Fourteen Days of Food Booths - Epcot Food & Wine Festival 2014

[P&L@WDW]

Great reviews. I can't wait to see more.

 

[jerseygal]

This dish could have been fantastic; there was just one problem. The fish had a very clean taste and was cooked perfectly. I may have lucked out in that regard because they had run out and were cooking more, so I received this one fresh. The big problem is that the fish had no seasoning whatsoever...no salt I could distinguish. Although the sauce was tasty and had that nice, fresh coconut flavor, you have to season your fish. I don't know whether this was an oversight or not. Hopefully it was. The sauce was enough to top everything without drowning the rice. I appreciate good rice on its own, and that was the case here. I can't quite remember now, but I think it was jasmine rice, so it had extra flavor. I'd definitely be willing to give this one another shot.

"Reading" along for possible F&W'15...would be the first time!
Has anyone else had problems viewing your pics!
TIA!!!!

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

Joining in!! Love all the reviews!! We arrive in 38 days!! So ready for Food and Wine! My favorite time of year at WDW.....

So excited..Keep them coming!!

I think I will pass on the Filet this year to in Canada and spend my money on the other items.

I want to hear about the Baked Lobster Alfredo in Hops and Barley!!

 

[NejTheLion]

"Reading" along for possible F&W'15...would be the first time!
Has anyone else had problems viewing your pics!
TIA!!!!

I had to go upgrade my bandwidth for photo sharing. I've never hit the monthly limit before! All should be fixed now

 

[Kay1]

You're doing a great job Love your review of the cheese bread. I thought, ugh, how boring, but maybe not.

 

[ShannonMB]

You are killing it! Thanks for trying a lot of what I was going for! Sadly, we will only be at F&W 1 day (this Thursday, actually!), but I'm going to try as much as I can and I'll keep following along after we get home. If I'm not too depressed!

 

[crabbygal902]

This thread:

 

[tarheelmjfan]

The outside of the bread was slightly crispy, like the exterior of a biscuit. The inside was very soft and eggy, reminding me of an even spongier gougeres. Some people might think the inside wasn't cooked through all the way, but I'm pretty sure it was. The dough wasn't raw, but it was very different from any "bread" texture that most Americans would be familiar with. As you pulled it apart, the insides stretched almost like cheese. The cheese flavor was lighter than I expected, more milky and creamy than any sharp cheese taste.

This looks like my most favorite ever F&W offering. We went back for several years looking for them, then finally gave up. If I knew for sure these were the same, I'd drive up to Epcot one day just to get them.

 

[BarbP]

Reviews are fantastic. Thanks. Looking forward to more.

 

[jerseygal]

"Reading" along for possible F&W'15...would be the first time!
Has anyone else had problems viewing your pics!
TIA!!!!

Food pics look delic! Can join in the "viewing" fun now!

 

[NejTheLion]

This looks like my most favorite ever F&W offering. We went back for several years looking for them, then finally gave up. If I knew for sure these were the same, I'd drive up to Epcot one day just to get them.

That's the best description I could come up with. Hopefully, they're what you're looking for!

 

[deekaypee]

Thanks so much for your reviews - it's obvious you're a well-rounded foodie, but also one who acknowledges taste preferences. The write-ups are clear and very helpful. I love reading them!

And on a personal note, they're very useful to me. This is the first year in several we won't have much of an opportunity to do Food & Wine - maybe two half-days - so we'll need to selective. (We can't get away for more than a quick weekend for Tower of Terror 10-Miler, and the focus is on the race.)

Anyway, your review posts make it much, much easier to do pick and choose what to prioritize at Food & Wine.

 

[NejTheLion]

So, this was something similar to a muffuletta, but not quite up with the original. First off, it was done as a wrap, so there was no bread. I could discern ham and salami within the wrap, along with some diced, pickled vegetables. I didn't notice any kind of cheese, and the salad within the wrap reminded of pickled jardinière vegetables without the traditional olive included. So I would categorize this more as an Italian sub wrap than a muffuletta. Like the pate, these are kept in plastic containers in a refrigerator throughout the day, but I thought it held up pretty well. I was trying this late in the evening, and it wasn't soggy.

The pickles were balanced right between vinegary and sweet. They were pushing my sweet limit, but I don't like sweet pickles at all, so that's pretty good. I would have liked them a touch more crunchy, but these weren't too soft.

I'd say this overall is a decent snack with the beer, but definitely not a festival highlight for me.

 

[NejTheLion]

This beer was robust with bold flavor, almost spicy. It had a moderate bitterness with some citrus notes to it. The spiciness worked with the meats and pickles of the wrap.

 

[NejTheLion]

This was my favorite dish at the preview event, and it holds up just as well at a food booth. The scallop was cooked perfectly, seared beautifully and just cooked through. It also had great flavor - fresh and sweet. As much as I enjoyed the scallop, the spinach tastes like the best cheesy creamed spinach you could imagine. And to top it off, they throw some bacon in. I can't say enough good things about this dish. The only problem is that it is very rich. Otherwise, I could eat several of these! I might have to give this a slight edge over the yard bird as my favorite dish so far. But that could just be because I love scallops so much!

 

[NejTheLion]

The flavor in this dish was pretty good. Trout tends to have a slightly fishier taste than I would prefer, but I liked the vinaigrette on the frisée. My one complaint would be that between the fish and the vinaigrette, the dish was overly oily. The best part was the bacon. It was cooked down so that it was very crunchy, providing both taste and texture - the best kind of crotouns.

 

[NejTheLion]

So this is apparently a sparkling apple cider with a touch of ice wine mixed in and then bottle. I was hoping to like this, but it had a bit of a medicinal taste that I didn't care for. There is an apple flavor, but it's subtle, not as pronounced as other sparkling cider.

 

[NejTheLion]

This one has been around for several years and has been consistently good. No changes to report this year. You have a seafood stew of fish, scallops, and lobster in a creamy tomato-based sauce. This has plenty of seasoning, and amazingly, the seafood was not overcooked. It's then covered with mashed potatoes, like a shepherd's pie, and melted cheese on top. A very filling dish!

 

[NejTheLion]

Ah, Guiness...for those who like dark beers. This is one of my standbys, and I couldn't avoid getting it while I was there. Smooth and malty and clean-tasting.

 

[NejTheLion]

This dish was incredibly rich, an adult version of macaroni and cheese. The pasta was actually little squares, and they were surrounded in a creamy mushroom sauce and topped with cheese. Very decadent. If you like mushrooms and cheese and appreciate real baked macaroni, you should like this.