Redwitch and Mikka's F&W Live Food Porn Thread! FINALLY DONE! Huzzah!

[Briarmom]

I've been reading! Love your report!

 

[nickymaria]

I'm reading! And still thoroughly enjoying your report. I love seeing all of the different food and wine experiences you guys did - makes me miss it down there even more! And I think you're spot on with the weak/strong drink observation. It's sad for my beloved grey goose slushy, but I think I'll have to try something with a bit more oomph this coming trip - maybe the tipsy duck!

 

[Krissalee]

I love your reports so far! The two of you are on my kind of Disney F&W vacation! We just arrived at F&W yesterday, so I'm catching up with your report while enjoying my morning coffee and planning my own F&W experiences!

 

[TigerKat]

Still reading and enjoying every update!

 

[Mikka]

Thank you, everyone. <3 It makes me really happy to know that people are still reading and enjoying this. And encourages me to post faster. >.> I know it's sort of bratty, but when no one responds, I feel sort of like "wah, no one's reading, what's the point of posting?". But I definitely intend to finish this review, so no worries! I really want to get all the food and wine stuff up before the F&W festival ends, because I hope it will be somewhat useful for people planning their attack.

(And try the Tipsy Duck! ...Also, I'm not really sure about Gin, either, but more on that at the Flying Fish.)

But, well, more F&W will have to wait until the next post. This post is Hollywood Brown Derby.

We always use the Fantasmic Package, because I get sort of claustrophobic and shy when it comes to being stuck in that line of doom for way too long. This night, it was really a good thing that we used it. We arrived a half-hour before the start of the show, and they were at standing room only for people who didn't have the package. And the package rows were practically full, too- we were lucky to be a small party of two, because bigger parties were basically being split up. It's actually sort of funny... in May, we did the Fantasmic package and Fantasmic was basically deserted to the point that we wondered if we should ever do the package again, because getting seats would be easy. Then, here in October, it was super crowded.

But, well, you're not here to hear about my crowd calendar reports.

I've said before that I don't usually note waiters, but from this point on, we had mostly amazing waiters. Our waitress here was Danielle, and we basically came in at four and asked if she minded if we had a very slow dinner and hung around till fantasmic because there wasn't really anything else we wanted to do in DHS. She was fine with it- more then that, she was great with it. She allowed us to have a very leisurely meal, and came around to chat with us whenever she had a spare moment. And she was just as kind to the other tables around us, too. Really a great experience.

Actually, in truth, this was a great meal. Probably one of the best on our trip.

As always, it starts off with bread. Bread paired with the standard unsalted butter with Himalayan sea salt on top of it. At least these are hard rolls rather then sourdough.

(I don't mind sourdough. I mind that for a while, every signature served sourdough bread with unsalted butter with Himalayan sea salt, which drove me nuts.)

This is the only good picture from Hollywood Brown Derby- because mom forgot to turn her flash off for it. We try to only take pictures without the flash in restaurants, as to not be annoying to others dining around us. Unfortunately, HWBD has very dim, reddish lighting that makes the other pictures a bit hard to make out.

Drinks! I ordered the Ita-Rita Margarita, which was Tequila, Sweet & Sour, and my favorite liquor of them all, Amaretto. Want to make friends with me? Buy me an an amaretto drink. I love Amaretto.

Mom ordered off the menu, and got a Rusty Nail. A Rusty Nail is basically a Loch Lomand without the dry vermouth; it's scotch and Drambuie. Mom's boyfriend bought us a bottle of Drambuie a while ago, and we had been mixing it with bourbon, but mom wanted to try a real Rusty Nail and thought somewhere like the Brown Derby was the perfect place to order a classic cocktail like that.

The bartender was apparently impressed that a woman was ordering this. Heh.

Both drinks were yummy. Both had a hint of sweetness, but I wouldn't call either of them sweet drinks.

I had wanted this appetizer before I walked in the door. It's crab spring rolls, with a crab claw, on top of an 'Asian slaw' (basically cabbage and vegetables- it was actually quite tasty) with a semi-spicy Miso dipping sauce. (The menu calls it spicy, but it only had a slight kick.) I wasn't disappointed. This was really nice, and quite tasty. The spring rolls had a good amount of crab in them, too- it wasn't like, 'HELLO CABBAGE oh here's your one bite of crab DD'.

And the claw was interesting, though I always find it hard to eat crab claws. I didn't get a small fork to help me get the crab out of it or anything, so I was resorting to trying to pry the crab out with my fingers. Probably not my most couth moment.

And then some hard crostini to go with mom's...

...cheese plate!

Champignon Brie, Midnight Moon Goat Cheese, and Flora Nelle Blue Cheese. With raisins, pear jelly, and apples (though the menu says it came with spiced pecans, it lied). Midnight Moon seems to be the new favorite cheese here at Disney- it's what they put on our salad at the Wave, and it's also on the Flying Fish's cheese menu (replacing my favorite cheese, Cowgirl Creamery's Mount Tam... I will miss that cheese so much ). Despite being a goat cheese, it's a hard cheese: mom said it was like a cheddar. She liked all three cheeses, but that one was her favorite.

Personally, I liked the brie the best, but I love soft cheeses.

Mom's lamb, over a Buttermilk Blue-Cheese Corn Pudding (it was sort of polenta like, I thought). This was... actually really good, and if you read the first post, you'll remember that I don't like lamb much. Mom actually picked up the bones after she finished cutting all the lamb she could off them and gnawed at them, which is probably not proper etiquette for fancy restaurants, but it's hard to care when the food is that yummy.

She also really enjoyed the 'pudding'. Actually, she just really enjoyed this meal.

She paired it with the suggested Castello Banfi Chianti Classico Riserva from Tuscany, which was a very nice wine. Very tannin-y, though, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

I had the filet. It's served with Haricot Verts (which are French green beans- a bit thinner then American green beans), and 'white truffle oil wild forest mushroom mashed potatoes'. On the top is a cabrenet and roasted shallot 'butter' of a sorts, that was incredibly tasty. Actually, all of this was incredibly tasty.

