Happy Summer!
I can do without the extreme heat, but there's nothing like amusement park season. I start watching Cedar Point's blog as soon as the park closes every November to see what's going for the following year. I was excited to see an annual food festival that we haven't tried-the Frontier Festival. This festival is to support Prayers from Maria-a local organization to raise awareness and cure childhood cancer. There were live bands, activities, games, crafters, characters, craft brews, spiked seltzers, signature cocktails, and of course, food! We went a bit later into the festival than I had planned, so as I write this, it's been over for a couple of weeks. It ran from May 26th-June 19th in Frontierland 2-8pm daily. I've always felt that Frontierland doesn't get the love and attention it deserves, so I was thrilled to check this event out.
The festival had tasting cards-6 Tastes for $39.99 or 10 Tastes-$59.99. There were over 20 specialty food items that were centered around cherries. We got off to a bit of a rough start. You couldn't get the tasting cards at every location; there were one or two designated locations. The tasting card booth wasn't obvious so we had to ask around. Even some workers didn't really know where it was. You would think it would be located at the front of the festival where the big welcome sign was, but it was in the middle of all the games, activities, crafters, and drinks. After that wild goose hunt, we got our cards. Instead of being a lanyard that can be scanned, it was literally mini tickets that needed pulled off. The tickets weren't very efficient because we had trouble getting them off as did the workers at the booths.
The first few items we tried were the Cherry Chipotle Chili, Cherry & Chocolate Bread Pudding, Cherry Cola Braised Beef Pizza, and Cherry Pie Streusel Pizza. We all enjoyed the chili and wished it were a bigger portion. It was hot, creamy, and tasted like they poured some Cherry Coke in the pot. I was all about it. The bread pudding was more on the cold side and we wished it was warmer so it would melt in your mouth. The portion size was great, but we didn't feel like there was enough chocolate. I'm not a chocolate person so when I don't think there's enough chocolate, there really isn't enough. Only one person out of our group of four would order it again. The braised beef pizza was also a good portion. Some thought it was a little too spicy with the jalapenos. My piece had too much sauce so I didn't get a ton of flavor from the beef. Yet we all said we'd get it again because the crust was good and the flavor was still there. The streusel pizza was everything I wanted it to be with sweet cherry pie filling. Another good portion size. The crust was perfectly chewy yet crunchy. 3/4 of us would get it again.
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| Cherry Chipotle Chili (left), Cherry & Chocolate Bread Pudding (right) |
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| Cherry Cola Braised Beef Pizza (left), Cherry Pie Streusel Pizza (right) |
In our next group were the Panzanella Salad, Cherry Pork Tacos, Cherry Buffalo Chicken Tenders, and the Smoked Cherry Brisket Sliders. The salad had WAY too much bread. There was barely any salad, cheese, or veggies. We didn't even know there were cherries until we got to the way bottom of the container. None of us would order that again. The Cherry Pork Tacos were my biggest disappointment. I am a taco fanatic, but there was no flavor. It relied heavily on the cherry coleslaw. I had to put the pickled jalapenos all over it just to taste something other than bland. None of us would reorder this either. The chicken tenders were one of my favorites. I love buffalo-flavored anything. The hint of cherry in the buffalo sauce was a nice touch. The tenders were hot and crispy. 3/4 of us would get it again. We didn't anticipate the sliders being served cold. It was basically a lunchmeat sandwich that needed a flavor punch. We wouldn't order those again, either.
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| Panzanella Salad |
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| Cherry Pork Tacos (left), Cherry Buffalo Chicken Tenders (middle), Smoked Cherry Brisket Slider (right) |
The last couple of things we got were the Chicken Nachos and the Flourless Cherry Chocolate Cake. The nachos had plenty of toppings and we liked that they asked before they put each one on in case there was something we didn't want (everything, obv). I liked that they used nacho cheese instead of shredded cheese for a flavor boost. There was nothing cherry about it, but it had the best flavor out of everything else we had tried. We'd all get those nachos again. The cake was not my thing. If you're not a fan of chocolate, you won't like it. It needed the cherry sauce and whipped cream to break up the richness. Only the chocolate lover in our group would get it again.
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| Chicken Nachos |
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| Flourless Cherry Chocolate Cake |
As far as the festival itself, we liked that it was all in a centralized location so you weren't running all over the park. There were plenty of beautiful, shaded places to sit and eat. There were so many fun games like horseshoes and cornhole that you could play with family and friends. We really enjoyed the live bands and had a hard time leaving because we were so relaxed listening to them. The decorations they incorporated for Prayers From Maria were stunning and large-scale throughout Frontierland so you could really tell that was what the festival was all about. The food was a big miss. The food tasting ticket was not as efficient as using the scan-able lanyard like at the Tricks and Treats Fall Fest, and the booth was difficult to find. We even had an incident at one of the food locations where our order was taken by another customer because they weren't using receipts for the festival food. Cherries are one of my favorite foods, but there was no creativity with it. It was mostly cherry cola, maraschino cherry sauce, or dried cherries tossed into the recipes. I'd love to see as much effort put into the food as they did with the rest of the festival. Then it would truly be something special.
Did any of you get to check out the Frontier Festival this year? Let me know in the comments!
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