Oh, I'm detecting nuttiness, all right! 3D Dessert Discovery (11/2) - Complete

[Dis_Yoda]

Grand Floridian Cafe​

Yesterday morning when we visited HS, we arrived too late to ride on Toy Story Mania as we refuse to wait in a 50 minute line & the fastpasses were for 4:00pm already.

This morning I was riding Toy Story Mania & we would arrive there early enough to do it.

Since we ate so late last night, we didn't eat breakfast & headed straight to the park. Dealt with that crazy initial rush for Toy Story Mania & were behind the rudest lady I've encountered this trip & headed to the Muppets store to see if they were selling the Muppet Line of OPI nail polish (they aren't) and another ride on Star Tours where we got the same ending as yesterday and left.

We debated on what we wanted for lunch. He mentioned he knows I love that sandwich from somewhere over by Magic Kingdom. Grand Floridian Cafe it was!

I figured since it was a lunch in the middle of the week we should be ok for a walk-in. It was! We were quickly seated at a table right on the other side of the podium.

We placed our orders & they were a bit slow to arrive. Turns out, someone had given my sandwich away! They rushed a new one but it still took a few minutes.

I enjoyed my glass of wine while waiting.

My husband went with the Grand Burger - Hamburger w/ Buttered Lobster on top & House-Made Chips

The burger was nice. The lobster he said was kinda bland. He didn't get the normal sweeter taste of lobster but it got lost in the burger. The chip was good - especially when he used them for swiping some of the sauce from my plate.

I went with the Grand Sandwich.

I love this! Boursin Cheese Sauce, Fried Onion Straws, Rosemary Bread, Turkey. Its so good & so rich. I never can finish it.

For dessert, we decided on the Chocolate Fondue.

It was alright. The chocolate was a bit thicker than I'm used to for fondue but we liked it! The bananas & pineapple were great!

It was a bit slow - the meal took almost an hour and a half but we weren't in a rush to get anywhere as we were headed to the golf couse to try our hand on the Fairways course. Somehow, I hit par. I don't know how.

Now its time to get ready for our dinner at California Grill & we will possibly be headed into MK afterwards for the MSEP or to EPCOT for EMH - we haven't decided yet.

 

[librarygeek]

Oooh, all the food from this post looks so good! Fulton's looks amazing, DH and I are both big seafood fans (especially crab and lobster) so it's a place we should probably try. GFC looks super tasty too, there are so many great options at the GF. Maybe someday I'll get to stay there and that will be an excuse to try them all

 

[Dis_Yoda]

California Grill​

Dinner this evening was a reservation at 5:50pm for California Grill. We parked over at the Contemporary - I'm glad they have taken away some of the valet parking area and turned it into self parking. I like parking up front at the Contemporary.

We checked in at 5:35pm and were soon ushered up to the restaurant. It took about 10 minutes but we were soon led to a table for two right by the window.

Our server was a bit slow with coming to the table. He introduced himself & took our drink order and wandered off to handle the table's behind us millionth question about something.

A little while later - he came back to say he's going to take our order but accidentally dropped some liquid from a glass he was holding on our table cloth. My husband & I could have probably cared less, but he was insistant on changing it. My husband doesn't often get firm with waiters but said, I would like to place my order first & I don't really care about the table cloth.

So he took our order & came back with our drinks and a new table cloth. Where we had to lift our own glasses up while he cleaned it. It was a little awkward.

So drinks!
My husband got a twisted Mie Tie

& I went for a glass on Conundrum

We waited for a while & I took pictures of MK while looking out the window.

Our server brought out chopsticks for us both for my appetizer & some bread.

It took a little while more before our appetizers were brought out.

My husband had their classic flatbread sans the tomatoes.

He loved it! He let me have 1 piece and had to agree.

I went with a Shrimp Tempura Roll.

When I ordered this, I confused my waiter. Apparently I was reading the menu while I was doing this - but its an item not on the menu. I've never had issues ordering it before. I love it! The mango and the soy wrap really make it!

He stopped by to clear the tables and brought my husband another drink.

The sun was setting

and thats when we glanced at our watches and realized it was 7:10. We had already been seated for 80 minutes and had only had an appetizer so far. Our waiter was questioning another table to make sure he had their orders done correctly before a runner finally brought out our meal.

