October 4, 2025 • 16 mins
We are talking to Carter Hodges about The Cauldron Bar, a spellbinding witch-themed bar in Buena Park, CA serving handcrafted cocktails and bites. The menu includes familiar bites with a wicked twist and French inspiration. Home-cooked comfort food complements a selection of specialty drinks and themed beverages that encourage sharing and sampling.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Neil Savandra.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
You're listening to kfi EM six forty the fore Purport
on demand on the iHeartRadio app and Neil Savadri here
with the Fore Report, you know where we talk about
food and beverages and more every Saturday three hours just
to kind of celebrate food on these things and not
(00:21):
get wrapped up in the heaviness of the news during
the week. It's kind of a sanctuary celebrating these things
because who don't love going out and enjoying yourself having
a good meal, a good beverage and more and more.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
When I go out, I want an experience.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I want to be surrounded by something that's playful, interesting,
with architecture and textures and all of these things. And
so we want to tell you about a place.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Right now.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Carter Hodges, the general manager of the Cauldron Bar in
Buena Park, is with us.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Hey Carter, Hey, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I'm well, sir, so I appreciate it for those listening.
Carter was going to try and make it out here
from Buena Park, but it's you know, much easier to
do a phone from there a phoner right now, because
of course it is peak season. We don't do a
whole lot of phone interviews, but man, I get it
making that drive and having to get back.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So we appreciate you taking the time.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Absolutely. I'm sorry I'm not there with you guys.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Now another time for sure. Tell us a little bit
about the vibe. I've heard a bunch of great things.
I've seen pictures I've not been in as of yet.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
All right, we got to get you down here. Yeah,
Cauldron is it's an immersive dining experience. It's kind of
modeled after like a witch's house meets an old English
French tavern. We're known for Yeah, great atmosphere, great cocktails,
great bites, and we're we're right in the heart of Orange County,
directly across from Nottsberry Fartment. So it's a great spot
(01:55):
to stop at if you're in the area for tourism
or if you're local. And obviously anything Halloween related, we're
gonna get you covered.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So what's the best way to experience it.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I've gotta imagine, as we spoke about, it's going to
be slammed. How can people plan out? Do they make reservations?
Does it first come, first serve? How do they go
about experience the Cauldron.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Yeah, so during this season September October, obviously not scary
farmers happening across the street from us, so there is
an influx of people. We do take reservations, but we
only take reservations up to about fifty percent capacity just
to allow for plenty of walk ins. So if you
are planning ahead, you can check out our website or
social media or Google or Yelp make those reservations. If not,
(02:40):
you're more than welcome to just stop in grab a
quick drink. Yeah, full bar service, full, We got two
dining rooms, they have a whole patio, and during the
season we also put a second bar outside of our patio,
so there's plenty of space for people.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
It's really cool checking out the website as we're chatting
Carter looking at the joining the Coven that people can
by being a part of your rewards offers, get cash
back on visits and things like that. Tell us a
little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, So anybody inducted into our Coven rewards system, Basically
you sign up, you get points every single visit you
make and they go immediately back to cash back rewards.
You can put in your birthday stuff, any of like
personal information. That way, we know if you're celebrating a birthday,
if you're celebrating an anniversary, we make sure to take
care of those. People will get you, you know, a
(03:33):
free birthday shot, a dessert, something on the house just
to celebrate.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Oh that's great. And how long has the Cauldron been
in Buena Park there?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So we opened in twenty eighteen, late twenty eighteen or
in our eighth season right now.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, wow, that's a rough time.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, oh yeah about it about a year until the
fit hit the shan so exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah, we're very fortunate that we not all stayed open
during the pandemic, but you know, we actually kind of
grew a bit thanks to social media, so it's been nice.
We've expanded since then, so twice the twice the capacity
for dining inside and we just read it our patio,
so trying to make sure we got enough space to
satisfy everybody.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And what are one of the things that stands out
when people visit the Cauldron?
Speaker 1 (04:21):
What do they talk about the most to you?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I mean, I think the first thing is probably the atmosphere,
just because it's the first thing you see when you
walked in before you even get a drink, before you
get food. It's really dark and intimate. The lighting is
all kind of moody, candlelit atmosphere. There's big wooden beams,
there's a fireplace with a bubbling cauldron in it. Lots
of little like interactive show moments, lots of little you know,
(04:46):
haunts and magical things happening kind of all around the bar.
