I had an opportunity to sample a lot of fare during my recent visits. Keep in mind that the new park is finding its groove and will likely be testing and adjusting its menus. Let’s run down some of the highlights (and a couple of not-so-highlights), starting with the best pizza I’ve ever tasted at a theme park.

The Giant Mushroom at Pizza Moon in Celestial Park

I’m not going to lie. I am a pizza snob. I am very discerning about the Italian pies and have a passion for slices that runs nearly as deep as my theme park fixation. Pizza at theme parks? Talk about a dicey proposition. It’s almost always terrible or mediocre at best, and typically costs a small fortune. Sorry Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria at Epcot; I know you have your fans, but your crazy-expensive pizzas just don’t do it for me.

Pizza Moon had me swooning however. The delizioso Neapolitan pies have perfectly charred crusts with a nice bite and a slightly smoky taste to them that put me in a New York state of mind. And, mmm, the fancy shmancy toppings. The Giant Mushroom (pictured above) featured funky ‘shrooms, a pungent roasted garlic bechamel, and cheese that had a pleasing snap to it that was artfully drizzled with a lovely (and scrumptious) truffle aioli. The Pizza Lunare, made with ube yam-infused flour, which, improbably, turns the crust purple, was quite a sight. But the ricotta, garlic confit, and small bites of pancetta made it quite tasty as well. And get this: All of the pies clock in under $20. (Granted, they are 12-inch and designed to serve two.)

As for the quick-service restaurant’s vibe, the moon hit my eye like a big pizza pie; that’s amore. The lunar decor, which includes oversized, cartoony cheese blocks, animated artifacts hanging from the ceiling, and a wood-fired oven made to look like a retro spaceship that crash landed on the moon, is striking. I can’t wait to return and try more of the pizzas.

Smoked Brisket at The Oak & Star Tavern in Celestial Park

It’s not quite up there with pizza, but man, I love good BBQ. The first time I visited The Oak and Star Tavern, I was blown away by its smoked brisket. So tender, it essentially collapsed the moment my fork touched it. The meat was simultaneously juicy and boasted a rugged bark–the hallmarks of great low-and-slow pit mastery. And oh, the taste. Tangy with a hint of sweetness, it hit a heavenly flavor profile. It wasn’t just the best BBQ I’ve ever had at a theme park, it was among the best BBQ, period.

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Then I returned a few weeks later to the quick service eatery. Hoping for another hit of brisket bravado, I was disappointed to find dry meat that was a bit stringy and almost bland. Consistency is key for high-volume restaurants at parks. It would seem the kitchen staff is still finding its way at the new park. I know The Oak and Star is capable of sublime BBQ; here’s hoping the crew will hit their marks on a regular basis. The brisket can be ordered as part of a platter or as a sandwich. Whatever you get, consider supplementing it with mango bread, burnt ends baked beans, and smoked harissa cauliflower (which delivers some nice heat).

Astrid’s Shrimp Bowl at Spit Fyre Grill in How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk

If there’s one thing you should know about Isle of Berk, it’s that it has dragons. Lots and lots of dragons. The conceit at the Spit Fyre Grill is that there are dragon chefs at work in the kitchen flame broiling the meats. Rather than opting for the chicken or steak, I went for a shrimp bowl. It featured four decent-sized prawns that were nicely seared (thanks dragon chef!) and coated in a mildly sweet raspberry sauce that permeated the bed of sticky rice on which it was served. The grilled corn and, especially, the charred broccolini were nice adjuncts. The “bowl” was actually a rectangular cardboard container–nothing fancy at this quick-service place. The portion wasn’t exactly Viking-sized. Mac and cheese cones, which have become something of a social media sensation. are also on the menu.

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Kai-Ming’s Mapu Tofu at The Blue Dragon Pan-Asian Restaurant in Celestial Park

Oddly, The Blue Dragon is not in Isle of Berk. Apparently Celestial Park has fire-breathing creatures as well. The full-service restaurant is located at the far end of the land in front of the Helios Grand Hotel. The nicely appointed, full-service establishment offers dishes that span Asia’s cultural spectrum, including the Sichuan-inspired Mapu Tofu that I sampled. In addition to tofu, the delectable meatless dish features vegan ground pork that is surprisingly reminiscent in taste and texture of its non-vegan counterpart. The chili crisp sauce adds a nice zip to the offering.

