A Delicious Disneyland Eve Dinner

April 22, 2012

• Famous Prime Rib French Dip Sandwich
• Crispy Chicken Sandwich
• Grilled Scottish Salmon

My middle sister, Deb, was coming to California for a conference in Anaheim and was able to come early. We all saw this as a wonderful opportunity to get together and go to Disneyland. Diane and Disneyland are the same age (born within days of each other) and we like to go there regularly.  Disneyland celebrates their anniversaries every every five years which is when we plan our regular visits. Thus while we were there just two years ago it has been over 35 years since Deb's only visit when she and my family came out from New York for our wedding. She has been to Disney World several times since then but not to the original theme park in Anaheim.

Her flight was scheduled to arrive at the John Wayne airport in Santa Ana shortly after noon on Sunday. While she was at the airport in Chicago awaiting her connecting flight, we arose early and started the long drive south to meet her. The timing worked out very well ... she  waited at the arrivals curb for only a few minutes before we arrived from San Jose to pick her up.

After checking in to our motel we  headed for the Balboa Peninsula for the afternoon. It was a nice but not spectacular Sunday afternoon, being overcast and not particularly warm for Southern California. Nonetheless, many others had decided to visit the beach this day and it took us some time to find a place to park. We ended up at a metered spot on the street and so had only a limited time to explore, which we did, strolling along the beach and onto the Balboa Pier, enjoying the sites and sounds along this wide sandy beach.

It was still early when we returned to our car but we were ready for dinner. We returned to the mainland using the Balboa Island Ferry (mostly for fun) and drove south along the Pacific Coast Highway looking for a place to eat. We were hungry and this made it harder for us to make a choice. Eventually, we pulled over and did some on-line searching using our smart phones. We finally selected Bandera based on its menu and the on-line reviews. We could have just gotten out of the car at that point, we were that close, but we turned around and parked at the restaurant. We arrived early enough to get a table right away.

We each ordered a different meal and all were wonderful. Diane had wine with her salmon while Deb and I chose a Mission Brewery ale to go with our sandwiches. The food, beer, and wine were all excellent as was the atmosphere in the restaurant. We were seated in a booth near the very large bar. I was concerned at first that would be a noisy spot but it never became such. The bar seemed to be in use more for dining than for drinking.

It was an excellent start to our mini-SoCal vacation.

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We've had the roast pork shoulder three times since the it was prepared and we still have enough for probably one more meal. Twice it was simply reheated in the microwave and the third time it was shredded and mixed with barbecue sauce for pulled pork sandwiches.  The peach sauce was reduced further before being used and it was much improved, being thick and syrupy and did not have quite as dominant a mustard taste as it did originally.