And you get a chance to see the witch that
haunts the cauldron and her little black cat. They make
appearances kind of all over the place.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Oh wow, that's super cool.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
And you guys are set up for events and private
parties and things as well, right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
So we do a handful of like corporate parties and
stuff like that, but our most popular thing for a
private event is going to be we have a kind
of a speakeasy style party room hidden behind a bookshelf,
so you kind of go in through the library, the
bookshelf swings open and you go into this big banquet table.
So people will host birthdays and special events back there.
(05:24):
But you know, even if you're not in the room, every.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Seat in the house is great, and so you are.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Let's see Tuesdays through Tuesday and Wednesdays you're four pm
to twelve am, and then Thursdays through Sunday it looks
like you're four pm to two am.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
That is correct. Yeah, for this season, just to match
you know, not scary farms hours and make sure that
we're getting everybody in for Halloween season, we extend our
Thursdays and Sundays. After Halloween, we cut back and we
go back to four to twelve on Thursdays and Sundays.
So Friday Saturday are are kind of our late night
bar hours. Yeah, we're we're always closed on Mondays though.
(06:04):
That's the one that's the one.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Ticker and the only thing that you ask is uh,
people stick around for about ninety minutes during their dining
so that you can move people through there and everybody
gets a chance.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah, that's specific to just the table seating. We want
to make sure that everybody has a chance to do
full dinner service, but we encourage people to stay and
have a drink at the bar, hang out on the patio.
It's you know, if they're trying to you know, have
an extended stay, we're not going to kick them out.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
No, I like that.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I mean sometimes it's good to remind people that in
these special places for everybody to have a shot at it.
But it doesn't mean like you're gonna like a big
alarm is going to go off and everybody's got to leave.
Is the uh is the wait staff and your team
there are they kind of play along with the vibe
or how does that work?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah. During this season specifically, we do seemed like cost
weeks and so the staff will really get in the
spirit and come dressed up.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I think the.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Majority of them are dressed up today. And we also
give a that Coven discount. It's a ten percent on
the whole tab if your party shows up in costume.
So that's a fun thing. A lot of people, you know,
join in.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Oh wouldn't that be awkward if some group comes in
and they're just ugly and you're like, oh my god,
you get timpercent off and they're.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Like, why, oh my god.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I just say, luckily that you know of some meany's
I just take it. Yeah, just take it.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
No, we we have people that they'll find out about
the discount once they're already here and they're in you know,
normal street clothes and they go, oh no, I'm dressed
like a skater today. Do I get the discount?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, I'm dressed like a homeless person. No, I saw
you wear that yesterday. All right, hey, ty, we come
back and want to talk to you about the drink
program and some things on the menu. My guess right
now is Carter Hodges from the Cauldron Bar in bent
A Park there right across the street from not Sperry Farm.
Easy to find of course, as we bring you some
(08:04):
really cool, fun vibed places obviously for the spooky holiday
coming up.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
So go nowhere and we'll talk some more.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Thanks for hanging out today. It's the Fork Report, all
things food, beverage and beyond. Every Saturday, we come together
and we celebrate food, the people that make it, the
culture behind it. Right now, we're, you know, in October,
and I love the season as we roll through all
of the major holidays for the most part, and the
spooky time for fall and Halloween is one of my favorites,
(08:43):
and I love getting into.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
The food and the vibe of it.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
To help us with that today, Carter Hodges the GM
there at the Cauldron Bar in went A Park. It's
right across from Nottsberry Farm, so easy to find is
he's with us. We're talking about the private room. They
have themed events, all of the different things. How you
can join the Coven of course that is their rewards
(09:08):
club and all of that. But now we want to
get into the menu. So Carter, when it comes to
the drink program, I know you guys have mocktails in
the like, why don't you walk us through some of
the drink options.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, So our core cocktail menu is a kind of
inspired by potions and you know, witches, brews and stuff
like that. Lots of twists on classic cocktails. One of
my favorites is it's kind of based loosely on like
a Sangreia margarita hybrid. It's called the Devil's Margarita.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Is yeah, pretty.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Standard like margarita on the bottom and then a float
of red wine on the top. You get a really
cool color separation. It's oh that's also and a great cocktail. Yeah.
Our I mean, our most famous probably is the Naughty Kid.
We had to play into like the local you know
history here with Boys and Berry. So it's a Boys
and Berry cotton candy in the martini glass and then
(10:00):
like a lemon drop base and you pour that over
the cotton candy and it all kind of dissolves and
mixes in and gives you a boys and Verry lemon
drop martini.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Oh my gosh, that sounds gorgeous. What a fun kind
of visual. I mean, even you know when you're going
to go to the nth degree, like floating wine on
top of a drink, or in this case, watching two
different textures, colors and flavors come together. There's a little
feater involved with these beverages.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
A lot of us actually come from Feeder. The owner
Laura Hannaman, she is a former creative director from Nottsberry Farm.
