While nobody was exactly sure what was taking place in Southwest Territory, we all found out that we were the special guests on a Theme Park edition of Dinner Impossible hosted (and prepared) by Chef Robert Irvine. His challenge was to make a buffet style dinner for 250 Great America guests using ingredients found in the park, especially ingredients that are a staple of the theme park industry such as hamburgers, hotdogs, and, Great America’s claim to fame, funnel cakes!
Irvine was running around a ton between 6 and 7, but made his deadline (7pm) before the Mission Bells of Southwest Territory rang by 30 seconds. Anyway, the food was quite interesting and very sweet for the most part. I tried to take a little of everything as seen in the picture below (I know it’s a lot of food!)
Here is what was on the menu:
Hot Dog Sticks
Asian Style Maryak Potatoes with Ginger Gelato and Deep Fried Ribs
Jerk Chicken in a Waffle Cone
Seafood Hotdogs in Citrus Chutney
BBQ Beef Brisket in Funnel Cake
Seared Scallop Sandwich with Shelled Brie and Apple Sage Cotton Candy
Turkey Legs Osso Bucco
Square Burger Roller Coaster Rueben
Tornado Popcorn Cake and Melba
For the most part, the food was actually pretty good, but some stuff, like the Seafood Hotdogs and the Seared Scallops were a little too sweet and weird. The one dish that surprised me was the Beef Brisket in the Funnel Cake and the dish that I enjoyed the most was the Jerk Chicken in a Waffle Cone. The ingredients that made me wonder where they were from were the seafood. Actually, I found out that it’s from Hurricane Harbor, their Water Park and Key Lime Cove, their new official resort. However, the people at my table were surprised that they did not have him use pretzels, Lemon Ice, and their famous Apple Turnovers. All in all, the Dinner Impossible was a success! As my friend Taleb Masri said, “It was a thrill ride for my taste buds!” So make sure to check out this episode which should be airing late September.
I would also like to thank Terri, the manager in charge of the event for letting my group when I was told that I was too late to participate. I RSVP to this event and warned them that it would be hard for me to get there in Chicago Rush hour traffic between the registration of 2-5, but I would be there before the MUST BE SEATED at 6:30. If SFGA does this again, they need to get nicer people for that front area and hold seating for the people that were kind enough to RSVP. I got in so crisis avoided, but I just wanted to thank Terri again who was the bright spot on poor attitude workers.
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While it is difficult to see in the picture, there was a salad and was fresh fruit dessert, but I am sorry if I omitted them in the description since they were not theme park food with a "twist".
While you are right that Theme Park food is not great, I consider myself lucky that I have ACTUALLY been overseas to Europe and, in paticular, Disneyland Paris. The food at DLP was the same "junk" that you can find at WDW.
While we are on this subject, you are not going to get very far on this site slamming the food quality at WDW. I am half Italian, from Chicago, and, once again, been to Italy and Tutto Italiano and Tony's is authentic and pretty good. Not to mention all the resorts with Victoria and Albert's, Yachttsman, and Jiko to name a few!
I guess you really didn't do your homework on theme parks if you cut your vacation short due to the food at Disney World.
Your main point is correct: The food does look a little gross and SFGA is not top of the theme park food list, but the whole point of the contest was to make dishes using theme park foods.
And there are fat people in Australia and around the world too! Sorry if I offended you, but I think you took it a bit too far.
Anyway, if one wants higher-quality theme park food, I suggest reading Scott Joseph's recent restaurant reviews, linked to from various blog posts on the site over the past month.
But anyway, the food was good, but it was obvious that it was not good for you. I would rather have this food than what they usually have.
But in all honesty, SFGA does not have that great of food.
But you bring up an excellent point in quality you would find in theme parks. More or less, the standard faire is pretty bad no matter where you go. However, Disney (and to an extent Universal) does have some fine resturants such as Mythos, the Brown Derby, most of EPCOT, etc. The one theme park that seems to have some good food for counter service (fast food) is Animal Kingdom. Maybe its just me!
Like mentioned, Food Network really likes the food from Dollywood.
The worst part of the day is the night was very busy with way too long lines for coasters after dark.
The quality of the frying medium is the major concern
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