It was really cold, and really packed on this day, so we decided to take a break at Nomad Lounge. Of course, there were no tables inside, but we found a 2-top table outside against the railing. Luckily, the railing is quite high, so it provided some relief from the cold wind and it wasn’t too terrible sitting outside.

The drink menus are really nice here, designed to look like a travel journal. It has a really interesting drink menu, with lots of options you can’t find anywhere else. I actually took pictures of each page, so enjoy a million pictures of it:

Luke wanted alcohol, so he ordered the Snow Leopard Salvation: snow leopard vodka, belle de brillet pear liqueur, mint and lime juice topped with ginger beer $12.50

We both liked this, even though it was strong. Luke likes ginger beer more than I do, but I’d probably say vodka is my alcohol of choice.

I wanted something non-alcoholic, so I went for the Hibiscus Henna – watermelon, hibiscus and lime juice $5.75

This was really good! Not too sweet, filled with flavour and was a really fun, bright pink colour. Even Luke, who hates watermelon, gave this drink a thumbs-up.

We wanted to share something from their Small Plate Menu, so we ordered the House-Smoked Kobe-Style Brisket Poutine – steak fries, house-made mozzarella, pan sauce $12

This is a small serving (hence the name, ‘small-plates’), but was very good! I’m not typically one who likes steak fries, I prefer my fries shoestring style, but these were cooked well and were not soggy like some larger-cut fries tend to be. The smoked brisket was really tasty, as was the mozzarella. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the “pan sauce”, but it complimented everything very well! We did dump it over everything, they just bring it out separately so nothing gets soggy (and I forgot to take a picture once we had dumped the sauce on). Being Canadian, I like to think I know what a good poutine is – this is definitely not a traditional poutine, but it is something I wouldn’t hesitate to order again!

While we were sitting there nursing the rest of our drinks, I saw a server walk by with the churros from the dessert menu, and I decided that I needed them in my life – so we ordered Churros – served with vanilla crema and chili-strawberry $9

This came in the cutest little serving dish! It was basically the equivalent of two and a half churros purchased from elsewhere in the parks (which are typically $5/each) – so this was actually a good deal! They were warm, which is a must for a good churro in my books, and covered in a very generous layer of cinnamon. The sauces were very good as well – which surprised me since I normally think churros are delicious enough on their own. The chili-strawberry was the consistency of a runny strawberry jam, but then it did have a spicy chili kick at the end. The vanilla crema was a runny vanilla sauce, and definitely my favourite of the two options.

Total cost for our bill was $40.52 after using my Tables in Wonderland card, or $33.45 excluding the auto-gratuity.

Tables in Wonderland original cost: $150                                                 Break Even Point Before this meal: $118.03                                         Savings this Meal: $7.85                                                                                         Total Until Breaking Even: $110.18

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)       Estimated Cost of this meal: $115.55 (original plan was Tiffins) Actual Cost: $7.57 (Flame Tree) + $33.45 (Nomad Lounge) = $41.02 Over/Under: Under by $74.53                                                           Remaining: $2102.43

We had one tab left on the Sip and Savor pass, and Luke had been eyeing up a certain item, so I encouraged him to visit ‘Grandma’s Recipes’ and get the Sweet Potato Pie, $4.50.

I didn’t try this, so I will allow Luke to describe it:

It tasted like a butter tart, it was fluffy and sweet. The tart shell was as it should be – crispy. I’d never had a sweet potato pie before since it’s not really a Canadian thing – but butter tarts are!

We still had tabs left from my Sip and Savor pass, so we decided to enjoy samples from the Festival of the Holidays food booths as our supper.

Luke stopped at the ‘Winter Sliderland’ booth and grabbed a Roasted Turkey Slider – with cranberry sauce, $7.50

This did not look like it was worth $7.50 – I was happy to have the Sip and Savor Pass! Luke liked it though, and was pleased with the amount of turkey on it, but it tasted more like deli-style turkey. I’m not a fan of cranberry sauce, so I didn’t try it. Luke described it as good but not great.

My first stop was at the ‘Chips, Breads and Holiday Spreads’ booth to get the Chorizo Queso Fundido – with house made tortilla chips, $6.