The potatoes did not taste like mushrooms- they just had a slight hint of generic 'flavorness' to them. This is good for me, as mushrooms aren't really my favorite thing. The green be- er, haricot verts- were very crunchy, which is how I like my green beans, and I guess my haricot verts. The filet was cooked medium rare for me, and was perfectly cooked to that temperature.

I got the paired Sequoia Grove Cab Sauv with it (from Napa Valley), and I really enjoyed this wine. It was again another tannin-y wine, but it wasn't dry at all... it actually had quite a bit of sweetness to it, with fruitness coming through (I thought blackberries and plums, but honestly, I think 9 out of 10 red wines taste like plums while 9 out of 10 white wines taste like pears). It was an excellent pairing with the filet, but it also went pretty well with the lamb too, despite the lamb having a Chianti reduction.

Dessert wines! Needless to say, we wracked up quite an alcohol bill this day. Thank goodness for Tables in Wonderland.

Mine was the Royal Tokaji Red Label 5 Puttonyos from Hungary, which I swear every restaurant on property has. It's the white one (red in this light), and it was quite sweet. Did not taste like pear, though. Actually, I thought it had a bit of honey going to it... and maybe some peaches? I'm not really that great at saying what a wine tastes like, though I try.

Mom had the red, which was the Star Tree Noveau Rogue from South Africa. Generally, mom and I love South African reds, and this did not disappoint. This did not pair with her dessert at all, but we weren't expecting it to. It's actually sort of interesting that it's listed as a dessert wine... it's really only semi-sweet. It's a dryish wine that still is very fruit forward. Hints of chocolate and spice, and then the fruits. Apparently, it's a Cab Sav.

The last six or so times that I've been to this restaurant, I ordered the Chocolate Three Ways. I decided it was time for something different. I ordered the Banana-White Chocolate Toffee Tower on Cocoa-Almond Cookie and Bananas "Foster" (the foster, Danielle told me, is in quotes, because they don't actually light anything on fire for you... which is kind of a shame, because, wee, fire!).

This was... actually, not too bad. I wasn't sure what to expect when I ordered it, but the banana tasted *real*, not fake, and the white chocolate was light rather then over powering syrup sweet. It certainly isn't the favorite dessert I had on the trip, but even mom (who generally hates anything involving bananas that isn't an actual banana) admitted it wasn't that bad. If you're a fan of bananas, I'd give this one a try.

Mom had the Strawberry Champagne Cheesecake. I'm not really sure what the 'champagne' part of this was... it just tasted like strawberry to me. Mom says she liked it, though not as much as she liked the appetizer and entree, considering that she couldn't remember what she had till I reminded her. This had strawberry syrup and little balls of chocolate scattered around, and seemed enjoyable enough. I'm not a huge cheesecake fan, so I can't say too much, but... it seemed nice? I guess?


...And, amazingly, we did not order tea on top of this all. If only because we needed to start to head to Fantasmic (yes, we really did draw this meal out for hours). We did learn from Danielle that the Premium Teas on the back of the Dessert list do apparently count as a drink for the Fantasmic Package, so that's what I'll definitely be doing next time I come.

Which will probably be next trip. Brown Derby was really, really good for this meal. Everything was excellent. Mom notes that she's never been disappointed by her meals here; I think I've had one or two bad appetizers, but I suppose I've had just as many, if not more, good ones. So... yeah.

It's the best restaurant in the park by far, in any case, and probably the second best restaurant in the parks total (first being Bistro de Monsieurness, as I've been calling it). You'd probably have to drug me to get me to try Hollywood and Vine (I'm sorry, buffets, but I am far too germphobic for you unless your name is Boma or Tusker House), and Mama Melrose... is... well, Mama Melrose. So it makes for an excellent Fantasmic dining spot.


NEXT: Some more F&W booths! Followed by Cali Grill, which was better then McDonalds!

 

[DizzneyDi]

Loving your posts so please keep them coming! The F & W entries have been especially helpful as DS and I will be hitting those booths in a week and a day. Can't wait!

 

[Redwitch]

I honestly can't recall for sure, but I think the top section of the cheesecake was "champagne" and the bottom portion was "strawberry." Interestingly enough, there was a layer of cookie-crumb-like stuff in the bottom layer.

I like cheesecakes, but I love chocolate. Usually I'll pick a chocolate dessert, but some Disney restaurants never seem to change their dessert menus. So, I am often challenged with "Do I have this again? Or try something new?"

Overall, this was a really good meal. My lamb was excellent, yes, gnaw off the bone good. (Personally I think it is acceptable to pick up chops!) And, I enjoyed my Rusty Nail; might become one of my go-to drinks. Wines were all good.

We actually looked up the Star Tree Nouveau Rouge, here are the details... "Elegant, Raisin, Almond, Medium-bodied. South Africa- Almond aromas mixed with crushed raisins and plums. Well balanced and elegant overall. Enjoy with medium foods such as chicken, salmon, most cheeses or on it's own." See, not really a dessert wine. And, cheap and available if you live in CT.

 

[Mikka]

Loving your posts so please keep them coming! The F & W entries have been especially helpful as DS and I will be hitting those booths in a week and a day. Can't wait!

I'm glad to hear that! Here's some more F&W stuff for you! I hope it helps you make your plan of attack! And don't be afraid to try that Griddled Grill Cheese in Greece that mom and I so disliked due to it's hardness... I've read that from people who got it fresh, it's great.

(I decided that after every post I make, mom has to make a post commenting on stuff before I make the next post. This way, I can now blame her if a post is late.

Also, it means you cats get some insightful comments, as she often notices things I don't. And is willing to look up what wines are supposed to taste like rather then going "IT TASTES LIKE PLUMMMSSS/PEARRSSSS", unlike me.)

I can't believe I'm only on the Tuesday of our vacation! Our vacation lasted till Saturday! I still have quite a few posts to make!