King Oyster Mushroom Ceviche at Atlantic in Celestial Park

Speaking of plant-based ingredients that mimic non-vegetarian items, the mushrooms and the root vegetable, jicama, in the ceviche appetizer at Atlantic, Epic Universe’s other full-service dining spot, certainly fooled me into thinking I was eating seafood. Maybe the swanky restaurant, with its nautical theme, helped sell the illusion. Seasoned with a bit of cilantro, a hint of citrus, and a dash of heat, it melds together well. The house-made potato chips are a nice touch.

Butterbeer Crepe at Café L’air De La Sirène in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic

Of course, Universal had to conjure another butterbeer creation for its new park. The delicate dessert features a crepe filled with a blend of Bavarian and butterbeer cream that’s crowned with sliced strawberries, whipped cream, and a drizzle of butterbeer foam. The signature Wizarding World flavor is not cloyingly sweet. In fact, it’s subtle, and that’s a good thing. I’m going to stick with butterbeer soft serve, available at Florean Fortescue’s Ice-Cream Parlour at Dragon Alley in Universal Studios Florida, as my favorite butterbeer concoction. But the crepe is quite good.

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DK Crush Float Tropical Banana Flavor at The Bubbly Barrel in Super Nintendo World

I really wanted to like this culinary ode to Donkey Kong. I mean, it’s got banana pineapple soft serve (which I didn’t even know is a thing), and it can be ordered with a souvenir mug that looks like a barrel from the iconic video game. It’s served in a waffle cone that’s floating in pineapple soda, and it’s sprinkled with caramel popcorn and toffee bits. It all sounds great, but the whole shebang is not greater than the sum of its parts. And the parts aren’t even all that great. The float seems designed more for Instagram posts than for enjoying in the real world–or, in this case, Super Nintendo World.

Warm Hearted Cinnamon Bites at De Lacey's Cottage in Dark Universe

When Universal revealed that this delicacy would be offered at Epic Universe, some park fans speculated that it could be the company’s answer to cinnamon bread, the addictive treat available at Silver Dollar City and Dollywood. Nope. Not even close. Instead of the doughy, gooey, bread-like deliciousness that is cinnamon bread, these overly sweet, dry cakes are more like Dunkin’ donut holes.

Have you tried any of these items at Epic Universe? Do you have a hankering for any of them?

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Sadly, like far too many seaside amusement areas in the U.S., the coasters and other rides are long gone. All that remains in Salisbury is an arcade and a bunch of food joints. The arcade has had an ice cream stand on the main drag for as long as I can remember. It’s more common now to find soft serve flavors beyond the standard vanilla and chocolate, but the pistachio ice cream it offers to this day was a revelation and an only-in-Salisbury treat back when I was a kid. Ditto the refreshing and addictive Creamsicle-like, vanilla and orange soft serve swirl that Wiley’s candy shop has been dishing out for generations at the beach.

As you may have figured out, if there is one thing I love almost as much as parks and attractions, it’s food. (Well, music is way up there too, but I digress.) And when parks and food converge, that’s the sweet spot for me. It doesn’t get much sweeter than the subset of food for which I have a particular passion, ice cream. So in honor of National Ice Cream Day, which is this Sunday, July 16, and National Ice Cream Month, which lasts throughout July (lest you think this is some kind of cynical marketing ploy crafted by Big Dairy, the celebrations of the frozen treats are the result of an actual presidential proclamation), let’s get the scoop on a park that puts a cherry on top of some exceptional scoops.

With its mouth-watering barbecue, giant skillet concoctions, overflowing buffet, and more, Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri has some of the yummiest eateries in all of parkdom. That extends to its sweet offerings, including Hannah’s Ice Cream Parlor. Sure, you could order vanilla, butter pecan, and other traditional flavors. But if you’re like me, you’re going to go for one of the custom creations inspired by and named for two of the park’s outstanding roller coasters, Time Traveler and Outlaw Run.

