Not 1, Not 2, But 3 AMAZING!! trips

[Niki Andiokno]

Today I backtrack a bit too the first trip. One night we went to one of my favorites Olivia Cafe at Old Key West Resort. This is Mikes favorite resort. He loves the laid back condo feel, and the family restaurant style of Olivia's.
We both ordered what we always get, New York Strip served with mushroom and tomato ragout, green beans and carrots and Olivia's potatoes.


This is what we ate, but this is now served wroth mashed potatoes. We subbed the Olivia's potatoes. The steaks were really nice and thick. Mikes potatoes were the typical cheesy goodness, but mine were so salty I could not eat them. I don't know how his could be perfect, yet mine be so bad. I assume they are all baked in the same pan, as these are a version of baked au gratin potatoes. Who knows. The other issue was the ragout. It looked the same as always, but it tasted different. Not in a good way.

This has always been one of my favorite steaks on property, so I was a bit disappointed. The steak itself was still perfection. I would just ask for it without the sauce. We will be back, but next year.

 

[kastoney]

Wow, it sounds like you've been through a lot. Hope you're doing better.

We did beaches and cream for the first time last trip and loved it too. Especially those onion rings. They were as good as you said.

Sorry your Olivias meal wasn't great, but not sorry you have more food to come ; )

 

[Niki Andiokno]

Thanks Kari. I am feeling much better, but it is just a process. The recovery is slow, but I will be back to normal.

One day we had tea with Zach. He is a young foodie, who likes the finer things in life. He is in college, and has always wanted to do an afternoon tea. Disney is an awesome place for your first tea. This was wonderful.

Before I begin on the greatness, I will list one big disappointment for Mikey. He loves his tea, but he also loved the Prince Edward Platter. Here is a pic from a prior trip. It had duck terrine, cheeses, pate and other manly nom noms. It also came with a glass of port. This was not my style, as these processed meat and liver things just don't appeal to me. DH LOVED this food.



This is no longer on the menu. Alas, he is stuck with what us non- snooty peeps eat, theThe Bedfordshire Tea -

First Course
Medley of Finger Sandwiches accompanied with Berries, Cheese and Lavosh
-
Second Course
Buttery Scone and Jam Tart
-
Finale
Choice of delicate House-Made Pastries, Strawberries and Creme, or English Trifle

Accompanied by your choice of tea

I chose Russian Early Grey- blended in the honor of the Russian tradition, this Early Grey uses the rind of the spicy bergamot orange to give the exotic blend its citrus note. To me, Earl Grey is the best tea ever. I love the spice to it, as well as the caffeine kick. T me, this beautifully smelling tea is what tea is all about.

Mike chose Osmanthus Oolong- rare Osmanthus flowers are highly coveted for their champagne aroma and deep, rich flavor. This is a light floral tea. It smells like flowers and tastes wonderful. He has tried to get similar Oolong at home, but the Osmanthus flower adds something to it that takes it above and beyond ordinary Oolong.

I believe, but am not sure (Zach if you are lurking feel free to chime in or correct me) Zach had Garden View Blend- a blend of Assam and Keemun black leaves with the floral overtones of flowery Earl Grey. Whether or not this was it, he loved it.

Now on to the food. This was served in separate courses, each brought out and savored individually at your leisure. This presentation has since changed, but I will discuss that later. Let me say that I love how the traditional tea was served to us. First were the finger sandwiches.


Gotta love the tea cozies.

Anyway, I like that the change is that the first course offers cheese along with the finger sandwiches. I loved the cheddar and white cheese I can't recall the name, the lavosh and the beautiful grapes that accompanied it. We had cucumber pear sandwiches, curry chicken, something with beets and egg salad. It seems the salmon was off the menu, and I am not complaining. Zach is vegetarian, so we traded his curry chicken for the cucumber. I was happy happy. Even Mike was happy, as the cheese kinda made it a bit less dainty and a tad more filling.

Second course was the scone and strawberry jam tart. The tart is phenomenal! Sweet strawberry goodness. The scone was the best, nice and buttery with a great consistency. Very moist, but not falling apart. It cam with devonshire cream, lemon curd (one of the best tasting things on earth) and jam. All of this was great. I could lick the lemon curd up if the boys would not have been mortified.



Finally we got dessert. Wonderful strawberry parfait. Wonderful yellow cake, sweetened strawberry sauce, fresh strawberries and whipped cream with the signature GF on it. I never make parfait at home, but I love parfait. "Who doesn't like parfait," as a famous donkey asked.