Japan's Spicy Hand Roll & Green Tea Colada.

The Spicy Hand Roll had tuna and salmon inside smothered with a very light chilie powder (really, the fish alone had no spice) and then covered with the Volcano Sauce, which at least had a tiny bit of spark to it, though I still wouldn't call this really spicy. It's a pretty good portion size. It's taste? Acceptable. I honestly wanted to try the tofu here, actually, as it's probably the most interesting item and you can tell a lot about a 'chef' by how the tofu is done. But the tofu they said would take another twenty minutes to be ready (we got there at basically eleven), so spicy hand roll it was. This is basically 'take out from a grocery store' sushi: you'd get better in Tokyo Dining, Kimonos, Cali Grill, Flying Fish, Kona's, wherever your sushi love takes you. But it wasn't as bad as I honestly expected.

The Green Tea Colada tasted strongly of coconut and green tea, and very lightly of rum. You basically have to shut your eyes and think about rum to actually taste it, but is there, which is more then you can say about a lot of drinks in the marketplace. It's very light and refreshing- I believe they also use a bunch of fruit juices as mixers in this- but it has no real alcohol content. Still, we liked it.

The Schinkennudeln (definitely needed to look that one up) with the J&H Selbach Bernkasteler Kurfurstlay Riesling Kabinett in Germany.

I've never had anything like Schinkennudeln (can I just call it pasta gratin?) before. It's basically baked pasta with cheese holding it together and bits of ham scattered in it. I actually liked it a lot, save for the browning parts on the top, which I left for mom (who tends to like burnt pasta and potatoes for some bizarre reason I will never comprehend). I understand this a pretty traditional German dish, but it's completely new to me- don't remember seeing it on the buffet the one time we went to B... Be... Beir.... Beer Garden? Er. The German buffet.

As for the Riesling? Let me be honest: Riesling is my favorite kind of wine, even though these days I'm more of a red drinker then a white. And this is a German Riesling. I am sure, somewhere in Germany, there is some crazy winemaker making these utterly horrible syrupy sweet pear overloaded gross Rieslings, but I don't think the Germans allow him to export his (or her) stuff. Because honestly, I don't think I've ever had a bad German Riesling in my life, and I've had quite a few of them. This, too, was a fine one. Was it the best Riesling I've ever had? Darn no, but it's certainly not going to offend you or taste bad, if you don't dislike Rieslings.

Over in Africa (the booth, not the outpost... though the booth is in the outpost), this is the Berbere Style Beef (with onions, jalapenos, tomatoes, okra and pap) and the Wolftrap Red, which is a nice little blend. The wine once again proves that African reds are awesome, though I still think the best red we had at the Festival is actually the one from the chocolate area inside the festival center.

The beef? By far the most spiciest thing at the festival (admittedly, we didn't have the Mongolian Beef or the Black Pepper Shrimp in China this year, but we've had them in previous years, so I'm pretty sure I'm right in my statement there). I am unsure to describe how it tastes, BECAUSE MY MOUTH WAS ON FIRE. Most 'spicy' things at the festival are pretty toned down. This is pretty darn powerful, probably equivalent to the Durban items over at Sanaa. We definitely needed the pap (that's ground maize, if you wondered) to cool our mouths down.

I like pap. I especially like it for breakfast at Bomas... sigh. Didn't get to do that this trip.

...Anyway, this dish is probably worth trying, as it actually seems like it might be halfway authentic. Just have some water with you when you do try it. Or at least a nice wine to cut the spice, which the Wolftrap Red did admirably.

Shrimp taco in Mexico. This is exactly what it looks like, which was unfortunately pretty 'meh'. The shrimp was pretty flavorless, and the other items in the taco weren't strong enough to hold up without the shrimp giving them anything to work with. The only thing this really tasted like was lime, after squeezing the lime out on it. Pretty disappointing, as after our trip to San Diego, we love seafood tacos of all kinds.

Of course, I've seen people on these boards rating this a 5/5, best item on the trip. So... I don't know. Maybe San Diego spoiled us? I think the ribeye one looked better, after seeing it and talking to people eating it.

The Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce and Boniato (a kind of sweet potato) Puree in Argentina. With what is I *think* the Terrazas Reserva Malbec. ...I'm pretty sure it was the Malbec. That's what's paired with the beef skewer on the sign, right? This is honestly the only item on our trip I'm unsure about- I lost my discovery passport a few days later (I'll talk about that on... the day I do Thursday), and thus lost my dots on what exactly we tried. I really do think it was the Malbec, though.

Well, whatever wine it was, it was pretty decent, and if it was the Malbec, it didn't offend me enough to make snarky notes about it being a Reserva that was average. So, uh, order whatever wine that is paired with the Beef Skewer with the Beef Skewer, as it paired well and tasted good.

The Beef Skewer was nice. Last year, we had a tough one, but this year it was chewy, but not tough. The real winner is the chimichurri sauce. I've read some people say that they thought you got too much sauce with it, but in my opinion, you can never have too much chimichurri sauce (and you can always just shove it off if you do think it's too much, right?). The chimichurri sauce was very tasty, and I approved of it. I don't remember the boniato standing out too much, but it wasn't bad. It was just sort of average.

Last stop was Brazil. This is the Seared Scallop with ragout of tomatoes, peppers, and hearts of palm (and, obviously, rice). You can barely see the scallop underneath the ragout, actually.

I've read a lot of reports of about scallops being rubbery. But here's our deal- when we walked up to the booth, we literally saw them putting the scallops in to cook. Our scallop was as fresh as fresh could be; we actually had to wait a tiny bit for it. So this? Was actually quite good, although the ragout and rice were pretty uninteresting.

...Butttt... considering all the reports on rubbery scallops, I can't recommend ordering this unless basically the exact same thing happens to you- you get to see the scallops go in and get one right away. As it seems if that doesn't happen, you get a rubbery, overcooked scallop, and no one wants that.

