I was at the Amanda Freitag presentation on Friday morning and was so disappointed: she is my absolute favorite celebrity chef, and I was so looking forward to this event. Of all the events we had scheduled, this is the one about which I was the most excited.
It fell flat on several levels. First, the emcee did an introduction and said Amanda would be up shortly. Well, brunch was served, and we waited and waited and waited. I finally realized she was talking with the attendees at the reserved VIP tables. This interaction should have been done prior to the event or immediately after. This format was rude and uncomfortable. I know it was at least 45 minutes before Amanda got on the stage or later.
Second, the emcee was quite interesting- in a bad and overbearing way. At 11:03 a.m., I texted my husband: "That emcee will not shut up and inserts herself into everything blocking the view. Amanda is just beginning to talk." I did think Amanda did a decent job: she was personable, funny, and self-deprecating. She was representing Mylan and as such did spend time talking about her food allergy and preventing allergic reactions. Also, she was promoting her new cookbook, so that took up some time.
Third, the food had its ups and downs. The breakfast pastries were typical Disney pastries and so-so. Now the fresh fruit was perfect and nicely presented in a martini chiller. The duck egg tatin was outstanding. The wilted greens were still bright and fresh, but with very little seasoning. The pork belly missed the mark- I hope because it was served at room temperature, but it did not even come close to being as good and delicious as the pork belly I had at a meal earlier in the week. The potatoes were served with baby fennel. Unfortunately, even with eating both the fennel pieces and the potatoes together, I only got a very mild taste of the fennel on the last bite. Overall, it was a meh meal. The recipe she demonstrated and that was served to us was zucchini latkes with ratatouille, avocado slices, and fresh herb salad. It was served lukewarm, my latkes were very dark brown and very thin, the herb salad had very little herb flavor- mildly flavored would be an understatement, and the ratatouille was lackluster.
Our other meals and seminars were outstanding, and I would not hesitate to recommend them including the Tequilla lunch in Mexico, the Mediterranean lunch at the Spice Road Table, and the beer and wine lunch at Via Napoli.