This was really good! I don’t always love chorizo, but it was awesome  paired with the queso in this, since it took the edge off and made the chorizo taste less spicy. This was probably my favourite item from the food booths, and it was a generous portion.

The top is the Turkey Slider (see review above). The centre was another one of Luke’s picks, the Nashville Hot Fried Turkey – served with dill pickles $7, from the ‘Spicy Celebrations’ booth. I didn’t try this either, but apparently it was really spicy. Luke loves spicy food, so he was excited to actually get something with kick (so many foods will be advertised as spicy, but it turns out to be fairly tame and mild). 

The bottom was something I was really excited for – the Beef Short Rib – with smashed potatoes and gravy, $7.75, from the ‘Joy to the Sauce’ food booth. Yum! This would be that queso’s biggest competition in my favourite food booth item from the Festival of Holidays. It was tender and flavourful, and the potatoes and gravy were a great accompaniment. I love beef and potatoes though, so it doesn’t take much to make me excited haha.

The ‘Making Spirits Bright’ booth had caught my attention, and I decided to treat myself to a Mimosa Flight, $16. This thing was pretty expensive, but oh so delicious! There were three different mimosas included in the flight – White Cranberry: Chandon Brut sparkling wine and white cranberry juice, Pear: Chandon Brut sparkling wine, pear purée and Blood Orange: Chandon Brut sparkling wine, blood orange purée. The orange was by far my favourite, but I thoroughly enjoyed the other two as well. The cranberry one just tasted like Ocean Spray White Cranberry juice, and that’s probably what it was (with a bit of cheap wine added, of course), but it was still good. I’m not usually a pear fan, but I had no trouble drinking this mimosa haha.

We had another great experience with the food booths, and we were both full without feeling too stuffed.

We had ate at Cafe Orleans twice on our previous trip in January 2017, we really enjoyed it and it was on our must-do again list for this trip. We were planning on just making a normal reservation, but then we heard that they were offering Fantasmic dining packages for a limited time while River Belle Terrace underwent some renovations. We had never watched Fantasmic at Disneyland, we didn’t have time on our first two trips, and it was closed during our third trip, so it was something that was high on our priority list.

We made a reservation for 3pm, which is a bit of an odd time, but we knew we’d be up crazy early for the Avengers 5k that morning and would want to have a shower and a quick nap before heading to the parks, so this way we knew we wouldn’t be too rushed.

Of course, we were still rushed haha, and had to walk very quickly from Tomorrowland in order to get there on time. Cafe Orleans is always busy though, and we did have a bit of a wait – although I believe those with the dining package had less of a wait than those with regular dining reservations. The park was so crowded that day they weren’t even accepting walk-ups.

By the time we were led to our table, we were both hangry – you know, hungry and angry. Our anger was just grumpiness from being awake so early that day and from being hungry. I felt bad, because we were a little short with our server at the beginning of this meal (don’t worry, we talked to her and apologized once we had some food in our stomach haha).

It was difficult to find the options for the three course dining package online due to this being offered temporarily, but we had found one that listed the amazing Pommes Frites as a choice for the appetizer course. When we were handed our menus at the table though, this was not on there, and we weren’t thrilled since we had already decided that’s what we would both be choosing as our first course. Our server told us that had never been an option, ever, but we kept asking why we had seen it online (again, tired, hungry and grumpy – not my finest moment). This entire thing was stupid, since it’s not like those fries are expensive, and we just asked for an order of them anyways and paid for it in addition to our three course meal.

Anyways, this is what the menu looked like that we were given:

For the appetizer portion of the meal, Luke ordered the La Salade de Maison – baby greens, cherry tomatoes, candied pecans and goat cheese with a raspberry vinaigrette.

It’s not a salad I would care for, but Luke really enjoyed it. The greens were clearly really fresh, the candied pecans brought a nice sweet taste and the feta was creamy and delicious. 

I went for their seasonal soup, which was a Chicken Gumbo. I actually didn’t know what gumbo was, and asked our waitress if it had seafood in it. She looked at me like I was a complete moron and repeated very slowly “I just said it was chicken gumbo.” I don’t eat seafood of any kind, so I was worried it would have shrimp or something gross in it, but she assured me that the only meat was chicken.

This was not what I was expecting, but it was really good! I still couldn’t tell you exactly what gumbo is, but I know I liked this one, and would order it again.