The former has a chocolate ice cream base that is accented with marshmallow bonbon cream, chocolate flakes, and chocolate fudge, while the latter features vanilla, sea salt, caramel, and chocolate chunks. Are you salivating yet?

The park, which is themed as a late 19th-century mining town, is a stickler for storytelling, even when it comes to its ice cream. When developing the flavor profile for Outlaw Run, for example, Sam Hedrick, Silver Dollar City’s director of food and beverage, says that he and his team considered the location of the RMC Topper Track coaster. Since it’s found on the outskirts of the town, where it’s untamed, settlers would have to bring their own provisions.

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“Caramel was a sweet treat that could travel well in the plains and prairies,” he notes. “Moreover, every wagon would have brought salt to preserve food, so we found that it was a great compliment to the sweet of the ice cream.”

The park’s devotion to theme extends to the making of the ice cream, which is produced in small batches at Hannah’s and on display to guests. The flavors are churned in five-gallon buckets and are made with 14% butterfat content, which is considered “super-premium” in the dairy industry.

“We pack it in ice and rock salt and let it mix for 20 minutes. That’s it. No electric refrigeration,” says Hedrick. “We want to show guests, and especially kids, how ice cream was made in the 1880s and still is today at Silver Dollar City. It’s part science and part magic, but 100% authentic.”

If you can’t decide which flavor to get–and really, why should you?–my advice is to order a large and get a scoop of both Time Traveler and Outlaw Run. You might want to wait until after you’ve braved the inversions on the namesake coasters to indulge in them, however.

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Sister park Dollywood, which is located in Tennesee, doesn’t make its own sweet stuff, but it does hand scoop delicious flavors such as Smoky Mountain Fudge at its Showstreet Ice Cream shop. Featuring chocolate ice cream, fudge swirls, and chocolate sandwich cookie pieces, the gooey treat has been temporarily renamed “Big Bear Mountain” in honor of the park’s newest coaster.

Another great choice to celebrate National Ice Cream Month (and Day) is the wonderfully creamy and unique-tasting Butterbeer soft serve at Florean Fortescue’s Ice-Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida. The shop also serves wild-sounding, Potter-inspired hard ice cream flavors such as Sticky Toffee Pudding and Earl Grey and Lavender. I always intend to try some of the other choices, but inevitably order the Butterbeer soft serve whenever I visit the park. It’s almost like I’m under a spell.

Do you love ice cream as much as I do? (It’s doubtful.) What are some of your favorite parks for ice cream?

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Also, please remember that the next “What’s the Attraction?” discussion thread, which is exclusively for paid subscribers, will take place tomorrow (Friday, October 28), starting at 10:30 a.m. ET. The topic will be whether the Disney parks have become too expensive and/or too difficult to navigate (i.e., advance reservations, Disney Genie+, individual Lightning Lane, etc.). Collect your experiences and thoughts and join in what is sure to be a spirited conversation. And thanks for being a paid subscriber.

4 (out of 5)

Florida’s Disney World has some wonderful themed dining experiences. For example, waitstaff channeling retro parents might give guests a brusque reminder to finish their vegetables at Disney Hollywood Studios’ charming 50's Prime Time Café. Fortunately, they don’t seem to mind if diners watch classic shows on the old black and white televisions installed at each table. It’s always dusk at the Studios’ Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant where cheesy movies are screened as patrons enjoy comfort food in spiffy mid-century convertibles.

At its latest high-concept (with an emphasis on “high”) restaurant, the theme park resort takes the theme–and the food–to, um a whole new level. The premise of Epcot’s Space 220 is that guests are whisked up to a space station overlooking the Earth. The dining room offers expansive views of the planet to accompany the delicious fare.

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That’s because they were delicious.

You might expect the dining experiences would be well themed and injected with whimsy aboard the Disney Wish, which is set to sail its maiden voyage on July 14 and will be the fifth member of the Disney Cruise Line fleet. This is a Mouse House production after all. What you might not expect is that the food itself would be wonderful. It is creative, artfully presented, tasty, and decidedly elevated compared to the more pedestrian meals served in the main dining rooms on the mass market cruise lines.