Overall we really liked this tea. It took us well over an hour where we chatted over tea, amazed at the wonderful young man Zach has grown up to be. I wish I had taken a picture of us all that day. Sandy was pregnant with Zach on our very first trip to WDW. To have tea with him as a young adult, almost 20 years later, was a wonderful afternoon I won't forget.

 

[auntfrannie]

I did the Grand Floridian tea years ago with my mother. The food looks just as good now as it did then!

 

[kastoney]

Looks like the tea was wonderful. I've been contemplating having a mother daughter afternoon there and this may have just put me over the edge. Hubby will be running a few races on our next trip so we should have some time to ourselves. Though I'm sorry to hear they don't have that Prince Edward Platter anymore. It sounds right up my alley!

 

[Niki Andiokno]

I did the Grand Floridian tea years ago with my mother. The food looks just as good now as it did then!

Every time I have gone, the food has been good. I really like the addition of cheese, lavosh and berries. I also forgot the wonderful onion tart.

Looks like the tea was wonderful. I've been contemplating having a mother daughter afternoon there and this may have just put me over the edge. Hubby will be running a few races on our next trip so we should have some time to ourselves. Though I'm sorry to hear they don't have that Prince Edward Platter anymore. It sounds right up my alley!

The tea was wonderful. I think a mother/daughter afternoon would be great. I have never taken a little girl with me, but the chocolate milk "tea" and finger sandwiches look delightful. I say do it. If you like pate and terrine, you would have loved the Prince Edward Platter. Mike said it was really good quality. I hope they bring it back.

 

[Niki Andiokno]

As I always say my camera always dies when I want to photograph the best food. This happened on our California Grill night. We had stayed away from Cali Grill to eat for over a decade. Mike thought it was overpriced with really small portions. I always liked it, but couldn't convince him. For years, all we did was go sit at the bar and drink Cosmopolitan martini's while watching Wishes. A couple years ago, we tried to do our regular bar visit and were denied access. I was told that we couldn't go just to sit at the bar. We had to have a reservation.

The fact that it was recently (relatively) refurbished with a new menu got me a one time trial run from Mike. We agreed to set a reservation, have an appetizer or two and have our drinks. We were sat at a perfect table against the window. We could see the special Star Wars Weekend fireworks, Epcot Illuminations and Wishes. Right from our seats. Our server was Billy Ray - the only hillbilly master somelier in the world, according to Billy Ray. He was a great server. I know servers at CG expect big tips, as guests order high priced meals. As soon as Billy Ray came up, I let him know this would not be one of those nights at my table. I complained that the hostess wouldn't let me into the bar alone, so here we were to order a cosmo and app and nothing else. Mike was about ready to hide in his menu, and feared that we would be ignored the rest of the night. Billy Ray said he understood my plight, and would give us great service anyway. He said this with a big smile.

This happened to be soft shell crab season, so we ordered a soft shell crab tempura ($18) and Dragon Roll - Spicy and Tataki tuna, shrimp tempura, avocado, Dragon sauce, Hijiki-Shirataki salad $25. The soft shell crab was amazing! Crunchy outside, sweet and soft inside. This was a really great app. Too bad this is seasonal. I could go for some right now. Then the Dragon Roll. I love spicy tuna, and this did not disappoint. There was a bit too much sauce for me, but the sauce was amazing as well. This was really nicely spiced, and the tuna was fresh. The salad was great as well. I detected some sesame oil, which I love.

After my cosmo, which was finished SNAP, we decided to order some wine with our appetizers. We asked for a suggestion from Billy Ray. He originally brought out a couple of wines for us to taste. I don't recall the names, but I remember one was a little sweet for me. The other we had just downed a bottle the night before in our room, but for the life of me I don't remember what it was. Again, Mike is ready to hide in his menu as I turn down both wines this waiter had suggested. He asked a few questions, I think to determine our price point but I am not certain. He then brought out this little beauty.



I love Vouvray since trying it in the France Pavilion at Epcot. This bottle blew that one out of the water. And it wasn't that expensive either, even though I don't recall how much. He told me we can probably find it inexpensively at home. I need to look, as I had forgotten about this entire meal after the accident. Once given visual and audio Qs I can recall everything. I remember now this wine paired perfectly with the crab and sushi.

Anyway, this is where my camera died. No food pics. So sorry.