She was there for about twenty years. But her background
is feeder and scenic design and all that stuff. So
that's why it's so heavily themed. Oh I love Yeah,
why a lot of our stuff leans theatrical.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Now during it obviously during this time of the year,
a place called the Cauldron. And again the Cauldron is
right across the street from you know, there went a
park rightcas street from from Knotsberry Farm, which is really
cool now that you share with the designer and maker
and creator.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Of all this.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
But what about different parts of the season. Are people
still coming in and enjoying the vibe? And you know,
do you do like special events throughout the year.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Yeah, yeah, so we're we're themed like the Cauldron year round,
but we do lots of seasonal overlays. Coming up this winter,
we're gonna do kind of a Pagan Christmas Crampis themed
overlay with a big seasonal menu and extra decor and stuff, which.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Will be fun.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
We do, Yeah, a bunch of limited menus. We do
a Tipsy tea time. They're all tea based inspired cocktails
like high tea, little finger sandwiches and bites that go
along with those. We do a program called Wicked Elixers.
They're like DIY cocktails. It's kind of like a potion
making kit you get to do at the table. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Tons of limited.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Menu stuff like that. So to keep up with us
on social media to know when those are happening.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And as far as the food menu, is it entrees
or is it small plates? More towards a bar vibe.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah, So the original concept was just bar service with
great bar food, but obviously through the growth of the company,
and through expanding it's become a lot more sit down dining.
So our core menu, there are a handful of entrees,
but kind of in general we encourage sharing and almost
pop a style, you know, order a bunch of stuff
for the table and sample all of it.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Sure, our core menu.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Is all inspired by like French and Creole cuisine, lots
of familiar stuff with a little bit of a twist.
And then we do a seasonal menu for every month,
so there's specials that happen every months. Right now, we're
leading into obviously Fall and Halloween and pumpkin stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
You know, I'm looking as I go through the entire menu.
I mean, let's be honest, what person does not does
their eyes don't zoom in And you see the word sliders,
So looking at the combination with your French dip sliders
and your croake monsieur sliders and this type of thing
that looks fabulous. All of these housemade bacon jam, all
(13:13):
the cheeseboards, these are really they're you know, you're not
just reheating crap in the back and throwing it on
a plate. This looks like really fun, well thought out eats.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. We definitely pride ourselves on the food.
We're ninety nine percent is you know, from scratch every
single morning. So we tell people if you see a
specialty're in just in Maxture, you come in and get
it right away because you never know when it's going
to sell out. And it's not like we can throw
something in a microwave and you know, get it out
to you right away when we're sold out. It takes
you know, hours and hours to prep that stuff every morning.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
So I also, you know, going over the cocktail list here,
I'm a sucker for the browns.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
I love a good bourbon.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
And the fact that you have a paper plane on
your cocktail menu and have it so forward like this
is pretty rare. I had to tell the specs give
the specs to a bartender the other day who didn't
know what one that what it was and this was
and they were serving good drinks. But that's a fun
(14:17):
combination there, the bourbon and brimstone while four roses gray bourbon, thyme, honey,
lemon and mint. That sounds sexy too. I mean really,
this is like, this is just a really fun menu
that seems you know, smart, So walk us through. We
(14:39):
only have about a minute or so. You enter the
front door. What is the first thing you see at
the Cauldron there in Buena Park.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
First thing you see is the main dining room, our
large bar, all these wooden beams that kind of frame
the bar out and the fireplace but we call it
the lounge. But that's the overstuffed couches of the cauldron
and the fire underneath it. There's a big mirror and
there's some spirits that appear in that mirror, and that's
I think people's first go to photo right there.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Oh that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Carter Hodges the GM there at the Cauldron Bar there
in Buena Park. If you want to find out more,
you go the Cauldronbar dot com. The Cauldronbar dot com
is where you can find more information. What a treat,
Thanks brother. I appreciate you, Carter for coming on. And
I know it's a busy time for you out there.
(15:29):
We hope to get you guys maybe on the off
season to come in and maybe we can try some
sample some of the food and talk about it more
at length. But I really appreciate you taking the time.
It sounds like a really special place and if you're
looking for something special the Cauldron Bar there in Buena Park.
