DisneyWorld Wins! How the Mouse Came to Defeat a Vegetarian and a Carnivore

[itchin2go]

Just back from a 5 day trip on Deluxe Dining, and let me just start by capitulating. As we told the kind server at Yachstman Steakhouse on our final day, "You win. We give up." Truly more food than we've ever ingested in a 5 day period, much of it too delicious for words, which would explain why we ate so much of it.

In summary: Everything was good. Some things were great.

These were our worthy competitors:

Hollywood Brown Derby
Flying Fish
Le Cellier
Kona
Big River Grille
Spoodles
Cape May Cafe
Akershus Storybook Princess Lunch
Beaches & Cream
Crystal Palace
Grand Floridan Cafe
Yachtsman Steakhouse

Let the battles begin....

[wilma-bride]

Bring it on...:)

[itchin2go]

My husband and I REALLY thought the DxDDP was going to be perfect for us. We used the regular DDP last year and ended up spending extra money on OOP meals because we leaned so heavily on "signature dining". I thought they had tailor-made this plan for us.

For the record, DH is heavily carnivorous, and I'm the plant-eater. My daughter (6) is the pickiest eater alive, which is just PONDEROUS since I think DH and I are fairly adventurous eaters.

Ok - on with the show: See, things started to go wrong from the very start, because I had made the utterly brilliant decision to start off our journey at the Brown Derby for lunch. That's a mighty big lunch!

After waiting in line most of the morning for one thing or another, we exited the HSM parade to the relative calm of the the HBD. Nice place. We had a couple of beers, which were a welcome treat after what felt like an unproductive morning. (By the way, we enjoyed the Studios, but it was our first time, so I wasn't prepared for all the waiting and the pace of things. I felt like I wasn't getting much accomplished. I think you just need a different mind-set than for the other parks. I'll be better prepared next time. :) ) I ordered the Goat Cheese Mushroom Tortelloni or -ini (not sure which), to be followed by the Noodle Bowl. DH ordered the mussels followed by the Tuna.

The mushroom goat cheese pasta thing was quite good. I'm not a mushroom lover, but these were uber-minced, so you got earthy mushroom flavor, but not chewy mushroom texture. Those tiny tiny mushroom bits were mixed with goat cheese and stuffed inside some pasta that was covered in a brothy tomato-y sauce. Pretty good. The tiny tiny mushroom bits are a good idea, and one that would make an appearance later in our journey as well....

The Noodle Bowl was pretty darn remarkable. It consisted of lots of noodles in a brothy red curry sauce, with some sugar snap peas and edamame, and a single chunk of panko-breaded tofu. While I don't eat meat, I'm not really thrilled with tofu either. So you could have knocked me over with a shred of panko when I tasted a bite of it and fell in love. The noodles were fine. The sugar snap peas were nice. The edamame was tasty. The freakin tofu was phenomenal. Utterly delicious. The crust was slightly sweet (from coconut, I believe - I looked up the recipe :) ), and crunchy and just delicious. I could have eaten three chunks of the stuff. There was also a spiky piece of lemongrass rising up out of the bowl. It was striking (no pun intended :) ), but fairly useless. It made my bowl look fancy though. I liked that....

This is the part when I have to admit that my descriptions of my husband's meals (and my daughter's, for that matter) will be far sparser than those of my own choices. I didn't choose them or taste them (for the most part), so I can only go on what I was told ... and the truth is, I wasn't paying a lot of attention in this case since I was engrossed in the tofu-nirvana in front of me.

Here is what I know though: DH LOVED the mussels. When he made this remark to the server, she said that he absolutely HAD to try the mussels at LeCellier because they were even better. Mental note made, he went on to his entree, which, as I recall, he liked. Sorry for the lack of details here. It was the first day and is kind of a blur by now. The little one was starting to get antsy at this point -- you know how it is.

My daughter had chicken noodle soup which she wouldn't eat, and a hot dog and french fries, which she hardly ate any of. :confused3 She was a little tired of sitting still that long, so we elected to forego dessert and head back into the "Studios".

In summary - HBD is a nice place with excellent food, but for me, it was too heavy for lunch. Bad planning on my part. So we start the adventure stuffed at 1:00 on day one!

Fun fact to take away: If you have never tried tofu, THIS is the place to start!

Next up: Flying Fish ... yum!

[itchin2go]

Small side note before I move on to the Flying Fish (and I may not get there until tomorrow!). We went with several restaurant choices that were not in the original plans, namely Big River Grille, Spoodles, and Beaches and Cream. While Beaches gets good reviews, the other two tend to be on shaky ground. I liked BRG and Spoodles WAY more than I thought I would. I think my expectations for BRG were terribly low, so that may have been a factor, but I genuinely liked the meal I had there. I really believe that the appetizers and desserts we had at Spoodles were the best of the trip. Definitely the desserts - YUM.

Also, Akershus gets mixed reviews. I liked it more than I expected to for what that's worth.

The sleeper hit of the trip was the Grand Floridian Cafe. My husband says the sandwich he had there was the best sandwich he's ever had in his life. "Go back and tell your message boards that," he said... :rotfl:

Detailed reviews of all of these will follow. I just wanted to throw those thoughts out there while I was thinking them. They could be lost at a moment's notice, you know....

[danalee]

Great start!

I dont blame you, write it down now or forget it, I am the same way :lmao:

[itchin2go]

So, we tried the Flying Fish for dinner. Walked over from BCV -- first time seeing the Boardwalk. What a charming place! The restaurant is just beautiful inside - great attention to detail. Elegant, fun and casual all at the same time, if that's possible.

I started with a delicious wine, while DH had a PERFECT dirty martini. We munched on bread and butter (don't you just love that giant slab of butter they give you at restaurants in DW? YUM!), while we decided on appetizers: the artisanal cheese selection for me, and the lobster soup and sandwich for DH. The little one chilled at the Sandcastle Club for the night (she loved it), so we could have a relaxing dinner.

