Great Maple co-owners Amanda and Wing Joe Ho stand together admiring the black-and-white images of Pixar characters hanging on their restaurant’s walls. One picture is a contemplative Miguel from “Coco” perched next to his loyal pet dog, Dante. On another wall is Jessie the cowgirl from “Toy Story.” The pictures, which were originally slated for the Pixar office walls, are prominently displayed at Great Maple, the ground floor restaurant inside the new Pixar Place Hotel.
“It was decided to be on loan to us, like how an art museum gets artwork on loan,” said Amanda Ho, co-owner of Great Maple. “So we’re very lucky to be able to show them. They really spoke to us.”
“They’re so lifelike,” Ho said of the images. “Their expressions are thoughtful. We thought there was something very interesting about that. To be dining in a space that is kind of upscale but doesn’t take itself so seriously and the interplay of that. We wanted to create a space that was approachable for kids and for kids at heart.”
The Pixar Place Hotel opened to the public on Jan. 29. Great Maple is a flagship tenant located in the 6,500-square foot restaurant space situated on the hotel’s ground floor. It’s been operating since November. For guests in the know, Great Maple became one of the better dining options in the area.
“You can come to the park and you can have cauliflower hummus, you can have a vegan option, you can have a gluten-free option, you can indulge in soda pop ribs. You can have some childhood nostalgia with an ice cream sundae. You can have all of that. But at a level where the adult doesn’t feel like they’re compromising their vacation,” Ho said. “They’re having a treat or experience that they can’t have at home. And that’s where those paintings come into play. There’s this adult quality but there’s something that’s still Pixar.”
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Ho, who graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, and her husband Wing Joe, who attended the Culinary Institute of American and cooked at restaurants such as Aureole in Las Vegas, appreciate good food.
Now more than 13 years later, Ho, along with Wing Joe, have expanded Great Maple’s brand beyond its first location at Fashion Island. There were some setbacks over the years, but the newest location in Anaheim introduces Great Maple to a broader audience.
Great Maple is a tenant inside Pixar Place Hotel. But the culinary team’s reach extends much further. Great Maple’s crew also oversees the food and beverage menus for the hotels’ four other independent concepts that are in conjunction with the Pixar brand.
“Great Maple has always been a mostly scratch kitchen. That’s something we’re really very proud of,” Ho said.
The restaurant prepares several items such as its biscuits and doughnuts in house. Ho’s favorites include the nostalgia-inducing turkey bolognese (Wing Joe’s recipe), the seasonal salad, and the house chop salad.
“I love our salads,” she said. “The chop salad is a longtime go-to. That’s been on our menu forever. It’s also my dad’s favorite.”
The chop salad, which is a big crowd pleaser for the Fashion Island lunch crowd, has grown in popularity in Anaheim.
“There’s the crunch of the lettuce, there’s meat, there’s cheese. It’s a complete meal. Then there’s our pesto vinaigrette. All of Great Maple’s pestos are nut free. And it just fuels you to go into the park.”
ALSO SEE: Great Maple chef Amanda Ho’s culinary dream began in Orange County
Ho insisted that within those 4 walls, it really is the Great Maple brand that people have grown accustomed to. The interplay with Pixar occurs at the other outlets.
“That’s the theme throughout the hotel,” she said. “In the Sketch Pad Cafè, you get the chance to learn how to draw certain characters. There’s also Joe Gardner, who is now playing piano in the lobby, and you get to understand the musical process that way. What the hotel has done a great job on is this theming: the process and the building blocks of how things are made.
“That’s true of the Pixar characters and the pixels that make them up and that’s true of the culinary process. That’s partly why we felt there was some synergy between our two brands. We’ve tried to make a few little winks and nods throughout our restaurant space that speaks to that. There’s a mural on the wall as you’re headed to the kitchen that breaks down the process of making our doughnuts or the lamps above the tables near the bar are shaped like whisks.”
With Small Bytes, the hotel’s pool level outdoor lounge, Sketch Pad Cafè in the lobby, and Creators Club, the concierge lounge, the Hos showcase other ideas.
“The other outlets at Disney allow us to do things out of the Great Maple wheelhouse,” said Ho. “We get to stretch our arms a little.” For “the limoncello, all the credit goes to Wing Joe on that one. He got to have a little fun and branch out and spend a little time in the liquid kitchen.
They enlisted their Anaheim executive chef and tasted numerous sodas, candies, and concocted fizzy floats.
“We started thinking about what is fun,” she said. “That’s the stuff we’re thrilled to be able to do without leaving the Great Maple brand.”
Ho insisted that it was important for returning Great Maple guests to experience what they know from the other locations. Though the restaurant is located at the Disneyland resort, it is not operated by Disney or Pixar.
“There really isn’t much cross pollination within Great Maple,” insisted Ho. “But there will be times when we feature something that is unique to the Anaheim location because there’s something important to highlight.”
One of those events is Pixar Fest, which will run April 26 through Aug. 4.
“We’ll definitely have some fun featured items that are unique to the spaces,” hinted Ho.
Soon Small Bytes will open for its first official summer.
“That’s something that we want to get everybody jazzed about and let them come up and experience the entire space. For hotel guests, there’s the pool area and the splash pad. For non-hotel guests, there’s the play court with fun interactive activities. My favorite is the bean toss with bao balls that are going into the dim sum baskets. … Something that you can take your kids to for the day that is a little different. To get a taste of Pixar.”