We were so impressed with the quality of the food, and the good sized portions, we decided we could actually eat another sushi. We ordered the Spicy Kazan Roll - crab, shrimp, scallops, tuna and fireball sauce $26. This was so, so, so soooo goooood. Again, I love spicy and this had quite a bit of heat. Not sweating till your ears turn red heat (which I love), but spicy enough to please me. Billy Ray suggested a couple more glasses of wine, since we didn't want another bottle. I was a bit tipsy by then and don't recall what it was. I just remember something white that was a bit dry. I had notes, but lost them.

I guess by now, Billy Ray is thinking we aren't going to stiff him on a tip. We just had about $260 worth of martinis, wine and appetizers. He joked "thanks for the warning" and brought us a complimentary creme brulee. I make creme brulee at home, and a pretty good one at that. This was almost exactly like I make. Plenty of vanilla. No citrus flavor, like some inferior creme brulee uses to hide the scorched cream. Perfectly smooth from clearly being finely strained. The sugar perfectly burnt and caramelized. Just wonderful.

Billy Ray got me. California Grill got Mike. This is now on our regular rotation. I will have another review from my next trip. Unfortunately, we didn't get Billy Ray even though we requested him. But our next server, another Chicago transplant, was super too. But I will save that for the next review.

Once again, some of the best food of the trip was not photographed. UGH!! Now I need to lurk the food porn thread to find some photos to look at.

Night All.

 

[Niki Andiokno]

We are now up to Wine Wednesdays at Jiko. This is a wine tasting class that lasts an hour. Sherry is or sommelier, and a waitress at Jiko. She is very funny and knowledgable about wine. She tell how South Africa has a climate very similar to Napa Valley, so produces great wines. Since African wines are not popular in the US, you can get some great wine at a reasonable price point.

Here is what we tasted in May.


We also got a cheese plate to taste with the wine.


The wines vary from tasting to tasting, so we tend to do this every trip. This time we had one white and two reds. The first was a favorite Cederberg Bukketraube. This is a nice sligtly sweet wine with a bit of apricot on the finsh. Very nice wine forthe holidays I would think. Refreshing for summer too. I wish I recalled what the cheeses were. I remember the first on the left was a soft mild cheese that went will with the pleasant white wine.

The next wine was a spicy red Spice Route Chakalaka. This was also very good, and my favorite of the day I like spicy wines, and this fit the bill. I thought it went really well with all the cheeses, especially the blue. It also went well with the strawberries.

The last was Mulderbosch Faithful Hound. First, anything named after a dog is great IMHO. This is a good wine. It was rich and fruity, but not sweet. To me, this needed chocolate. It overpowered the first cheese, but was great with the other two. I also liked it with the sweet caramalized nut that accompanied the cheese.

At the end we did have some chocolate cookies brought to us. They worked vey will with the Hound.

I love Wine Wednesdays. The pours are generous to give you a tad bit of a buzz. The cheese is phenomenal. The$30 price tag is good for a special event too. This is available all year long, but fills up fast. I defiately suggest this.

 

[Niki Andiokno]

This time I think I really did finish the Trip No. 1. Now on to Trip 2, my Food & Wine Festival trip. I am not sure these are in order, but I will review as I find the pics.

Wolfgang Puck Express This is a go to for quick service at Downtown Disney, now known as Disney Springs. They changed the signs the first day, so we came to Downtown Disney and left Disney Springs. First up, Spaghetti & Chicken Meatballs - with Basil, Parmesan $16.00


I was a bit disappointed hearing that the meatballs had changed from beef/veal meatballs to chicken. The other meatballs were my favorie, The chicken ones were good, but not my favorite. The spaghetti was cooked al dente and had a perfect marinara sauce on it. I believe I shared this with Sally. The portions here are large.

Mike had meatloaf, and finished everey bite.Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf - mashed potatoes, port wine sauce, onion rings $16.00


I have tried making this at home, but it is never as good as here.

Finally, we shared a creme brulee, which was pretty good for fast food, though a bit warm. Sally ordered the brownie, which was also nice and chocolaty. Personally, I like Earl of Sandwich's brownie better, but this is good too.

We always enjoy WPE.

 

[Niki Andiokno]

 

[Niki Andiokno]

Next up Bluezoo!!! This is my second all time favorite (next to Bua Hana Thai) restaurant. As usual, my phone died early on, so few photos.

At this point I will say that we lucked out coming at the end of September, which is restaurant month in Orlando. Various non-Disney owned restaurants have 3 course pre fixe menus for $33. Bluezoo also had a wine pairing with each course for $15. This was a great deal.

We started out with bread service. This my favorite because I love the cracker-like sesame bread.


