Parkside Market is a two-story eatery in Downtown Disney in Anaheim, inspired by midcentury design and including some quick serve food options on the first floor and a bar called Vista on the second.
The Smokey Sunset is a Painkiller riff that uses Blood Orange juice rather than regular OJ and subs Ardbeg Scotch for the rum. The peaty notes are hard to miss and stand up well to the creamy sweetness, making this an interesting riff and a pretty good cocktail to sip on when you’re away from the parks but not at Trader Sam’s at the Disneyland Hotel.
I don’t know how anyone gets reservations at the Blue Bayou, the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, so we joined the walk up queue a little before 11 am and got in for Lunch a little after the top of the hour.
We love the tranquil ambiance inside and our lunch was really great, including the Hurricane cocktail that while not so boozy definitely has a balanced flavor.
Seriously, though, how do you get reservations here? We’d love to sit by the water.
One of my earliest memories of Disneyland is trying their Mint Julep, a non-alcoholic version that’s sold at the Mint Julep Bar in New Orleans Square. It’s basically minty sugar water on ice but it made an impression on me.
All of the table service restaurants in Disneyland now include beer, wine, and a speciality cocktail on the menu. We had a pretty good Hurricane at the Blue Bayou last year and this trip we made reservations for Cafe Orleans where a Mint Julep with bourbon is on the menu. It’s pretty good, with a better mouthfeel and texture than the Mint Julep without booze. Still, it was nice to try the comparison.
In terms of potency, this didn’t have the same level of bourbon that’s usually called for in a Mint Julep, but otherwise I enjoyed it with lunch.
Captain Jack Sparrow tried to break into the cafe, but we told him there were no rum drinks and so he decided to move on.
This cocktail popped up in Beachbum Berry’s Total Tiki app and it was perfect to try since lime was the only juice I had on hand. This dates to the post World War 2 era and was served at the Tourist Bar in Port-au-Prince, Haiti – so naturally it uses Haitian spirits. Supposedly named after Haitian revolutionary General Alexandre Pétion who chose the title “President for Life” rather than “Emperor for Life.” What a true patriot.
Petion ¾ oz Lime juice ½ oz Sugar syrup ¾ oz Bénédictine ¾ oz Clairin from Haiti (alt: Cachaça) ¾ oz Barbancourt 8 Year Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass.
I loved this with Saint Benevolence Rum Clairin, but for the rest of my family I knew it would be a bit too much and subbed Cachaça as the Bum suggests. Quite a nice light style cocktail.
I should have bought this great Woody Miller mug when it came out years and years ago, but couldn’t skip it when Smuggler Steve had it available at the Dr. Funk Bazaar last month.
Love the orange glaze on this, very reminiscent of the venue’s graphical design. RIP Kon-Tiki.
After all the rum lists I’ve completed over the years I have to applaud my wife Julie for giving the rum list thing a shot with the Level I of the Rum Asylum list at Dr. Funk. This curated list of twenty mainstream rums covers a variety of styles and countries of origin and is a fantastic introduction to rum. Even better for folks like Julie who aren’t used to drinking spirits neat, Dr. Funk allows participants try to the rums in Daiquiri format. Pusser’s was the last rum and Julie said the Xaymaca Daiquiri was her favorite.
After completing the list, Justin walked her through the materials for Level II, she took a little rum pledge, received her completion pin, and then got to ring the bell. A soon-to-be bride sitting nearby was so inspired by the ceremony that she jumped up and threw a flower lei over Julie’s head. Ringing the bell *and* getting lei’d, it was quite a night.
Dr. Funk is hosting a Rum Asylum meetup on June 22, which Julie will be attending. I’m not sure how far she’ll get on the level II, but completing the first level is still a great accomplishment. Congrats.
San Francisco’s Zombie Village launched their first major menu refresh since they opened in 2018, offering several new cocktails and also adding in some classics such as the Port Light and Three Dots & a Dash. Thankfully, our favorite Zombie Village favorites including the Disco Banana, Coco Pandan, and Doc’s Grog remain on the menu.
Many of the new cocktails include coconut, including the creamy Catamaran that features pisco, Jamaica rum, and apricot. This cocktail isn’t too sweet and is supposedly inspired by the Tradewinds cocktail, but the apricot is more in the background. We also liked Over the Garden Wall that has rum, elderflower, coconut, and absinthe – again very balanced and not too heavy on the absinthe or coconut.
Over the Garden Wall
Our favorite new menu item was the Beach Hopper, with rum, cacao, mint, and coconut – this isn’t your grandfather’s Grasshopper but it’ll give you a lot of those same vibes. The balance for drink like this can be tricky and Zombie Village has it dialed in perfectly. We were impressed by the new menu that features 17 cocktails and seems to have a little bit of something for everyone, including cocktails based on bourbon, tequila, and mezcal plus a few well-known tiki favorites including the Mai Tai and Painkiller.
The new menu includes interior illustrations by Tony Canepa and is available for purchase. The menu launched on Wednesday with a low-key launch party that included a DJ set by Woody Miller who is also one of the artists who contributed to the venue. We think this is a great step forward for Zombie Village which previously had been resting on the laurels of the original cocktail menu and hopefully sets the place up for a fresh round of tropical cocktail converts.