My husband went with the filet.

He liked it well enough - not as good as Shula's but much better than his steak at Le Cellier. He didn't like the purple potatoes though. They didn't really look appealing to me.

I had debated between the bison & the duck as I do love both. I settled on getting the duck.

It was sliced breast meat + the leg.

So tender and great! Loved the pomegranate sauce that it came with as it really matched the flavors of the duck.

Our plates were cleared and he was about to give us the dessert menus when another two top in his section required his attention as their entrees had arrived. The problem was they never got their appetizer. At this same time, the 6 top noticed their bill was split wrong so he kinda took a while to deal with that.

We got our menus & he dealt with those previously mentioned issues while we decided. We ordered our dessert & since I was missing my MSEP that I wanted to catch, ordered myself a glass of ice wine despite its $23 price.

When he brought the wine, he mentioned that our bread pudding will be out shortly. We mentioned we didn't order bread pudding nor the banana crisp that was the next thing out of his mouth. We reminded him it was the mousse w/ bailey's ice cream. It came out shortly after that conversation.

This is hands down the best dessert I've had in a long long time. Better than the lava cake at Shula's. We loved the mousse especially paired with the bailey's ice cream. Inside was a white chocolate mousse too and there was a crunch on the bottom that balanced it texturally.

We loved all our food for California Grill & will return. I'm not sure what our server's problem was - if he was either new to the Signature Dining Service or having a bad day with something & his mind was some place else.

 

[librarygeek]

Oh my goodness, it sounds like your server was really all over the place. What a disaster. Still, I'm glad the food was good! The flatbreads look so yummy. I'm thinking I might go to Cali Grill and just do appetizers and desserts, as DH loves sushi!

 

[cbg1027]

Yum CG looks good, too bad the same can't be said of the service.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

 

[Tinkerbellah]

Just read your review & really loving it! I have got my nails done w/ that new muppet's opi too! I got the "warm & fozzie!!! I love it!!! [just got it @ the local nail salon]

 

[franandaj]

I'm glad to see your Fulton's looked so good, on the "rebook" of my trip I got Fulton's for Dinner, but the only CA Grill ressies were at 9:20 or 9:40 and that's too late for us old folks. While I got some good ones at six weeks, I wish I could have gotten CA Grill! We always have problems with that place!

 

[Linda67]

Thanks so much for these wonderful reviews

We've never tried Fulton's but it looks great and you dinner at CG looks excellent, even if your server seemed to be having an off night!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Oooh, all the food from this post looks so good! Fulton's looks amazing, DH and I are both big seafood fans (especially crab and lobster) so it's a place we should probably try. GFC looks super tasty too, there are so many great options at the GF. Maybe someday I'll get to stay there and that will be an excuse to try them all

I love Fulton's! They have tons of different options of seafood and lots of different crab and lobster options - including something called an ultimate feast. GFC is a great lunch spot!

Oh my goodness, it sounds like your server was really all over the place. What a disaster. Still, I'm glad the food was good! The flatbreads look so yummy. I'm thinking I might go to Cali Grill and just do appetizers and desserts, as DH loves sushi!

I really think the server had something major happen or something to throw him off that much.

Appetizers & Dessert is also a great way to go there - I've done that before making my meal out of appetizers.

Yum CG looks good, too bad the same can't be said of the service.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

It was great

See you today at the dinner if I don't make it to Slushies.

I'm glad to see your Fulton's looked so good, on the "rebook" of my trip I got Fulton's for Dinner, but the only CA Grill ressies were at 9:20 or 9:40 and that's too late for us old folks. While I got some good ones at six weeks, I wish I could have gotten CA Grill! We always have problems with that place!

You will love it! I'm glad you got to rebook your trip for Christmas time at least. I love Disney at Christmas. You could always try to get in CA Grill when they open for a walk in. I've done that before and order dinner at the bar.

Thanks so much for these wonderful reviews

We've never tried Fulton's but it looks great and you dinner at CG looks excellent, even if your server seemed to be having an off night!

