This summer, Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary. But, if you ask Club 33 and 21 Royal chef de cuisine Gloria Tae, she’s already looking forward to the holidays.
“For the Club, the big one for us is Candlelight. Candlelight [Processional] weekend — that’s when we’re completely booked out,” Tae told SFGATE. “They’re projecting to do over 1,300 covers in two days for both lunch and dinner.”
For non-Disney fanatics, Tae, who marks her own 25th anniversary working for Disneyland next year, is talking about Club 33, the park’s member-exclusive restaurant and lounge in New Orleans Square, at the Anaheim, Calif., resort. The first was envisioned by Walt Disney as a hidden-away space for entertaining VIPs in and opened in 1967.
“Candlelight” refers to the Candlelight Processional, a holiday concert that has happened annually at the park since 1958. The two-night performance takes place atop Disneyland Railroad’s Main Street Station in December. It features a full orchestra, several local choirs and a surprise celebrity narrator, like Kathryn Hahn in 2024, who reads a rendition of the Christmas story. Since the event is invite-only, the exact dates are not released to the public, but it’s usually the first weekend of the month.
“Chateaubriand or French onion soup,” she said. “I like the feeling of Christmastime. That’s when we get all the families in. Since so many members have been there for so long, the families have actually grown up inside the Club. It’s lovely to see them, and to hear them, and talk to them.”
The good cheer is infectious. “No one is disgruntled,” she added. “Everyone wants to be there. It rubs off for sure.”
As chef de cuisine for Club 33 and 21 Royal, a bucket-list dining experience at the park available to the public, Tae oversees the menus and manages a team of three salaried sous chefs, a couple hourly junior sous chefs (“area chefs”), and 18 cooks.
Cooks with talent and finesse are scheduled for 21 Royal, a one-night private dining experience that is rumored to cost upward of $20,000 for 12 guests. But they all split their time preparing dishes for Club 33’s Le Grand Salon or Le Salon Nouveau. The menu for Le Grand Salon is seasonal and prix fixe. Le Salon Nouveau is where the club’s more casual dishes are served.
Members have a strong sense of ownership over the club. Etiquette rules, dress codes, restricted social media posts. It’s all part of the deal when dining at Club 33, whether you’re part of the ultraexpensive club, or lucky enough to be an invited guest. Members get attached to certain dishes — and some are very vocal. Listening to them, Tae indulged requests for Walt’s Chili and the lounge’s famous onion rings to return to the menu.
“Then we started changing things,” she said with a grin.
Tae’s ability to convince diners to try something new is one of her strengths — no small feat when serving people who have a decades-long emotional attachment to the restaurant. She listens. She hears their requests. The members wanted steak at night and a sandwich on the menu, so she brought those items back. But she still maintains her standards.
Fortunately, Tae has an ally: the culinary director of Disneyland signature restaurants, chef Andrew Sutton. He oversees the fine dining restaurants at the parks, which includes Napa Rose at the Grand Californian, Carthay Circle in Disney California Adventure, and Club 33 and 21 Royal in Disneyland Park. He also saw Tae’s potential 25 years ago. He promoted her at Golden Vine. Then moved her to Napa Rose. Tae helped open Carthay Circle before returning to oversee Napa Rose again. For nearly four years, she’s been chef de cuisine at Club 33 and 21 Royal.
The old club menu was a hodgepodge, admitted Tae. Before Sutton’s culinary team took over, the food was a French-Cajun mashup, reflecting the club’s location in New Orleans Square. Now, the menu isn’t beholden to a particular region.
“Just as long as we can make the dishes taste good, people will be open to whatever path we want to go,” explained Tae. “But I know our guests.”
“For people who say vegetarianism and veganism is becoming more popular, beef eaters are still around,” she said. “It’s comfort food and they also feel value. They want to get full value for their meal so I think naturally people tend to gravitate towards beef.”
Tae’s own ascent in the kitchen began with shaping beef patties at a hamburger stand. Instead of attending culinary school, she learned on the job, and found her way to the now-closed Golden Vine Winery at Disney California Adventure. The restaurant’s winery partner was originally Robert Mondavi Corp. However, eight months after opening, Mondavi pulled out of the project. In 2001, according to Wine Spectator, Mondavi took a $12 million to $13 million loss and Disney took over operations of the restaurant.