A Bit of Hollywood

by Gaylin

Going to Walt Disney World means there are a lot of choices and options for meals. Even when I am traveling solo, I like to have a few sit-down meals, it is nice to have a break from quick service and on a hot day, it is lovely to have the air conditioning!

This trip I had chosen The Hollywood Brown Derby in Disney's Hollywood Studios for a sit-down meal. I know it is one of Nick & Barbie's favourite restaurants and I love the ambience of the restaurant and the food as well. It does amuse me to see stroller parking outside a quiet sit-down restaurant, those babies are going to have a good lunch!

The interior of the restaurant has a tall enough ceiling that the noise of the diners dissipates. There is lots to look at on the wall, great caricature drawings, the lighting, a wonderful calm place to have a meal, away from the noise and heat outside.

Because I have allergies, a chef came out to take my order. I wanted to make a meal out of two starters and the chef thought that was a great idea. I really wanted the Andouille Crusted Prawn and he offered to make it without the breading on the prawn. This was a terrific way to start the meal, the grits were creamy with the right amount of zing from the cheese, the oil you can see on the plate was flavoured with ancho and if I could have taken a bottle home with me, I would have. The saltiness from the bacon bits was the perfect accent and the prawn was large, fresh and perfectly cooked. Almost made me wish I had ordered two servings of it!

I had the lunch entree of the Cobb Salad, I do love this salad and even appreciate that because everything is cut in a uniform size - I won't get smacked in the mouth by an oversize piece of lettuce. 

After cleaning my plate, it was time for dessert!
The chef asked if he could put together a trio of desserts for me, ones that were allergy safe. I said of course. It was nice of my server to offer to take a photo of me with my treats.

First up was vanilla creme brulee, it was very good, creamy, silky with just the right amount of vanilla flavour. Then I tried a bit of the centre chocolate sphere- now that was perfect, nice dark chocolate on the outside, smooth milk chocolate on the inside. The Brown Derby decoration was white chocolate and kind of yuck, too sweet - almost flavourless, had I not been in such a fancy place with cloth napkins, I would have spit that out! The pink dessert (unfortunately I can't remember what it was called), was very sweet and not very flavourful, although the crunchies on the bottom were tasty. I cleaned off the pink one first, then the creme brulee and saved the best for last - chocolate!

Have you ever eaten at Hollywood Brown Derby? What did you think of your meal?