We made our lunch reservations at The Brown Derby restaurant in Walt Disney World Hollywood Studios park. It's a reproduction of the famous Hollywood eatery on the West Coast. My family wanted more pictures of me instead of just the scenery so I flipped the iPhone around and said hello. Sorry for the low lighting conditions - a lot of the restaurants are that way, which makes for great ambiance but terrible photographs!
Next up on the Walt Disney World foodie tour is The Brown Derby in Hollywood Studios. It is a reproduction of the famous eatery on the West Coast.
Our reservation had fortuitous timing because a sudden downpour and lightning storm hit, relentlessly drenching the area as we enjoyed the comfort of the restaurant and had lunch. We have two big reservations today so there was no breakfast and we’ll have at least 10 miles of walking. Still, this is the most food I’ve probably ever eaten in a single day, Thanksgiving included.
After The Brown Derby, we’ll spend the day in the Hollywood Studio theme park until tonight, when we have dinner reservations at a place in The Grand Floridian resort, followed by some shopping time in The Magic Kingdom since we were only there briefly yesterday evening. It’s definitely a lot but we’re up to it. We had originally planned on attending Fantasmic, the water show, but with the rain, we decided to forego the tickets for now. There should be many more opportunities in the future to see it (God willing) and it’s important to get everything else in the agenda. One would think a week here would be enough; hardly. There is just too much, and we aren’t even doing the big time commitments, like shows or golf.
The view from my seat at The Brown Derby.
Another view from my seat at The Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood Studios ...
Appetizers at The Brown Derby Restaurant
For my appetizer, I ordered a Cobb Salad. It was enormous and delicious. Believe it or not, I've made it to almost 30 without ever having one, mostly because I prefer salads with vinaigrettes and dried fruits or almonds. But it was good. Very good. It consisted of "Finely-chopped greens, TurkeyBreast, Bacon, Egg, Tomatoes, Crumbled Blue Cheese, Avocado, Chives, and Cobb Dressing".
Ashly's appetizer from The Brown Derby was a Blue Lump Crab Cake with Potato Crust, Green Cabbage Slaw, Cognac-Mustard Sauce, and Remoulade.
Aaron ordered the Brie midnight moon prosciutto cake appetizer with Tete de Moine petals and an olive-roasted vegetable salad.
Ian ordered the Tuna Tartare at the Brown Derby, which featured cucumber, daikon, and pepper salad, avocado wasabi sauce, and crisp lotus root chips.
Entrees at The Brown Derby Restaurant in Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Both Aaron and Ashly ordered the char-grilled filet of beef with cotswold butter over fingerling potatoes, asparagus, ugly ripe tomatoes, and a broken cabernet-shallot vinaigrette.
For my entree, I ordered Duck Two Ways, which featured maple-glazed magret au poivre, sautéed mushrooms, and sweet potato mashed with crispy duck confit over a spinach-corn amaranth and tart cherry compote.
This is where it gets interesting. My duck main dish was terrible. But I’m not sure whether it was terrible in an absolute sense, or whether I’m suffering from the contrast principle bias. The last time I recall having duck was on May 15th, when Aaron, Jimmy, Diana, and I had dinner at the Harvest Moon Inn in Ringoes, New Jersey. That duck was one of the best conceived duck recipes, and best executed duck dishes, I had ever enjoyed. This duck paled in comparison to it. The meat on the left was chewy and flavorless, the meat on the right scorched to the point the duck was so sharp it almost cut my mouth. Then, the weird part: The sweet potato mash made my tongue go numb.
But one of the best waiters I’ve ever had – a guy named Darren – made the experience incredibly enjoyable and everyone else loved their food. So I’m thinking maybe the problem was not the restaurant but, instead, the dish. I would never order it again.
Ian had the sterling silver pork chop topped with smoked gouda and apricot preserve served over napa cabbage, bacon, and potato hash with apple cider jus.
Surprise Birthday Chocolate Mouse at The Brown Derby
Darren, our awesome waiter, brought me a surprise birthday chocolate mousse with Mickey Mouse sprinkles. My birthday isn't officially for another two or three weeks but we were celebrating it today in the park. It was a nice surprise!
Darren also took a photograph of the table (no you don't get to see it - it's one of the private pictures for the family-only posts) and put it in a Brown Derby folio for us to take with us. It was just a cool touch.
Dessert at The Brown Derby
After the surprise chocolate mousse, the official desserts we ordered off the menu were brought to the table.
Both Ashly and I ordered the banana white chocolate toffee tour on cocoa-almond cookie and banana Foster with caramel sauce. It was fantastic. Absolutely out-of-this-world fantastic. At the same time, no joke, a friend from our younger days (Jocelyn) was texting me a recipe for a low-calorie banana dessert. I take it God was telling her to give me a subtle hint because the timing was flawless. Speaking of that, I need to make the dessert she mentioned ... it sounded really great.
Ian's dessert was a work of art. It was a citrus honey nest filled with candied ginger blueberries over a lemon cheesecake.
Aaron ordered the chocolate three-ways dessert with dark almond buttermilk cake layered with milk chocolate, truffle creme, and white chocolate chambord.
Value for the Money and Review
My review for The Brown Derby is mixed. Lunch for the four of us came to around $290.00 (roughly $240 for the food plus a $50 or so tip). Had I enjoyed the duck main dish, I would have unquestionably come back. Everyone else seemed to really enjoy it. As I said before, our waiter, Darren, was great and the small things he did, such as the surprise birthday photo and extra dessert, were great. If my main dish had been the filet or something else, I would have probably enjoyed The Brown Derby a lot more than I did but I can’t get over the fact that the duck wasn’t just mediocre, it was terrible. But strip out the duck, and I loved it. You’ll have to draw your own conclusions on this one.
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