Flo's V8 Cafe
Flo's V8 Cafe is a quick-service restaurant in Cars Land at Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, California. Modelled on Flo's cafe and gas station in Radiator Springs from the Pixar Cars films, it is a Route 66 roadside diner serving American comfort food, with indoor dining rooms themed to a car showroom and outdoor seating beneath a canopy of vintage-style petrol pumps. It is the largest restaurant in Cars Land and advertises itself, in the words of its film counterpart, as selling the "finest fuel in fifty states".
History
Flo's V8 Cafe opened on 15 June 2012, the public opening day of Cars Land, the 12-acre land that completed the five-year expansion and remaking of Disney California Adventure.[1] The land recreated the town of Radiator Springs building by building, and Flo's — the town's social hub and only gas station in the 2006 film Cars — was placed on the land's main Route 66 street, near the entrance to Radiator Springs Racers.
In the films, Flo is a former show car who sang with the Motorama Girls before settling in Radiator Springs, and the cafe in the park was designed as both her diner and a monument to that backstory. Previews before opening described a restaurant of about 330 seats serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a menu pitched as classic Route 66 diner food given a contemporary treatment.[2] The restaurant has operated continuously since opening, with its menu evolving from its original rotisserie-based line-up towards burgers, fried chicken and sandwiches.
Setting
The building is a piece of roadside theatre. From the front it is shaped like a V8 engine seen head-on: a circular air filter forms the roof centrepiece, and the outdoor canopy is carried on piston-like supports, with spark-plug details whose neon lights blink in the firing order of a flathead V8. Vintage-style petrol pumps line the forecourt, and at night the whole structure glows in pink and teal neon, in the manner of a 1950s American gas station.
The design drew on Imagineers' research trips along the real Route 66, and the cafe's diner character was inspired in particular by the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas, at the highway's midpoint. Inside, one wing is Flo's showroom, its tall windows looking out over Ornament Valley and the Cadillac Range, filled with memorabilia from her Motorama Girls singing career; another serves as a museum to Doc Hudson, the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, with displays on his racing career. Tailpipe light fixtures, two-tone tuck-and-roll banquettes and period music complete the effect, while the outdoor seating faces the Cozy Cone Motel and the passing traffic of Radiator Springs Racers.
Cuisine
Flo's serves diner food for cars' drivers rather than cars: hearty American comfort dishes, ordered at counters and eaten in the showroom, the Doc Hudson room or outside by the pumps. The opening menu centred on rotisserie meats — beef, pork and turkey — with mashed potatoes, corn and other vegetable sides, vegetarian casserole and individual fruit pies, and the restaurant has kept that homestyle emphasis as the menu has changed.
In its later form the menu has featured a cheeseburger, Flo's fried chicken, pulled pork and other sandwiches, salads and chicken strips, with children's meals optionally served in a Lightning McQueen-shaped keepsake. The drinks and desserts lean into the theme: thick vanilla, chocolate and strawberry milkshakes are topped with crumbled cookie "road gravel", and shakes have remained the cafe's signature item since opening day. Breakfast, served in the morning, has included a classic American breakfast and heartier items such as chicken tamales with scrambled eggs.