Sunday Brunch: Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe
3 March 2013
Author's Note: I guess I subconsciously planned
today's article. Ironically, today's Sunday Brunch is an unexpected
fitting tribute to the Disney's Broadway Production of Mary Poppins,
which performs its last performance tonight after a terrific seven
year run. 'Au Revoir, Mary Poppins.'
Now then what'd be nice
We'll start with Raspberry Ice
And then some cakes and tea
Order what you will
There'll be no bill
It's complimentary
My expectations at the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe at
the end of Disneyland's Main Street were set pretty high since
during Mary Poppin's jolly holiday, she got some free pastries and
toasty beverages from a fleet of penguin waiters. While that is not
quite the type of service guests receive at the new Disneyland Main
Street bakery cafe, guests are served a delicious array of cafe
salads, soups, sandwiches, and of course pastries. The cafe is also
decorated with motifs from the beloved film.

While the penguin waiters are not present in person,
They decorate the bakery such as this beautiful window




Mary Poppins weathervane, quite fitting for the character and
Disneyland
With a dozen menu items and dozens more pastries,
the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe has a distinctly classic American cafe
menu, despite its inspiration from a British story. While the theme
of the Cafe is somewhat questionable in Main St. USA, the American
menu fits the time period of turn of the century America: Turkey
sandwiches, Waldorf Salad inspired sandwiches, tomato soup, and
grilled cheese (called 'toasted cheese' here) sandwiches with house
made potato chips. My last night in Disneyland, dining companion
Hidden Mickey Alex and I sampled the Chicken Waldorf on Brioche
sandwich and the Jolly Holiday Combo (toasted cheese sandwich and
tomato basil soup).

The toasted cheese sandwich was a Grilled Cheese
sandwich conveniently paired with tomato soup, an American classic.
I liked that the sandwich was precut into easy to tear off sticks to
dip into the tomato soup, an incredibly savory perfectly seasoned,
thick and tomato rich soup. The Chicken Waldorf on Brioche sandwich
is inspired by the classic Waldorf Salad developed at the famous
Waldorf Hotel in New York City in the 1890s, a similar time period
to the Mary Poppins story. The sandwich version uses a type of
chicken salad with dried cranberries, celery, lettuce, apples, and
walnuts with a mayonnaise based dressing. Both sandwiches were
excellent and satisfying with the Waldorf being most refreshing.

Pre-sliced Toasted Cheese sandwich, perfect for dipping!

The sandwiches were served on the same newspaper decorated waxy
paper
like at the Yorkshire Fish Shop in Epcot.
Our first visit to the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe, we
made sure to explore the bakery part of the menu and sample some of
their pastries. Alex enjoyed a Matterhorn Macaroon, a popular treat
from the former Blue Ribbon Bakery on Main Street. The dessert is a
stack of coconut macaroons dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled
with more coconut. My sister and I tried the specialty cupcake
available for the True Love Week of Disneyland's Limited Time Magic.
The cupcake was a chocolate cupcake with a raspberry mousse filling
topped with a dark chocolate mousse and dipped in chocolate ganache.
The raspberry mousse filling was minimal, but still good.
Disneyland's bakery products certainly satisfied our sweet teeth
while also surprising us with their creativity.



Check out all the chocolate mousse!


While you dine on its pastry counterpart,
there are perfect views of the Matterhorn from the Bakery

As mentioned in last week's first Disneyland food
review of the
Bengal Barbecue, the Walt-promised ever changing park found a
way to use a somewhat lost and forgotten space and transform it into
a profitable and popular new dining venue that fits in with the rest
of the park as if it's been there for years. The space in which the
Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe resides in today started as the Plaza
Pavillion, a restaurant sponsored by Stouffer's. The restaurant
sadly closed its doors in 1997 and turned into an Annual
Passholder's sales center and for over a decade, the fantastic
building and location was wasted on a service that could easily be
located elsewhere in the Disneyland resort. Finally in 2012,
Disneyland announced it was moving the Blue Ribbon Bakery to the
Plaza Pavillion and re-imagining it as the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe
we know today and will surely be loved for many years to come.

A Mary Poppins tree, decorated with
lyrics and images from the film's beloved songs

At one point in Disneyland history, Miss Poppin's Penguins did serve
guests.
Here's to hoping that day will return soon!
While penguin waiters do not serve you free pastries
in a sidewalk chalk drawing world, the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe
manages to delight guests with its delicious treats and its Mary
Poppins inspired theme. I find it delightful that Disneyland not
only managed to bring new life to a forgotten space, but made it so
with beloved characters already existing in their repertoire. While
the magical British nanny's placement in a land so wholeheartedly
American at a Cafe with such American menu offerings is rather
questionable, one mustn't forget, she is on a jolly holiday after
all.