Let me first say that we love cheese samplers. We tried the cheese plates last year at Cali Grill, Jiko and Artist Point, and also sampled the one at Yachtsman this year as well, so we've done a bit of cheese plate comparing and contrasting. Cali Grill and FF are pretty much neck and neck on their cheese plate expertise. The others fell a bit short.

Anyway, great cheese plate at Flying Fish. It came with some delicious raisin toast. I pretty much ate everything I was given. The highlight was a very flavorful cheddar that bordered on being parmesan-y. YUM!

DH's dish is described as "Maine Lobster Soup and Sandwich - lobster bisque, celery root, leeks, fresh and sundried tomatoes, petite lobster BLT." So basically a lobster bisque with a tiny lobster sandwich. DH would have bathed in the lobster bisque. The sandwich was cute, but not as mind-blowingly delicious, according to DH.

Flying Fish doesn't offer a vegetarian option on the menu, so I inquired. My two choices were to have the shrimp pasta dish sans shrimp, or to have a composed plate of various side dishes. Maybe I should have gone with the pasta, but some of the side dishes sounded SOOO good. The highlight of the plate ended up being the "calabaza squash-laced risotto di carnarolli". It was yummy. The other sides, while having been culled from different entree choices, all ended up to be pretty much just roasted vegetables. Now, I like roasted veggies, but this resulted in 3 portions of mixed roasted veggies, with one portion of risotto. The risotto was really tasty, but I should have gone with the pasta.

DH had this: Pan-roasted Local Florida Day-boat Stone Bass - parsnip-apple puree, rapini, duck confit, chanterelle mushrooms, porcini duck jus. Ok – who knew that parsnip-apple puree was THAT good? Seriously, that was the most memorable thing I ate on the whole trip. I don't really know what a parsnip tastes like, but the dish tasted kind of like mashed potatoes with sage, only lighter, less starchy and slightly sweet ... and WAY more delicious than mashed potatoes. I am searching out parsnip recipes based on that dish. It tasted kind of Thanksgiving-y to me. Too good to describe. DH loved the whole dish. He wanted to go back to the Flying Fish before the trip was over.

For dessert we had these: Me -- Warm Valrhona Chocolate Galette and DH -- Warm Molasses-laced Pecan Tart with praline ice cream, maple anglaise, spiced port wine and chai tea cream. These were both stand-out desserts. The tart came with a little shooter of spiced port wine. Neat presentation.

Bottom line, despite my roasted veggie overload, we will definitely be returning to the Flying Fish. Definitely a signature dining experience.

Fun fact learned here: Parsnips are a highly underrated vegetable. That parsnip-apple puree was to-die-for.

[wilma-bride]

Great reviews - do you have any pictures?

[itchin2go]

Wilma-bride -- I sadly, did not have the guts to take pictures of my food. I am indebted to all of the dis-ers who do, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I will try to work up the courage to do it next time (which I hope will be October!) For now, I will just have to try to describe the food well enough to make up for the lack of pictures. Hope I'm up to it!

[50 years Too!]

You are doing an excellent job on the descriptions, sometimes that is better than pictures because you are describing the taste.
You are making me really hungry. I'm on WW and get weighed tomorrow, so I'm trying to make up for being bad the rest of the week.:sad2:

Deb

[itchin2go]

You are doing an excellent job on the descriptions, sometimes that is better than pictures because you are describing the taste.
You are making me really hungry. I'm on WW and get weighed tomorrow, so I'm trying to make up for being bad the rest of the week.:sad2:

Deb

Thank you! You are too kind! Good luck on your weigh in tomorrow.

[KayleeUK]

More please :) Love to hear veggie reviews.

[Rafikifan]

Love your reviews. I can't wait to hear about the YSH.

[itchin2go]

On our second day, we planned to go Epcot. We ate at Le Cellier that evening, but had counter service and snacks during the day. Here are my thoughts on the counter service and snacks:

We had a couple of egg and cheese croissants from the Beach Club Marketplace before heading out. These were surprisingly good. I guess I don't expect much from pre-cooked eggs that have been sitting in a warming device for some period of time, but these were good! Basically, it was a big slab of eggs and cheese that they slapped onto a croissant. The eggs were actually warm, tender and well-seasoned, and of course, the croissant was good, so ... this is really a good breakfast option.

At Epcot, we conquered Future World in the a.m. and then headed to World Showcase. We were hungry by that time, and stopped at the first outpost: Mexico. Now, I've heard virtually no good reviews of the Cantina, but I like Mexican food. I mean, can someone really screw up nachos? In a word, YES. They weren't inedible or disgusting, but they were a little south of "ok" -- certainly not worth the calories or the $$$. The nachos consisted of chips, seasoned meat, refried black beans, cheese sauce, pickled jalapenos and chopped tomatoes. No salsa. Kinda blah. The seasoned meat was greasy with a capital G. I know this because of the grease slick underneath the chips. The black beans were just ok. The cheese sauce, well, it was cheese sauce, nothing more, nothing less. They had little packets of "salsa", but the stuff was less flavorful than even Taco Bell sauce (which I like, actually). We got a side of guacamole, too, and it was the best food we tried there.

I wanted to like the place, but I didn't. What a lovely setting for such disappointing food. Oh, well. The margarita was delicious -- slushy and tart -- mmmmm! I won't go back to the Cantina except maybe for liquid refreshment, but I think I can get that from a kiosk...