(So, my recommendation? Get the pork belly. We got it later this week and liked it a lot, but more on that later.)

Also from Brazil, the Carnaval Moscato Sparkling White Wine. I find it strange that they feel a need to specify that a Moscato is a white wine, even with all the Pink Moscato's around. I mean, when you hear Moscato, you think 'white wine', don't you? Hm.

Well, whatever. Remember what I said I don't know how many posts back about champagne? That despite liking dry reds and sweet dessert wines, when it comes to sparkling wine, I only like the sweet stuff? This is basically what I was talking about. It's light, sweet, and fruity, with no real dryness and still that sparklingness that so many people are fond of (me, personally, I can do without carbonated beverages... I'm more for still stuff). It was delicious. This was probably my favorite white wine from the F&W booths, and I think mom enjoyed it as well.


All in all, this was a nice little lunch. We got to stop and watch the Candy Lady in Japan, too, which is always fun. Unfortunately for me (and this would continue for the rest of our trip), the only kind of Silky Spun Ice they had was *still* mango. No strawberry, coconut, or chocolate to be found. I really wanted to try another flavor... foo. Not that the mango wasn't excellent, but strawberry would probably be delicious. Sigh.

Anyways, NEXT up is Tuesday's dinner at the California Grill.

 

[Tink rules]

Just cause we don't post every day... don't think we're not stalking you...

 

[FirstMagic]

Still here! Still reading! Still enjoying!

The little Festival plates/drinkholders they were selling this year were nice, looks like they came in handy too.

 

[RGirl]

Wow - great reviews! I just found your report today and have now read all of the reviews. What a wonderful food-filled trip!

 

[tluvstink]

Great reviews! I especially appreciate the drink pics and descriptions :

drinking1

 

[Redwitch]

Japan's Green Tea Coloda didn't taste like alcohol, but was refreshing and I love green tea, even the green tea ice cream that shows up as dessert at Chinese restaurants periodically and Costco's brand of bottled Iced Green Tea. Anyway, any drink that comes with an umbrella can't be all bad. (Actually, I don't usually drink sweet mixed drinks with umbrellas, but I like those silly things.)

I agree that Japan's Spicy Hand Roll was totally acceptable, but not memorable.

Germany's Schinkennudeln had a lot going for it - pasta, pork fat and cheese. Three words to keep me fat and happy. It was tasty. I could eat another. I think there is a German restaurant about 20 minutes drive, perhaps I should try it.

Woftrap Red - Love. African. Reds. (Ripe blackberries and spicy pepper flavors are met with a soft and supple palate. Good density with lingering flavors and a hint of oak. Blend of Syrah, Mourvèdre and Viognier.)

I also was disappointed in the Mexico's Shrimp Taco, go to the Wave; that Fish Taco was good.

For all my love of dry red wines, I also prefer my bubbles to be sweeter. On New Year's Eve, Mikka and I are cheap dates - you don't have to buy the pretentious, expensive stuff to keep us happy. So, Brazil's Carnaval Moscato Sparkling White Wine was luscious.

Does that fulfill my posting requirement? Don't you love how Mikka makes up rules in the middle of the game?

 

[Redwitch]

The little Festival plates/drinkholders they were selling this year were nice, looks like they came in handy too.

They were about $6.00 plus tax. I carry a Baggallini Messenger Bag and was able to put the plate in a gallon zip-lock bag and toss it in the bag. I wouldn't want to carry it around all the time, but since it fit in the bag; awesome!!!

 

[Mikka]

Does that fulfill my posting requirement? Don't you love how Mikka makes up rules in the middle of the game?

You know you love it, you who posts in silly small font.

The plate really was useful, and as mom said, pretty cheap for a Disney item. Ironically, the place where it would have been the most useful- the 3DDD- we didn't use it. Doh. Oh well.

I'm really glad the alcohol reviews are useful. Stay tuned, as there is plenty more of that coming. >.> That's something I'm often thinking when I'm reading dining reviews... people post they order this or that drink and sometimes even post a picture of the bottle, but rarely do they say what it tasted like or if it was any good! This is probably going to make me sound like a lush, but to me, particularly in a dinner, the wine paired with it is part of what makes the meal. And I love mixed drinks! So I'm always curious, but dining reports rarely go in to that. Boo!

And I welcome anyone to internet-stalk me. Just please don't stalk me in real life. That would be scary.

(Er, not to say that one can't come and say hi to me if you ever see me in Disney! Come say hi to me and mom. I'm really shy, though, so I'll probably just hide behind mom and stutter a bit. Someone wanted me to record myself for a project they were doing on meeting people in Disney, and I was so awkward it was almost sad.)


Oh, hey, and look what I forgot!

This is the trout from Canada, with the bacon, frisee, and maple vinaigrette. Guess Brazil wasn't our last stop after all. Oops. How did I miss this?

Anyway, this is the new item at Canada this year, as apparently two booths this close to each other weren't allowed to both serve salmon. In honestly, though, the maple vinaigrette they use tastes like the same thing they used on the salmon in years prior to me. (Ask mom about the first time we went to Food and Wine and how I nearly collapsed of dehydration right next to the Canada booth, for some reason. So embarrassing. Salmon perked me up, though.)

Anyway, this is good. I don't think in general F&W do as good with seafood items as they do with other meat. I'm not really sure why that is, but I found myself generally enjoying beef and chicken dishes more then I did fish and seafood dishes. But... as I said, this was pretty good. Nothing wrong with it. Cooked a bit more then I generally like my trout cooked, but they do that to appeal to the majority of people, so I understand that.



So, while I was down on my trip, I saw a thread titled 'California Grill no better then McDonalds' (it seemed to be about birthday cakes, though). Later on when I went back to the hotel, I couldn't find the thread, leading me to believe it met the hand of the modhammer. But that thought stayed in my mind: would the redone Cali Grill prove to be better then McDonalds? Oh, the drama.