So thanks Carter, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Neil, all right, my friend, have a great day all
right as well.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Just sounds like a fun place and it is going
on the list of places I want to check out.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
He very soon.
Hey, it's Neil Savandra.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
You're listening to kfi EM six forty the fore Purport
on demand on the iHeartRadio app and Neil Savadri here
with the Fore Report, you know where we talk about
food and beverages and more every Saturday three hours just
to kind of celebrate food on these things and not
(00:21):
get wrapped up in the heaviness of the news during
the week. It's kind of a sanctuary celebrating these things
because who don't love going out and enjoying yourself having
a good meal, a good beverage and more and more.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
When I go out, I want an experience.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I want to be surrounded by something that's playful, interesting,
with architecture and textures and all of these things. And
so we want to tell you about a place.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Right now.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Carter Hodges, the general manager of the Cauldron Bar in
Buena Park, is with us.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Hey Carter, Hey, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I'm well, sir, so I appreciate it for those listening.
Carter was going to try and make it out here
from Buena Park, but it's you know, much easier to
do a phone from there a phoner right now, because
of course it is peak season. We don't do a
whole lot of phone interviews, but man, I get it
making that drive and having to get back.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So we appreciate you taking the time.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Absolutely. I'm sorry I'm not there with you guys.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Now another time for sure. Tell us a little bit
about the vibe. I've heard a bunch of great things.
I've seen pictures I've not been in as of yet.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
All right, we got to get you down here. Yeah,
Cauldron is it's an immersive dining experience. It's kind of
modeled after like a witch's house meets an old English
French tavern. We're known for Yeah, great atmosphere, great cocktails,
great bites, and we're we're right in the heart of Orange County,
directly across from Nottsberry Fartment. So it's a great spot
(01:55):
to stop at if you're in the area for tourism
or if you're local. And obviously anything Halloween related, we're
gonna get you covered.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So what's the best way to experience it.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I've gotta imagine, as we spoke about, it's going to
be slammed. How can people plan out? Do they make reservations?
Does it first come, first serve? How do they go
about experience the Cauldron.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Yeah, so during this season September October, obviously not scary
farmers happening across the street from us, so there is
an influx of people. We do take reservations, but we
only take reservations up to about fifty percent capacity just
to allow for plenty of walk ins. So if you
are planning ahead, you can check out our website or
social media or Google or Yelp make those reservations. If not,
(02:40):
you're more than welcome to just stop in grab a
quick drink. Yeah, full bar service, full, We got two
dining rooms, they have a whole patio, and during the
season we also put a second bar outside of our patio,
so there's plenty of space for people.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
It's really cool checking out the website as we're chatting
Carter looking at the joining the Coven that people can
by being a part of your rewards offers, get cash
back on visits and things like that. Tell us a
little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, So anybody inducted into our Coven rewards system, Basically
you sign up, you get points every single visit you
make and they go immediately back to cash back rewards.
You can put in your birthday stuff, any of like
personal information. That way, we know if you're celebrating a birthday,
if you're celebrating an anniversary, we make sure to take
care of those. People will get you, you know, a
(03:33):
free birthday shot, a dessert, something on the house just
to celebrate.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Oh that's great. And how long has the Cauldron been
in Buena Park there?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So we opened in twenty eighteen, late twenty eighteen or
in our eighth season right now.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, wow, that's a rough time.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, oh yeah about it about a year until the
fit hit the shan so exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah, we're very fortunate that we not all stayed open
during the pandemic, but you know, we actually kind of
grew a bit thanks to social media, so it's been nice.
We've expanded since then, so twice the twice the capacity
for dining inside and we just read it our patio,
so trying to make sure we got enough space to
satisfy everybody.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And what are one of the things that stands out
when people visit the Cauldron?
Speaker 1 (04:21):
What do they talk about the most to you?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I mean, I think the first thing is probably the atmosphere,
just because it's the first thing you see when you
walked in before you even get a drink, before you
get food. It's really dark and intimate. The lighting is
all kind of moody, candlelit atmosphere. There's big wooden beams,
there's a fireplace with a bubbling cauldron in it. Lots
of little like interactive show moments, lots of little you know,
(04:46):
haunts and magical things happening kind of all around the bar.
And you get a chance to see the witch that
haunts the cauldron and her little black cat. They make
appearances kind of all over the place.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Oh wow, that's super cool.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
And you guys are set up for events and private
parties and things as well, right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
So we do a handful of like corporate parties and
stuff like that, but our most popular thing for a
private event is going to be we have a kind
of a speakeasy style party room hidden behind a bookshelf,
so you kind of go in through the library, the
bookshelf swings open and you go into this big banquet table.
