Viva Italia!

The construction walls have come down in Epcot’s Italy to give us the first unobstructed view of the refurbed Tutto Italia and the adjacent Gusto wine bar.

Both venues are scheduled to open this Tuesday – we’ll give you a report (on the wine bar at least!) soon!

Tutto Italia Menu

Gusto Wine Cellar Menu

Whine no more…

for in Epcot there will soon be more wine than you can shake a stick at… an Italian bread stick that is…

In a post about a month ago we took a look over the construction walls in Italy at the refurb of Tutto Italia…

This past week on the official Disney Parks Blog, Pam Brandon gave us an initial look at what the outside of the restaurant will look like…

The new look of Tutto Italia Ristorante and the Tutto Gusto wine bar

more importantly, she gives the lowdown on what we can look forward to in the new Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar – over 200 Italian wines (yes!), a few interesting beers and Grappas make up the adult beverage component of the new location.

Food looks like it will be far from ignored, with over two dozen small plate items scheduled to be on the initial menu. This will be a must-try location after it’s scheduled opening next month!

For the full preview check out the post at the Disney Parks Blog.

This news has gotten me thirsty… now just where is that corkscrew???

WDW Weekend Eats

Yes Dear Dedicated Readers, it’s time for another set of pics from a (fairly) recent weekend of dining at Walt Disney World… so let’s head on in…

On our first evening we sampled a few of the items at the temporary kiosk in the Italian pavilion at Epcot – this is open while Tutto Italia undergoes renovation, and features some items you wouldn’t normally expect to see at a quick-service location.

Caprese Sandwich and Pasta e Fagioli

We tried the Caprese Sandwich (fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil), the traditional pasta and bean soup Pasta e Fagioli, and to wash it down I had a Moretti draft while Miss Bonnie went with the fancy imported San Benedetto water (which pretty much tasted like, well, water…).

Caprese Sandwich

Overall the taste of the sandwich was a bit bland – the fresh cheese is naturally mild in flavor, but the tomatoes were not great and the basil was a bit skimpy. The bread was good, and if you had more flavorful tomatoes and upped the ante on the basil (plus maybe some fresh-cracked pepper) this would be a pleasant change-of-pace from the usual fare, but otherwise was not worth the hefty $10.00 price tag.

Pasta e Fagioli

On the other hand the soup was very good – a hearty mix of pasta, beans and a little bit of meat for flavoring in a nice broth. This was a good size portion and would be great on a cooler evening at Epcot.

The next day for lunch we made our was down Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood Studios and decided to try a couple of the “Gourmet” Hot Dogs at Fairfax Fare.

Macaroni and Cheese Hot Dog with Truffle Oil and Barbecued Pork and Coleslaw Hot Dog

High-end versions of the humble frankfurter have been showing up all over property the past year or two.

Macaroni and Cheese with Truffle Oil Hot Dog

The Mac & Cheese version wasn’t bad, but a little underwhelming – the aroma of the sprayed-on truffle oil hits you at first, but quickly dissipates – Bonnie & I were thinking of ways to make a more truffleious version at home…

Barbecued Pork and Coleslaw Hot Dog

More satisfying was the BBQ Pork and Slaw version. Similar to the one served at Casey’s Corner in Magic Kingdom, the bun holds a good portion of pulled pork (and better than was expected for this self-professed pig-snob) upon which rests the weenie that’s then topped with coleslaw. We both agreed we’d gladly down this version again.

We were at the World for the Princess Half-Marathon (I did say it was a fairly recent weekend, didn’t I?) and we next met several friends for our pre-race dinner at the Turf Club.

Turf Club was selected for the evenings dining as Lori Loves Tigger and her Hubby Erin (who after a bit too much tequila one day at La Cava also wound up somehow becoming my fiancee… don’t ask…) as they were staying at Saratoga Springs for the weekend – Doc Terminus and Running-Fiends Julie and James were along for the ride…

I had been to the nice bar area a couple of times before for apps and beverages, but other than that none of us had dined in the restaurant per se before.

A couple of plates of decent stuffed ‘shrooms and some onion rings were ordered for appetizers.

Roasted Mushrooms stuffed with spinach, cheese and garlic

I chose the stereotypical pre-race pasta while Miss Bonnie decided on a salad as her entree.

Turf Club Pasta with shrimp, garlic, olive oil, veggies & fresh herbs

Iceberg Wedge Salad with blue cheese, bacon & cherry tomatoes

Several other entrees were ordered around the table…

Surf & Turf Burger topped with watercress, lobster and Bearnaise Sauce

Roasted Free-Range Chicken Breast with red bliss potatoes, tomatoes, peas, fresh herbs and roasted broth and in the rear is the Prime Rib with Red Bliss mashed potatoes, broccolini, and red wine demi-glace

The Chocolate Espresso Torte was shared by some for dessert and was given a thumbs up.

Chocolate Espresso Torte

Overall the food was fine, but far from spectacular. If you’re staying at Saratoga and want a sit-down meal (and can’t make the long trek over the water to Downtown Disney for many more dining options) you should be able to have a reasonable meal here, but I’d say the Turf Club is not exactly destination dining.

The next day was the race itself, and afterwards there was actually an interesting edible…

At the end of most races you’ll find things like bananas, bagels, muffins, protein bars and the like offered to runners – at the end of the Princess Half we were also handed a snack box with some interesting, and good, options.

Interesting crackers with a squeeze container of hummus, roasted edamame (we both really liked these – we found the same brand at Whole Foods. Try the wasabi version – it’ll clear your sinuses!), fruit and nut mix and some semi-high-end chocolate… a nice change of pace from the usual post-race fare!

After a much-needed shower and a post-race celebratory Stella (me, not Miss Bonnie…) we made our way to Animal Kingdom to sample some of the new snack and quick-service offerings there.