Even though we ordered the pre fixe menu, we started with the Yellowfin Tuna Tartare - Miso caviar, cucumber, scallion cream, nitro siracha aioli $18.00 This is so cool. Siracha dippin' dots that smoke when poured over the perfectly spiced tuna.


The first course was a salad course. One thing I noticed about the Orlando Magical Meals was that the first course was usually a salad. We all really liked our salad here. I really wish we could have written down the wines we had. This was a nice citrus white wine. The salad was Beet Salad - walnut vinaigrette, goat cheese fondue, beets. This salad was wonderful, made with nice bitter greens. I am not typically a fan of beets, but with the goat cheese they tasted fantastic. I wish I had a picture of it.

The second course for Mike and I was some kind of salmon. I can't find the menu from Magical Meals, and I don't recall anything other than it was amazing!! Sally had a cavatoppi dish with a mild cream sauce and mushrooms. When it was first brought out, it was so hard, it seemed like it was barely cooked. Sally,who doesn't eat much, didn't want to make a deal about it. I tend to embarass people I eat with. I really don't mean to, but if you are paying good money for something you should get something good. When the waiter asked if everything was ok, I piped up and said that the pasta was raw, not al dente. He agreed to get another dish, which came out pretty quickly. This was a bit underdone, but at least edible. The waiter explained that the pasta is house made, so might have a different consistency than we are used to. I remember Mike and I had a type of pinot noir that matched perfectly with the salmon. Sally had another white. I really wish I could recall because they were so good.

Dessert was a blueberry parfait made of rice pudding (I think) with a white cake piece, wonderful blueberry sauce and a blueberry gelato scoop on top. This was definately the highlight of the evening. The blueberry sauce was so fresh, and I just wanted more of the gelato on top. Yummy Yummy Yummy. I remember a Prosecco being paired (can't be certain) but whatever it was, it was excellent.

I have to admit, not our best meal at Bluezoo. Everything Mike and I ate was FABULOUS, don't get me wrong. This was a wonderful meal. I just think I prefer the dishes on the regular menu more than the special one.

 

[Niki Andiokno]

Culinary Demo

This year we decided to do only one culinary demo. I am not certain why. This was by Mark Boor of Fulton's Crab House. He was an interesting speaker, but seemed to push the Fulton's Wine Dinner, which was going on Friday and had a few spaces available. Honestly, I would have loved to have gone, but we had already planned a Tequila Luncheon at La Hacienda that day. I wish I had heard of it earlier, or we might have gone there instead. I hope that next year Fulton's is having a wine dinner while we are there. I would gladly go.

On to the Demonstration - Branzino with sauteed vegetables and house guacamole. Branzino is a very light white fish. This went really well with the tomatoes, spinach and artichoke hearts. This is the first dish I have eaten where I actually liked the taste of teh artichoke hearts. The guacamole was really good as well. I have yet to make this at home, as I am not certain where to get Branzino, but I hope I can finally make a good guacamole.

This was paired with the festival Chardonnay, which was nice.





The demo is $15 ($13 with the DVC or Annual Pass discount), and it is totally worth it.

 

[dizzy daisy]

Thanks for the updates!
I lived in Europe for a few years, Branzino is a type of Sea Bass. If you cannot find it, there might be a suitable substitute for you locally.
I agree with you it has a nice light flavor. Perfect for Italian or Greek methods of cooking.

 

[Niki Andiokno]

Thanks for the updates!
I lived in Europe for a few years, Branzino is a type of Sea Bass. If you cannot find it, there might be a suitable substitute for you locally.
I agree with you it has a nice light flavor. Perfect for Italian or Greek methods of cooking.[/QUOT

I had forgotten he said it was sea bass. I am still looking for a good fish monger here in Chicago.

 

[kastoney]

Wow, looks like you all had a few amazing days of food. We did just sushi at Cali Grill on our last trip and loved it too. So good. What kind of wine is I Vouvray? I'm not all the familiar with french wine and have never heard of this one. Always looking for something new to try.

I had no idea Jiko did wine Wednesdays. Sounds like a lot of fun. How do you sign up for them?

You blue zoo meal sounds great. We haven't been there in a long time but plan on checking it out next trip since Flying Fish will be closed.

 

[Niki Andiokno]

Kari, we did have some great food and wine. Vouvray is from the Loire valley region in France. I believe the grape is chenin blanc. The taste is a little dry, but with a bit of honey flavor at the end adding a tad of sweetness. It went really well with the sushi, and was quite refreshing after my cosmo martinis.