So people will host birthdays and special events back there.
(05:24):
But you know, even if you're not in the room, every.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Seat in the house is great, and so you are.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Let's see Tuesdays through Tuesday and Wednesdays you're four pm
to twelve am, and then Thursdays through Sunday it looks
like you're four pm to two am.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
That is correct. Yeah, for this season, just to match
you know, not scary farms hours and make sure that
we're getting everybody in for Halloween season, we extend our
Thursdays and Sundays. After Halloween, we cut back and we
go back to four to twelve on Thursdays and Sundays.
So Friday Saturday are are kind of our late night
bar hours. Yeah, we're we're always closed on Mondays though.
(06:04):
That's the one that's the one.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Ticker and the only thing that you ask is uh,
people stick around for about ninety minutes during their dining
so that you can move people through there and everybody
gets a chance.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah, that's specific to just the table seating. We want
to make sure that everybody has a chance to do
full dinner service, but we encourage people to stay and
have a drink at the bar, hang out on the patio.
It's you know, if they're trying to you know, have
an extended stay, we're not going to kick them out.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
No, I like that.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I mean sometimes it's good to remind people that in
these special places for everybody to have a shot at it.
But it doesn't mean like you're gonna like a big
alarm is going to go off and everybody's got to leave.
Is the uh is the wait staff and your team
there are they kind of play along with the vibe
or how does that work?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah. During this season specifically, we do seemed like cost
weeks and so the staff will really get in the
spirit and come dressed up.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I think the.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Majority of them are dressed up today. And we also
give a that Coven discount. It's a ten percent on
the whole tab if your party shows up in costume.
So that's a fun thing. A lot of people, you know,
join in.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Oh wouldn't that be awkward if some group comes in
and they're just ugly and you're like, oh my god,
you get timpercent off and they're.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Like, why, oh my god.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I just say, luckily that you know of some meany's
I just take it. Yeah, just take it.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
No, we we have people that they'll find out about
the discount once they're already here and they're in you know,
normal street clothes and they go, oh no, I'm dressed
like a skater today. Do I get the discount?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, I'm dressed like a homeless person. No, I saw
you wear that yesterday. All right, hey, ty, we come
back and want to talk to you about the drink
program and some things on the menu. My guess right
now is Carter Hodges from the Cauldron Bar in bent
A Park there right across the street from not Sperry Farm.
Easy to find of course, as we bring you some
(08:04):
really cool, fun vibed places obviously for the spooky holiday
coming up.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
So go nowhere and we'll talk some more.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Thanks for hanging out today. It's the Fork Report, all
things food, beverage and beyond. Every Saturday, we come together
and we celebrate food, the people that make it, the
culture behind it. Right now, we're, you know, in October,
and I love the season as we roll through all
of the major holidays for the most part, and the
spooky time for fall and Halloween is one of my favorites,
(08:43):
and I love getting into.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
The food and the vibe of it.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
To help us with that today, Carter Hodges the GM
there at the Cauldron Bar in went A Park. It's
right across from Nottsberry Farm, so easy to find is
he's with us. We're talking about the private room. They
have themed events, all of the different things. How you
can join the Coven of course that is their rewards
(09:08):
club and all of that. But now we want to
get into the menu. So Carter, when it comes to
the drink program, I know you guys have mocktails in
the like, why don't you walk us through some of
the drink options.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, So our core cocktail menu is a kind of
inspired by potions and you know, witches, brews and stuff
like that. Lots of twists on classic cocktails. One of
my favorites is it's kind of based loosely on like
a Sangreia margarita hybrid. It's called the Devil's Margarita.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Is yeah, pretty.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Standard like margarita on the bottom and then a float
of red wine on the top. You get a really
cool color separation. It's oh that's also and a great cocktail. Yeah.
Our I mean, our most famous probably is the Naughty Kid.
We had to play into like the local you know
history here with Boys and Berry. So it's a Boys
and Berry cotton candy in the martini glass and then
(10:00):
like a lemon drop base and you pour that over
the cotton candy and it all kind of dissolves and
mixes in and gives you a boys and Verry lemon
drop martini.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Oh my gosh, that sounds gorgeous. What a fun kind
of visual. I mean, even you know when you're going
to go to the nth degree, like floating wine on
top of a drink, or in this case, watching two
different textures, colors and flavors come together. There's a little
feater involved with these beverages.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
A lot of us actually come from Feeder. The owner
Laura Hannaman, she is a former creative director from Nottsberry Farm.