Over the past several months there has been some new items (and a new kiosk) added to the path from Africa to Asia… this is a lovely walk, and we’ll see if it has been enhanced by the eats & drinks…

at Tamu Tamu Refreshments in Harambe they have a beef sandwich we’d been wanting to try…

Slow Roasted Pulled Beef Sandwich

we both really liked this (somewhat messy) sandwich, as well as the accompanying seasoned potato chips – we’ll be having this again. Our good friend Ryan also recently reviewed this item and I’d have to say that I concur completely with his assessment – you can check it out over at the Main Street Gazette.

As you travel on towards Asia you’ll come across the Safari Egg Rolls Kiosk…

while they have long offered the typical fried egg rolls (a veggie version as well as a pork and shrimp one), which are perfectly fine and for the fairly nominal prices are a nice snack, recently added was a Vietnamese-style cold Summer Roll.

Chilled Summer Roll

Rice paper encases glass noodles and fresh veggies… it could use a bit more herbs (Miss Bonnie found it a bit bland), and it really needs the sweet chili dipping sauce to enliven it, but overall I’m liking this item (which means it will probably be pulled from the menu soon)…

This crunchy, chilled roll is a good alternative to the fried rolls, and should be a great snack on those sweltering summer days in the often steamy Animal Kingdom park… and it’s only two bucks so it’s worth giving it a try… and yeah, it should be fairly healthy… shhhh… don’t tell anyone that…

Along the way is a fairly new structure primarily purveying beverages of the adult variety.

Frozen Margaritas are the beverage of choice here – if you’re not sure which to pick, try them all layered in the “Triple Yeti Blast”!

Triple Yeti Blast

Miss Bonnie really liked the mango flavor, while I was more partial to the lime. I’m not real big on frozen ‘ritas, but this will be nice during the heat of the summer (if you want a good non-frozen one in AK, try the African Margarita they mix up at the Dawa Bar).

We also wanted to try the new “Boneless Chicken Wings” (read sauced nuggets), but didn’t have the chance this time as we had to make our way towards Epcot for dinner… you can check out what our buddy AJ had to say about them over at the Disney Food Blog (she also covers the margarita kiosk in the same post – note how the offerings have changed since her visit just a few months prior to ours).

So yes, we arrived at Epcot and headed directly to (big shock) La Cava del Tequila…

We met the same motley crew as the night before (less the good Doctor) and Erin & I introduced Julie to the wonders of the tequila shot.

From there we went to dinner at Teppan Edo, the teppanyaki style eatery in the Japan pavilion.

The chef always puts on a good show…

The infamous "Onion Volcano"

While I think the food here is very average…

Ton (pork loin steak)

it is a very fun place to go, especially with a great group of friends!

Hotate (cold water sea scallops)

The tables here usually seat eight, and if your party doesn’t fill a table you will likely be seated with others (strangers at the start, but usually not by the end of the meal).

We were fortunate to be seated with a very nice young couple and their infant son. The husband was in the military and this was their last Disney trip before he was being sent for a tour of duty in the Middle East. This young gentleman and his wife were personable, bright and the perfect dinner companions – I was proud the shake his hand afterwards, thank him for his service to our country and wish him well. If he is at all typical of the men and women that serve us in the military, I’d say we are very well represented around the world. I hope to see the great couple and their adorable son very soon again in Disney!

So there you have it – another weekend of eating around the World – nothing spectacular this time, but some fun times and a few good finds nonetheless! Hope you enjoyed it!

Now, as always, back to the kitchen – we’ll see you soon!

WDW Weekend Eats

We haven’t done a “Weekend Eats” in a while, so since Miss Bonnie and I spent our pre-Valentine’s weekend at Disney and had a nice variety of edibles while there, I figured it was time…

We were staying at the Wilderness Lodge and began our culinary adventures on Friday evening there at the Territory Lounge.

In this comfortable setting next to the  Artist Point restaurant they have a selection of appetizers available to go along with the featured wines of the the American Northwest (or the usual cocktail or beers of your choice if you prefer).

One of the appetizers is the same cheese plate as served next door at Artist Point, and that was our choice to start the weekend.

Smokey Blue Cheese, Reypenaer VSOP and Humboldt Fog

The aged Gouda and the Blue were pretty much tied as our favorite… cheese… yummm…

I’ve heard from semi-reliable sources that you can order from the complete restaurant menu in the bar, and we did see a couple of ladies enjoying the mushroom soup (which was not on the app menu for the lounge), so I imagine if you ask real nice…

We made our way to the Magic Kingdom for a while and enjoyed the “romance version” of the great castle show (if you haven’t seen the projection show on the castle that precedes the fireworks, you’re really missing something…) and the fireworks. Following Wishes we hightailed it to the resort monorail and got off at the Poly.

Next to Kona Cafe they set up a sushi bar starting at 5 PM (before this it’s a coffee/pastry venue) and here you can get some really great Polynesian-style sushi and/or order from the full Kona menu if you so desire.

We ordered a couple of items from the sushi menu as well as the potstickers from the Kona appetizer menu.

Pork and Vegetable Potstickers

I was a bit disappointment that the duck potstickers that had been on the menu had been replaced with a more mainstream pork and veggie version, but they were quite good nonetheless.

From the sushi side we tried the Citrus Hamachi Roll (which I think is a new addition to the selection there since my last visit) and one of my favorites, the Tuna Poke.

Citrus Hamachi Roll

The Hamachi roll featured marinated raw Yellow Tail with crunchy tempura bits and was quite good.

Tuna Poke... can you served me up a bucket of this stuff please???