On to Germany where we had a pretzel, a bratwurst and a beer. I feel like everyone has probably had these items there, so I hate to take up much time reviewing them. To sum up, Germany is "Old Faithful" for us. The food never disappoints. What DID disappoint was the rude lady we encountered in Germany. DH was in line for food, and my daughter and I turned to look for a table. Lo and behold, there is just ONE table left, and it's about 2 feet from us. So, I grab my daughter's hand and head toward the table. Just then, another lady frantically tells her two little boys (by name, just don't recall what they were) to hurry up and sit down in those chairs! "Just go! Hurry!" The two little boys go around, past and in front of me -- one on the left and one on the right and collapse into two chairs at this table. By the time they plopped down, my daughter and I were inches (like 3 maybe) from the table. There is no doubt in my mind that the lady saw that it was the last table, saw us heading for it and had her little angels (and they were cute kids, maybe 6 and 8?) do her dirty work for her. I just stood there and said, "You have got to be kidding me." The little kids just looked at me wide-eyed. I don't think they even knew what they had done. One of them then said, "Oh, were you sitting here?" Well, no, I wasn't sitting there, but I was about a milli-second from sitting there before YOU -- with your fast-little-boy-legs raced around me and plopped down. Grrrrr. I turned around and looked at the lady. She averted my stare, so she knew what was up. Nice. At some point, this lady felt bad about the whole thing (probably because she noticed the cast on my daughter's leg -- yes, lady -- you just beat out a handicapped 6 year old for a table - yay for you!), because just as we were making another lap around the table area to try to find a place to sit (with food in hand, mind you), she tried to get our attention to tell us to take her table. I guess she THOUGHT she would feel good about being sneaky and rude (and using her progeny to do it, I might add), but ultimately, it didn't feel that good, what with having to watch my little one wobble around on her big purple cast looking for a place to sit. We ignored her and went outside and leaned on the wall next to the fountain. As my husband said, it's meant to be street food! We finished up our food only to look up and see that her family STILL had not gotten their food. We would have eaten and finished by the time her family needed a seat. I KNOW I got TOO mad about it, but seriously, I felt like I was on an episode of the Amazing Race and there were only enough seats on the plane for one team... Disney World is not a competition, people!

Thank goodness for the beer!:drinking1

[itchin2go]

DH and I were on our own again this evening, and anxious to try Le Cellier. Such a polarizing place! Seems like it was the darling of Epcot for so long and now there’s all this backlash. Long story short, we liked it and will definitely return next time.

First off, the Cast Members in Canada are just engaging. By and large, I found them to be so easy-going and friendly and just fun. Patrick was our server and he fit that mold perfectly.

We ordered a bottle of wine (Canadian, of course), and then they brought the bread. Of course, I had heard about pretzel bread and all the hype. I had thought to myself, “How good can it be?” I mean, I like pretzels and I like bread, but what’s the big deal? Well, I still can’t really explain what the big deal is, but the stuff is really good. I don’t know why it’s such a novelty that the stuff feels like bread and tastes (and I mean – DEAD-ON) like a pretzel, but it is kind of intriguing. It shouldn’t be, but it is. Whatever. Really good stuff. Thumbs up for pretzel bread. The other two breads were ok. I love bread in any form, really, but they paled in comparison to the pretzel bread.

So, I ordered THE soup, and DH ordered the mussels. I knew the soup had bacon in it, and I chose to ignore that. I mean, it is THE soup. It was good. If I had never heard any hype about it, I probably would be more enthusiastic. It’s fairly thick, golden in color, with bits of bacon all through it. It probably tastes more of bacon than of cheese – smoky and comforting. It’s GOOD cheese soup. REALLY good with pretzel bread. It’s just not turnip-apple puree good. :lmao: Ha! I did really enjoy the soup. I would probably order it again.

DH adored the mussels. He agreed that they were better than the ones at HBD. I think that is probably because there was bacon in the dish. The menu description says, “served chowder style with applewood smoked bacon and potatoes”. You could probably cook my shoes chowder style with applewood smoked bacon and potatoes and they’d turn out tasty – you know?

For his entrée, he had the Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mignon - with Baby Bella wild mushroom risotto, white truffle and herb butter sauce, topped with fried parsnips. Yes, the fried parsnips were delicious. He loved this meal. He loudly recommended it to anyone within earshot of us. The comment was something like, “This Kansas City boy has never had a finer steak.” It’s funny because he had a hard time deciding on his entrée. He initially gravitated toward the signature filet, but I warned him against it since I’ve read so many reviews from dismayed guests who were heartsick that their filet was smothered in barbecue sauce. So, moral of the story, if you’re avoiding Le Cellier because you’re fearful of that barbecue-y filet, rest easy, there are other dishes that might strike your fancy.

I had the Heirloom Squash Ravioli - topped with roasted chanterelle mushrooms and finished with brown butter and smoked paprika oil. That description is from the menu. I don’t recall it being mushroom-y at all. There was also some shaved cheese – a good sharp asiago-esque white cheese. The dish was big and beautiful and tasty. It was not a knock-out though, because I found it kind of hard to get all the flavors in one bite. So, depending on what I got onto my fork, the bite was either really tasty or just ok. Halfway through it, my husband asked me what I thought of it, and I was too confused to give an answer. I was still deciding, I think. Or maybe it was the wine… The ravioli were large and filled with a fairly mild winter squash puree. The brown butter was pretty darn subtle. A bite of squash-y pasta with a bite of the sharp cheese was really good, but I think maybe there wasn’t enough of the cheese. I LOVE the idea of winter squash ravioli, and I also LOVE that Le Cellier has such an interesting vegetarian item on their menu. I just didn’t LOVE the dish, but I thought it was pretty good.

Unfortunately, we had no room for dessert. :sad1:

For me, this place was an experience, not just a restaurant. It was the whole thing that I loved: the cast members, the setting (the light fixtures were cool!), the wine, the bread -- the whole thing. We’ll definitely return.

