we had a birthday dinner reservation at Kouzzina by Cat Cora last night. It is a Mediterranean and Greek home-cooking kitchen inspired restaurant by Cat Cora (think female Iron Chef America.) Kouzzina is Greek for kitchen and the dishes are inspired I suppose by what you might find in a home kitchen in Greece.
It is at the Boardwalk at Disney which is supposed to be reminiscent of the Jersey Shore. Around 3pm we remembered that we had a couple of passes for Disney parks tucked away and decided that after dinner we would head over to the Magic Kingdom for the summer Nightastic events and a few rides.
We made our way to the endless parking lots at Disney and parked at the Magic Kingdom to help make our getaway after the fireworks. To make it to Kouzzina and then back to the park took 4 monorail rides, 3 boat rides and 2 bus rides. We actually laid eyes on Epcot, Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom. No lie.
What about dinner? Well, I wasn’t really sure how I expected Greek inspired and maybe a little dumbed down for Disney food to be but I was pleasantly surprised.
We ordered Kasseri cheese as an appetizer which is a sheep’s milk cheese that is pan fried in olive oil and sprinkled with fresh oregano and capers and served alongside a deeply char-grilled lemon half that has been drizzled with olive oil and served with grilled oil oiled bread. This is an perfect start to a meal with it’s salty creamy cheeseand tart lemon. It really leaves you ready for more.
For supper I had the Kouzzina trio. In reading the menu I was a little off taken by the idea of cinnamon stewed chicken and orzo but the ultra tender chicken was spiced delicately by savory cinnamon and tomatoes. The Pastitsio is a sort of Greek lasagna with bucatini and cinnamon beef and bechamel and kind of addictive with Mizithra cheese on top. It was rounded out by a garlicky lamb slider that was spicy and bright with tomatoes and cucumber.
Z had flank steak with herb saltsa (ground green herbs, lemon and garlic) and garlic pan roasted new potatoes over just slightly wilted whole leaf spinach.
We were too full for dessert which was disappointing (Greek doughnuts with honey and baklava…) I am definitely going to recreate some of these recipes at home for their classic, bright, gorgeously warm deep flavors.
Magic Kingdom isn’t so bad on your birthday either except they give you a button and everyone is consistent about saying ‘happy birthday – you don’t look a day over 21’ which clearly means that you do.
My Urban Pantry 