with spinach and mushroom pancake served with oven-dried chutney.

Tandoori Chicken served with basmati rice or seven-grain pilaf.

Tandoori Lamb Chops served with basmati rice or seven-grain pilaf.

Grilled Pork Chop Loin, glazed with pickled lime and ginger served with sauteed spinach.

Mustard seed-crusted Scallops with a coconut cream sauce.

Dum Biryani, Fresh vegetables and basmati rice, wrapped in bread dough served with pineapple raita.

Slow-cooked beef short ribs, shrimp with green curry sauce, served with basmati rice or seven grain pilaf.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (March 17, 2009) -- Chef Cat Cora and Disney are joining together to open an exciting new family dining restaurant at Disney’s BoardWalk Resort. Kouzzina by Cat Cora will feature a menu of Mediterranean-style cuisine that pays tribute to the chef’s Greek roots.

The restaurant, to be owned and operated by Disney, is scheduled to open by fall 2009 in the space currently occupied by Spoodles.

“I am pleased to welcome Cat Cora and her engaging new concept for Kouzzina to the Walt Disney World Resort,” said Jay Rasulo, chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “This collaboration between Cat and Disney represents a significant step in our ongoing commitment to offer unique culinary experiences and choices for our guests.”

As a Mississippi native born to a family of Greek restaurateurs, Cora grew up immersed in two different and flavorful cultures , and has taken from that unique background the kitchen “know-how” handed down through generations. The cuisine at Kouzzina (Greek for “kitchen” and pronounced “koo-zee-nah”) will showcase Mediterranean cuisine and Chef Cora’s philosophy to create simple yet sensational meals.

Cora said that the new restaurant will feature “time-honored recipes passed down from my ancestors, as well as my favorite Greek and Mediterranean dishes that my family loves.”

She began working with Disney in 2008 by creating a Disney Video on Demand series to showcase ways to help families develop more healthy eating habits. “I’m extremely excited about this latest extension of my relationship with Disney,” she said. “Together, we’re going to develop a truly amazing contemporary Mediterranean restaurant.”

The first and only female Iron Chef on Food Network's hit show “Iron Chef America,” Cora is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York. She also is Executive Chef for Bon Appétit magazine. In addition to hosting the instructional cooking demonstrations for Disney Video on Demand, Cora has been a featured chef at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival and at Disney’s California Food & Wine Festival at Disneyland Resort.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Fans of Jiko - The Cooking Place and Boma-Flavors of Africa have a new reason to dine at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge as Sanaa debuts May 1 in the resort’s new Kidani Village expansion.

(Editor's Note: Disney previously released photographs of many of Sanaa's new dishes, which you can find in the Disney News Blog HERE.)

The new Walt Disney World restaurant’s unusual name, pronounced “Sah-NAH,” is the Swahili word for “artwork.” With interiors inspired by African art and remarkable views of the resort’s Sunset Savannah through 9-foot windows, diners experience “the art of African cooking with Indian flavors” in the 150-seat, family-oriented restaurant located on the ground floor just below the lobby.

Sanaa’s cuisine is a melting pot of tastes from the islands of the Indian Ocean that all are part of Africa – Zanzibar, the Seychelles, Comoro Islands, Mauritius and Madagascar. “These islands were on important trade routes with influences from French, Portuguese, Dutch, British, Arab and Chinese traders,” said Chef Bob Getchell. “The diverse spices and flavors give us an endless array of options for Sanaa.”

The most indelible mark on the cuisine of the region was made by Indian traders who introduced curries, spice blends and breads. Central to African-Indian cuisine is the use of the tandoor oven, essentially a large clay pot similar to a pizza oven. The tandoor provides very high, dry heat that creates a crisp outer layer and moist interior. Along with meats, a favorite tandoor oven treat is the Indian bread naan, which is slapped directly onto the oven’s clay walls and allowed to bake until puffy and lightly browned. The Sanaa kitchen will have two custom tandoor ovens.

Specialties include tandoori chicken, lamb and shrimp, slow-cooked curries, and braised short ribs. “Don’t think of curry as spicy,” said Chef Getchell, “but as a centuries-old cooking method that allows flavors to fully develop in the meats, vegetables, and sauces.” The base blend of seasonings for Sanaa’s curries include cardamom, chiles, cinnamon, cloves, saffron, coriander, nutmeg, fennel seed, cumin, tamarind, turmeric and more. The turmeric is what gives many curry dishes their characteristic yellow color.

Appetizers such as lamb kefta with tamarind-dried papaya sauce, and unusual salads like okra, radishes and tomato, roasted beets, and carrot, orange and mint start the dining experience.

Entrees include the tandoori-roasted meats, curries, and sides such as dahl (stewed lentils), curried crushed potatoes, stir-fried green beans and slow-cooked spinach and paneer (a mild South Asian cheese). Indian style flatbreads including naan, roti, and paratha are paired with chutneys, Indian style pickles and raita (yogurt-based dip).

For guests who prefer more American flavors, there is a grilled pork chop and club sandwich at lunch, and grilled flank steak at dinner.

Sweets are the final adventure, including mango pudding, cardamom-butter cake, papaya with sea salt and lime and vanilla-coconut rice pudding.

The restaurant is open from 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. and from 5-9 p.m. An adjacent 24-seat lounge serves African wines, beer and spirits. For reservations, call 407/WDW-DINE.

Kidani Village at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is part of Disney Vacation Club.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Paradiso 37, a high-energy restaurant and bar featuring cuisine from North, South and Central America, welcomes guests to its table in May at Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World Resort.

The lakeside eatery will offer a delectable variety of menu offerings representing the 37 countries of the Americas, plus an international wine bar, 37 varieties of tequila and 10 signature frozen margaritas.

The new concept was developed by Orlando-based E-Brands Restaurant Group, a multi-concept restaurant group which currently owns and operates Timpano Chophouse, Samba Room, Taqueria Canonita, Aquaknox, David Burke, Salsa Orlando and Canonita Express in a number of locations across the United States.

The lively Downtown Disney restaurant will feature nightly entertainment and will be open daily from 11 a.m. until late night.