DCL pioneered the concept of “rotational dining.” Instead of having one or perhaps two ginormous dining rooms, as is the case on most other cruises, The Wish, like its sister ships, has three venues. Passengers are assigned successive seatings in all of the restaurants, and their servers follow them from venue to venue. That way, the waitstaff can get to know the guests and dote on them with attentive service. It’s a clever arrangement.

Arendelle: A Frozen Dining Adventure is a dinner theater-like experience. The premise is that guests have been invited to a royal engagement party for Kristoff and Queen Anna. The meal is punctuated by performances of familiar tunes from the “Frozen” canon along with appearances by the perky characters. The animatronic Olaf is mighty impressive.

While children will likely be enchanted, I’m quite a bit outside the target demo for silly snowman hijinks. Also, it was a tad hard for my family to pay attention to the show and simultaneously pore over the tempting menu, order our meals, and converse with one another. That’s standard issue for dinner theaters I suppose.

Some of the effects in the tricked-out dining room/theater were apparently not working during our performance. (We were aboard the first sailing of the Wish, and many things were still in preview mode.) That may have had an impact on the show’s continuity.

But oh, the food.

I started with “Anna’s Koldtbord,” a smoked fish appetizer that was heavenly and skewed well to the Scandinavian theme. Like many of the dishes, it prominently featured dill. The pan-seared Chilean sea bass I ordered for my main course was deliciously moist and tasty as well as beautifully plated with a seared scallop sitting atop the fish, and white asparagus, peas, and kohlrabi offering contrasting colors and textures.

“We marry what we put on the plate with the story,” says Steve Walker, culinary director for Disney Cruise Line. “The food tells a story in itself.” The commitment to story extends beyond the food and can be seen in the custom-designed dinnerware, flatware, and other details. “Nothing is off the shelf,” Walker notes.

All of the Wish’s dining rooms were wonderful, but my family and I gave Arendelle top honors. The dishes were uniformly scrumptious. It’s a bit amazing to me that the kitchen can produce 700 servings, virtually all at once, and achieve such a high level of quality and artistry—and do the same thing at the same time at the ship’s other two restaurants.

The service was great; if anything, it was too attentive, with our servers frequently hovering in our vicinity and perhaps a smidge too eager to clear our dishes. Then again, we were assigned early seatings, and the staff needed to clear the restaurants and prepare them for the second round each evening.

“When the concept for the Worlds of Marvel restaurant was announced, we had a blank canvas,” says Andy Bell, culinary development manager for Disney Cruise Line. “We were able to add playful touches to the dishes.”

And how. For my main course, I opted for the lamb shawarma salad, which is a deconstructed take on the sandwich favored by the Avengers. An elegant interpretation of a fast-food item, it featured tasty roasted lamb served over pita triangles, roasted chickpeas, pickled cabbage, and other vegetables, and topped with tzatziki sauce. I started with a truly jumbo shrimp–a nod to Ant-Man’s Pym Particles– served over corn grits and collard greens.

The menu includes bao buns, “Wakandan” salads, and other references to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The stark (see what I did there?) dining room has a vague industrial vibe. Apparently, the guests have been invited to attend a “Quantum Encounter” presentation hosted by Ant-Man and The Wasp. Taking a cue from the Animator's Palate dining experience on DCL’s other ships, the Worlds of Marvel includes screens throughout the dining room on which the characters appear. Predictably, things go horribly wrong during the demonstration, and other Marvel do-gooders are called into action to save the day.

I was prepared for some MCU action. What I wasn’t prepared for was the humor. Rudd and Evangeline Lilly, aka The Wasp, are laugh-out-loud funny. I was afraid the dulce de leche ice cream in my Pym doughnut sundae might come out of my nose.

