Can’t Make It To France for the Olympics? Head to Disney World Instead!
by Beth Keating
Disney, France & the Olympics
August 1, 2024
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If a trip to France for the Summer Olympics is a bit out of reach for you in terms of vacation days or wallet issues, and you happen to be in the Central Florida area instead, a pop into EPCOT might satisfy the travel bug, and get you in the spirit of international competition for the games.
The 2024 Summer Olympics are taking place in and around Paris, France, this year, so we decided to make a dining reservation for Chefs de France in the France pavilion at EPCOT, one of three table service restaurants in the pavilion.
Monsieur Paul is the upscale, signature dining location, while La Crêperie de Paris in the newer extension (near Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure) is a little more casual. The Crêperie also has an adjacent quick serve window, Crêpes À Emporter by La Crêperie de Paris. Monsieur Paul is the elegant, second floor eatery created by renowned French chef Paul Bocuse. It was originally Bistro de Paris, and it was the very first Bocuse-affiliated restaurant in the United States. Jérôme Bocuse, his son, is now at the helm of the table service restaurants in the France pavilion. The prix fixe, multi-course meal at Monsieur Paul is on many park-goers bucket lists.
Our dinner at Chefs de France on this evening, though, was just as “French feeling” as when we’d eaten at a sidewalk brasserie in the real Paris many years ago. We’d gone to France for a friend’s wedding in the picturesque French countryside, and then spent a few days in Paris to visit the museums and tourist sights before heading home.
Back here in Florida, Chefs de France gave us a similar ambiance to that Parisian dinner so long ago. All we would have needed was the mime in the black and white striped shirt, entertaining passersby out front, to complete the tableau from Paris.
Chefs de France, also serving the cuisine of Jérôme Bocuse, has floor to ceiling windows lining the front and sides of the building, and you can look out on the guests strolling by on the EPCOT promenade. Inside, the high ceilings and mosaic tiled floors make the room bright and spacious (and a bit noisy – it was occasionally difficult to hear the cast members).
The food at Chefs de France was fantastique! In addition to the a la carte offerings, they also have a Menu Francais, a prix fixe selection for $65.95 that gives you one appetizer, and a choice of one selected entrée (pick from Filet de saumon, Gratin de macaroni, Rataouille sur quinoa, Poulet fermier roti, or Boeuf Bourguignon) and one dessert, as well as a choice of one glass of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon Georges Duboeuf, or a non-alcoholic beverage.
The prix fixe menu sounded like a good deal, but as we’d already been making the rounds at EPCOT earlier in the day, we also decided it sounded like too much food, so we opted to go a la carte.
While waiting for our appetizer, our cast member – who interestingly happened to be from Paris himself – brought over a lovely warm baguette with a pat of sea salted butter. It was soft and pillowy on the inside, and just a bit crisp on the outside, and sad to say, we polished it off pretty quickly without pacing ourselves. We should have kept part of it for later – you’ll see why in a moment.
The appetizer we chose was the Tartare de saumon legerement fume avec sauce a l’aneth ($17.50), a salmon tartare, with cucumber and dill sauce. Raw salmon can sometimes be a challenge to show off attractively, but this plate came with a very nice presentation. A sizeable round of salmon was displayed on shredded cucumber, with a topper of split grape tomatoes and a few extra cucumber slices. A miniature baguette, lightly olive oiled and grilled, was the perfect vessel to accompany the salmon, and added a nice crunch to the softer fish. The salmon was served pleasantly chilled, and the warmer baguette was a good contrast in temperatures. The slightly smoky salmon was also surrounded by a beautiful dill sauce, which was a touch sweet, and grounded the salmon flavors nicely. This was a refreshing, tasty starter to our meal.
For our entrées, we chose another seafood dish, and a much more traditional French beef dish. The Blanquette de la mer ($37.95), a plate of amazing, sautéed shrimp and scallops, served with spinach in a creamy lobster sauce, completed the seafood motif for the day, but we should have saved some of that delightful baguette to sop up the remaining lobster sauce. We came pretty close to licking the plate clean anyway. If you are a seafood lover, this was a dish worth coming in for.
There were a good number of nicely-sized shrimp and scallops, all very fresh and perfectly cooked. They had just a touch of a sear, but the chef had been careful not to overcook the shellfish. The sauce accompanying the dish was lighter than a typical lobster sauce, somewhere between a cream sauce and a broth, and was delicious. The lobster flavor definitely came through. A long spiralized carrot brought some color to the dish, and the well-seasoned spinach also gave some visible color and texture to the plate. Overall, the flavors blended well.
Our second entrée was a more traditional choice in a French restaurant: the Boeuf Bourguignon ($34.95), this time served with linguine. This braised beef in Cabernet was an incredibly tender dish, and we’d gladly choose this entrée again. Simmered with tiny baby onions, sautéed mushrooms, diced carrots and celery, it arrived with a scoop of linguine, rather than the more typical mashed or roasted potatoes, but the pasta provided a simple backdrop to soak up the extra broth. The rich brown “sauce” was, in fact, closer to a broth than a thicker gravy, but it was light and flavorful without being too heavy for a park day. I’d say this was a good “comfort food” dish, but it really was a bit more elevated than that. Again, should have saved some of that warm baguette for the remaining broth!
We were rapidly getting full, but the desserts looked too tempting (and too French) to not pick a few to finish off our Paris-centric meal. We chose the Gateau aux 3 chocolats, avec glace a la vanille ($14.95), a three layered chocolate mousse cake with vanilla ice cream; and the Cygne profiterole ($13.95).
When you think of French desserts, chocolate mousse is always at the top of the list, and this version of mousse was lovely. It was created as a glossy dome cake, rather than a sliced layer cake. While not what we were expecting this dessert to look like, it was a gorgeous presentation, and certainly brought the dessert up a notch in our book. Three chocolate “wings” decorated the top of this sweet, smooth chocolate, and the interior mousse was the lightest “dark chocolate” we’d experienced. A scoop of high-quality vanilla ice cream, just about the same size as the cake itself, accompanied the mousse dome. While a sweet dessert, it was not overly so, and wasn’t “too much” to finish.
The cygne profiterole was an Instagram-worthy, swan-shaped cream puff filled with vanilla ice cream, and the swan was “swimming” in a pool of dark chocolate sauce. Profiteroles are so quintessentially French, and the Disney pastry chefs outdid themselves creating this adorable dessert, which with its simple vanilla ice cream filling and plentiful chocolate sauce, was just enough of a sweet treat to satisfy at the end of the meal. The ice cream melted nicely into the dough of the airy dessert puff.
If our choices don’t inspire you, Chefs de France also has some of the more expected traditional French dishes available, including an escargots appetizer ($17.95); French onion soup ($13.95); ratatouille ($25.95); Crème Brûlée ($13.95); and an Opera cake ($14.95). There is also a full complement of French wines and other adult beverages on the menu. The kids’ menu is a bit more posh than the usual chicken nuggets, so if you will be traveling with les enfants, check the menu first to make sure they’ll enjoy the grilled chicken tenderloin, seared salmon, or Croquette de Boeuf (steak) before making a reservation.
The service at Chefs de France was well-paced, and the dining here felt more like a restaurant should be – but often isn’t – these days. The courses came out in a timely, but not rushed manner, and we never had to ask for anything from our waiter. He anticipated the dining timing, and was right on top of things, including refills before we even realized we needed them.
Even if we aren’t looking forward to an Olympics-themed afternoon, we’ll find ourselves back at Chefs de France again. It was quite the agréable evening.
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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.
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