Oh, before I forget, yes, the tables are close together. That wasn't a big deal for us. At one point, the lady at the table next to us began to tear into her husband about whether he was sick, "What's wrong with you? You never eat anything anymore. It's not just me that says it - it's everyone! Tell me what's going on with you!" He pretty much ignored her. :confused3 Kind of random. They ended up being nice though. The other couple next to us were celebrating their anniversary. The hubby cracked us up telling us how emasculated he felt because of the frou-frou green drink his wife made him order (probably to maximize the dining plan :thumbsup2). They were funny. At another time, sitting so close to folks could have cramped my style. Not so that night, for whatever reason. Truthfully, though, the tables are QUITE close together.

I don’t know if I have a fun fact for this one, except to say that I’m told that the mussels here ROCK. I know everyone knows about THE soup, pretzel bread, the steaks, but I don’t know if the Canadian mussel dish has the reputation it probably deserves.

Day three: Kona, Big River Grille and Spoodles

[tluvstink]

I'm enjoying your reviews. :thumbsup2 Thanks for taking the time to write them. Too bad about that lady in Germany. But at least she seemed to realize it, or maybe she felt bad about getting caught. Some people who do that sort of thing just don't have a clue:sad2:

Terri

:dance3: :dance3:

[TigerKat]

Loving your reviews, looks like we share the same taste in places. We did make it to Flying Fish twice on our last trip, lucked out on our last night, they were able to seat us at the bar.;)

I also adore the mussels at LeCellier and the mushroom filet is amazing.

Curious as to whether you guys tried the mussels at Spoodles, I thought they were the BOMB!!!!

[whogirl'smom]

I love your reviews! Don't worry about the pictures; I can see everything in my mind from your wonderful descriptions (and from too much time perusing the food porn thread!). I hate that you didn't have room for Le Cellier's creme brulee, it was my favorite dessert of our trip.

Looking forward to more food adventures!

[Melissa_E]

Great review!!!!

[wen774]

Excellent reviews!

[Minniespal]

Excellent reviews:thumbsup2

[itchin2go]

Thanks everyone!:wave2:

TigerKat - He did not try the mussels at Spoodles. I think he was all-musseled-out by that time. We had the dips and the 4 cheese flatbread -- yum! We'll definitely go back to Spoodles though (maybe in October? :thumbsup2 ), so I'll remind him to try those!

[TigerKat]

Thanks everyone!:wave2:

TigerKat - He did not try the mussels at Spoodles. I think he was all-musseled-out by that time. We had the dips and the 4 cheese flatbread -- yum! We'll definitely go back to Spoodles though (maybe in October? :thumbsup2 ), so I'll remind him to try those!

Definitely remember!!!!! We had them at LeCellier, Flying Fish & Spoodles and Spoodles were the best!!:thumbsup2

[itchin2go]

So on day 3, we had an ADR for Kona for a good caffeine injection! :thumbsup2

This was my first visit to the Poly, so seeing the place was a joy. My daughter LOVED it.

We started off with the pressed pot. Ahhh. Sweet relief. We went two whole days without decent coffee! Good stuff. We drank the whole thing.

My husband had the eggs benedict and I had a cheese omelet. The little one had the Mickey pancakes. I don't want to get flamed, but everything was just ok. I'm sure it was our fault for not ordering the signature things like Tonga Toast and Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes. I actually *intended* for us to order those things but we just didn't have a sweet tooth that morning. My daughter's pancakes were not very good. They seemed like they had been sitting somewhere for awhile. A good pancake is tender, but these were a bit tough on the outside. Not gross, just nothing special. I think DH liked the eggs benedict better than my daughter and I enjoyed our meals. My omelet was a standard cheese omelet. It tasted similar to scrambled eggs and cheese. The eggs were not very tender (now, I don't like eggs UNDER-cooked, but you know how when you cook them too long, they get a bit rubbery? Yeah.) As I said, it was all ok. Sadly, the eggs on my croissant from Beach Club Marketplace were better. Go figure.

We'd go back again for the coffee for sure, but I would try something different from the menu. Not a fan of the omelets or the Mickey pancakes.

[itchin2go]

I'm going to put the review in the next post, so you can skip this post if you want to go straight there!

"How did we end up at Big River Grille for lunch?" you might ask... I mean, the place NEVER gets good reviews. Well, here is where we really began to veer off my carefully planned spreadsheet. The first veer was on day 2 when we chose not to eat at Chefs de France as planned, and instead "snack" our way thru Epcot, a decision based in large part on the previous day's lunch at HBD, where we got so full and so tired that we weren't sure we'd make it through the day! But on day 3, we veered so far off of my plans that I think we only kept one of the 6 or 7 ADRs that we had left. The best laid plans and all....

Anyway, this was an MK day and we were supposed to eat at Columbia Harbor House. However, there was this momma duck and a smattering of cute, fuzzy baby ducks that had just hatched near the Haunted Mansion, which is also near CHH. My first reaction to these fuzzballs was like everyone else's: "Awwww. How cute!" Then I began to notice that Momma duck wasn't making really good decisions. Like, she wasn't keeping the babies over in the grassy area. She was leading them out into the walkways. :confused: All was still well when we moved on to Big Thunder Mountain, but I was afraid of what might happen to those little guys. I mean, you're not generally looking at the pavement when you're walking through MK, trying to open a map, trying to see your way clear through the throngs of people, pushing a stroller or what have you. Plus, I'd seen this mean little boy trying to kick full grown ducks the previous day. I couldn't take seeing something happen to those little guys. So, we made sure never to walk past that area again that day. So, no Columbia Harbor House. (By the way, I did think about spending the day standing there hovering over momma and babies and keeping them safe. Seriously. I can just imagine what my husband would have said had I suggested that... "So what about tomorrow, Einstein?" I wanted them to be safe, but not everything is controllable by me. Plan B was to just not be there if something bad happened. Would have stayed on my mind forever. I can't KNOW about bad things happening to animals. It tears me up. So, ultimately, I decided to put my faith in Momma duck and Disney. With any luck, all the little ducklings are thriving in the MK.)

