Competition is expected to be fierce as Princess Tiana prepares to open a real-world version of her “Princess and the Frog” restaurant in a Disneyland neighborhood already brimming with long-established eateries specializing in Southern-style cooking.
Tiana’s Palace will open Sept. 7 at the Anaheim theme park in the former French Market restaurant in New Orleans Square.
Disneyland chefs offered a tasting preview for the media on Tuesday, Aug. 22 of several items from the new Tiana’s Palace menu.
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Tiana’s Palace joins a crowded restaurant field in New Orleans Square already offering theme park takes on Louisiana cooking — including Blue Bayou, Cafe Orleans, Royal Street Veranda and even the super exclusive Club 33.
Disneyland’s culinary team has promised that other menus will be tweaked at nearby New Orleans Square restaurants to avoid too much overlap at Tiana’s new eatery.
So what should you eat and drink in the reimagined Tiana’s Palace restaurant? Let’s take a closer look at four things I loved and two more you should skip.
What to Eat
1) Beef Po’Boy Sandwich
The Beef Po’Boy Sandwich was the best thing I ate at the Tiana’s Palace preview tasting.
Tiana’s version of a po’boy is served with slow-roasted beef and gravy dressed with shredded lettuce, tomato, pickle and mayonnaise on toasted New Orleans French bread. It comes with red beans and rice and house-made pickles on the side.
The oh so juicy beef will require a handful of napkins — unless you want to wear your lunch around Disneyland the rest of the day. Each bite finished with a spicy heat aftertaste that was guaranteed to come back for a return visit later in the day.
The red beans smelled like New Orleans and took me back to the streets around Jackson Square. The smoky sausage flavor was somewhat understated and didn’t steal the spotlight from the spectacular…
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