The third dining room aboard the Disney Wish is 1923, an ode to the year that The Walt Disney Company was founded. (I wonder what The Mouse has in store to mark its centennial next year; it has to be something big, right?) Its Art Deco touches recall the Jazz Age and make for a stylish decor. The twin dining rooms (one is named for Walt Disney, the other for his brother Roy) are filled with animation cels, maquette sculptures, and other artifacts from the studio’s long and celebrated history.

Unlike the ship’s other two dining experiences, there is no show here. Guests have to actually make an attempt to converse with their table mates (sigh). The food leans into California cuisine. I was particularly taken with my ahi tuna appetizer, which was exquisitely arranged on a stylish black plate. The melt-in-your-mouth fish came adorned with pickled lotus root, yuzu mayonnaise, especially tasty seared oyster mushrooms, and something referred to as “black sesame brittle.” I haven’t a clue what it was, but it was quite good.

My son, who is a vegetarian, adored his “Buena Vista Soft Shell Tacos” entree, which featured quinoa instead of meat. Prepared with salsa fresca, pickled red onions, cashew cream, and other ingredients, the dish was another example of DCL chefs taking a fast casual staple and transforming it into something unexpected, delightful, and sophisticated.

For breakfast and lunch, guests can visit Marceline Market, the ship’s equivalent of the cruise ship buffet. Instead of getting the food themselves, servers behind glass partitions load up diners’ plates at the various stations. I hope this is a pandemic-era trend that sticks around.

The food in the nicely appointed market was generally quite good. The congee available at breakfast was a surprising and delicious dish.

Also available for lunch, as well as an informal dinner, is Mickey and Friends Festival of Foods, a food hall of sorts that offers items such as barbecue, pizza, burritos, and soft-serve ice cream. Fast-food offerings such as these are often found on other cruise ships, but it is a new and welcome concept for DCL. While the food was serviceable, nothing really stood out. For reasons that are unclear to me, many people were going bonkers for the unremarkable chicken tenders, which are apparently a DCL thing.

I did not get to try the adults-only, premium dining offerings on the Disney Wish, which include Enchanté, an especially upscale restaurant overseen by decorated chef, Arnaud Lallement, and Palo Steakhouse, which features Italian-inspired dishes along with chophouse favorites. I did, however, once have the pleasure of dining at Remy on the Disney Fantasy, which is also under the stewardship of Lallement, and it was one of the best culinary experiences I ever had.

There are other places to grab treats, snacks, and bites throughout the ship. And there are certainly plenty of bars aboard that offer beverages, not the least of which is the Star Wars: Hyperspace Lounge. Guests might want to cap off one of their dinners there by indulging in a Kaiburr Crystal cocktail, which goes for a mere $5,000. And yes, that’s in U.S. dollars, not Imperial credits.

Are you planning to sail aboard the Disney Wish? To what dining experience are you most looking forward? How have you enjoyed the food on other Disney cruises?

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Okay, that is a lot to unpack. First of all, you’re probably wondering where and what Salem Willows may be. Second of all, you have to be pondering how “chop suey” and “sandwich” could possibly be combined together. Finally, you might have been alarmed by my “last one” statement. Rest assured, I’m in fine health and hope to be around for plenty more Father’s Days. The chop suey sandwich’s days are numbered, however.

When people ask me what my home park is, I typically say Canobie Lake Park or Six Flags New England. But really, it’s Salem Willows. Located on a peninsula in Salem, Massachusetts (yes, that Salem), I’ve been going to the spot since I was a toddler.

It is named for its stately willow trees, which were planted in the early 1800s and provide wonderful shade. That, combined with its ocean breezes, makes Salem Willows a delightful place to be on hot summer days. The Naumkeag Street Railway, which operated trolleys that connected the Willows to downtown Salem, opened an amusement park on the peninsula in 1880. Although it is not recognized as a surviving trolley park, it probably should be by my estimation.

Granted, the 35-acre seaside spot barely qualifies as an amusement park today. The strip of buildings that line its promenade include an antique carousel, three kiddie rides, a couple of arcades, and a handful of dining joints. One of them is Salem Lowe, which serves Chinese food.

