rael ramone
Well-Known Member
My first impression was it looked like a Hilton Garden Inn Coffee Shop. (though on another thread I posted that it was more reminiscent of a Perkins or Waffle House - that'll get the DDP crowd happy!).
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California Grill closing January 2013
- Thread starter EpcotCenter82
- Start date
My first impression was it looked like a Hilton Garden Inn Coffee Shop. (though on another thread I posted that it was more reminiscent of a Perkins or Waffle House - that'll get the DDP crowd happy!).
WDW1974
Well-Known Member
I would guess they took it down more because they haven't announced the Disney Magic will be in drydock later this year and I 'outed' the fact that the ship on their site is indeed the Magic. ... It's just Disney trying to control the release of information like they always do.
WDW1974
Well-Known Member
I don't know if I'd take it that far, but it certainly isn't cutting edge or Contemporary. It will look nice, but also ordinary ... for that location, it should look spectacular ...or as the fanbois would say FABULOUS!!!
articos
Well-Known Member
That was a big oops for Puccini to put the Castle photo on the site. I agree it looks a bit bland, but that was likely the design brief, and Puccini does a LOT of corporate "look" restaurants, and they do them very well. They're one of the design groups of choice of the moment for hotel, theme park and upscale chain management firms. If you've been in a Kimpton, Hilton, Starwood, Fairmont, Hyatt or any new restaurant in Orange County, CA lately, there's a decent chance Puccini had a hand in it or bid on it. They also did F&B for Aulani. They're good at designing for high turnover. (Orange County restaurants are odd - they all have a design feel that says OC. Elements from the design then seem to creep out to the rest of the country over time.) For those afraid of being on top of the next table at the long row banquette, I expect those tables will be spaced farther than they look in the concept. I wish they had gone a bit "more" but will wait and see. I think it will feel better in person than it looks, even if I wish it were more future-retro or incorporated more themed and less any-restaurant.
RE: the menu and molecular gastronomy, it's difficult to do molecular on the scale that the CG does in covers, let alone maintain quality. Plus it's still pretty foreign to Joe Everybody, and although California Grill is one of a few restaurants on property that does a great job introducing diners to new things, that might be a bit too out-of-the-box. I would love to see some molecular cocktails at the bar, though.
RE: the menu and molecular gastronomy, it's difficult to do molecular on the scale that the CG does in covers, let alone maintain quality. Plus it's still pretty foreign to Joe Everybody, and although California Grill is one of a few restaurants on property that does a great job introducing diners to new things, that might be a bit too out-of-the-box. I would love to see some molecular cocktails at the bar, though.
dolce20
Well-Known Member
articos
Well-Known Member
That's because Mike Eisner is an architecture nerd/architect fanboy, and he wanted starchitects to put a stamp on all things Disney while on his watch. These days, the design briefs are done in-house, and then a Puccini or Rockwell or AvroKO is hired to realize the work, and they aren't paid or managed to put their top people on it. More they're allowed to manage the project like any other project in their portfolio, i.e. the client is a major corporation, but it's no different from Hyatt or Starwood asking.
It's also a difference in executive culture. Mike got his hands dirty in the decisions and micromanaged, to the annoyance of a lot of people around him. But he also picked up the phone and called people who underlings may not have had access to or been brave enough to call, and then he wrote a check. Iger comes from the movie world, so when he picks up the phone, it's to get Jim Cameron or Lucas or (formerly) Jobs on the phone. Iger is not that way for things outside his background/realm, and Staggs doesn't have that kind of knowledge or interest. It's just the difference between an Eisner and the people currently running P&R day-to-day. That means the people in the middle are actually doing the work for projects like the California Grill redo, and they're picking up the phone to work with people they know, which is Puccini, not Graves or Stern.
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
I believe the correct term is, "the lawn clippings on top".
MarkTwain
Well-Known Member
That was a big oops for Puccini to put the Castle photo on the site. I agree it looks a bit bland, but that was likely the design brief, and Puccini does a LOT of corporate "look" restaurants, and they do them very well. They're one of the design groups of choice of the moment for hotel, theme park and upscale chain management firms. If you've been in a Kimpton, Hilton, Starwood, Fairmont, Hyatt or any new restaurant in Orange County, CA lately, there's a decent chance Puccini had a hand in it or bid on it. They also did F&B for Aulani. They're good at designing for high turnover. (Orange County restaurants are odd - they all have a design feel that says OC. Elements from the design then seem to creep out to the rest of the country over time.) For those afraid of being on top of the next table at the long row banquette, I expect those tables will be spaced farther than they look in the concept. I wish they had gone a bit "more" but will wait and see. I think it will feel better in person than it looks, even if I wish it were more future-retro or incorporated more themed and less any-restaurant.
