Frontera Express – A Quick, Gluten-Friendly Meal
There you are, walking around Disney Springs, and suddenly you get hungry. You do not want to venture into a sit-down restaurant, and it is a beautiful day. What do you do? Head over to Frontera Cocina Mexicana and peek around the corner. There you will find Frontera Express – the perfect place for a quick, gluten-friendly meal.
As you can see below, the menu at Frontera Express is very small – however, it is large on flavor! That makes it somewhat easy to chose from the two snacks and three types of tacos. One of the things I love most about Frontera Cocina is how they list the allergens on the menus. In an upcoming blog, I will post about my full-service dining experience here. Today, I want to feature their quick-service window and tell you why you should visit.
Aside from the food options, you can also get beer (cerveza) and cocktails. I highly recommend cooling off with a Frontera Margarita or Jamaica Sangria on a hot Florida afternoon. Non-alcoholic options include soft drinks, bottled water, and their amazing Fiesta Mexicana Iced Tea. You can even get sorbet for dessert.
Frontera Express – Amazing Gluten-Friendly Food Choices
Although I stick to mostly a paleo diet, I do sometimes cheat. One of the things I miss most is tortilla chips and tacos. I avoid most corn like the plague because so much of it is GMO. Not at Frontera Cocina Mexicana! Chef Rick Bayless is extremely conscientious about the ingredients he uses – the corn is non-GMO. I will say I have never had such good corn tortillas in my life.
Now, I want to preface this blog by telling you that I did not eat these two tacos. I had just finished my HUGE meal inside when my daughter’s friend finished working and decided she was hungry. Frontera Express is one of her favorite go-to spots, and from eating inside, I can see why. I accompanied her back to the restaurant to review her order.
All the food items here are gluten-friendly (the Disney way of indicating gluten-free). The Toto Elotes are freshly-made tortilla chips topped with roasted corn, lime crema, and red chile Cotija cheese. This dish contains dairy and is pictured in the menu above. You can also get Guacamole and Chips which are dairy-free. I can tell you they make incredible guacamole here.
There are three options for tacos – two which contain dairy and one that does not. You can also ask to leave the cheese and crema off your tacos making all three a dairy-free, gluten-free option. The taco not purchased this trip was the Cochinita Pibil Taco, featuring Achiote braised pork shoulder, pickled red onions, and habanero salsa.
In the photo below, you will see the Grilled Hatch Green Chile Chicken Taco, with Hatch green chile crema, caramelized onions, and tomatillo cilantro salsa. Squeeze on the included slice of lime for an added burst of flavor to an already delicious taco.
The next photo is of the Beef Barbacoa Taco, with chipotle braised beef, Cotija cheese, cilantro, red onions, and tomatillo cilantro salsa. Again, you can choose to enhance the fresh flavors in this taco with a squeeze of lime.
At $3.50 each, these gluten-friendly tacos are a bargain. Do not miss out on a visit to Frontera Express the next time you visit Disney Springs.
For our review of Frontera Cocina Mexicana, click here.