She was there for about twenty years. But her background
is feeder and scenic design and all that stuff. So
that's why it's so heavily themed. Oh I love Yeah,
why a lot of our stuff leans theatrical.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Now during it obviously during this time of the year,
a place called the Cauldron. And again the Cauldron is
right across the street from you know, there went a
park rightcas street from from Knotsberry Farm, which is really
cool now that you share with the designer and maker
and creator.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Of all this.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
But what about different parts of the season. Are people
still coming in and enjoying the vibe? And you know,
do you do like special events throughout the year.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Yeah, yeah, so we're we're themed like the Cauldron year round,
but we do lots of seasonal overlays. Coming up this winter,
we're gonna do kind of a Pagan Christmas Crampis themed
overlay with a big seasonal menu and extra decor and stuff, which.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Will be fun.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
We do, Yeah, a bunch of limited menus. We do
a Tipsy tea time. They're all tea based inspired cocktails
like high tea, little finger sandwiches and bites that go
along with those. We do a program called Wicked Elixers.
They're like DIY cocktails. It's kind of like a potion
making kit you get to do at the table. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Tons of limited.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Menu stuff like that. So to keep up with us
on social media to know when those are happening.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And as far as the food menu, is it entrees
or is it small plates? More towards a bar vibe.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah, So the original concept was just bar service with
great bar food, but obviously through the growth of the company,
and through expanding it's become a lot more sit down dining.
So our core menu, there are a handful of entrees,
but kind of in general we encourage sharing and almost
pop a style, you know, order a bunch of stuff
for the table and sample all of it.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Sure, our core menu.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Is all inspired by like French and Creole cuisine, lots
of familiar stuff with a little bit of a twist.
And then we do a seasonal menu for every month,
so there's specials that happen every months. Right now, we're
leading into obviously Fall and Halloween and pumpkin stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
You know, I'm looking as I go through the entire menu.
I mean, let's be honest, what person does not does
their eyes don't zoom in And you see the word sliders,
So looking at the combination with your French dip sliders
and your croake monsieur sliders and this type of thing
that looks fabulous. All of these housemade bacon jam, all
(13:13):
the cheeseboards, these are really they're you know, you're not
just reheating crap in the back and throwing it on
a plate. This looks like really fun, well thought out eats.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. We definitely pride ourselves on the food.
We're ninety nine percent is you know, from scratch every
single morning. So we tell people if you see a
specialty're in just in Maxture, you come in and get
it right away because you never know when it's going
to sell out. And it's not like we can throw
something in a microwave and you know, get it out
to you right away when we're sold out. It takes
you know, hours and hours to prep that stuff every morning.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
So I also, you know, going over the cocktail list here,
I'm a sucker for the browns.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
I love a good bourbon.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
And the fact that you have a paper plane on
your cocktail menu and have it so forward like this
is pretty rare. I had to tell the specs give
the specs to a bartender the other day who didn't
know what one that what it was and this was
and they were serving good drinks. But that's a fun
(14:17):
combination there, the bourbon and brimstone while four roses gray bourbon, thyme, honey,
lemon and mint. That sounds sexy too. I mean really,
this is like, this is just a really fun menu
that seems you know, smart, So walk us through. We
(14:39):
only have about a minute or so. You enter the
front door. What is the first thing you see at
the Cauldron there in Buena Park.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
First thing you see is the main dining room, our
large bar, all these wooden beams that kind of frame
the bar out and the fireplace but we call it
the lounge. But that's the overstuffed couches of the cauldron
and the fire underneath it. There's a big mirror and
there's some spirits that appear in that mirror, and that's
I think people's first go to photo right there.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Oh that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Carter Hodges the GM there at the Cauldron Bar there
in Buena Park. If you want to find out more,
you go the Cauldronbar dot com. The Cauldronbar dot com
is where you can find more information. What a treat,
Thanks brother. I appreciate you, Carter for coming on. And
I know it's a busy time for you out there.
(15:29):
We hope to get you guys maybe on the off
season to come in and maybe we can try some
sample some of the food and talk about it more
at length. But I really appreciate you taking the time.
It sounds like a really special place and if you're
looking for something special the Cauldron Bar there in Buena Park.
So thanks Carter, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Neil, all right, my friend, have a great day all
right as well.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Just sounds like a fun place and it is going
on the list of places I want to check out.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
He very soon.
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