RE: the menu and molecular gastronomy, it's difficult to do molecular on the scale that the CG does in covers, let alone maintain quality. Plus it's still pretty foreign to Joe Everybody, and although California Grill is one of a few restaurants on property that does a great job introducing diners to new things, that might be a bit too out-of-the-box. I would love to see some molecular cocktails at the bar, though.
Just out of curiosity, why didn't Disney go to WDI for the refurb, since they're more likely to "get" the unique history and design intent of the hotel? For that matter, I'm surprised they didn't go to WDI for the cruise ships. As pleased as I am to see Disney embrace contemporary design firms in their projects, I don't see WDI can't be a great contemporary design firm (like how they were in the '60s). Eddie Sotto certainly showed WDI was capable of handling a modernist fine dining restaurant with LAX Encounter.
articos
Well-Known Member
They did, as they do with most any refurb on the properties. WDI discusses internally and gets any requests from F&B and the hotel in this case. The project producer/manager then has a designer within WDI help create a design brief, including reference and history. That brief discusses the direction they would envision the project going: contemporary, retro, mid-century, Belle's cottage, etc. Then they'll either make a call to an outside firm like Puccini, put it out as an RFP or for bid to select firms, or sometimes they'll keep it in-house. It's a matter of using internal resources wisely. With the amount of work that goes through WDI, these days they are more correctly a top level oversight to create and guide the ideas, then the mid-level work is done outside with WDI overseeing as the client, then they supervise/project manage the details during construction and do any specialized detail work. As for the cruise ships, same deal. WDI creates mood boards, design briefs and overall design work, but the mid-level work is sent out to firms who do this type of work everyday. There's also a practical aspect - restaurant design is a highly specialized thing, and if you mess it up, you risk having to go back and redesign/rebuild to fix it. Even though WDI has experts on staff in various fields, they may not have a specific restaurant designer who's also a great interior designer - by going to a Puccini, they know there's a team of experts in-house there who can all work on the project cooperatively. And sometimes it simply comes down to whether there's someone within WDI who decides they want to take ownership of the project and can make the resources available in-house.
Eddie is somewhat unique, in that he understands restaurants and is able to design a lot of various elements himself, out of his experience. He can do exteriors, interior design, dining room cutlery and flatware, chairs and booths, detail work, you name it. And he understands how dining room and kitchen flow work. That's not your typical designer. I don't know the specifics of how Encounter came together, but WDI had the right people who were available and the desire to do the project internally, so they did. Although that could happen (and does, sometimes) in today's WDI, Imagineering was different even in the 90s than it is today. Even then, though, they managed their resources and brought in outside vendors when they could.
Gabe1
Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
Was just looking at the concept art, to me it doesn't have that high end class appearance in the concept drawings and I think it is the choice of the blonde 50's wood chosen. Now instead of elegance it has more the feel of Cape May or Chef Mickey's. I'll miss the warmth of the old decor.
http://www.wdwmagic.com/dining/cali...nia-grill-at-disney's-contemporary-resort.htm
http://www.wdwmagic.com/dining/cali...nia-grill-at-disney's-contemporary-resort.htm
AngryEyes
Well-Known Member
Those pics remind me of the hotel bar/restaurant in Lost in Translation.
Hoop Raeb
Formerly known as...
I was wondering about that. The biggest gripe for me was that the original windows were highly reflective. I wonder if they replaced it with a low gloss window coating so that the restaurant lights don't interfere with the view.
Duke of Disney
Member
Looking forward to seeing just how my favorite place to eat in the park turns out. I'm a fan of darker tones to
create warmth in places that carry an open floor plan. The last sample menu I saw looked very close to the one they had before. Being a fan of sushi, steak and flat bread, Im not extremely hard to wow. I will however miss Yoshi. Im glad the name has not been changed. I have the actual "Top of The World" poster that hung in the downstairs lobby, and I might have some CG napkins. As long as the food is good, I'll keep going. It is after all about family, friends, food and fireworks. Happy 4th of July!
create warmth in places that carry an open floor plan. The last sample menu I saw looked very close to the one they had before. Being a fan of sushi, steak and flat bread, Im not extremely hard to wow. I will however miss Yoshi. Im glad the name has not been changed. I have the actual "Top of The World" poster that hung in the downstairs lobby, and I might have some CG napkins.
As long as the food is good, I'll keep going. It is after all about family, friends, food and fireworks. Happy 4th of July!