I'll spare you some, and say it plain: yes. Yes, the Cali Grill was better then McDonalds. I am sure the Cali Grill staff is very, very, very proud of themselves.

We were seated near the new observation deck, and mom kept ducking outside to take pictures. This is my favorite.

Isn't this gorgeous? I love what the clouds are doing with the sunset. So pretty!

(Also, I re-increased the picture size of my pics as they look so tiny on my widescreen monitor. Are they still okay for you guys with smaller monitors? I can make them back to 640 if need be.)

Anyway, you're not here for cloud pictures, you're here for food. And possibly the drinks.

As is becoming predictable for us, we started out with cocktails. Mine is the Sake Martini, on the right- made with a semi-sweet sake (Karen "Coy"), Liquor 43 (a Spanish fruity liquor, IIRC), Crazan Mango Rum, and then some orange and pineapple juice. This was another one of those sweet refreshing things, but it definitely did have a sake flavor (I couldn't taste the unfamiliar liquor or the rum, but I certainly got sake). If you're someone who sort of wants to get in to sake but isn't quite willing to spend, say, 30-50 dollars on a bottle (Cali Grill isn't offering sake by the glass, for some reason) or doesn't usually like it on it's own, I would actually recommend trying this. Definite sake taste, but it's all dolled up with sweetness, so it's easy drinking.

Mom had the San Fran Pisco Sour. It's a traditional drink in Chile and Peru, and both Chile and Peru would like you to know that THEY invented the cocktail, not the other country, thank you very much. This one is done Peruvian style- the pisco, lime juice, agave nectar (is it just me, or does every other drink on property these days use agave nectar?), egg white, and the standard angostura bitters. Not that I have any idea what angostura bitters are, and I don't feel like looking them up at this moment. >.>

Um, her drink? It was good. I think she only gave me two sips, though, so ask her for more on what it tasted like.

Oh hey, it's unsalted butter with Himalayan sea salt on top! Only there's a spring of lavender, too, making this totally different and original. Or not.

Standard rolls. Don't remember if they were whole wheat or sourdough. But also lavender focaccia, which was delicious. Lightly sweet and oh so good. Mom preferred the rolls, but I was all about the focaccia. Which according to spellcheck, is not a word.

I ordered the sake cocktail because of this: sashimi! Yuzu-marinated sashimi.

(Mom, as we decide what to order, looks at me straight in the eye and asks me seriously, "What is yuzu?" I nearly blow my top in a self-centered YOU FORGOT TOKYO DINING SAKE PAIRING DESSERT DRINK DELICIOUSNESS ALREADY HOW COULD YOU fit.)

If you forgot, too, yuzu is a type of Japanese lemon, basically. The fish? Yellowfin tuna, salmon, hamachi and snapper. Don't ask me which is which; the waitress (Kelly wearing Heather's nametag) didn't explain. Service... wasn't exactly bad, but it wasn't great, either. Anyway, it's served with roe and on top of a seaweed salad which mom happily enjoyed.

I've always found sushi in the California Grill good, and this was no different. I don't remember a sashimi plate back when Yoshi was around, but although I'll miss her, change isn't always a bad thing. This was, in my opinion, delicious, and mom who's not as fond as sashimi as I am thought the yuzu made it so the fish wasn't too 'fishy'.

(The truth is, I just don't really like the texture of seaweed. So maki/rolls doesn't often do too much for me. I prefer nigiri (that's the fish just on top of the rice with no seaweed wrap)...)

I think mom had a case of sticker shock when she looked at the menu, because she went and ordered the cheapest item on there: the Roasted Squash Ravioli. Root spinach, parsnips, sage brown butter, 12 year balsamic. This was actually surprisingly good. I sort of dismissed it at first glance as 'standard option they must offer for vegetarians', but it had a very nice taste to it. The ravioli was cooked exactly right.

...We didn't share food as much as we usually do during this meal, for some reason, so I'm sort of drawing a blank on her food, as I'll draw a blank on her dessert.

I ordered the pork two ways- tenderloin and 'lacquered belly'. It's served with a goat cheese polenta (which I found a bit too cheesy for me, but for anyone who loves cheese, this is totally your thing) and mushrooms, and then with the belly is applesauce and a slice of apple that it's sitting on.

This was delicious. If you're throwing a fit about the filet having tomatoes on it (...though I personally think that sounds kind of good), try this instead! It's great. The pork belly, in particular, wasn't fatty or overcooked or anything but pure deliciousness. Surprisingly, one of the standouts of the dish was the apple slice and the apple sauce. That contributed to my dessert choice.

...I couldn't eat all this, though. Partially because I was saving room for dessert.

Two glasses of red wine. The waitress wasn't too helpful to me when I asked about a red that would go with the pork- she was like, "Try a pinot noir" and I'm thinking, "Yeah, my refrigerator magnet could have told me that and you have like, seven pinot noirs, seriously". But I mean, as far as complaints about waitstaff, that's so extremely minor that it's not even worth mentioning. She was perfectly serviceable and polite, just... not going out of her way to be anything but that. It was just sort of annoying because she seemed a lot friendlier with the two tables on either side of us.

Whatever. I think I just ended up ordering the cheapest Pinot Noir on the menu, which was Laetitia Estate from Arroyo Grande Valley(, California). It can also sell for as low as sixteen dollars a bottle, and I think I payed fourteen for just a glass. I love Disney with all my heart, honestly I do, but sometimes their markup of alcohol depresses the heck out of me. ...Oh, but this was a good wine. I did not for some reason make any notes on this one, though, so I don't remember anything about it's taste. Let's pull a mom and copy paste something... "The flavors veer to the overripe side but never cross the line, offering tasty notes of plump dark cherries and berries with a savory mushroom and earth undertone". So apparently it didn't taste like plums.

