Kings Dominion is giving people a new reason to come back, and it doesn’t involve a hair-raising ride or a toe-tapping show.
Cedar Fair, which owns the Doswell theme park, wants to bring up the level of food for sale at Kings Dominion, said Paul Maloney, who was hired as its executive chef last year.
“Everyone is a critic nowadays and knows their food,” he said. “We will still have fried stuff—funnel cakes and chicken fingers—but we want people to come to the park for good food. We want to make it another attraction.”
Maloney is showing off his chops during the Spring Bloom Festival, taking place every weekend through May 3. In addition to the thousands of tulips, daffodils and other flowers planted throughout the park for the event, small portions of international fare are being sold in stands along International Street.
For German food lovers, there are mini Bratwurst pretzel rolls served with pickled onions, mustard and braised local purple cabbage. From Italy, there’s Amalfi Coast lemoncello mousse with candied lemon peel, mascarpone cream and micro mint. And, for a taste of Switzerland, there’s Swiss mac and cheese with Gruyère, bacon, onions, potatoes and a fresh spring chive oil.
All three countries were natural inspirations because they’re already represented in the park, Maloney said.
He said he added two items—a seared Hawaiian ahi tuna with lilikoi-shrimp butter with garlic–ginger mayo and a Vietnamese pork banh mi sandwich—because he was stationed in Hawaii and Vietnam while serving as a chef in the Navy.
He also has friends from Jamaica, which inspired him to offer Jamaican jerk chicken over coconut rice and peas with island papaya chutney and micro cilantro.
The International Street stands will only be up during the festival, and park goers can pair the fare with 4- or 5-ounce sample size servings of beer or wine, or a 12- or 15-ounce beer. The majority of the beers are from Virginia, including Main Street Virginia Ale and Barrel Aged Scotchtown Ale from Center of the Universe Brewing in Ashland.
Sales of the food and drink at the International Street stands are cash only, and aren’t included in the new dining plans that Kings Dominion is offering this year.
Maloney is working on food offerings for different special events that will be held throughout the theme park’s season, and has created new menus for the park’s restaurants that will go into effect Memorial Day. The latter will include moonshine pulled-pork sandwiches, more side options such as pasta and Caprese salads, and new grab-and-go-desserts. There will also be a signature burger at the Jukebox Diner, along with various new seasonal funnel cake toppings.
As part of the new water park expansion, Kings Dominion will introduce Fonda’s Fiesta, an American BBQ–Tex Mex street food concept featuring unique beer options in the middle of Soak City.
Maloney and his culinary team will also occasionally take over one of Kings Dominion’s restaurants for a day to do a special menu to find out what people like.
“Some people come back 30 to 40 times a season,” the chef said. “We want them to have another reason to come back. We want to keep it interesting, to keep changing it up.”
And why not? Kings Dominion has been around since its soft opening in 1974, and officially opened May 3, 1975, with such attractions as the Rebel Yell roller coaster, Lion Country Safari Monorail and signature one-third scale replica of the Eiffel Tower.
The theme park began saluting its 40th anniversary last year and is continuing the celebration this year, with a 40th birthday bash May 3. Spokeswoman Katelyn Curry said that details are still being worked out, but the celebration will be held throughout the park.