Dedicated Readers may recall how much I enjoyed chopped-up-and-seasoned-raw-tuna dishes (and I’ve given you a couple of recipes for Tuna Poke in the posts “Let’s Cook! Tuna Poke” and “Let’s Cook! Tuna Poke, a la Aulani”), and the Tuna Poke served here is not only one of my favorite examples of this dish, but truly one of my favorite things served anywhere on Disney property. Very fresh seasoned tuna with a spicy mayoish topping on a crispy base… I could eat a huge amount of this stuff!

Miss Bonnie has been somewhat squeamish about raw fish before (but I give her lots of credit for at least trying most anything), but she bravely gave this a taste… and went back for more… it’s that flipping good…

The next day we again found ourselves in the Magic Kingdom, and around lunchtime we made our way to the Columbia Harbour House. This is probably my favorite quick service location in the Magic Kingdom – it’s menu is quite different from any other on property (believe it or not, you can’t get a burger there), and the seating areas, especially upstairs, are well themed and generally much less hectic than most other quick service eateries.

We had been meaning to get there for quite a while after a menu makeover a few months ago (making broccoli, of all things, a featured element), but this was the first time we’d actually made it there. Broccoli (which I actually quite like) is now offered as a side option to many of the menu items, and is featured in a salad, which we decided to try (along with and order of the fried fish so that Miss Bonnie could get here french-fry-fix for the day).

Broccoli Peppercorn Salad

The Broccoli Peppercorn Salad has “mixed greens (mostly iceberg), garden vegetables (corn and green peas), chicken, broccoli, parmesan cheese, tossed with a creamy peppercorn dressing”. This salad is huge with a very large amount of (I assume) poached chicken. The meat is tender and not dry at all, but fairly bland. The dressing is tasty and the ingredients really need the flavor boost. The peas and corn tend to wiggle there way down, so you see most of them at the bottom of the bowl as you finish. The salad is certainly big enough to share, and we both liked it and agreed we’d gladly have it again (even though my usual choice here is the hummus sandwich). Even though the ingredients are healthy, I can’t imagine the dressing is anywhere near a low (or even moderate) fat selection, so even though it’s a “salad”, it’s probably not really a great dietary choice, especially if you eat the whole thing… of course it’s probably still much better than a burger…

Later in the afternoon we found ourselves in Downtown Disney to take part in the the 5th Anniversary celebration for Lou Mongello’s WDW Radio podcast (congrats on five great years Lou!) being held outside of the Pollo Campero/Fresh A-Peel/babycakesNYC building with goodies being provided by the babycakesNYC bakery.

We were meeting up with Momma Ginny there, and she gave us the heads up on a tasty beverage to sample: Watermelon Sangria.

Watermelon Sangria

There is a small beverage area there with several Latin favorites (alcoholic and non… as if anyone should bother with the latter) and other usual beers and wine. On this day they had a very refreshing and yummy Watermelon Sangria, so we ordered one of those (primarily) for Miss Bonnie along with a Stella draft for myself. They do now offer discounts (20%) here for DVC members, Annual Passholders, etc., so our two drinks (before tip) were less than $10.00 – quite the adult beverage deal for being on Disney property!

Attendees were treated to small cupcakes with your choice of frosting (we selected a very assertive mint).

Cupcakes with Mint Frosting

And later a very moist and delicious Blondie cake with vanilla frosting was sliced and gladly devoured by the crowd.

babycakes manager Emily handing out slices of cake

Babycakes is known as the “healthy” dessert location – vegan, gluten-free, yadda, yadda, yadda… this equals taste-free to many… this cake converted any doubters…

Tasty, tasty vegan Blondie Cake with Vanilla Frosting... only thing that could have made it better would be some bacon!

That evening was our pre-Valentine’s dinner at Artist Point in the Wilderness Lodge resort.

We ordered a couple of glasses of Kung Fu Girl Riesling (a nice choice) and perused the menu. While we looked we nibbled on some nice Sourdough Bread served with soft butter sprinkled with Black Sea Salt.

Bread & Butter

We were tempted by several new appetizer offerings (including Roasted Oysters with Crab Ceviche and an Asian-inspired Beef Noodle Bowl), but settled on the Roasted Heirloom Beets.

Salt Roasted Heirloom Beets with Truffled Goat Cheese, Cider Poached Pink Lady Apples, Spiced Walnuts and Mulled Wine Vinaigrette

This was not only a beautiful dish, but an absolutely delicious one as well!  Of course it’s hard to go too wrong when you start with a base of truffled goat cheese… I would have gladly eaten a larger portion of this as a vegetarian entree.

For her main course Miss Bonnie chose the Sweet Potato Gnocchi (another new addition to the menu replacing another gnocchi dish) while I selected the Prawn and Crab “Hot Pot”.

House-made Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Wild Mushrooms, Spinach, Caper Butter and Drunken Goat Cheese

The gnocchi arrived on a slender plate along with mushrooms, spinach and (yet more) goat cheese. Bonnie was ecstatic about the dish and keep talking about it for days.

With the large number of people of Asian descent on the West Coast, it’s not surprising that Artist Point usually features several Asian-inspired dishes, and my entree was one of these…

Wild Caught Jumbo Prawn and Crab "Hot-Pot" with Mussels, Crispy Pork (yeah baby!, Jasmine Rice, and Spiced Thai Coconut Broth

the “Hot-Pot” is in quotes as you don’t actually cook the dish yourself as in a traditional hot pot, but this is an “inspired” dish from the flavors of a seafood hot pot… a flavorful broth was on the bottom of the dish, topped with the slightly sticky rice along with some mussels, a few cubes of pork belly, some pieces of crab and two large prawns. Overall the dish had very good flavor and was quite filling as well – the mussels were on the small side (which disappointed me as, like Janet Weiss, I’m a mussel fan…), but other than that I was quite satisfied.

We very both so stuffed that we passed on dessert, but just to be on the safe side we stopped in at the Wilderness Lodge quick-service venue, the Roaring Fork, to pick up a Magic Cookie Bar (which did make it unscathed until the next morning).