Thanks! Its one of my favorite places at Fulton's. I hope whatever was going on with the server fixes itself for his service for next time.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Magic Kingdom Treats​

This morning we did extra magic hours at MK to ride 2 rides - Space Mountain & Buzz Lightyear. This is my husband's & I's 8th trip together & I can finally say he's beat me on Buzz. I was not a happy camper on that.

So we left & explored the candy store & picked up 2 treats.

Milk Chocolate Cake Pop!

We shared this on the drive back to the hotel. It was great but very rich.


Milk Chocolate Cupcake

This was my husband's selection - he hasn't eaten it yet but it sure does look good.


There was also freshly popped popcorn at the gate while we were leaving. As we hadn't had popcorn this entire trip - we had no choice but to get some.

I also got the cute little overpriced container. This will be used for decorations for our house next year.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Food and Wine Booths​

After our 2 hour morning break, we headed back into EPCOT.

Our first stop was the Caribbean Booth for the Frozen Rock Coconut Mojito & Dragonberry Colada

My husband had picked the mojito and enjoyed it but he liked my colada a lot more!

Our next stop was South Korea for some food.
We got the BBQ Beef w/ Rice & the Lettuce Wrap

Both were excellent! I really liked the lettuce wrap and my husband enjoyed the beef.

Next up was an encoure of the Cheese stand for the Cheese fondue for me!

Loved it again.

My husband went to the Germany Booth & picked up a beer & an apple streusel

He liked his beer & his streusel had a ton of apple in it.

Last up for our booths this afternoon was Belgium for my husband. He got the beer flight + waffle. They were out of the truffles.

He liked the waffle - hated the beers. But at least he knows now he doesn't like them.

 

[Linda67]

Oh now I really want a Mickey Cake Pop

 

[danissmart]

Outstanding reviews. Very very helpful.

One quick question. Where on earth are you resting your South Korean food? It looks like a pile of junk from someone's attic.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Oh now I really want a Mickey Cake Pop

They are really good! I'm glad I split it though as it was really rich.

Outstanding reviews. Very very helpful.

One quick question. Where on earth are you resting your South Korean food? It looks like a pile of junk from someone's attic.

Glad you are enjoying my reviews. I was resting my South Korean food at the African Outpost Coke Area display. All the tables & benches in the area were taken so we had a choice of the trash can or that coke display. I took the cleaner choice.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Italy Dessert & Wine Pairing​

After we finished with the booths, we stopped by the DisMeet @ the Slushie Stand in France & met everyone. We didn't drink anything and shortly left to head to Italy for our Dessert & Wine Pairing. I had done the Food & Beer for my husband, he was doing this for me.

We checked in and were eventually led in the back room at Tutto Italia. They had crowded in a lot of tables to the point I was glad I didn't have to go to the bathroom as I would have been unable to get out of that chair until people from my table got out too.

The host from the Food & Beer Pairing did this event too which was great as he is a great host.

The winery's rep also spoke about the wines & how 3 of the 4 wines are just entering the market or entering the market in the US in 2012.

All the wines were dessert wines on the sweeter side.

First course was Tiramisu.

This was paired with Batasiolo Asti. This was one of the better Tiramisu I've had in my life. I liked the Asti.

Second course was a Cannoli.

It was paired with the Batasiolo Moscato. We were instructed to eat the Cannoli with our fingers as thats how the italians do it. It was extremely rich & I don't think anyone at our table was able to finish it. This was also the only wine my husband liked enough to finish the entire glass.

Third course was the Panna Cotta

It was paired with the Batasiolo Moscato Rose. I didn't really like this dish but I really don't like panna cotta. Just seems like a strange pudding to me, which I also don't like. My husband did love it though and finished his entire dish.

Our final course were a set of cookies.

Paired with the Sparkling Red. The wine reminded me of Rosa Regale so that is fun. The cookies were eh. It seemed like a bad note to end the event on as it wasn't anywhere near the par of the other desserts.

Overall, I liked the event enough. The desserts weren't really creative though as they were typical Italian desserts - I wish there was some creativity there. I may do it again next year depending on the cost and what else is going on.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Brown Derby F&W Signature Dinner​

After the Italian Dessert & Wine, my husband and I parted ways and I headed over to Hollywood Studios to fill time before my signature dinner. I went to Brown Derby around 5:45pm & attempted to check in to find out the front desk had absolutely no clue what I was talking about. Through some confusion I was told to come back in like 30 minutes.

