“The Smiling Crocodile” is a kiosk located on Discovery Island basically across from the entrance to It’s Tough To Be A Bug and to the left of the seating section for Flame Tree Barbecue in between that and the Adventurers Outpost Mickey and Minnie Meet and Greet.

Over the last year and a half or so, the kiosk has served a variety of different options. They started with these salads, neither of which really “worked.”

But I really liked the two dishes that replaced them – on the left is cheese grits with barbecued pulled pork. On the right is a chicken leg with a side of potato salad.

But just this past weekend, the menu changed again with three new “BLTs” offered. On the plus side, you’ll notice that each of the three choices is good for a snack credit on the Disney Dining Plan.

Just in case you’re wondering what the three look like zoomed in to 95mm on a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 II IS lens at f6.3. I was somewhat amused when a gentleman looked inside the kiosk at what they’re serving and yelled back to his family, “THEY’RE SERVING HALF A SANDWICHES [sic] FOR FIVE BUCKS.” Indeed, sir…indeed.

First up is the $5.29 Turkey BLT – Open-Faced Turkey Sandwich Made with Thick-Cut, Smoked, House-Roasted Bacon on Ciabatta Bread.

First up, the good: The ciabatta bread underneath is lightly grilled before being served and is soft, chewy, and flavorful and serves as a nice base for the various toppings. The bacon, which is present on each selection, also offers a salty, chewy, meaty bite to it that is far better than anything the various quick services are offering for breakfast. Maybe they will be able to incorporate the bacon into some dishes that work a little better…

Unfortunately though, the slippery lettuce that’s probably not the right style for this sort of thing slides right off the top and the loose pieces of largely flavorless turkey are going along for the ride. It’s also somewhat difficult to chew the bread, tear off a piece of bacon with your teef, catch some of the lettuce and turkey in your mouth as it tumbles towards the ground, and with no spread to speak of, the whole ensemble is on the dry side. On the plus side, it’s a lot of food for a snack credit and at least somewhat healthy. It wouldn’t be my choice to return to though.

That’s the $5.49 Salmon BLT – Open-Faced Smoked Salmon Sandwich Made with Thick-Cut, Smoked, House-Roasted Bacon on Ciabatta Bread up front.

Despite all of the words used in the description, it doesn’t really tell you anything about what’s served on top of the same tasty ciabatta bread as the Turkey version. But instead of thick cut smoked salmon or a single piece rolled up or something, you get a lot of thinner pieces intertwined with the arugula, red onion, tomato, and capers. There’s also what I’m assuming is a dill-y cream cheese slathered on the bread that only helps aid all of the toppings sliding off as soon as you make eye contact with it.

Overall, I thought this had an off-putting, fishy flavor and the stupid thing was so difficult to pick up and eat that I just brushed the toppings off and ate them separately. You might want to prepare to go fork and knife with this, but I feel like part of the allure of these kiosks is offering food that’s more suitable for an “on the go” experience. I wouldn’t order it again.

You might be able to get an idea about how thick the bread is on the $5.29 Pimento-Cheese BLT – Open-Faced Sandwich Sandwich with Hand-Crafted Pimento Cheese, Thick-Cut, Smoked, House-Roasted Bacon on Ciabatta Bread Topped with Chives.

This was my favorite of the bunch with the mildly spicy, creamy cheese contrasting nicely with the saltiness of the bacon on top of the chewy bread. I’m not sure the tomatoes are of much use here, but they’re going to fall off as soon as you try to eat it anyway. Each of these probably needs to be reconfigured so the bread is more of a circle, which would lend itself a lot better to a slice of tomato or piece of smoked salmon. Or maybe just a short roll.

Overall, there was nothing here that I would order over the $4 onion rings at nearby Flame Tree Barbecue or the $5 Chicken Fried Rice at Yak & Yeti, both of which are also a snack credit.

Across the way is a kiosk called Eight Spoon Cafe, which had just been offering the regular Baked Macaroni and Cheese, but added a version with pulled pork and shrimp/sweet chili sauce over the weekend. I attempted to order the shrimp version on the afternoon of 2/18, but after waiting ten minutes to order and eight minutes to pick it up, was notified that they were out of shrimp. So that disaster will have to wait.

Note that these kiosks were closing at 5pm over the busy Presidents(‘) Day Weekend and may not be open at all on “less crowded days.”

I’ve got some more dining reviews lined up.