Magic Cookie Bar

On Sunday we went to Epcot (which will not shock Dedicated Readers in the least) and started wandering around World Showcase. After considering the new temporary Italian quick service (which is open while the Tutto Italia restaurant is closed for a refurbishment), we decided on my new/old favorite, the Katsura Grill for lunch.

Katsura Grill

The former Yakatori House, which was one of my favorite places in all the World, recently re-opened as the Katsura Grill (yes, we will give you more details on this venue sometime, soon I hope…), and I have been very pleased with the results. Most of the old menu is still intact, and several new items have been added. It was a very cool weekend, so on this visit Miss Bonnie was in the mood for soup and she went for the Miso Soup along with a California Roll.Both items hit the spot for her, especially the soup.

Miso Soup and California Roll

I picked one of the older dishes to see how it was now faring – the Shogun Combo of teriyaki chicken and beef served with steamed veggies and rice. The boneless chicken thighs were juicy and took well to the sauce. The thinly sliced beef was much better than the last time I’d had it, even though I still wish they’d bring back the sukiyaki beef. The vegetables and the rice were both cooked well. This was a very generous portion and a quality dish. Of course, a Kirin washed down a good lunch.

Shogun Teriyaki Combination

So there you have it, a culinary overview of our most recent weekend in the World – I hope you enjoyed it and were able to eat a bit vicariously…

We also came across several interesting things in the parks that weekend, so we’ll try and give you an “Odds & Ends” from the weekend soon…

Now, back to the kitchen! See you soon!

WDW Weekend Eats…

We haven’t done a wrap-up  of a weekends dining at Walt Disney World lately, so since we had some good and different items this past weekend, let’s dig in!

Our first on-property food foray wasn’t until Saturday lunch…

Miss Bonnie and I were at the Magic Kingdom early in the AM, and after randomly running into a few friends (you know who you are…) we met up with Scientist Len (aka Leonard), an old friend of mine from grad school, and his offspring, Dizzy Lizzy… it had been many years since either had been in the Kingdom, so we played Tour Guide and knocked out plenty of attractions in the morning.

As we wanted a break from the park, we hopped the monorail over to the Polynesian and went to Captain Cook’s for a quick bit of lunch. As we had a fairly early reservation for dinner, Miss Bonnie & I decided to share a meal.. we thought about one of the flatbreads, then what seems to be a new item on the menu caught ours respective eyes: pork nachos…

Okay, here I’ll admit I don’t recall the exact name and listed details of the item, and yes I could have taken a pic of the menu items, but I was more concerned with heading to the pool bar for a better beer selection while I had Miss Bonnie wait in line for the food… yes, I suck…

So to digress a bit… they have cool touch screen ordering here which worked well, once I figured out you had to use it instead of talking to a real-live person… for pics of this and a full review, go over to our friends at the Disney Food Blog here.

Anyway… we sat outside with our pork nachos… and Miss Bonnie deemed them good enough to come back specifically for them!

Instead of tortilla chips, crispy fried wontons (with a random potato chip…) served as the base… tender Hawaiian-style pulled pork (not sure but I’m thinking maybe a Kahlua pork?) is the protein, a mild cheese (likely mozzarella?) glues things together and the whole thing is topped with tomatoes, onions and, of course to complete the island theme, pineapple…

It was tasty, different, and a nice sized portion for the price – easily enough for two… thinking I may have to work up a version in the Eating (and Drinking) around the World kitchens some day…

So we headed back to the park for a while, and then took a boat over to the Wilderness Lodge (where Bonnie & I were laying our heads for the weekend) for dinner at Artist Point.

I’ve had a few really good meals there over the past couple of years, so I was looking forward to our meal that night (in fact, at Miss Bonnie’s suggestion, I took a photo of the menu on my phone that morning so I’d have plenty of time to peruse same during the day… still I didn’t make up my mind until we were there…)… to cut to the chase, we weren’t disappointed…

Leonard and Lizzy shared a cheese plate, as did Bonnie & I… well, Miss Bonnie allowed me to taste a bit of the cheeses, threatening me with her silverware if I tried to take too much… Bonnie has become quite the aficionado of all things fromage since her cheese epiphany earlier this year at Jiko’s.

Clockwise from bottom left: "Drunken" Goat cheese with figs, aged Reypenaer VSOP Gouda with raisins, Walnut Toast, and Smokey Blue Cheese with honeycomb.

The cheese plate here has a bit less variety than some others around property (Jiko’s and Flying Fish usually have five choices), but the portions were generous and the selections were good… none was left on the plate. The real find here was the aged Gouda – very much like a good aged cheddar with the little crunch of crystallization here and there – I’ll search this one out to have again.

I (being the pig I am) also tried an additional appetizer, the Rainbow Asparagus Salad with Slow Poached Farm Fresh Egg, Truffle Chips, Frisee Lettuce, Black Truffles, and Champagne Vinaigrette… phew, that was a keyboard-full…

Asparagus Salad

The truffle aroma was wonderful, in fact I passed the dish around the table just for everyone to sniff, and the egg was perfectly cooked – the yolk making a rich addition to the dressing when cut into…

Good, but to my tastes, not great… perhaps the full day of desiring this item had me expecting too much…

For the rest of our meal, the ladies chose to go the “Appetizer as Dinner” route (which I’m becoming a big fan of…) while the manly men chose the full entree route…

Pan-seared Alaskan Halibut

Leonard chose the halibut with asparagus, morels and peas… tender and flavorful.

Kettle-steamed Mussels with Sourdough Panzanella

Dizzy Lizzy’s selection of mussels with basically a bread salad atop was a good portion and met with much delight.

I chose to go with some of Donald’s relatives…

"Duo of Duck" Seared Crispy Breast of Duck with Brown Butter Chard, Huckleberry Chili Glaze and Smoked Duck Soufflé

The perfectly cooked duck breast was a delight… the soufflé was more of a side… almost like a corn pudding with some duck pieces at the bottom.

