Six Flags Magic Mountain has stepped up its culinary game with a new executive chef who has improved the traditional amusement park offerings and plans to add more items to the menu in hopes of persuading foodies to give the park another look.
“We want to make sure that people come down for rides, but they also stay for food and enjoy the entire experience,” Magic Mountain Executive Chef Robert Velasco said.
Velasco invited me out to the Valencia amusement park to try the new pepperoni pizza, double cheeseburger and fried chicken on the park’s refreshed and updated menu.
The 32-year-old chef from Van Nuys was hired six months ago to rethink everything about the Magic Mountain menu.
No longer will Magic Mountain cooks serve up whatever is delivered by a food service distributor. Instead, Six Flags chefs will create dishes that go beyond traditional amusement park fare
Frozen burgers were out along with sesame seed buns, lettuce, tomato, onion and sauce.
Fresh double patty burgers were in with American cheese, salt and pepper and a tastier potato bun. The patty blend has been updated to 75% brisket and 25% fat content — making for a juicer burger.
“We figured that guests just want to have a really good cheeseburger,” Velasco said during an interview at Wascal’s in Bugs Bunny Land. “A good cheeseburger doesn’t necessarily need to have all the different ingredients.”
Also gone were the frozen pre-breaded chicken tenders. Now all the fried tenders are freshly hand breaded with a two-day brine for the hand-cut chicken.
Magic Mountain’s new chicken and waffles plate was inspired by
Roscoe’s — a Los Angeles soul food institution.
“It’s an L.A. standard,” Velasco said. “We are making sure that we put our own spin on it. That it’s something new, but also something familiar.”
The new Nashville hot chicken sandwich on a coleslaw base and bun uses the same tenders with a bold sauce that has a middle-of-the-road heat level to appeal to the broadest possible audience.