ANIMAL KINGDOM | Light Snack
Posted on Friday, March 24, 2017
Kiosk or Cart
Small Plates, Tapas Style
$5-14 per entree**
The Smiling Crocodile is one of the small "quick snack" kiosks that you'll find when walking around Animal Kingdom. There's quite a few of them actually, and I for one… wish they were a bit more identifiable. It's a cool idea… having what amounts to little food and wine type booths up year-round, for an Animal Kingdom style food stroll.
The kiosk I stopped by yesterday (The Smiling Crocodile) just changed up it's menu about a week ago, and I wanted to try out a couple of the new items. On the menu now, are three great little "open faced" BLT's… a Turkey BLT, Salmon BLT, and Pimento-Cheese BLT. If you think about them as being giant loaded Crostinos (or Crostini) and not "open faced sandwiches", you'll have a better idea about what these are.
I think in Western cultures, when you say "open faced sandwich", a big honking sub comes to mind…and these… are not one of those. A large Crostini BLT is exactly how I would describe the item. The base is the same for all three, a single slice of Ciabatta Bread… and then different stuff is piled on top.
The bacon on all three is thick-cut, house-roasted and smoked. It's a really great, large piece of bacon! In context, it's a little hard to bite through (it's thick enough to knife-and-fork actually), but the flavor is amazing and savory. The Turkey BLT included Turkey, some shredded lettuce and a decent tomato slice. There was also a bit of (what is probably) mayo or some mild dressing or spread on the bread itself.
The Pimento-Cheese BLT included the same bread and bacon but added a layer of Pimento Cheese spread on the bread along with a small amount of arugula, chives and diced tomatoes (the "greens" mix may have had a bit of lemon and oil tossed in, to preserve the "green" and for just a hint of citrus). The Pimento Cheese BLT had more flavor than the Turkey BLT, but the classic Turkey BLT will probably appeal to more guests. Both Crostini BLT's were great, and the make me want to sample the Salmon Crostini BLT on another visit.
About the only thing that's going to be an issue here for some, is the cost. At around $5.29 each (as of 03/2017), some might be expecting a whole sandwich. That's about what you would pay for a decent artesian sandwich for lunch outside the gates.
But in the parks, where a typical counter service "meal" entree can be between $10 and $12… these Crostini BLT's are not really out of line. I tend to think of them more in terms of being snack-sized samples, like you might find at a Food and Wine booth (or one of the many other foodie festivals at Epcot)… where a typical sample item is in the $5.50 range.
All three are on the DDP plan though, so if you've got those credits… no worries! Either way, I really liked them, and they get a solid "recommend" from me.