By Charly SHELTON

Years ago, back when the park had less to offer in the way of rides and entertainment, the Food and Wine Festival was a staple of Disney’s California Adventure park. In Sunshine Plaza, what is now Buena Vista Street and Carthay Circle Restaurant, the festival hosted a huge stage where celebrity chefs and chefs of the Disneyland Resort would give cooking demonstrations. The restaurants and food stands in the park offered special menu items to celebrate the festival and there were wine tasting walks set up along the path past Bountiful Farm Valley towards Paradise Pier. The festival was always a huge hit with park guests and it enjoyed many years at Disney California Adventure. But when the construction for the overhaul of the park and the addition of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street began in 2010, the festival was put on hiatus. Many expected the festival to come back in 2012 when the new lands opened but it didn’t. It wasn’t until last year that the festival finally came back, albeit in a modest iteration. The festival had cooking demonstrations in Stage 17 and hosted booths along the same path, now passing Cars Land into Paradise Pier. This was a test run by Disney to see if there was still a market for this kind of a food and wine festival, and the response from the public was an overwhelming yes.

This year the Food and Wine Festival is back and bigger than before, with more food offerings, more wine and beer offerings and a better overall presentation. The entrance to the festival is marked with a beautiful new archway and signage displaying the rustic new stamp logo for the event. The booths are better themed this year, more closely tied to the foods they serve and they highlight many of California’s food crops, such as olives, artichokes, nuts, garlic, citrus and onions, as well as cheese and wine. Other booths highlight the cuisine trends of LA, sustainable seafood and the all-important sourdough bread, a native of San Francisco. The booths feature more unique foods this year, like a creamy artichoke and dark chocolate cake pop at the I Heart Artichokes booth, a baked ham and swiss Croque Monsieur roll at the Nuts About Cheese booth, and the Jackfruit Carnitas Banh Mi Nachos at the Off The Cob (corn themed) booth.

The wine and beer are served by the glass or in flights and they don’t come cheap. The flight consists of one-ounce pours of three wines, either a white flight ($16), a red flight ($20) or a mimosa flight ($16). By-the-glass wines range from $7 to $20 for a three-ounce pour, with an option to upgrade to a five-ounce pour. Expect to spend about $15-$20 for a regular glass of wine and between $4 and $7 per taste of food. The wine is only okay, nothing blew me away and at $15 a taste, I was a little disappointed in the wine. The food, however, was incredible and, for once, the price was right.

The restaurant specials are back as well. Carthay Circle Restaurant’s exquisite lounge is a great place to stop in and relax any day, but during the Food and Wine Festival it’s even better. The wine and spirits are cheaper inside, and there’s air conditioning. That should be enough of a selling point, but to make it even better, the Food and Wine Festival cheese plate is fantastic. Only offered during the festival, this huge wooden platter features a triple cream brie from Italy, a smoky blue cheese from Oregon and a stout goat cheese from Indiana, accompanied by crisps, fruit pâté, honeycomb and sliced apples with thyme and chili-infused fruit sauce. It’s perfect for sharing and spending time in the air-conditioned lounge, rather than in line to meet Elsa.

Perhaps my favorite food of the day was the roasted sweet corn custard tart, topped with honey tuile and smoked chili-infused chocolate sauce from the Off The Cob booth. This is a surprisingly light tart, considering its corn custard, which is just the right amount of sweet and creamy so as not to weigh the diner down, but also satisfying enough to end a culinary journey right. And seeing as it has recently been so hot during the day, a chilled corn tart is a great substitute for ice cream.

I wish this was available year round at the park but the tart, and most all of the festival foods, are only here for a limited time while the festival is on, now through April 16. Christmas is a great time to go to the parks, as is Halloween-time, but if you only go to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure once this year, make it now. The Food and Wine Festival shouldn’t be missed.

  Charly Shelton