My husband had been wanting to sample the beer at BRG and suggested going there. Ok! Just keep me away from those tiny little ducks! Plus, I'm pretty overbearing in my planning, and I like to try to give the other members of my family a little say-so. When it suits me, anyway. So off to BRG we went.

By the way, does anyone know if there's a staff at Disney to handle wildlife issues like that? I mean, you would think someone would be alerted to this issue, because seeing a tiny duck squashed in the MK is certainly not magical. CMs are maniacal about cleaning up the tiniest speck of trash, so you'd think someone would take an interest in this kind of thing as well.

To be clear, no ducks were harmed in any way to my knowledge, and for all I know Disney dispatched a crew to take the ducks to a safer place. I don't know. Just wondering out loud...

[Pirate's Princess]

Your reviews are so vivid! Even without the pics, it's very descriptive. BTW I know what you mean about the embarassment of photoing your food, but trust me, it's worth it. I did have someone make a comment, but who cares. It's my life, and my food and I adore those who post pics here.


Ps: here's a delicious recipe for parsnip soup (I totally did make it for thanksgiving and it was a hit) http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/240675

[itchin2go]

We had no ADR (veering off the spreadsheet and all), but there was only a short wait. They took us in through a side door, which was odd, but ok. It was kind of an out of the way table by the restroom, so I never really saw what the place looked like. We went back out the side door where we came in.

We started with the chips, salsa and guacamole. Should have started with the jalapeno spinach cheese dip. Oh, well. We thought my daughter would like salsa better than the dip. It was basically chips, Pace picante sauce and some strange, but oddly tasty guacamole. I like Pace picante sauce, but I expected homemade salsa. Should have asked, I guess. My daughter LOVED the chips and salsa, so go figure. I guess in that respect, we made a good decision. The odd thing about the guacamole was that it was darker in color than normal guacamole, and when we tasted it, we found out why. It had chili powder in it. Now, this was odd, but not altogether untasty. Actually, pretty good. I'm guessing not everyone would like this twist, but I kind of enjoyed it.

I had the beer cheese soup and the greenhouse salad, while my husband had the meatloaf. My daughter had the mac & cheese.

The beer cheese soup was on the good side of ok. It was thin, light golden yellow in color, with a few flecks of green (chives, maybe). It erred on the side of too thin, but it was tasty, nonetheless. If it had come with a hunk of baguette, that would have been better. Anyway, I finished the bowl, so it must have been pretty good! I'd eat a bowl of it right now if someone put it in front of me. It bore no resemblance to the soup at Le Cellier, but I think my feelings on cheese soup are similar to my feelings on cornbread. The best way to sum up those feelings? YES. Jalapeno cornbread? YES. Sweet cornbread? YES. Dry cornbread? YES. Moist cornbread? YES. Cheesy cornbread? YES. Cornbread with corn kernels inside? YES. You get the idea. So, thick cheese soup? YES. Thin cheese soup? YES. Cheese soup with bacon? I'm a vegetarian, but YES. Anyway, not a bad soup, but not really a reason to visit BRG.

The salad was excellent. Here's the description from the menu: Greenhouse Salad - fresh mixed salad greens, topped with Roma tomatoes, carrots, cheddar and jack cheeses, sunflower kernels, and croutons. It was exactly as described, plus it had hard boiled egg wedges. I ordered it with the balsamic vinaigrette. The greens were, indeed, fresh & crispy. They were chopped into nice bite-sized pieces - very easy to eat, unlike some salads. There was a generous amount of sunflower seeds sprinkled over the top, which I think is what made it so delicious. The dressing was tasty. I ate that salad until I became tired of chewing! Best salad of the trip, without a doubt. Again, go figure!

Here's the menu description of the meatloaf: made with ground beef and Italian pork sausage, topped with rich, brown gravy, served with garlic mashed potatoes. DH thought it was meatloaf was excellent, and I can verify that the garlic mashed potatoes were fit for human consumption! :thumbsup2 Yum.

My daughter's mac and cheese was the best of the trip. It was cheesy and gooey, unlike the mac and cheese from the Disney-run restaurants. It was made with elbow macaroni, not some cutesy shape of pasta. It was a little unnaturally orange, which had me a little worried before I tasted it. Not to worry - it was REALLY good.

DH enjoyed sampling a beer or two as well.

So, I learned something new, as I did not know that BRG served an excellent salad. Go figure, indeed.

We would definitely return here if we were staying close-by. I don't know that I'd go WAY far out of my way to stop by, but if I'm in an Epcot area resort, I'd certainly pay BRG another visit.

Next up: Dinner at Spoodles...

[itchin2go]

Pirate's Princess - that recipe sounds great! Don't you just love Epicurious? I actually tried to buy parsnips yesterday at the supermarket, but the ones they had were kind of, umm, past their prime. I'm going to try another store today. The world should know about the beauty of parsnips!

[disneyfav4ever]

Great reviews so far! :goodvibes

[itchin2go]

The original plan was to go to Raglan Road for dinner. We were wiped out though! We decided to stay closer to home and go out on the Boardwalk. We had enjoyed the Boardwalk our first night out (sans daughter), and we knew our daughter would love it too. So, the whole family headed to Spoodles.

We were a little early, so we dropped some $$$ on the carnival games outside. My daughter loved this! She ended up with 2 stuffed animals, but we probably spent $40! Oh, well, vacation memories are priceless.

We also chatted with the girls at the candy shop. We discussed what WAS and what WASN'T eligible to be a "snack". We ended up using a snack credit for a butterfinger and chocolate covered Mickey-head pretzel. Yum. There are a lot of not-so-good things about being an adult, but one GOOD thing is that you can eat candy before dinner if you want to. :mickeybar

DH and I ordered the four cheese flatbread and the mediterranean dips for appetizers. The little one didn't want anything. :confused3 She did want one of those kids' drinks with the light up tinkerbell on it. She enjoyed that.