But the winner of the night was Miss Bonnie…

Spring Pea Risotto with Crispy Snake River Farms Pork Belly, Radish Salad & Goat Cheese Crisp

The rich and fatty pork belly was combined with a flavorful spring pea risotto – the radish provided a bit of contrast in texture – wow, this was really something… only complaint is that I’d like a little more of the radish salad, but that’s just a little bit of whining…

If this is on the menu when you are there, order it… even if you’re Kosher or vegetarian, order it…

Being fully sated after some great food, good wine, and even better company, we sadly passed on dessert (and Lizzy really had her heart set on some simple ice cream in the Kingdom), so we made our way back to the park for the rest of the evening.

On Sunday ours friends made their way back up I-75 early, so Miss Bonnie and I were on our own for lunch…

We took the nice walk from Wilderness Lodge over to Fort Wilderness (encountering Bambi on the way…) and did a bit of exploring… maybe we’ll soon look at a few things we found at the Outpost…

but back to the food…

We chose to dine at Trail’s End, which promises “Frontier Fixin’s & Friendly Folk”…

Until fairly recently, Trail’s End was all-buffet, all-the-time, but now lunch is served a la carte (while the buffet is still in effect for breakfast and dinner).

Despite the “down home” feel of the place, the lunch menu has some really interesting choices.

Now (as we’ll see soon), this part could easily be titled “Three potato, four…”… (if you haven’t read “One potato, two potato”, you may go back and do so now…).

House-made Potato Chips

We started with a new appetizer: House-made Potato Chips served with onion dip. The chips come plain (“Natural”), Barbecue or Peppercorn & Vinegar – we chose the latter – the flavoring wasn’t over-powering, but was there.

Freshly-made chips are showing up a lot over property now (again, see “One potato, two potato”), and it’s a good thing… these were delicious…

For our mains, Bonnie went with the Pulled Pork Sandwich while I (after consultation with our pleasant server) opted for the Fried Green Tomatoes.

The pork sandwich was topped with Corn-Bacon Coleslaw (a bit skimpy portion of this in my opinion…) and pickled Green Tomatoes.

This item is normally served with the Potato Chips, but since we had those to start, Miss Bonnie asked for the Sweet Potato Fries as a sub and she was easily accommodated in her request.

Mmmm... pig....

When I asked our server about her opinion on the Fried green Tomatoes, she admitted she hadn’t tried them, but noted that they were the favorite item of the chef, so I took that as a good omen…

Fried Green Tomatoes with Marinated Portobello Mushrooms, Roasted Red Peppers, Smoked Gouda Cheese, and Fried Green Beans served with Sweet Potato Fries

The Fried Green Tomatoes are served atop marinated Portobello Mushrooms, which provides a nice counterpoint.

The Fried Green Beans are good, and loved the Fried Sweet Potatoes, but overall this plate is Too Much Fried… yes you heard me, Too Much Fried food…

I’d certainly order this again, but I’d ask to sub either the beans or sweet potato fires with another (non-fried) side next time…

The food here was really good, and the portions more than generous (two could easily spilt a meal, especially if you were having an appetizer or adding one of the sides that sound appealing) – we’ll be back soon to try Spicy Grilled Shrimp, or maybe the (seemingly now soon-to-be ubiquitous) Fried Chicken and Waffles, or just for the sides of Cheese Grits or Hopp’n John…

If you’ve been to any of the places we visited this weekend, we’d love to hear your comments!

Now back to the kitchen…

Get in line now…

In January it was officially announced that the highly successful Food & Wine Classic at the Swan and Dolphin Resort would be back for a second year.

This event highlights the restaurants at the Swan & Dolphin, and this year, like last, will take place the second weekend of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival.

Here at Eating (and Drinking) around the World we did a couple of posts about the inaugural event and instead of repeating much of the info here (at my age I tend to repeat myself enough as it is…) we’ll just send you back to peruse them… part one (reviewing the drink seminars) is at Food & Wine Classic 2010… Classy and Classic it was… Part One, while the food and beverage tastings on the causeway are described in the cleverly named Part Two…

Quietly, a couple of weeks ago the tickets and packages for the 2011 event went on sale, and as soon as I heard this, I was on the phone…

So what’s going to be different this year? Well, first of all is a (fully expected) price increase… the causeway tasting tickets are up $15 per night to $65, and do not include one of the seminars as they did last year. The seminars are now priced separately at $35 each, so for what cost you $50 last year, you’d have to spend $100.

There are also a couple of options this year on the packages. Packages (room and causeway tastings for two) start at $255. If you want to add the seminars for two the packages start at $329 at night. The 2010 event packages (with the seminars included) started at $169 a night.

Bottom line on cash is that the cost for this year’s event is twice last year’s… but too a person I spoke with, all agreed that it was such an incredible deal that there was no way it wasn’t going up this year… I think the first event was just a run-thru (or in essence a “soft-opening”) for later efforts. Will it be worth it? Well, time of course will tell, but that I signed up the day I heard reservations were being taken should tell you that I anticipate it being an even better event than last year.

When I was on the phone to the reservation person, I mentioned that last year they made a big deal about the opening time to make reservations last year (and when I got through after being on hold about a half an hour after it opened several of the seminars were already sold out) while it was a bit more subtle this year – she said that the event this year was going to be bigger and have more capacity and food booths, but she wasn’t able to provide more details or give specifics on how much “bigger” it would be this year.

So the advice from Eating (and drinking) Around the World? If you can make it, come on along… if they do at least as good a job as last year, it should be worth the price, and if they learned a bit (and they didn’t make too many mistakes last year) it should be better. The biggest concern I have is that with all the accolades they got on the Interwebs from last year’s efforts that it might become too crowded for comfort – hopefully there will be expanded booths that could absorb additional guests (and the higher cost may dissuade some as well…). I think the price increase for the causeway tastings should still be a deal at $65, as is the lower package price.

The biggest net increase is the cost for the beverage seminars. As much as I enjoyed the ones last year (again you can see the reviews here), I think $35 is pretty steep… that being said, I did sign up for them this year, taking the bullet for you, dear Dedicated Readers… so we’ll wind up seeing the value then.

If you’re not that excited about the offered seminars, pass on them (or if you’re buying a package for both nights and maybe only one floats your boat, buy them a la carte).

As more details come along, we’ll pass them on (or at least links to them)… we’re looking forward to the Food & Wine Classic for sure, and we hope to see you there as well! For sign-up details you can click here to go to the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic (that’s mouthful, huh?) page.

Now back to the kitchen…

One potato, two potato…

French fries and bagged potato chips have long been staples of theme park cuisine, and just about any type of fast-food eatery for that matter, for about as long as most can remember.  This is true of course for Disney World as it has been for anyplace else.

Recently however, a couple of spud options have surfaced in the World…

A couple of places in the Magic Kingdom are now featuring freshly made potato chips… and they are dang tasty!

As we noted in April, they are available at the Tomorrowland Terrace (no longer known as the Noodle Station).  But as we found recently, they are also in Fantasyland at the Friar’s Nook (formerly known as the Village Fry Shoppe).

The menu here had gone under a change not long ago, and I went there to try a new entree that was served with the aforementioned chips…

the menu item in question was the Teriyaki Chicken Nuggets…

When ordered, the normal chicken nuggets are dunked in a teriyaki sauce, put in a serving bowl along with the chips, and topped with (of all things) fried wasabi peas (which I dearly love).

The nuggets are actually pretty good, and the serving size is generous – but like at Tomorrowland Terrace, the real star here is the potato chips (which are also on the menu as a side item).

This Asian-styled item seems sorta out of place in Fantasyland, but I’ll take a new, and good, dining option wherever I can find it…

Across the World in Animal Kingdom another  tuber was likewise a recent pleasant surprise…

After this year’s Expedition Everest Challenge race I was in search of sustenance and with much of The Harem in tow I made my way to one of the few dining establiments that was open: Restaurantosaurus.

I think the last time I was there was after the last Everest event (Flame Tree being my usual quick-service choice in AK). Now our good friend AJ of the Disney Food Blog loves this place (see her review here), and now I have a reason to like it as well…

Yes Dear Readers, we have Sweet Potato Fries…

In my attempt to be semi-healthy, I selected the “Vegetable Subosaurus” which happened to come with a side of the Sweet Potato Fries.

Vegetable Subosaurus

The sandwich was good (not sure if it was as good as the grilled veggie sandwich served at a couple of places in the Studios or not, but pretty dang good in any case…), but the real winner again was the side of sweet fried tubers. They don’t list them on the menu, but if you ask they’ll serve you a side order (for a not-too-bad price of $2.49).

These were good enough that I’d now make a point of going to Restaurantosaurus for a snack of these tasty starchy sticks next time I’m in Animal Kingdom.

Have you seen either of these items other places in the World? Or if you’ve tried these, we’d love to hear your thoughts on them…

Yet more construction wall fun!

I know how much my handful of Dedicated Readers love pictures of construction walls, so here’s another…

Here we are along Disney’s Boardwalk…

and fairly briefly shuttered was Iron Chef Cat Cora’s Kouzzina restaurant…

The eatery is now re-opened with a few cosmetic changes, a handful of menu changes/additions (steamed mussels with ouzo, shallots, herbs and butter; pork tenderloin with zucchini corn pie; saffron pasta with lamb ragù with a port reduction – count me in for all of those! If they removed the clams I’ll be pissed though…) and the promise of an up-coming Chef’s Table in the Coranation Room (which I assume is in the same room at the far end of the restaurant where I attended Chef Cora’s Signature Dining event during the Food & Wine Festival this year). And yes, sign me up for a reservation at the Chef’s Table ASAP!

Our good buddy AJ at the Disney Food Blog has pics of the aesthetic upgrade and more details on her site, so we’ll send you there for more info until we’re able to make it there first-hand for a report (and of course, it will take us a long time to get that info to you anyway, so don’t hold your damn breath…).

Food & Wine Classic 2010… Classy and Classic it was…. Part Two

In early October the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resorts debuted a new event for foodies: the Food & Wine Classic.

A while back in Part One, I gave you an overview of a couple of the beverage seminars (you can stop now an go read that here, we’ll wait for you to come back…).

Now let’s take a look at the “Meat and Potatoes” of the event: the food and beverage tastings located on the causeway between the Swan and Dolphin.

Even though I know all of you either went and read (or re-read) Part One just now, let’s go over again some of the costs and details before we get to the consumables…

One could book a room package that included your room and admission for two to one of the seminars and all you could eat and drink at the booths on the causeway.

The basic package was $169.00 a night for two people. In addition to that was of course the “resort fee” and parking fees (if you drove your own vehicle). With taxes, etc. the total was just a hair over $200.00 a night at the Dolphin (the Swan was a bit higher).

You didn’t have to get one of the packages or stay at either of the resorts to participate in the eating frenzy – one could also just buy a wristband for $50.00 a night that gave you all you can eat and drink as well as admission to one of the seminars (if available – see Part One…). You could also buy any number of tickets at $2.00 each (or a booklet of 25 for $45.00) and redeem these at the booths (most items were two or three tickets, with one, the filet at Shula’s, being five).

A live band performed both evenings

Most of the Harem made an appearance at some point during the weekend – Mama Ginny, Lil Sis Lindsay, Mistress Sandra and Miss Bonnie were all along for the fun. In addition we had a Harem-Wanna-Be: Five Shot Allison (aka MBSiL or Miss Bonnie’s Sis in Law) and she made quite a debut in her first Harem test run…

So now let’s gather up the ladies and move on outside…

There were seven food stations representing many of the restaurants located in the two resorts: Todd English’s bluezoo, Il Mulino, Shula’s Steak House, Kimonos, The Fountain, Cabana and a dessert sampling from the Executive Pastry Chef Laurent Brainard. Some locations provided the same item on both nights, while a few offered a different selection on the second night. There was only one item provided for sampling at each food stop.

Eleven booths (yeah!) were providing tastes of a variety of adult beverages – most were sponsored by wineries or wine importers/distributors, with one devoted to beer, another presented a couple of drinks based on the domestic sake Ty Ku and a couple showcasing various and (hopefully innovative) cocktails.

So, now let’s wander around, shall we???

If you were exiting the Dolphin after one of the seminars, the first booth on your right was Beer Please! Sponsored by the distributors that put on the beer seminars, Friday night featured the Trappist brews they had showcased that night in the seminar, while on Saturday they had quite a good variety of domestic craft beers. The staff there was very obliging and if you so desired you could have sampled many styles of brew over both nights.

Next along was the first food stop: the Cabana Bar and Beach Club, whose “real” location is poolside at the Dolphin Resort.

Friday night we were presented with a Tuna Nacho comprised of minced raw yellowfin tuna with sirachia aioli and sesame-soy vinaigrette served atop a piece of crispy corn tortilla.

Tuna Nacho prep...

The tortilla was cut so as to provide the diner with a nice little handle. This item was simply outstanding, fresh and tasty with a nice bit of bite – I did have more than one of these…

assembly...

Tuna Nacho ready to be devoured... yumm...

Saturday’s selection here was a Crab & Watermelon Salad.

This featured a compressed square of watermelon topped with generous lumps of crabmeat dressed with an avocado cream and lemon vinaigrette garnished with micro cilantro greens.

Adding the garnishes to the Crab & Watermelon Salad

Enough for me to get started...

Again, many more than one of these were consumed by the Harem and I on that night…

At some point during the evening the stash of compressed watermelon apparently ran out and the dish was served thusly... still Dang Tasty...

Wow – these items were from what amounts to a pool bar??? Both were delicious and out-of-the-ordinary. After tasting these I’m definitely going to make a special trip to Cabana to try out their daily fare!

Wine! Give us some wine woman!

Just past the Cabana booth was Down Under featuring Penfolds wines from Australia.

A selection of fancy-dancy desserts

Next was a good-sized dessert selection featuring choices from the two time World Pastry Champion Laurent Brainard. All the items I sampled (and remember I’m not a huge “sweets guy”) were good, but nothing spectacular (and that seemed to be the consensus of the Harem as well, but of course my memory could be clouded as I was several beverages in already by that point…).

The best (and messiest) item was a made-to-order ice cream sandwich with your choice of ingredients.

Your sandwich, sir...

Taste of New Zealand was next in line, and presented several wines from, where else, but New Zealand…

The Fountain restaurant served the same item both nights, fried Falafel Balls with a creamy dipping sauce.

Presented in paper cones, these chickpea based treats were good, if not exactly innovative – it would have been nice if they had offered a different item on the second night as they weren’t that great you really had to go back for them more than once (okay, maybe twice…).

Falafel Balls

Just past the Fountain was fresh-squeezed lemonade… what? Lemonade? Who cares…

Okay... so there was more than just lemons in the lemonade...

Kimonos, the sushi and karaoke spot from the Swan was next in line.

Both nights hard-working production lines gave us very delicious sushi rolls.

Presented in nice sectioned, plastic serving dishes, the sushi pieces were served with soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi. We were (surprisingly) given smooth, very nice-quality wooden chopsticks to help us devour the rice-wrapped goodness.

Dragon Roll

Friday night we got to sample (okay, we more than “sampled”…) the delicious Dragon Roll (featuring crispy shrimp and tuna with a spicy mayo topping).

Saturday was a bit more pedestrian (but still good) Shrimp Tempura Roll.

Shrimp Tempura Roll

We also got to see the World's Largest Wasabi Hidden Mickey

A couple of unusual cocktails based on TY KU Sake were next. There was a Lemon Drop (with lemonade) and a Sangria (with raspberries and lychee). I think the consesus was that the Lemon Drop was the real winner here…

At the end of the line was the Base to Bubbles booth.

The idea behind this area seemed to be that you would taste small samples of vine varietals and see how they progressed into a finished glass of bubbly champagne… on the surface it seems like a great idea, but in reality most people just opted for getting a glass poured and moving on… the Harem seemed quite adept at getting glasses of champagne, even without all of them having to stand in line (shake your wristbands in the air, ladies!).

Before the lines...

Moving to the other side of the causeway we now come to perhaps the most popular food offering, the “Pick Your Own Filet” from Shula’s Steak House. Here we had a 4 ounce grilled filet served with a delightful creamed spinach.

Now the “pick your own” was a bit of a misnomer, as it seemed liked you’d point to a piece of meat and have it cooked to order, and this may have actually been the original idea, but with the long lines that would have been practically impossible…

As you neared the head of the line, you were asked as to your doneness preference, and fairly shortly you were presented with a grilled tournedo that pretty much resembled  the way you liked it cooked and a side of the (oh-so-healthy Popeye favorite) creamed spinach.

All in all it was good, but if I was paying by the ticket (and this was $10.00 worth of tickets) I’d have been disappointed… the meat was tender (and yes you could cut it with the provided plastic utensils), but somewhat lacking in flavor – the naturally lean tenderloin lacks much of the flavor-giving natural fat, so it usually needs some seasoning or sauce help, which was lacking here. The best part of the plate was the spinach – if fact, Little Sister Lindsay stood in line and passed on the meat – asking for a double-helping of the creamed spinach instead!

Our next beverage stop is the Cocktail Competition where “Swan & Dolphin Bartenders unite with Square One Organic Vodka to create an unforgettable cocktail. Who will do the best? We’ll let you be the judge!”

Don’t remember much… must not have been unforgettable… okay the Cucumber Cocktail wasn’t too bad…

Cocktails so good they bring a tear to the eye...

Next Vino of Veneto showcased a selection of Venetian varietals.

Next to the Italian wines were the offerings of the Swan’s Italian eatery, Il Mulino. On Friday we were given a Handcrafted Meatball Sandwich while Saturdays effort was Handcrafted (they like that word…) Tagliatelle Pasta (with a sauce of lamb and porcini mushrooms with sardo cheese).

Handcrafted Meatball Sandwich

The sandwich was great – tender tomato braised meatballs served on a mini Cuban roll topped with parmesan – nothing flashy but well executed and a perfect size and style choice for the type of event.

Saturday’s pasta wasn’t quite as successful… it wasn’t bad by any means, but was certainly nothing out of the ordinary (this was the consesus of the Harem, and I overheard others saying something similar). There weren’t many second helpings taken of this…

Handcrafted Tagliatelle Pasta

Another wine station, Malbec of Mendoza, was next along the causeway.

Right afterwards was yet another wine purveyor. Wines of Washington featured three varieties from the Pacific Northwest.

Stumbling along we next came to the total fun of Modern Mixology.

One side they were making “Dipping Dots” versions of cocktails – sweet, frozen, Space-Age alcohol! Fun with liquid nitrogen!

Too cool!

The other side of the table had white or red sangria – but not just any sangria…

add some deep-frozen dried fruits…

and you had a smokey, fuming beverage that was just cool to look at and even tasted great -

they pretty much had to kick Lindsay out of the line here…

Move on lady, move on...

The next (and last) food venue was by far the most fun, innovative and perhaps best-tasting of the event… I certainly made the most trips there…

Celebrity chef Todd English’s bluezoo gave us “a creative take on molecular cuisine with ‘Steamrollers’ and and ‘Pipettes’ ”…

Friday were the “Steamrollers” – deconstructed shrimp cocktails presented in a glass tube – all the traditional flavors of the stodgy old shrimp cocktail but in a great, fun presentation.

You picked up the tube and held your finger over one end while the other end went into you mouth… suck, remove your finger, and the fresh and tasty cocktail spewed into your mouth.

Five Shot Allison puts forth her best effort to join the Harem...

Yes, more than one double-entendre accompanied the dining that night…

As fun and as good as that was, Saturdays Buffalo Chicken-style “Pipettes” were even better (if not quite as much fun to eat).

Small plastic squeeze bottles were filled with a blue cheese dressing – speared on the tip of these was a piece of sweet, pickled celery.

This was topped with a chunk of buffalo wing-sauced chicken.

You bit the solids off the end and squirted the blue cheese dressing in afterwards… spicy, a little bit of sweet then the tangy and savory dressing… delicious and fun… I hovered around quite a bit here…

Last on the counter-clockwise trek was Super Sonoma.

Yet another wine booth featuring selections from Sonoma Valley’s oldest winery, Valley of the Moon.

Okay, so if you haven’t gathered already (or didn’t really read Part One), I loved this event. For a first time it was well run with very few snafus.

And even though nothing has been officially announced (at least as of this writing), all the employees kept talking about “next year” and referring to this as the “first annual” event… I can only expect next year’s Classic to be even better.

Assuming the idea behind this was to as much promote the resorts’ restaurants as it was to get butts into the rooms, I think it succeeded well… bluezoo had been on my “big list” of places I haven’t eaten, and has now moved to my short list of “try soon”… likewise the Cabana (that I wasn’t even aware of) is now on the “must visit” list…

And if I was them what would I do differently? They certainly missed out on merchandise – an apron with the logo was about all there was to buy… I was ready to offer up some cash for one of the nice embroidered shirts the Swan/Dolphin castmembers were wearing…

I would also like to see more food items offered each night – two from most booths shouldn’t be that difficult – if nothing else be sure that all the featured restaurants offered different items on each night. Not that I’d be one to complain about too much alcohol, but I’d like to have at least one or two more food stations, even if it meant having less booze… crazy talk, I know…

What happens at the Food and Wine Classic, stays at the Food and Wine Classic...

It will be interesting to see what happens next year – the Harem all commented that they’d be shocked if the prices didn’t increase significantly next year (the price for the wristband and the room/food combos were both great values).. though if the main intent of the event is promotion, they could get away without any significant increases (and as pretty much all the proffered alcohol was apparently supplied by distributors/wineries/etc. that should have been of essentially zero cost to the folks at the Swan/Dolphin…).

But in any case the Harem and I will be first in line next year to see what the second Food and Wine Classic has in store for us – let’s hope we see you there!

Who’s that strange man trying to fondle an Iron Chef?

Last week I had the privilege of attending a “Signature Dining” event at Kouzzina hosted by none other than Iron Chef Cat Cora.

And yes, dear Dedicated Readers (all five or so of you), there will eventually be a complete write-up (along with all those other things I’ve been promising you I’ll get to eventually…).

In the meantime, I thought I’d give you a preview (okay, a tease…) with a few pics….

 

Avgolemono Soup with Truffle

 

 

Olive Dusted Scallop (yes, that's a scallop...)

 

 

Roasted Feta Stuffed Fig (and yes, that is a Feta Marshmallow on the side...)

 

 

Braised Lamb with all sorts of amazing stuff... this is literally one of the Best Things I've ever eaten...

 

 

Chef Cora and staff - they all were gracious and generous with their time.

 

There’s your tease… more to come…