Our third appetizer, as mentioned above that we paid for in addition to the dining package were the Pommes Frites – traditional French fried potatoes tossed with garlic, Parmesan and parsley, served with a Cajun Spice Remoulade, $7. We’ve had these from here before and love them, they are on my can’t miss at Disneyland list. The remoulade I could take or leave, I’m not a huge fan, but I love shoestring style fries and the garlic-Parmesan these are coated in is so tasty!

For my entree, I chose the Steak and Potatoes– chef’s choice house-rubbed steak, garlic mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables served with a beer-molasses sauce

This was so good! I didn’t eat the Brussel Sprouts, because those things are nasty (but Luke ate them and thought they were great), but I enjoyed the carrots and broccoli. I was worried about the sauce (I’m not a fan of beer or molasses), but this was great! I had requested a well-done steak, so I’m not sure if it’s always chopped up into smaller pieces or if that was the Chef’s way of ensuring it was fully cooked, but I didn’t care. This was cooked the way I like my steak – not bleeding on my plate, but not tough and dry and chewy. I’m not an expert on steak (despite living in Alberta), but I do know this wasn’t a super fancy, expensive cut – but again, I didn’t care and I really enjoyed it. Potatoes are one of my favourite foods, and these didn’t disappoint- nice and garlicky and creamy.

For his entree, Luke decided on the Bourbon Street Chicken – honey-kissed Chicken with Hoppin’ John, seasonal vegetables and bourbon sauce

Neither one of us knew exactly what he was going to get – what does honey-kissed mean? What the heck is Hoppin’ John? What will Bourbon sauce taste like?

Luke thought this was delicious – I had a piece of the chicken and I agreed. I might have also stole that carrot off his plate haha. It turns out Hoppin’ John is the type of rice this was served with, which Luke loved. 

There were two options for dessert so we decided to get one of each and share.

I went for the Maleficent Dragon – crunchy milk chocolate base and special dark chocolate-blackberry ganache centre with caramel mousse and orange-vanilla sauce

I’m not a huge blackberry fan, but I took my first bite of this and really enjoyed it. I took another bite, this time from more inside, and was really surprised when strong heat hit my mouth.

Apparently, there was cayenne pepper in the chocolate part at the bottom. It wasn’t mentioned in the description, but it’s also a dessert paying homage to a fire-breathing dragon – so it totally makes sense. I was examining it, trying to figure out which part the spiciness was coming from when our waitress walked over, and she looked mortified – she kept asking if everything was ok, and if I had found something in my dessert – I think she was scared I had found a hair or something in it. She laughed once I explained that I just wasn’t expecting the heat. I’m a bit of a wimp with spice, but cayenne pepper just works so well with chocolate that I really enjoyed this.

Luke went for the other dessert option, and ordered the Coconut Cake – layers of toasted coconut, vanilla cake and coconut cream garnished with Mardi-Gras-inspired toasted coconut flakes, caramel and raspberry sauces

Luke told me afterwards that he wasn’t really excited about ordering this, but it ended up being so much better than he thought it would be, and he really liked it. I stole a few bites, and I agreed. You have to like coconut, but if you’re a fan then you will like this. The cake was light and fluffy, the coconut was toasted so it added a nice crunchiness, and the raspberry sauce complimented everything so well. I would consider ordering this again for sure.

Also included with our Fantasmic dining package was a drink (all of Disneyland is alcohol free, and this restaurant is included in that). We both had the Mint Julep – which had changed a bit since our January trip, but was still delicious. I didn’t keep track of how many, but we both had multiple refills of these.

The cost for the Fantasmic dining package was $45 each, plus the $7 for the Pommes Frites. I used my Annual Pass to save 15%, so our total bill came to $88.84 after tax. Everything we ordered is on the regular menu with the exception of the Maleficent dessert, but I figure the reserved section for Fantasmic cost us about $10 total – which is a great deal. The view from our section was fantastic, and we didn’t have to stake out a spot hours in advance. The show is phenomenal there,  and I was so glad we did this dining package. I’m sad that the package was only a limited time thing at Cafe Orleans, but we will be back at this restaurant, possibly to eat the exact same items we had on this trip haha.