Of course, you don't NEED to order appetizers at Spoodles because they bring you this delicious focaccia to dip in a spicy olive oil mixture. Now, lots of places do this. The chain that has nailed the concept, I mean REALLY nailed it, is Carrabba's. This mixture was not AS good as theirs, but it was really yummy.

The flatbread is described as 4 cheese flatbread with roasted garlic puree and sage. How could you possibly go wrong? You can't! It was delicious. VERY flat bread with a thin layer of melted goodness over it. I couldn't tell you what cheeses were used, but there was just the right amount. If they had glopped it up with cheese, it wouldn't have been as good. It was just divine. When I had a cold piece of it the next day (oh, yeah I did), it seemed as though the bread had a subtle sweetness to it. It also reminded me of pie crust, which I'm sure does not bode well for its nutritional profile.

We also had the mediterranean dips, which come with pita bread and olives. There were 3 dips: a feta cheesy dip, a cucumber raita-type dip, and a reddish dip that I've never encountered before and have no idea what it's made of. Of the three, the mystery reddish dip was the winner. I don't know how to describe it, really. It was kind of middle eastern tasting, definitely had exotic spices, it was smooth, with kind of the texture of hummus, but WAY tastier. I don't know, but it was heaven in dip form. The feta cheesy dip was good. It tasted like feta cheese, only transformed into a dip instead of a chunky cheese. The raita style dip was nice as well, kind of yogurty-y and cucumber-y. Our server also brought us hummus, although I'm not sure it came with the med. dips and I'm not sure we ordered it. :confused3 It was tasty as well, but totally unnecessary.

We took several bites of all this deliciousness and asked our server to box it up. We knew if it was sitting on the table, we would just keep on eating it, and we wanted to save room for entrees, and yes, dessert!

For entrees, our server STRONGLY recommended the shrimp pasta to my husband ... several times. Although he's not a big pasta guy, her enthusiasm for the dish pushed him in that direction. If she says it's THAT good, how can we possibly go wrong? Well, it wasn't good at all. It tasted like pasta tossed with a bit of olive oil and shrimp. Utterly unseasoned. :confused: In retrospect, we should have noticed that she kept emphasizing how many shrimp you get in the dish, and how big they were. Her criteria for a good dish were just different from ours. We're looking for tasty, and she's looking for quantity of seafood. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend that anyone order that particular dish, unless you're partial to bland, unseasoned food. Oh, well. Live and learn.

I ordered the white bean moussaka. Sounded odd to me, but I like white beans, tomato sauce and mozzarella (as the menu described it), though I was not sure I'd ever had the three ingredients together. Well, it was pretty good. It was odd, for sure, but tasty. Layers of chunky, garlicky white bean puree, cheese, and tomato sauce. It was sort of like a layered bean dip cooked in a crock and eaten with a fork. (Come to think of it, I probably would have loved it if they had served it with some Fritos Scoops!) I would have liked some element of chewiness to the thing because it was all just really mushy. Not bad at all, just lacking a substantial texture. Our server warned me it was spicy and it was.

Given my vegetarian choices, I probably made the right decision. We had discussed choices prior to ordering. I could have the moussaka, the shrimp pasta minus the shrimp (no, thank you), or the rigatoni with sausage, tomatoes and mushrooms minus the sausage. If I went to Spoodles again, I might go with the latter option. I would eat the moussaka again, but it might not be my first choice.

The little princess had mac and cheese. This was Disney's mac and cheese, not like the kind at Big River Grille. It was some sort of cutesy shaped pasta, with melted cheese on it. It wasn't very tasty.

YAY! We saved room for dessert tonight!:yay:

SO glad we did, because these were the best desserts of the trip. I ordered the mascarpone cheesecake and DH ordered the baklava. My daughter had the ice cream with toppings she could add herself. I don't think she ate a bite, but she had a good time playing with it all.

Here is how the menu describes the cheesecake: Mascarpone Cheesecake - with a walnut crust served with fresh strawberries and a balsamic reduction. To be honest, I don't even remember the strawberries or a balsamic reduction, and I'm pretty sure the cheesecake doesn't need these things. This was GREAT cheesecake. It did have a walnut crust, because my DH and I both agreed that the CRUST tasted kind of like the baklava (which is a good thing). Needless to say, the crust was delicious. The cheesecake itself had a perfect cheesecake flavor, but a lighter than air texture, due to the mascarpone cheese. Just melt in your mouth, cheesecake-y goodness.

The baklava was good. Bless my husband's heart, he thought HE had THE dessert to die for, that is until he tasted MY dessert. If the cheesecake hadn't been on the table, I would have ooohed and ahhed over the baklava too. As it was, my fork and mouth were busy with the cheesecake. But seriously, it was really good baklava. And when you got a bite of baklava AND a bite of cheesecake? Ahhh -- dessert nirvana.

Ok, so, fun fact about Spoodles? Mascarpone cheesecake. Run, don't walk, to get you some.

I will definitely go back to Spoodles. I will stick with appetizers and desserts though!

Coming Up -- Day 4: Cape May Cafe, Akershus (Princess Storybook Lunch), and Beaches & Cream for dinner!

[CPer'sMom]

Really enjoying your reviews :) Great job!

[TigerKat]

I had the shrimp/pasta dish at Spoodles and mine had lots of preserved lemon and garlic in it, along with lots of shrimp. It was really good. Sorry your DH's wasn't as good.:sad2:

[itchin2go]

I had the shrimp/pasta dish at Spoodles and mine had lots of preserved lemon and garlic in it, along with lots of shrimp. It was really good. Sorry your DH's wasn't as good.:sad2:

Hmmm. Sounds like the kitchen maybe had an off night when we were there. Preserved lemon... yum ...