Came back & talk to the hostess again along with Abby (cbg1027) and were told to wait until they were ready. We eventually saw the manager wandering around to find everyone where we eventually caught her & she figured out we needed to go with her. The entire group was lead to the Bamboo Room in the back of the restaurant. Abby & I were sat with an older couple at the 4 top around the corner.

Menu

The chef, manager & winery did their talks. What was really interesting about the winery is how it was so tied to Walt Disney & Hollywood. I felt it was well placed for them to be apart of the Hollywood Brown Derby Dinner. The daughter was there to represent the winery.

Our first glass of wine was poured - MacMurray Ranch Pinot Gris to be paired with the Amuse Bouche

It was a herb polenta cake w/ a mushroom & fig ragout on top of wilted greens.

I really enjoyed the polenta cake especially with the Pinot Gris.

Bread & Butter

Our glasses for the MacMurray Ranch Chardonnay were poured next in preparation for the cheese course.

From left to right - Manchego Cheese w/ Apple Slaw, Cypress Grove Purple Haze w/ Dates, Affine Blue Cheese Walnut

It was a bit weird to have a cheese course so early as I'm used to seeing it after the entree but it worked out alright.

We were then given our sorbet - a grapefruit chardonnay sorbet.

It was very tart & worked well for clearing the pallet for the next courses.

For our appetizer, we returned to the Pinot Gris from the amuse.

Serrano Crusted Black Tiger Prawn w/ Tarragon Lobster Nage

To quote the manager's favorite word of the evening - it was FAB-UUU-LOUS!
I'm not the biggest fan of lobster or lobster soups but with that wonderfully crusted prawn it worked for me. I think almost everyone wanted seconds.


After those were cleared away, we had both of the Pinot Noir's poured. This was to allow us to taste and compare how the worked with the dishes. I liked the Wine Maker's Block Selection more than their normal Pinot Noir.

Our fish course was Crispy Rosemary Loch Buart Salmon w/ Braised Cabbage, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Shallots & Currents

I loved it! The Salmon had crushed fennel seeds to give it its crispness.

For our entree we had a Porcini Crusted Venison Chop.

It was on top of a pumpkin & squash pancake w/ a pinot noir jam.

This was awesome.

Our tables were then cleared in preparation for dessert.
We were given a LaMarca Prosecco.

Our dessert was a trio.

First up was a Tangerine Lemongrass Sphere

You had to eat this by putting the entire thing in your mouth and then squeezing to have the flavor burst out.

This also caused a bad joke for a very drunk woman that isn't exactly dis friendly.

The 2nd part of the trio was a Orange Chocolate Mousse w/ Frangelico Milk Chocolate Sauce

So good! The orange chocolate with the chocolate sauce were amazing.

The last part of the trio was an ice cream made with the Proscecco we were currently enjoying with this course.

It was a light and refreshing way to finish the meal.

The chefs came out during the dessert course and finished their presentation.

They had one more surprise for us - a goodie bag!

Which had a mini decanter glass, wine opener, chocolates & some of the Brown Derby recipes. We were also given photos of everyone w/ the winery host.

It was an amazing meal from start to finish. I would do it again in a heartbeat!

 

[jeminni]

Wow, your signature dinner looked amazing. I would so love to do that.

 

[librarygeek]

That Brown Derby signature meal looks out of this world. All of the courses look delicious. And I love that they gave you a little goody bag, especially with recipes, how cool!

 

[mama03]

YEAH, the first signature dinner report that I have seen. It looked wonderful. The Tangerine sphere looked like an egg yolk. Okay, um I so want to get a good laugh. Can you just pm me what the happy drunk woman said?

 

[franandaj]

I love MacMurray Ranch wines, I've been to a lot of their Wine Dinners at Disneyland Restaurants and their wines are great. There really is a lot that ties the winery and Disney together.

The meal looked a lot better than it read on the menu. As I read that I was thinking, "I'm really glad I hadn't planned on going to this one" but as I looked at the pictures everything looked pretty good!