French Fry Diary 629: Carioca's - TCM Cruise Day Two

Another of the renovations of the 're-imagined' Disney Magic is the replacement of Parrot Cay, always one of my favorite restaurants on board with Carioca's. It has roughly the same flavor, only now with an animated mascot. 

By name, Jose Carioca was one of the original Three Caballeros, with Donald Duck and Panchito, from the film of the same name, Saludos Amigos, and other features and shorts. Jose is unfortunately one of those characters forgotten to the mists of time, but thankfully, and hopefully on his way to a comeback. I'll miss Parrot Cay, but still this isn't bad.

There has been really only slight remodeling and repainting. They have added lots of Chinese lanterns a la Tangled hanging from the ceiling, but really not much else. The restaurant still a tropical flavor, all it's really had is a name change,

some new lighting, and a brisk rebranding.

On the surface however, one thing that hasn't changed much is the menu. This may as well have been Parrot Cay. I got the Roasted Honey BBQ Chicken Breast, and it was very good, and the sauce was also very good. If there was any crushed sweet potato, as advertized, on the plate, I couldn't find it, or rather, taste it. I probably should have gotten a side order of fries like I did the previous night if I wanted to appease my tater jones.

French Fry Diary 168: Parrot Cay, Disney Wonder 2010

Our first foray into Parrot Cay on this Disney Cruise trip was on Day Two for breakfast. Now of course, like many of the restaurants on the DCL, I'd been here before, but every dining experience is different with Disney, and especially with the cruise. The breakfast potatoes this time around were red bliss potatoes halved and quartered and simmered in a succulent sauce, tender, hot and just right.

Day two's dinner returned us to Parrot Cay. And just for kicks, I did not order any fries. I bet I caught you off guard with that one. There were fried and potatoey stuff on the agenda however. My appetizer, a delicious island jerk chicken came with tasty dried and deep fried shredded carrots, and my entrée came with a yummy twice baked potato. Good stuff, and a nice change of pace.

Day three's lunch got me back to Parrot Cay, and that burger and fries you'll read about in a future entry. The burger I had been hankering for since the previous morning was my Parrot Cay lunch. While ninety-nine percent of the ship was ashore at Disney's private island Castaway Cay, it's my favorite time on the boat. No crowds, just rest and relaxation, peace and quiet. Maybe I'm just a freak, but that's how I vacation. So I had much of the restaurant to myself as well that lunch time.

The burger was a half-pound slab of succulent Angus meat on a toasted roll. Wow. This was the best burger I had eaten in quite some time. The fries were slightly larger than regular cuts, similar to those that first night at Animator's Palate, but not quite. Still very very good.

If I had to say anything negative at all, it had to be that the fries were a bit dry, but that's my fault, because I'm not a ketchup guy. I did surreptitiously slip a few under the bun and on top of the burger (like I might sometimes do at McDonalds), and that was terrific. What a treat, and a wonderful lunch.

Dinner for day three was also at Parrot Cay, which was also Pirate Night, a great event on board the Disney Cruise. Folks, passengers and cast members alike dress up like pirates, sing, dance, eat, drink and shoot off fireworks - not necessarily in that order. Fun all around, but I wish that carried over to the dinner.

Scrapbookers might be upset at one corner Disney has cut in that the Pirate Night menu is no longer a rolled up take home treasure map dealie. That was a bit of a disappointment but I had ordered a side of fries with dinner so I thought things were all good. Don't count on it.

The French fries were regular cuts, and nothing at all what I got just a few hours earlier for lunch. These fries were just bad in comparison with the usual excellent quality on board the cruise line, but just bad, period. We're taking Old Country Buffet under a heat lamp for a week bad. On a good note, the beef ribs that I got as my entrée (and were only just okay) came with a barbeque sauce that was excellent for dipping and made the fries just a bit better.

All in all, despite one off night for dinner, Parrot Cay does remain my favorite of the Disney Cruise Line restaurants, and I do look forward to coming back.

French Fry Diary 71: Topsider Buffet, Disney Magic

The Topsider Buffet is the place for breakfast on board the Disney Magic, a buffet arrangement that has everything you could possibly want – fruits, bagels, toasts, breads, pastries, juices, pancakes and waffles, a cereal bar, an omelet station, and yes, even a potato product. Sadly it was not a good potato product.

Much like the disappointment at Parrot Cay, the hash browns were of the same variety. Of course there’s not as much disappointment this time as Topsider’s is a buffet and Parrot Cay a fancy restaurant, but still… what do I have to do to get good breakfast potatoes on board this ship?

Apparently the answer to that question is to simply wait a day. Day four brought with it roasted potatoes for breakfast at Topsider’s. More dinner style than breakfast style, these stir-fry red potato wedges with onion, parsley and other extras mixed in with a subtle but yummy sauce made breakfast so much more worthwhile than previously. Day five gave us very thick slices of red potatoes in the same configuration. Tasty, but I would have to say the wedge shape worked much better. So they did redeem themselves in the breakfast potato arena, eventually.

French Fry Diary 69: Parrot Cay, Disney Magic

Parrot Cay is the Disney Cruise’s Caribbean themed restaurant, very festive island flavor, decorated with parrots everywhere and even the sounds of parrots and other tropical birds. Island décor, music and even menu items, this is one of my favorite restaurants on board.

For breakfast, however, this was a disappointment. The same rectangles of processed hash brown that you can buy at your local Shop-Rite at ten for three bucks is what you get, and it’s not even good. These were crispy to a crunchy texture with barely any potato flavor left. It was a good thing the syrup overflow from my pancakes was there or they’d have no taste. Heck, nothing against this type of hash brown, but I could make it better in my microwave, oven or toaster myself. Epic fail. Except for the bacon of course, which was fabulous. But this is French Fry Diary, not Bacon Diary...

When I came for dinner later that day I had some great jerked chicken as an appetizer and grilled beef tenderloins for dinner. Rather than French fries (which is where you thought I was going, didn’t you?) as a side I got the twice-baked potato, which in hindsight was a great idea. Not the usual, which impressed the wait staff who had already tagged me as a catastrophically picky eater, but it was still quite good. The only other night we ate there I also had mashed potatoes, so oh well, we’ll have to try the fries at Parrot Cay another time.