[itchin2go]

So, it's day 4 and we woke up hungry. We were headed to the Captain's Grill (old Yacht Club Galley), but as we were walking by Cape May, we decided to see if they could take us. We were walk-ups at first seating time and we got in right away. Yay for Cape May! :thumbsup2

I hear lots of mediocre reviews for Cape May, so I expected very little. WOW! Just walking past all the food as we were escorted to our seats, I knew we were in for a treat. The characters descended upon us almost immediately. We saw Goofy, Minnie and Chip. They were SO sweet to my daughter. Goofy and Chip both told her (in character sign language of course) that they had broken their legs too, and they graciously signed her cast. Goofy "said" he broke his surfing! She's still talking about that interaction.

The food exceeded my expectations. The berry bar was decadent. Loads of hugh, fresh strawberries and toppings: some kind of honey yogurt, dried cranberries, nuts, granola. Yum.

The hot food bar was just gorgeous. They had two kinds of eggs - scrambled with cheese, and then this puffy veggie thing. I don't know what it was, but it was tasty. The breakfast potatoes were just ok. Why does Disney have so much trouble making tasty breakfast potatoes? The breakfast pizza was yummy. Do they put some kind of mayonnaise on that thing or is it just butter? It's a yummy pizza crust, seems to have some kind of savory spread on it, and then it's topped with scrambled eggs and cheese. MMMMM! There were also Mickey waffles, pastries, breads (including bagels and lots of toppings), giant platters piled high with crisp bacon and loads of other stuff, can't remember it all -- too much to eat. The standout was this fantastic bread pudding thing. A spongy vanilla bread thing with icing on top. Kind of decadent.

The coffee (although the typical Disney swill) was plentiful and our server was great.

I wish I could remember more details, but it's kind of a delicious, happy blur.

Bottom line is this: we had breakfast at Crystal Palace the next day and we MUCH preferred Cape May. They had more items at Crystal Palace (and the breakfast potatoes were yummy there), but man, it's kind of a dog-eat-dog place! You have to hunker down in a long line to get your food, or cut in line like the rude-crew, and risk a fist-fight. Ok, I'm exaggerating, but really, there's no quick, convenient way of getting to the food at CP. For that reason, we're now Cape May devotees. It was SO much more relaxing and enjoyable.

So, we left stuffed, happy and relaxed. Is there a better way to start a day at Disney World? :)

[Liliyana]

We liked BRG too! And you know what, I think we arrived/exited through the same door. :laughing: I had a nice appetizer - hummus with pita, cucumber slices and feta. Just looked and it seems I am one of 3 who have put BRG foodp0rn pics on the Dis, :lmao:

I'm so glad Spoodles still has the mediterranean dips!

[Kae]

We love Cape May for breakfast. The first time we ate their at was at the end of our trip & I had never been so happy to see fruit. It was quite tasty & the serve was the best we have ever had at a Char Meal. When we whet DS was in his Chip & Dale & Peter Pan phase so he C & D on one side of this Lanyard & pan on the other. Goofy went & gave him a Goofy pin. DS tried to do A trade but Goofy said nope, just wanted him to have a goofy pin. 6 years later & it is still DS's fave pin wearing on his ski coat now.

Kae

[disneyfav4ever]

I am on the fence about booking Cape May for my next trip, this pushes me a little bit more to go for it!

[Silly Girl]

itchin2go - Loving your reviews so far. I too had the same experience with the Shrimp Pasta dish at Spoodles as your DH. I haven't reviewed it yet in my Dining Review but it just wasn't very tasty and I really had expected tasty. I'm like you, I would go back to Spoodles but only for appetizers and dessert.

[ndepaola]

By the way, does anyone know if there's a staff at Disney to handle wildlife issues like that? I mean, you would think someone would be alerted to this issue, because seeing a tiny duck squashed in the MK is certainly not magical. CMs are maniacal about cleaning up the tiniest speck of trash, so you'd think someone would take an interest in this kind of thing as well.

To be clear, no ducks were harmed in any way to my knowledge, and for all I know Disney dispatched a crew to take the ducks to a safer place. I don't know. Just wondering out loud...


YES, there are people who look out for such things. A couple of years ago we were at Epcot and saw people grouped at one of the bridges by the Africa "area" and when we got there we saw people in a regular old boat with a net fishing out a KITTEN who had somehow fallen in the lagoon. Everyone cheered and this big maintenance guy in the boat hugged the kitten and said he would be taking it home.

[itchin2go]

Well, after the big Cape May breakfast, we were really not enthused about lunch. Truthfully, lunch at Akershus is less about lunch and more about princesses, though.

I had heard horror stories of disorganization at Akershus: names not being called, hordes of people crowded around a podium, rude CMs and princesses... Thankfully, this was not our experience. We arrived about 10 minutes early and checked in. Soon thereafter, they called our name and in we went. Yellow-ballgown-Belle was the greeter princess on this day. She was beautiful and charming and gracious. I asked if we might trouble her to sign my daughter's cast, and she said, "Of course." She curtseyed down LOW, spreading the skirt of the ballgown around her to sign the cast. It was SO beautiful a sight, that the Disney photographer snapped it for the photo-folio thing that they offer you. Great picture, by the way.

So, then, we're off to our table where they explain the whole cold bar thing. For those who haven't been there, your "appetizer" is the "cold bar" or koldbordt, I think, where they have an array of Norwegian (or Nor-merican anyway), specialties. Despite having read descriptions of this beast plenty of times before, I did not really have a good idea of what it was. I expected a small table with cheese, cold-cuts and pickled fish. Not so. It was a very large, LONG buffet type spread. Offered were green salad with choice of dressings, cubed cheese, potato salad, shrimp salad, pasta salad, croissants, cold-cuts and yes, several types of pickled fish, among other things. It was a much bigger and more varied spread than I had imagined, and I quite enjoyed it, despite not being very hungry. I had a nice lettuce salad (the lettuce was crisp and fresh and the dressing was delicious), some cheese, some potato salad and a bit of pasta salad. The most notable of these was the potato salad. It had roasted potato wedges and veggies tossed in a nice vinaigrette dressing. The best part were the whole roasted garlic cloves tossed in. YUM! My daughter tried a bite of cheese (SO not hungry), and my husband tried a bite of everything. I don't recall what kind of pickled fish he tried, but he was surprised he liked it. Overall, thumbs up on the cold buffet at Akershus. WAY better than I expected.

So, for entrees, our server recommended the soup and sandwich to my husband. The sandwich was described as "pan-seared salmon served open-faced on toasted multigrain bread, lettuce, tomato and topped with a roasted garlic caper mayonnaise". Pretty accurate explanation from what I saw. It was a very attractive sandwich. He liked it, but he liked the seafood chowder that accompanied it better.

My daughter had the ravioli, which she had two bites of. I can tell you all about it, though, because that's what they suggested for a vegetarian entree for me. The kids' ravioli consisted of several Mickey-shaped raviolis topped with a chunky and slightly watery tomato sauce. To make mine more adult, they topped mine with some roasted vegetables as well. :confused3 It was ok. I mean, I LIKE ravioli with tomato sauce, even if it wasn't particularly good ravioli or tomato sauce. The roasted veggies (carrots were the predominant one) were fine. Again, I LIKE roasted veggies. I just don't think that topping Mickey-shaped ravioli with a lackluster tomato sauce and some roasted veggies can end up being anything more than a passable vegetarian entree. So, it was passable. No biggie. I wasn't hungry anyway...

The desserts were nice, but not particularly memorable. There was a coffee mousse cake of some sort, a rice pudding, and a berry torte type of thing with yellow cake and a yellow pudding-y type filling on top. I liked the filling. Tasted mostly like vanilla pudding (which I like, and don't have occasion to eat very often). They were better than my entree, but really just ok. I wouldn't seek them out. Why don't they just bring you schoolbread and be done with it?

The princess interaction was better than I had expected. I've said it before in other threads. Here's where you get the most princess bang for your buck. We saw Ariel, Aurora, Pocahontas, Jasmine and Belle at the door, of course. All were very gracious about signing my daughter's cast.

So, there you have it. For me, Akershus is not a dining destination, it's a princess destination. If you go in with those expectations, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised. If you go in looking for the best food in Epcot, well, you'll probably be disappointed.

Next up: Beaches & Cream for dinner.

[itchin2go]

It's all kind of fuzzy in my head, but I think we were supposed to go to Chefs de France for dinner. We were feeling lazy, though (hey, you're supposed to be able to be lazy on your vacation, right?), so we opted to hang out at the resort. We headed for Beaches & Cream. At first, it looked like there would be a wait, but that evaporated once the LARGE party ahead of us got in at Cape May. YAY for us!

It is small, but it really is a cute place. My husband didn't realize how LARGE the burgers are, so he ordered a double. Whoops! It was a lot of food, but he said it was delicious. He also ordered some onion rings. YUM. Could have eaten all of them. Thick cut rings of onion covered in a tasty, crunchy breading. DE-licious.

I expected the veggie burger to be the only veggie entree, but there was actually a veggie wrap of some sort advertised on the board outside of B&C. I asked our waitress about it, and she seemed kind of hesitant to recommend it. Her response, was kind of like, "It's good if you like that type of thing." That could mean anything, I guess, but I went with the veggie burger instead. It was not very good. To be fair, I'm kind of hard on veggie burgers. I tend to like the ones that are made of recognizable food, rather than the ones that are made of something masquerading as meat. I like the black bean patty at Chili's, for instance. It's clearly made of beans and rice and veggies and has a great flavor. Despite the menu description of a "grain and vegetable patty", this one seemed more of the "trying-to-seem-like-beef" variety to me. I didn't enjoy it, but I chalk this up to my own personal taste. The other components of the burger were fine - fresh bun, lettuce, tomato, etc. There was no cheese, but maybe I should have asked... Anyway, I removed the meat patty, placed a couple of thick, delicious onion rings on the bun and voila, I had a pretty tasty onion ring sandwich. I wouldn't recommend it as a dietary staple for health reasons, but it was a flavor sensation. ;)

My daughter had a hot dog and fries. It was, indeed, a hot dog and fries. The fries were ok. I guess they may have suffered in comparison to the onion rings.

We were too full for dessert. Yes, it's a crime to go there and not order SOMETHING for dessert, but seriously, we were stuffed. Someone did order a kitchen sink while we were there. We didn't know what was going on when the lights went dim and the red light on the wall started flashing. That was cute. The little one was impressed.

I have no doubt that most carnivores would love B&C. Vegetarians? Well, I'm thinking that's a hit and miss type of thing. I knew the menu limits going in and I took the risk. If I went again, I might JUST order onion rings and a dessert. :)

Last day: Crystal Palace, Grand Floridian Cafe & Yachtsman Steakhouse.

[quixoticvalue]

Really enjoying your reviews! Even though there aren't any pictures, your descriptions suffice very well.

Also, I don't know whether you're a strict vegetarian or not, but I'd just like to point out that the chedder cheese soups are made out of chicken broth and chicken base. Just some info for next time :thumbsup2

[CPer'sMom]

I have no doubt that most carnivores would love B&C. Vegetarians? Well, I'm thinking that's a hit and miss type of thing. I knew the menu limits going in and I took the risk. If I went again, I might JUST order onion rings and a dessert

My veggie DD always orders the grilled cheese from the child's menu :) so that's another option.

[BabyPiglet]

I see you're a vegitarian but reading the Cantina review...did you have meat on your nachos? Just wonderin' cause I got a bit confused.

Never the less, great reviews! Keep 'em comin'.

[sunstress]

Thanks so much for these great reviews -- as a vegetarian, it's been difficult to know whether we would be left with grilled cheese sandwiches for a week on our trip in January. Would love to hear from other vegetarians about how the changes to the Disney Dining Plans have affected them!