DisneyRegulars
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2011
Greetings!!! This isn't an official trip report as I did not stay in a DVC resort, but what I did do was make my work trip to LA as Disnified as possible. As a back story my office has been sending me out to LA every other week for 10 weeks, and this torture ends right before Christmas. To add to the torture is that my hotel is a mere 6.8 miles from Disneyland, and Disneyland has been calling to me every trip so far, beckoning me, teasing me. So this trip I did something about it. I guess I should take a second an introduce the cast, it will be easy this time as there is only one character, me. I'm a 30 year old engineer with a near 3 year old son back home being watched by a very loving Daddy. I've been working diligently at finishing my dissertation, so I get up at 4am, and am in bed by 8pm each night, leaving a mere 3 hours post work to get some Disney in.
Two nights ago I executed my first plan of attack, and suggested to my foodie coworker that we should eat at the Grand Californian. He looked up the available restaurants and decided Napa Rose sounded right up his aisle. We called at 5pm and were able to get a reservation for 5:30pm! Score!!!! Note how nice my coworkers are willing to abide by my ridiculous 8pm curfew. Also note that when we arrived we heard the hostess on the phone telling someone they were full for the evening. We got to the hotel no problem and we were all truly impressed. What a gorgeous lobby. Oooooh I so want to stay here some day. The fireplace hearth was just amazing. The awesome lobby though was completely outdone by the deliciousness of Napa Rose. I tried to look up reviews of Napa Rose, and there really isn't much out there on the disboards. It was FANTASTIC!! People compare it to California Grill, but I think it far surpassed the California Grill. Especially noteworthy was the quietness of the restaurant, despite the open kitchen, I could easily hear my coworkers and didn't feel like it was loud and noisy like the CG. So atmosphere, top notch. Food was even more fantastic. We each got the seasonal soup, which was a squash, lemon grass, lobster soup. I thought it was good, but was expecting it to be thicker. I had the lamb entree, my coworker had the pork chop, and my other coworker had the veal. Everything was delicious. For desert I had the smore and that was delicious too. Unfortunately, I gobbled it all down before remembering to take a picture. I'll leave the food porn picture to the end because I still haven't figured out how to make them smaller. Service at Napa Rose was superb as well. I would go back in a heart beat (especially if my coworker pays again which he so graciously did this time!!!!!)
Last night all my coworkers left and I was on my own for the evening. Hmmm.... what to do? I headed to Downtown Disney of course. I LOVED it there too. It was so lush and just had a great atmosphere. I didn't even mind that it was drizzling the whole time. I stopped and got a Holiday Earl of Sandwich at the new shop there. It was yummy, but I only ate half. I wandered through the Lego store which was soooo impressive. I felt the giant lego creations were more impressive here than in Orlando, but maybe that's because they were new to me. I bought a sea monster for my coworker because years ago I stole his lock desk monster, so now he can have one made of Legos which means it will be more awesome than mine. I also bought a DUPLO panda for my boy. Surprisingly the Panda was $2 cheaper than at Toys R Us. I wandered slowly around the rest of Downtown, stopped into the World of Disney of course but made it out without spending a penny, and capped my night off with a salted caramel truffle sunday at Haagen Daas. Yum! All in all the perfect evening and the perfect mini dose of Disney to keep me going until our next trip in January where we are bringing my MIL. One of my motivations for finishing my dissertation is so that I can get myself some ears and have Dr. Weasel embroidered on the back of them. I think about that every time I want to keep sleeping at 4am. In January I will have those Dr. ears!!!! Pathetic goal I know, but it works for me. See you in January. And here are some photos of the food, in the following order:soup, lamb, pork, veal. (UPDATE: I think I figured out how to resize these bad boys!)
The lobster soup:
The lamb, came with a foamy sauce on top:
The pork, was applewood smoke bacon flavored. Very strong smokiness:
And the veal:
We also have a running joke among my coworkers that these trips to CA are going to kill us, here was additional evidence as even Disneyland causes cancer:
Two nights ago I executed my first plan of attack, and suggested to my foodie coworker that we should eat at the Grand Californian. He looked up the available restaurants and decided Napa Rose sounded right up his aisle. We called at 5pm and were able to get a reservation for 5:30pm! Score!!!! Note how nice my coworkers are willing to abide by my ridiculous 8pm curfew. Also note that when we arrived we heard the hostess on the phone telling someone they were full for the evening. We got to the hotel no problem and we were all truly impressed. What a gorgeous lobby. Oooooh I so want to stay here some day. The fireplace hearth was just amazing. The awesome lobby though was completely outdone by the deliciousness of Napa Rose. I tried to look up reviews of Napa Rose, and there really isn't much out there on the disboards. It was FANTASTIC!! People compare it to California Grill, but I think it far surpassed the California Grill. Especially noteworthy was the quietness of the restaurant, despite the open kitchen, I could easily hear my coworkers and didn't feel like it was loud and noisy like the CG. So atmosphere, top notch. Food was even more fantastic. We each got the seasonal soup, which was a squash, lemon grass, lobster soup. I thought it was good, but was expecting it to be thicker. I had the lamb entree, my coworker had the pork chop, and my other coworker had the veal. Everything was delicious. For desert I had the smore and that was delicious too. Unfortunately, I gobbled it all down before remembering to take a picture. I'll leave the food porn picture to the end because I still haven't figured out how to make them smaller. Service at Napa Rose was superb as well. I would go back in a heart beat (especially if my coworker pays again which he so graciously did this time!!!!!)
Last night all my coworkers left and I was on my own for the evening. Hmmm.... what to do? I headed to Downtown Disney of course. I LOVED it there too. It was so lush and just had a great atmosphere. I didn't even mind that it was drizzling the whole time. I stopped and got a Holiday Earl of Sandwich at the new shop there. It was yummy, but I only ate half. I wandered through the Lego store which was soooo impressive. I felt the giant lego creations were more impressive here than in Orlando, but maybe that's because they were new to me. I bought a sea monster for my coworker because years ago I stole his lock desk monster, so now he can have one made of Legos which means it will be more awesome than mine. I also bought a DUPLO panda for my boy. Surprisingly the Panda was $2 cheaper than at Toys R Us. I wandered slowly around the rest of Downtown, stopped into the World of Disney of course but made it out without spending a penny, and capped my night off with a salted caramel truffle sunday at Haagen Daas. Yum! All in all the perfect evening and the perfect mini dose of Disney to keep me going until our next trip in January where we are bringing my MIL. One of my motivations for finishing my dissertation is so that I can get myself some ears and have Dr. Weasel embroidered on the back of them. I think about that every time I want to keep sleeping at 4am. In January I will have those Dr. ears!!!! Pathetic goal I know, but it works for me. See you in January. And here are some photos of the food, in the following order:soup, lamb, pork, veal. (UPDATE: I think I figured out how to resize these bad boys!)
The lobster soup:
The lamb, came with a foamy sauce on top:
The pork, was applewood smoke bacon flavored. Very strong smokiness:
And the veal:
We also have a running joke among my coworkers that these trips to CA are going to kill us, here was additional evidence as even Disneyland causes cancer:
