Disney's CA F&W Fest - Final wrap up for 2010 see you next year!

[aspen37]

So on Sunday, the 2nd morning of our trip I woke at 7AM and thought about MM, I pulled the covers back over my head and thought, ”there’s Fast Passes or something else, I’m not getting up right now.“ I got a little more sleep finally got up and dressed while DP slept some and about 10:15 took off for DL, it was PACKED at least at the entrance. I headed off to Space Mountain.

When I got there, the display of wait time and fast pass was completely blank, but within about 10 seconds, it showed at 20 minute stand by and FP return times in about an hour. I got a FP and then got in the standby line, and was on the ride within about 15 minutes. This is a kickass ride! It is way better than the MK version! My FP was not good for another 15-20 minutes so I got on the train and rode for a trip around the Land. My favorite is the Primeval world and I haven’t seen it for years, so that was HUGE treat! By the time I got back to Tomorrowland and my FP for SM was up so I rode that pretty quickly. I was hungry, so I headed back to the room to get DP to go eat some more F&W treats with me. However, she was still dead to the world and I wanted her to have all the energy she could for the John Lasseter Dinner tonight, so I let her sleep more while I hit DCA.

On my way to the Marketplace the Jammin Chef’s were on their way out, but I was too hungry to watch the show.

I headed over to the Festival Marketplace and decided on another Halibut chunk, the Ahi Tuna and a Ghiradelli Chocolate Profiterole.

Here is the Ahi, it was really good, the tuna was seared just perfect, the underlying slaw was just perfectly paired with the tuna. The little chips that went along with it were great.

Then I ate the Chocolate Profiterole, this was incredible, but I wonder what makes it a profiterole and not a round chocolate éclair?

So I went around the Marketplace after eating the food plates. Here are some shots of the seating area and the shopping area.

Here is the Wine, beer & spirits tasting area

The Food counter

The Lounge

I’ll post this for now and some other pics later in the week.

It was so nice to see you and your partner for the few minutes that I did. I'm so glad you are doing this report because I NEVER saw any of F&W!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess I will have to plan on going another year.

 

[franandaj]

All of your pictures and trip report have made me more determined to go next year.

You definitely need to! There are lots of things to do that take you away from the rides and stuff!

It was so nice to see you and your partner for the few minutes that I did. I'm so glad you are doing this report because I NEVER saw any of F&W!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess I will have to plan on going another year.

That's too bad, I was hoping you got to see Guy, we wanted to, but didn't get out of town soon enough. That's OK, I'd seen him before.

The one I want to see next is Sunny Anderson, I'd planned to see her May 1 on my B'day, but a friend of mine passed away last weekend and his service is in the morning on my B'day, so now we're going to try and see her session on Friday the day before. That would be really tacky to be seeing a F&W thing during his memorial! Besides, I wouldn't miss that, we moved our dinner ressies to 8:30 from 5:30 just to make sure we would have time to attend all the parts of the funeral. Very sad. He was an awesome guy. But I won't dwell on that here. Tomorrow or later this week, you'll see more updates here from me.

 

[franandaj]

So after lunch I looked around the Marketplace, and had a glass of Magicale from the Lounge while I looked through the gift shop.

I had them put it in a togo cup and I went over the Chef’s Demonstration Stage to see if I could get into the Dole Presentation, but unfortunately it was full. I got there just as they were saying, “2 individual seats left!” but the people who had been there first grabbed them.

So I just motored around the park a little, here are some shots of the Wine Walks and Beer Walk

I also checked out all the QS restaurants to find out what their special F&W items were. Award Wieners has a meatball sub (must try that),

Bountiful Farms has a Chicken Wrap (sounds too healthy), but I didn't get a picture of that sign.

Pacific Wharf Bakery has a Chicken Salad (also sounds healthy),

I’ve heard that Pizza Om Mow Mow has an antipasto salad, Lucky Fortune Chinese Company has a Thai Rice Roll, even though it’s healthy too, it sounds good, and at $3.99, I’ll try it.

The Cucomonga Cucina has an Anaheim Chile Relleno

Taste Pilot’s Grill has a Pulled Pork Sandwich

After I checked out the items, I headed to the new Wine Country Wine Bar and picked up a glass of Soave and motored around the park before heading back to the hotel. By the time I got back to the room, DP has got up, but not dressed.

Continued in the next report...

 

[franandaj]

After some prodding DP got up and dressed and we headed over to DL, We used our annual passes to get in and headed over towards Club 33.

We met up with the rest of our party and they let us all in. We waited in the lobby a bit until they were ready for us upstairs.

The servers were bringing Lamb Lollipops

Scallops on Skewers

And Potato Perogies.

I ate way too many of the appetizers as I came to realize. John Lasseter arrived once we were already seated at our table. We were at the first table on the way into the dining room, and he stopped at our table upon arrival. He was just the same guy as you see on any TV program or onstage, very casual and personable. Someone you would like to have as a friend. He explained all the wines and the inspiration behind them. Basically he and his wife like certain kinds of wines, so they bought a winery hired a wine maker to make what they like.

And some shots of Club 33

The Bar

The Harpsichord

The Hallway

Our table

The Dining Room

And of course the women’s restroom, brings a whole new meaning to “sitting on the throne!”

We had an excellent dinner of five course. The first was North Pacific Lobster, Roast Strawberry Ravioli which was paired with a Lasseter Rose, Sonoma Valley, 2009. This was so good, the lobster was just melt in your mouth. I ate all the Strawberry Ravioli which were excellent, but I could already tell I was filling up fast, so I gave the rest of my lobster to my friend John who happily polished it off for me!

In between courses, John Lasseter, Nancy Lasseter or their Winemaker spoke about the wines we were about to drink.

Our next course was California Silver Mountain Manchego, Dandelion Green Salad, paired with a Lasseter Rhone style blend, Sonoma Valley 2008. The Cheese was really good, but I don’t care for the bitter taste of Dandelion Greens, so I just left those on the plate.

The Third Course was Aromatic Mushroom Tart, Free Stone Peach, Hazelnut Sabayon paired with a Lasseter, St. Emilion, Sonoma County 2006. Chef St. Pierre must really like these puff pastry things, he made one for Taste last year, I remember because I had to google “Vol-u-vent” to find out what it was.

Next was a Prime New York Steak, Oyster Rockefeller Beurre Blanc with a Lasseter, St. Emilion, Sonoma County 2005. This was a little weird, I definitely prefer my Oysters raw. I ate one, but it just had a funny taste to it, so I put the other two off to the side. I was getting so full at this point that I had to take half my steak home in a doggie bag, because I definitely wanted to eat dessert!

Dessert was a Manjari Chocolate Mousse, Grape Sorbet, Malted Crème Anglaise paired with a Schweiger Vineyards, Port VIII, Spring Mountain District

After dinner he signed wine bottles that we all purchased, we also brought a picture from Cars that he was happy to autograph as well.

By the time we left, when we were on Main street I heard those awful words, “Disneyland is now closed, but Main Street will remain open for an additional hour for your shopping pleasure.” Not what you want to hear at midnight, you want to be in your room at midnight!

Thank god our waitlist came through for the Sunday night so we could just go back to the room and go to sleep. I was so tired I barely made it back to the room and got into bed. BTW they were testing WoC when we got back and at 6AM when I woke up again.

Next up is a short update, but tonight (Friday April 23), we’re back to the DLH and Steakhouse 55 for a Wine Maker Dinner with Buena Vista Winery!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Aww Alison...it's nice to hear the John Lasseter is as personable as he seems. And this is probably going to be the closest I get to Cub 33. Thanks for the photos and your thoughts!

 

[TokyoDina]

Wow Alison that is sooooo cool! I hope I am able to do this some day! I'm a wanna be chef! Haha I plan to attend Culinary School very soon. As a matter of fact I'm apply next week but I won't be able to start classes till later in the year. But wow! I at least need to go during DL's Food and Wine Fest! Just wow!

 

[franandaj]

Wow Alison that is sooooo cool! I hope I am able to do this some day! I'm a wanna be chef! Haha I plan to attend Culinary School very soon. As a matter of fact I'm apply next week but I won't be able to start classes till later in the year. But wow! I at least need to go during DL's Food and Wine Fest! Just wow!

I think anyone into food should go there! I love the winemaker dinners the most, (well besides the cooking school) we just got back home from one and it was amazing! I'll post the pictures in the next day or so, but we got to eat Wagyu Kobe Beef and it was cooked to PERFECTION!

Our next official event is a Brewmaster Dinner in 2 weeks, but we're back next weekend for some unofficial events, it should be great.

 

[kikiq]

Love your report!!! I was so inspired by your report that we left early to spend some time in DCA before going to the swing band at DLR. Had the halibut and the soup, both were wonderful! AND NOW, we just have to go back and do some wine tasting and spend more time at the F/W. Oh darn
Looking forward to seeing more pictures!

 

[The Red Head]

Alison, everything looked amazing. I will have to join you for the cooking school next year. I just decided against it this year because I wanted to spend money on our vacation instead. We ate at some really good restaurants in Maui. We got home yesterday.

 

[franandaj]

Love your report!!! I was so inspired by your report that we left early to spend some time in DCA before going to the swing band at DLR. Had the halibut and the soup, both were wonderful! AND NOW, we just have to go back and do some wine tasting and spend more time at the F/W. Oh darn
Looking forward to seeing more pictures!

Alison, everything looked amazing. I will have to join you for the cooking school next year. I just decided against it this year because I wanted to spend money on our vacation instead. We ate at some really good restaurants in Maui. We got home yesterday.

It was really fun, as always! I'm thinking of trying the Paparadelle Pasta at home in the next couple weeks. Glad you had a nice trip in Maui...I hope to get DP there when the DVC opens up, but I love the Big Island, so we'll have to go there too!

 

[franandaj]

So today was checkout day, but I wanted to extend our little trip a bit more. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do this on any other days because DP would complain about spending too much time out here. That’s already started and we haven’t even come back for our second trip!

So we barely got out of our room, it was 15 minutes after checkout that we finally left. We hit Soarin’ for FPs since this would have the longest line of the rides I wanted to hit, and then headed directly over to California Screamin’. I only needed one ride, probably since I hit Space Mountain twice the day before. By this point I was hungry and the Thai Rice Spring Roll, I’d seen at Lucky Fortune Company sounded like a good little snack to try. And then I’d still have a little room to go back to the Marketplace and get another one of those bread bowls with cheddar cheese soup.

Here is the spring roll as it is served

And posed for the picture

For as vegetarian and healthy this is, it was really tasty. I think it was the vinegar sauce that gave it the really good flavor. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like vegetables, but I really like things with mooing beef and bacon. You could probably wrap anything in bacon and I would attempt to eat it!

For the first time since DCA opened (10 years ago!) we did the mission tortilla tour and got a free freshly made tortilla! I might have to add this to my obligatory free snack tour! If there is no line, what the heck!

After this we went to the Blue Sky Cellar to see about the WoC preview, but DP’s Scooter started to really act up, so we left pretty quickly. We discussed leaving her scooter near the hotel and me walking, but it seemed OK for the trip back by the hotel so we headed to Soarin for me to use my FP. Then we went to the Marketplace for our snacks, without incident with the scooter. Since we both ate things that I had already posted pictures of, I didn’t bother to take pictures this time.

We headed to Marceline’s for more sweet treats and then headed back to get out bags, retrieve our car and head home.

I promised toocherie some pictures of our tray tables from the Taste event last year. So here they are and how we built them.

Here is a view of the underside of the table:

The iron thing you see attached here is a plant holder. If one were to use it for it’s intended purpose, the part that is not attached to the tray would be nailed to the side of a fence or building and the pot would be suspended in the ring. This photo might make it a little more clear.

To attach the rings to the table we used cable ties, the kind that you would use if you were trying to attach your cables to your walls.

We purchased a fairly long board, and cut it into three pieces (one was not usable), but the usable pieces were about 20 inches wide. That was how wide we determined that our tables needed to be. We then purchased moulding and cut it to the lengths of the sides of the tray and nailed them on as lips to hold plates and glasses on in case they slide off.

I hope this helps you out!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Alison, that Rice Paper Roll is what I have for lunch once a week. YUM! We get it here in a pack of 4 for about $6. We have choices of vegetarian, prawn and pork. We also have a choice of dipping sauce - fish sauce (with some chilli thrown in) or peanut sauce.

They are also really very simple to make....

 

[Leshaface]

Whew, made it through the whole thing!!!

You're not joking when you say you go to the F&W Festival!!! You literally do almost every single thing there! That's so awesome!!!

Plllleeaaase help me convince my DH to take me to one of the F&W festival weekends before our AP's expire June 4!!!!!

I think that is too cool, that you got to eat at Club 33 AND meet Mr. Lasseter himself! Rock on!

 

[franandaj]

Whew, made it through the whole thing!!!

Congratulations, it's starting to get pretty long now!

You're not joking when you say you go to the F&W Festival!!! You literally do almost every single thing there! That's so awesome!!!

I HAVE to do the Cooking School ever since that first year, it was a totally life changing experience! As I said i sstarted growing herbs and tomatoes, today I found my first tomatoes for this year on the vines.

Plllleeaaase help me convince my DH to take me to one of the F&W festival weekends before our AP's expire June 4!!!!!

If nothing else you can do the beer walks, but just to try all the other food stuff, you'd love the seared tuna, and if you guys like any Food Network personalities...just tell him you need one more trip...he loves you and you're not that far...

Where are you Tulare? Visalia? We have a real good friend in Tulare that we need to visit when everything else is our real lives blow over.

I hope you can get down here!

I think that is too cool, that you got to eat at Club 33 AND meet Mr. Lasseter himself! Rock on!

Having a friend who is a member of Club 33 is pretty cool because I can ask for a reservation as long as it is far enough in advance, but to do a dinner like this was awesome! It's only so often when they let the members bring additional guests, it's pretty pricey so only a few people are interested in such an event. But WOW John Lasseter was so nice and down to earth, just like I would have thought, but it was great to meet him!

 

[aspen37]

All of your pictures are great! The food at The Napa Rose Cooking School looked so good! Your meal and experience with John Lasseter at CLUB 33 seemed AWESOME!

 

[lulubelle]

Can't wait for the next installment, Alison.
Your reports are wonderful.

 

[franandaj]

My first experience with the F&W Festival was several years back when it was F&W Weekends. There was a Winemaker Dinner at Steakhouse 55 on my Birthday and it was one of my favorite wineries, Beaulieu. Since then my favorite parts of the F&W Festival have been the Winemaker Dinners at Steakhouse 55.

Friday April 23, we attended the Buena Vista Winemaker Dinner and it was FABULOUS! Chef Jason outdid himself yet again!

Doesn’t it make you feel special when you walk up to a restaurant with a sign reading “Private Party” and you’re part of it?

The Menu

We were seated at the same table as last week!

We were served an Amuse Bouche that was a Salmon Beggar’s Purse filled with goat cheese, tied with a chive atop an English cucumber with capers, caviar and a little edible orchid. This was served with a Carneros Chardonnay, not sure of the vintage.

The Winemaker Jeff Stewart was entertaining and explained all the wines and the winery’s philosophy thoroughly.

Our first course was a “Paella” Saffron Rice with English Peas, Cantimpalitos, “Oyster”, Shrimp, Clams and Lobster Butter. Chef Jason explained that Disney will not let him serve Oysters unless they are thoroughly cooked, so instead we were served the “oyster” of the chicken. Those of you who roast your own birds know about this tasty treat that never makes it out of the kitchen because the cook usually eats it before the bird is offered to anyone else! The Cantimpalitos is a tasty little pork sausage which you also see here. This was served with a 2006 Chardonnay from the Ramal Vineyards. I preferred the first Chardonnay which was a little bit fruitier, but they were both good.

Our next course was a Lamb Porterhouse, Pistachio crusted, puy lentils, and Eggplant Parmesan. This was absolutely WONDERFUL! It was cooked to perfection. The Eggplant Parmesan was actually pureed and stuffed inside the zucchini blossom that you see here. The wine was a 2005 Merlot from the Carneros region.

Chef Jason explained every course as it was brought out from the kitchen. He is always entertaining and his love of food comes through clearly as he describes the courses.

Between courses the chef and staff come around to the tables to chat. Here is me with Chef Jason

And Eric the Sommelier

This is Jim Ames, the man in charge of the whole Food & Wine Festival, Thanks Jim!

The third course was an American Wagyu Flat Iron Steak with roasted root Vegetables, Shimeji mushrooms, Cippolini Onions with a Pinot Noir Reduction. The wine was a 2006 Pinot Noir from the Ramal Vineyards.

We could have purchased some of the bottles of wine if we so desired.

The last course was a Devil’s Mousse cake with Corillera Dark Chocolate, raspberry sauce, and Mascarpone Brown Sugar ice Cream. This was served with a 2006 Syrah from the Ramal Vineyard.

I finished up the evening with a cup of herbal tea.

Thanks for reading…next up my birthday trip to Napa Rose!

 

[aspen37]

My first experience with the F&W Festival was several years back when it was F&W Weekends. There was a Winemaker Dinner at Steakhouse 55 on my Birthday and it was one of my favorite wineries, Beaulieu. Since then my favorite parts of the F&W Festival have been the Winemaker Dinners at Steakhouse 55.

Friday April 23, we attended the Buena Vista Winemaker Dinner and it was FABULOUS! Chef Jason outdid himself yet again!

Doesn’t it make you feel special when you walk up to a restaurant with a sign reading “Private Party” and you’re part of it?

The Menu

We were seated at the same table as last week!

We were served an Amuse Bouche that was a Salmon Beggar’s Purse filled with goat cheese, tied with a chive atop an English cucumber with capers, caviar and a little edible orchid. This was served with a Carneros Chardonnay, not sure of the vintage.

The Winemaker Jeff Stewart was entertaining and explained all the wines and the winery’s philosophy thoroughly.

Our first course was a “Paella” Saffron Rice with English Peas, Cantimpalitos, “Oyster”, Shrimp, Clams and Lobster Butter. Chef Jason explained that Disney will not let him serve Oysters unless they are thoroughly cooked, so instead we were served the “oyster” of the chicken. Those of you who roast your own birds know about this tasty treat that never makes it out of the kitchen because the cook usually eats it before the bird is offered to anyone else! The Cantimpalitos is a tasty little pork sausage which you also see here. This was served with a 2006 Chardonnay from the Ramal Vineyards. I preferred the first Chardonnay which was a little bit fruitier, but they were both good.

Our next course was a Lamb Porterhouse, Pistachio crusted, puy lentils, and Eggplant Parmesan. This was absolutely WONDERFUL! It was cooked to perfection. The Eggplant Parmesan was actually pureed and stuffed inside the zucchini blossom that you see here. The wine was a 2005 Merlot from the Carneros region.

Chef Jason explained every course as it was brought out from the kitchen. He is always entertaining and his love of food comes through clearly as he describes the courses.

Between courses the chef and staff come around to the tables to chat. Here is me with Chef Jason

And Eric the Sommelier

This is Jim Ames, the man in charge of the whole Food & Wine Festival, Thanks Jim!

The third course was an American Wagyu Flat Iron Steak with roasted root Vegetables, Shimeji mushrooms, Cippolini Onions with a Pinot Noir Reduction. The wine was a 2006 Pinot Noir from the Ramal Vineyards.

We could have purchased some of the bottles of wine if we so desired.

The last course was a Devil’s Mousse cake with Corillera Dark Chocolate, raspberry sauce, and Mascarpone Brown Sugar ice Cream. This was served with a 2006 Syrah from the Ramal Vineyard.

I finished up the evening with a cup of herbal tea.

Thanks for reading…next up my birthday trip to Napa Rose!

Seeing that sign is a great feeling!

Wow everything looks soooo good! I have not eaten dinner tonight and now I'm starving! What great picture of the food!

 

[franandaj]

Seeing that sign is a great feeling!

Wow everything looks soooo good! I have not eaten dinner tonight and now I'm starving! What great picture of the food!

I know, isn't it cool to see a sign like that? For the past few hours we've both been here posting our TRs and reading each other's TR's. I did take some time to reheat some leftovers that I brought with us to the villas. Le Cellier Cheese Soup that I made a couple nights ago, YUM!

I'll even post that in my TR when I get there. I'm just looking out my balcony hoping that they do some WoC testing!

 

[kaoden39]

It all has looked so wonderful. And it seems to really be enjoyable.