Wine Wednesday is really fun. If you can get Sheri, she is very entertaining. South African wines are very nice. Just call wdw reservations. Some cast members don't know about it, so if they don't, try saying the wine class or ask for a supervisor. It does exist all year round, and is great for $35. Be aware it books up fast. For my September/October trip I had to keep calling to book one of us at a time, as they allow cancelations. All the of us got in by calling every day. Took about 2 weeks but we all got in.

I can't say enough about Bluezoo. That is my favorite in Orlando. Everything I have ever had there had been outstanding. Here are a few pics of prior trips. You really need to try this.

Miso Glazed Mero - Hawaiian seabass, ****ake-ginger rice, black garlic, sticky soy $42.00


This was a special sea bass with roasted corn. It was special and I loved it.


This was also a dessert special. It had caramelized bananas, chocolate gelato atop chocolate mouse, white chocolate gelato and chocolate truffle. One of my favorite desserts ever. I can't tell you how much I love this place. I never get enough photos here.

 

[kastoney]

Thanks for all the great info. The Vouvray sounds really nice. I'll have to be on the look out for it. We tried a French Savuignon Blanc from Sancerre with our sushi and it was awesome. The sommelier told us the Sancere region has lots of of oysters in the soil so its a little briny and pairs nice with seafood.

I'll have to call for the Jiko thing. I enjoy Pinotage's but don't no too much else from South Africa.

And thanks for the Bluezoo pics. Now I'm really ready to go ; )

 

[Niki Andiokno]

Afterour culinary demo, and some time at Future World, we visited everything Chew.
First Sustainable Chew Lab
Pork Spareribs with red wine, fennel, and cheesy mascarpone grits – $5.50, Glluten-Free, DDP Snack Eligible

–Ricotta & zucchini ravioli with tomato sauce – $4.75, Vegetarian,DDP Snack Eligible

–Vanilla panna cotta with fresh figs and pistachio brittle – $4.25, Gluten-free, DDP Snack Eligible


To drink:

–Founders Spectra Trifecta (Chamomile Kolsch) – $3.75

–Frozen Chew-tini – $7.50

–Beso Del Sol White Sangria – $3.50
Next Chew Lab
–Olive Oil-Poached Salmon with Fresh Corn, Bacon, and Pepper Jam, $5.75, Gluten-Free, DDP Snack Eligible
–New York Strip with Parsnip Silk, Balsamic Glaze and Arugula Foam, $6.25, Gluten-Free, DDP Snack Eligible
–Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey Caramel, $4.00, Gluten-Free, DDP Snack Eligible

To drink:
–Festival Chardonnay, Napa Valley, $3.50
–Festival Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles, $3.50
–The Smoking Hibiscus featuring Montelobos Mezcal Joven, $8.75





We had one of everything. The best thing, and one drink I had several of during our trip, was the Chewing


Everything was yummy.

My favorite Chew-tini

 

[Niki Andiokno]

Later we got a tad hungry and split a fish & chips from York shire County Fish Shop. This is the best fried fish around. Much better than Raglan Road ' s counterpart QST for a lot less money.

 

[Niki Andiokno]

Next up is Il Mulino, another one of my favorites. We started out with the bread basket, which i ncudes a. onderful tomato cheese foccacia a with typical sourdough.

We also got the roasted eggplant and sausage. I love the eggplant, and could really make a meal of it. The sausage is tasty too.


This place also participated in the Orlando Magical Meals, but only Mike was feeling it, URL=http://s217.photobucket.com/user/andiokno/media/Mobile Uploads/2015-09/20150928_210446.jpg.html]

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I had the Rigatoni Con funghi, Rigatoni with wild mushrooms, spicy cherry peppers and garlic trifle oil. Since my beloved entice was taken off the menu I seem to always get this. It is really goods. I get a half order, which I can never finish. A great deal for $12.50.

Mike had the meatball appetizer. He got 3 but ate one before i got a pic. Then my phone ran out. Mike had the salmon in garlic and olive oil with mushrooms over broccoli rabe. This was really good. I dare say better than my beloved Bluezoo. I will order this in the future some time. This was such a good deal, as the salmon itself is $31. The pre fixe was only $33. He also got dessert , the Italian Cheesecake. This was good, but i prefer good Chicago Jewish style cheesecake. This was very light made with ricotta and lemon.

Sally had the Manicotti, filled with cheese and covered in marinara. She liked it, but it was a huge portion. We shared a Tartufo for dessert. Excellent as always.