Mom had the Valckenberg Dornfelder from Rheinhessen(, Germany). Dornfelder is a German grape, though it's also grown here in the USA and if I'm reading right, over in England (and the (Scottish) bartender at the Rose & Crown once told me the English make no alcoholic beverages, they just drink them- tsk, tsk). This one was much sweeter then the one that we'll try later at the Germany booth, though they were both quite good (I'm getting ahead of myself). I thought it tasted like blackberries a bit, personally. Very fruity. Also, this wine can go for nine dollars a bottle, meaning mom paid for a glass of it what she would pay for a bottle of it if she wanted to go next door to NJ for buying. Oh, Disney.

More wine! And here's where I make the second biggest-mistake I made this trip (the first was probably losing that stupid passport).

Mom orders the Rosenblun Desiree Chocolate Port from Napa Valley(, California). It's a blend of Zinfandel, Touriga Nacional and Syrah with chocolate extract from Wisconsin added in to it, and it's a delicious little thing (if not at all matching up to her dessert, but she has little care about that). Very nice.

Me? I just order the wine paired with my dessert. Easy. Klein Constantia Vin de Constance from South Africa. It's a Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, or Muscato Blanco if you want to be all Italian about it. Tastes a bit like vanilla, a bit like chocolate. It's delicious. Sweet as all get out, but delicious.

It's also seventeen dollars for a 3oz pour. Why is there no 'dying' emote? Because that's sort of what I felt like when I found out how expensive this was (a day later, at Jiko's- our server there would like to note that they were serving that wine long before the California Grill was). I mean, it is around a 40$ bottle generally, going up to the 90s... but... seventeen dollars for a 3oz pour. Geez. I can't believe I did that. I can't believe mom let me get away with doing that.

Anyway, mom ordered the Sundae Sampler and took cute little pictures of each part.

Caramel Corn, which... is not a traditional sundae. Whatever. Due to strange issues with our realtor from PA showing up at dessert to do paperwork with mom (longggg story), I only got to try one bite of her dessert. I do know the caramel corn itself was fresh, hot, and sticky still, like it had just been made. I do not know what kind of ice cream this was, though. Caramel and vanilla? Just caramel and more caramel? Don't know. Ask mom.

Vanilla ice cream and a coke. Mom thought it should have been cherry coke, just to be a bit more different.

...And then last, strawberry-basil sundae with a chocolate-covered strawberry (which she did not offer me). I remember really liking the ice-cream for this, but I don't know if it was just plain strawberry, or actually strawberry basil. As I said, all I had was one bite.

But that was okay, as I had this.

This is the 'Seasonal Tasting', which was, as you can probably guess, apple. Starring an apple cupcake with cream cheese, an apple cinnamon creme brulee, an apple almond tart with spiced compote, apple cider with a sugar stick, then strusel and peanut butter caramel with random pieces of chocolate tossed on it. This has to go down as one of the best, if not the best, fruit desserts at Disney. Every item on the plate was wonderful. I had to get mom's help to finish it after eating so much fish and pork, but it was just great.

I thought the apple cinnamon creme brulee was the real standout- something like that could easily be really, really, really bad- but the tart was also excellent. So was everything else, but those two were the ones that really stood out for me.


...Then we were finished, so we ran outside and watched Wishes from the new observation deck. I got out my 3D glasses from the 3DDD, and watched it with those, which was an amusing way to do things. Then five million people tried to all leave the Cali Grill at once, but that's slightly less then the twenty billion who were surely all trying to leave the MK at the same time. All in all, the Cali Grill is our favorite place to watch Wishes. You do miss seeing Tink fly, yes, but you get to see the whole picture and you're not all smooshed in together like those naked mole rats in the AK.

Mom hates those poor things. I think they're kind of cute.

Um, anyway. That's it for this post. Very good meal, Cali Grill is still better then McDonalds as well as a heck of a lot of other restaurants around, going to go do the sushi thing at the bar next time we go even though it costs so much. I recommend this restaurant and think you should go to it, yadda. Lounge is a lot bigger then it used to be, and it serves the full Cali Grill menu. So if you can't get a rez, just wander by at opening and ask to sit there- you'll definitely get in.


Next: Some cheap snacks, followed by tea.

 

[HolidayRose]

I am totally loving your reviews. Your saying how much you enjoy feedback emboldened me to come out of my normal lurking stasis and give you the credit you are due. I enjoy the breadth of choices, pictures and descriptions of your food and alcohol selections and look forward to experiencing some of your selections myself on my upcoming trip. Thank you!

 

[Redwitch]

You know you love it, you who posts in silly small font.

No I don't! (I do like Arial font.)

Ironically, the place where it would have been the most useful- the 3DDD- we didn't use it. Doh. Oh well.

No room, I carried the small purse for easier maneuverability!

(Ask mom about the first time we went to Food and Wine and how I nearly collapsed of dehydration right next to the Canada booth, for some reason. So embarrassing. Salmon perked me up, though.)

Or the time you did the same thing in Las Vegas? What is so hard about "When in hot climates, one must drink fluids?"

We were seated near the new observation deck, and mom kept ducking outside to take pictures.

Back to my camera envy again....

Um, her drink? It was good. I think she only gave me two sips, though, so ask her for more on what it tasted like.

It tasted very good, but went down too easy. Refreshing, but not much alcohol taste. I'll have to try other country's version, just to play fair.

(Mom, as we decide what to order, looks at me straight in the eye and asks me seriously, "What is yuzu?" I nearly blow my top in a self-centered YOU FORGOT TOKYO DINING SAKE PAIRING DESSERT DRINK DELICIOUSNESS ALREADY HOW COULD YOU fit.)

I got it confused with Zazu?

and mom who's not as fond as sashimi as I am thought the yuzu made it so the fish wasn't too 'fishy'.

Not so much the dislike for the fishy taste of sashimi, I just like the flavor explosion of rolls. The citrus of the yuzu did enhanced the fish.

I think mom had a case of sticker shock when she looked at the menu, because she went and ordered the cheapest item on there: the Roasted Squash Ravioli.

