Greetings from Disneyland!

I am officially settled in and ready to get down to business. Food business to be exact.

Last night, my parents and I took a stroll in Downtown Disney and did a little light shopping. My mum needed more Alice in Wonderland Tea, and we were more than willing to oblige and get as close to Disneyland as possible despite the fact that we weren’t going in. Downtown Disney was crowded, which was to be expected during night time, so we didn't linger for long, only long enough to see the necessary things such as a rather large Woody from Toy Story made entirely out of Legos.

Soon enough we felt the emptiness of our stomachs and the ache of our feet so we found our way to the Anaheim Garden walk just down Harbour Boulevard. This area has a selection of chain restaurants and stores that are somewhat on the expensive side, but it shouldn't be forgotten when it comes to food outside of the parks.

Like everywhere else at this time of night, the restaurants were busy and our original intent was to eat at the California Pizza Kitchen- just like we had done previously on a Disneyland trip- but the wait time was longer than our stomachs would allow so we moved onto the next restaurant. Right across the way was McCormick and Schmick's and that too was a long wait of 45 minutes with no room at the bar. Trying to ponder our situation, we sat on a lonely bench amongst the restaurant madness and went through our options. It was dinnertime and it was busy, but where else could we go?

My mum then pulled out her Open Table app and discovered that she could make a reservation for that very same McCormick and Schmick's we were sitting outside of. At that point anything was worth a shot so she made the reservation and we went to see if it worked. It did! So while we waited to be seated we dared to venture into the packed bar area and order some drinks. Still under the drinking age, I had a refreshing raspberry lemonade which I downed rather quickly before we were seated.

McCormick and Schmick's is a fancy, expensive seafood restaurant with very few choices of either fish or steak, and the options are even more limited if you have allergies. I had a choice of maybe two entrees- maybe. The waiter did fill me in as to what was gluten-free which was helpful but involved a lot of going back and forth between our table the kitchen on his part. In the end I got my fifth dinner choice and it was expensive at close to $30 in price but the good thing was that it at least tasted good.

I finally ended up having the wild barramundi with herb ratatouille. To be honest, I kind of was sold when it said ratatouille. I love the Pixar movie by that name and because of that film I had made ratatouille at home several times and know how delicious it was- despite it being a peasant dish. The only reason this was number five on my top dinner choices was because I was not familiar with the fish. Barramundi is a flaky white fish in between halibut and sea bass, and I had never come across it before, which was shocking since I have been to many a fish market. Its texture is very soft and while one would worry if the herb sauce would over power it, it didn't and complimented the fish quite nicely. The ratatouille was tender and perfectly seasoned, and while I'm not too certain if it particularly went with the fish, it was a nice side dish.

The dish overall was satisfying and delicious just very expensive. Personally I wouldn't eat there again unless someone else was paying because of the limited allergy friendly options and the prices.

-Charlotte