Housed in a nondescript building with barely a nod to marketing, there is almost always a line of customers at its takeout window. Some of them are there to order lo mein, combination plates, fried rice or other fare typically found at American Chinese restaurants. But many of them have made the pilgrimage to order a curiosity that’s tucked away on its funky, hand-lettered menu board: the chicken chop suey sandwich.

So, what exactly is a chop suey sandwich? It’s pretty much what you might think it would be: bean sprouts and a few hints of chicken mixed in a gummy, clear sauce that’s unceremoniously plopped down on a pedestrian hamburger bun. For an extra few cents, I get mine with crunchy dried noodles that add a bit of texture. I then douse it with soy sauce.

Although it’s ostensibly a sandwich, neither I nor anybody I know would dare to pick it up with two hands and try to eat it as such. Anyone foolish enough to attempt that would likely end up with a lapful of chop suey. Instead, it’s best attacked with a plastic fork.

Speaking of fathers, my family had an annual ritual that involved the eatery. Back in the day, it was open year round instead of the seasonal schedule it has adhered to more recently. For some odd reason, every winter my dad would get a hankering for a chop suey sandwich from Salem Lowe. My mom would remind him that he wasn’t really all that crazy about them, but there was no stopping him. So we’d all pile into my dad’s powder blue Chrysler New Yorker and head over to a desolate Salem Willows, invariably on a blustery, snowy day in February.

We would dutifully order our sandwiches and about ten seconds into eating his, my dad, with some gooey bean sprouts hanging out of one corner of his mouth, would get this look on his face like he had just chugged some unadulterated lemon juice mixed with vinegar. “See,” my mother would chide him, “you don’t like them.” Nevertheless, we’d find ourselves back at Salem Lowe the following winter.

But here’s the thing. I wouldn’t say that I love the taste of a chop suey sandwich either. I dare say that virtually everyone who lives on Boston’s North Shore would agree with me. But we all love the idea of the chop suey sandwich. We love its weirdness; we love that it heralds warm weather after a long, hard winter; we love the summer tradition of ordering it from the window in the drab, tan building and then searching, often in vain, for a bench without seagull poop on which to eat the bizarre (or, as we Boston-area “R” deniers like to say, “wicked bazah”) concoction.

It’s a tradition we are going to have to forego, however. After about fifty years of slinging chop suey, proprietor David Yee is going to hang up his apron and retire. And speaking of fathers, he says his kids aren’t interested in laboring over a wok, so he can’t pass Salem Lowe on to the next generation.

“They have their own careers,” says Yee. “They don’t want to spend the long hours that we spend at the restaurant.” He can’t find anybody to purchase the business either, so, regrettably, Salem Lowe is set to close in August.

I asked Yee where the concept of the chop suey sandwich came from, and he said he has no idea. He inherited it when he bought the business, which dates back to the 1930s. I don’t have any idea either, of course, but I do recall visiting the original Nathan’s at Coney Island many years ago and seeing a vintage menu sign that included items it no longer served, including fried oysters and…chop suey sandwiches. I was astonished. Perhaps chop suey sandwiches were a seaside park delicacy at one time. Or maybe, as with many things in the amusement industry, it originated at Coney Island, and Salem Lowe decided to copy it. Who knows? It could be the other way around.

Oddly, for a few years, there were two joints serving Chinese food at Salem Willows, and they both offered chop suey sandwiches. Now there will be none.

“It will be emotional when it’s time to close,” Yee told me with a hint of wistfulness in his voice. The man has spent a lifetime delighting his customers with the peculiar comfort food. It’s clear he wishes that he could keep going, or at least, that somebody could carry the culinary torch.

“I think a lot of people will be sad,” adds Yee. I know that I will. But next Father’s Day and in the years to come, I’ll think about his Chinese food stand and long for some bland chop suey served on a hamburger bun–just like my dad.

Have you ever had the good fortune of trying a chop suey sandwich? Or, have you seen a chop suey sandwich served anywhere else? (I’ve heard that there may be a restaurant in Fall River, Massachusetts that offers them as well as a stand at Old Orchard Beach in Maine.) Do you have any odd food items you found at amusement parks or distinctive regional dishes you want to share? Please chime in.

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