I love squash and pumpkin and the fall season with "pumpkin spiced" everything available everywhere! This looked really good on the menu and tasted really good and I'd order it again! And, as the realtor visit suggests, in the process of home buying, unplanned at time of vacation planning.

I honestly don't remember what ice cream flavor was in the carmel corn sundae dessert. I almost didn't order this as it reminded me of the the Flying Fish's Boardwalk Treats dessert; but it was tasty and different.

...Then we were finished, so we ran outside and watched Wishes from the new observation deck.

I love Wishes from the Cali Grill!!!

 

[Mikka]

I am totally loving your reviews. Your saying how much you enjoy feedback emboldened me to come out of my normal lurking stasis and give you the credit you are due. I enjoy the breadth of choices, pictures and descriptions of your food and alcohol selections and look forward to experiencing some of your selections myself on my upcoming trip. Thank you!

I have no words, but, "Thank you!" It makes me really happy you came out of lurkerdom to say this. I hope this can be a small help to you for your upcoming trip; enjoy yourself!

It tasted very good, but went down too easy. Refreshing, but not much alcohol taste. I'll have to try other country's version, just to play fair.

The Chilean version apparently doesn't use egg whites or bitters and has a completely different style of pisco, so that might be interesting- and maybe without the egg whites the alcohol will stand out a bit more. Though there are no Chilean restaurants around here, as far as I am aware...

I got it confused with Zazu?

...You're fired. :3


This post is so short and small that mom doesn't even have to respond to it before I put the next one up, because seriously, it's short and small. The next morning, Wednesday, we got up and headed to MK for rope drop and all that, and after riding three rides, stopped for a snack.

Gaston's Tavern, the sticky roll and the brew.

So. I hear a lot of reports from people that these sticky buns are overly dry, but we've never had a dry one. My thoughts? Get one early. We do it after our third ride each trip, and we always have moist, delicious sticky buns. This was as good as always- it was sweet gooey and ridiculously unhealthy, and of course delicious.

Back when the brew first came out, there was this huge explosion about how Disney was trying to compete with Universal and it would never work. Anyone remember that one? I agree with that, in a sense- if you directly compare the brew to Butterbeer, the brew comes out on the losing side. But if you just take it as it is- frozen apple juice a bit dolled up- it's a fine, refreshing drink. It would be better with some vodka or rum added to it, in my opinion, but one can't have everything.

...The passion fruit foam topping tasted better on my margarita then it did on this thing, but I may be slightly biased. Still, I like this drink. It's an apple slushy. Nothing wrong with that.

Then, when we were almost done at the park, a Dole Whip Float (traditional pineapple & pineapple). I like these, but mom loves them. They're probably her favorite snack at Walt Disney World; it was almost surprising that she agreed to share it.

In the end, though, I let her eat most of it while I watched the fairy CM repeatedly tell people that, yes, it was 60 minutes to meet the fairies, and no, there weren't any fastpasses. She had to do that like twelve times in the small period of time we stood around eating. I bet they add FP's there soon enough, so the cast member's don't go completely insane.

...The dole whip tasted like pineapple with more pineapple. I've never seen pineapple soft-serve anywhere but here in Disney, so it's kind of a nice little treat. I don't know. If you're reading this, it's like, 95% likely you've had one of these yourselves, so I'm not really telling you anything you don't know.


I'm not going to make mom post something for this post, as this post was basically nothing. So after dinner, I'll post the NEXT: Grand Floridian Tea!

 

[Mikka]

Teaaaa!

It's been a long while since we did this. We did it on one of our first visits, and then again, and then again, then once more when we took my grandparents (mom's parents) down with us. But then we didn't do it again for years. So there have been a lot of changes since we've been down- most interestingly, they're using completely new china. Somewhat more controversially, they took away the ala cart menu, which I remember causing a huge fuss when it happened.

But... more notable to us, the portion sizes have changed a bit. The teapots themselves are smaller. The scone, comparing pictures, is around half the size that it used to be. The pate you used to get with the tea that's the Buckingham that has Champagne (which ever one that is) is gone.

So... while the tea was excellent, we ended up slightly disappointed. I think this is one of those things that anyone who likes tea should do once, and it is an excellent thing for mother daughter trips (they have the Mrs. Pots tea for little ones, but I'd wait for the girl to be a bit older- 14 or so?- and have her just get the Buckingham and real tea, as tea is awesome). It's a beautiful atmosphere: a nice cozy room in the back of the lobby, where you can hear the music, watch the outdoors, or watch the lobby patrons move around. But... I don't think the quality is up for the cost. We have tearooms here in Lancaster, PA (which is basically tourist trap central) that serve just as good food in just as pretty rooms for a heck of a lot cheaper.

So I don't think we're ever going to do this again. Still, it's one of those things I would recommend everyone do once anyway.

The china, because I know some people care about that. The teacups and teapots had the same imprint.

Our server here was some guy name Richard. He was... alright. I got a feeling that he may have been impatient with us for taking so much time with the sandwiches/cheese course, but it could have just been me.

Veuve Clicquot Champagne, that came with the Princess Kate tea mom ordered (yes, Kate is a duchess, but apparently in Disney, marrying a Prince makes you automatically a Princess). Look at the menu, and price things out for a second- they are charging you nineteen dollars for this glass of champagne. The bottle sells for 23 dollars over in New Jersey.

And don't think you can get out of it, either- mom asked if she could have the Princess Kate tea without the champagne, and was told that she could have a glass of sparkling cider instead. For nineteen dollars. Yeah.

On the ala cart menu, we simply would have just both gotten the Buckingham and gotten a side of the potted shrimp, but... well, whatever.

This was a good champagne, I suppose? Should be for that price. I believe it's their Brut, but it's not too dry (though it's certainly not sweet). I thought it had a bit of an apple note. But honestly, both mom and I enjoyed the sweet Brazilian Sparkling Moscoto more. So, as she said, we're just cheap dates, I guess. But only on New Years Eve.

We both got 'seasonal' teas. She got the Shanghai Rose, which is black tea inflused with lychee and, you guessed it, rose. I got Genmaicha, which is a standard Japanese tea- it's tea with roasted brown rice ("popcorn tea"). I think this had the matcha (powdered green tea) involved, as the color was more green then yellow. It... well, it tasted like green tea, with a bit of nuttiness to it. Her tea tasted like lychee and rose. We both enjoyed our choices, and each other's choices.

They supply sugar on the table, and will bring you milk and honey. No lemon, but I don't put lemon in my hot tea. Especially not green tea. That would be a bit odd.

Her first course was the potted shrimp, which we both wanted to try. We had both never had potted shrimp before. Wikipedia tells me potted shrimp is brown shrimp flavored with mace, which is something I did not know. In honestly, we had no idea about this. We just put some on the bread and ate it, which is apparently the right way of eating it! Hurray for us for having common sense, perhaps?

This was actually pretty delicious. I'm not sure how to describe how they tasted, as I'm not too familiar with mace. Macey? Hm. Well, they were decent, in any case. Worth the price of the Princess Kate tea and it's nineteen dollar champagne? Probably not, but when you come to Disney, you sort of have to leave the concept of 'worth it' behind. Disney food is expensive, plain and simple.

Mom's second course is a cheeseplate- much different then the gentleman's cheeseplate if you order the Prince Edward Tea. This had on it Irish Cheddar, some sort of brie that was much harder then any brie I've ever had before in my life, and Stilton blue cheese. Then cheddar biscuits, pears, grapes, strawberries, raspberries and honeycomb.

We both shared back and forth with this course, so I tried everything. I personally liked the blue cheese the best, probably because it was softest (seriously, this was the weirdest brie I've ever tried- I'm still sort of skeptical that it was actually brie, it doesn't look like brie). Mom seemed to like everything. Especially the honeycomb. She was just eating that stuff on it's own at the end.

My first course with the Buckingham was tea sandwiches. Probably not in order, there was watercress & cucumber, egg salad, salmon salad, curried chicken, and then pear and gonzola. All of them were nice, but it was sort of odd. The salmon salad was gushing out of the bread and very dense, while the curried chicken was just a very thin layer between two thick pieces of bread. I could have used less salmon salad (though that was my favorite) and more curried chicken.

Also on the plate was an onion tart. I don't particularly care for onions like that, so I promptly took the onions out of the tart and just ate the shell. It's the same shell they use for the tart in the next course, and it's delicious. Makes me want to order a pie from the Grand Floridian Bakery. Do they make pies, or just cakes? Hm.

A disappointingly tiny white raisin scone and a strawberry jam tart. These were both delicious. Served with raspberry (or was it strawberry?) preserves, clotted cream, and lemon curd. Mom loves lemon curd, and was basically just eating it even though she had finished with her scone. Mom is, I point out, very weird.

These are both incredibly tasty, and are really what you're paying for here at the Grand Floridian Tearoom. This is basically the course that everyone wants and talks about. I don't even like raisins, but I still enjoyed this immensely.

Mom was given two pastries for her dessert: one is a boston creme pie, and the other is an almond something or other (tart? cake?) with fresh berries. I don't think she was overly impressed with either, but she also didn't seem to find them bad.

I ordered the mango-pineapple trifle. This was not a traditional trifle at all... there was no sponge cake. Just the custard and whipped cream and the fruits. It was good, but not exactly what I was expecting. There's another layer of creamy-stuff at the bottom of the bowl. This was very, very sweet and seemed to be much more mangoy then pineappley. For a light dessert, it seemed surprisingly heavy, but I had eaten a good portion of mom's cheese, and cheese tends to fill me up quick.

Very pretty looking, with the red GF on it.

Oh, and this is the tray you choose from if you choose two pastries. Creme filled swans (which, in my experience, are very pretty but very disappointing taste-wise), eclairs covered with chocolate, white chocolate covered strawberries, canolis and some strawberry ruebarb little cake thing. I think mom was a bit disappointed that she didn't get to pick two from here rather then being automatically given two randoms.


...So. Yeah.

This 'meal' was a bit strange- despite there being plenty of empty tables, including the one we were eventually seated at, we still had to wait around fifteen/twenty minutes for a table. We had gotten there early, but it still seemed odd... the table was available, and our server wasn't overly busy, nor were the hostesses. It seemed like they just wanted to wait until it was the exact time of our reservation to seat us.

(Mom suggested that maybe it was because we were in park clothes, rather then fancied up? I don't know.)

Again, I don't think we're going to do this again. There are too many good tearooms around where we live for it to be worth it, considering the cost. But... again, I still think it's something almost everyone should try once. It's a nice little experience, and I think you're paying as much for the experience as you are the food.


Then we, at the GF, took the boat to the Poly (the monorail was down) in preparation to walk to the Ticket and Transportation center, but instead saw a bus going to the T&T and got on it instead. Where it promptly turned around and went to the GF again. And then the Contemporary, probably just because it could. Argh, one thing about being off site: I do not miss Disney buses. At. All.

Theeennn came the long debate with the rental car company that involved us driving around in the middle of nowhere and mom arguing on the phone for around an hour and ended up with me begging her to never rent from Dollar again, but she's probably already complained about that somewhere on this site and if she hasn't she'll surely complain about in thread.

But then and next, some yummy's from Jiko's!

 

[Redwitch]

I still don't understand the pastry pre-pick thing!

I don't have the menu, but according to Allears:
Princess Kate Tea - A Spring tea served with a classic dish of potted shrimp followed by a medley of cheeses, an array of seasonal fruits, and cheddar cheese biscuits. A scone, jam tart, and a selection of delicate pastries is accompanied by a glass of Veuve Cliquot champagne and your choice of tea.
Buckingham Palace - Our traditional tea sandwiches, scones and jam tarts complemented by fresh strawberries and cream, or a selection of freshly baked pastries, along with your choice of tea.

So, I received delicate pastries and Mikka could have picked freshly baked pastries from the tray instead of the trifle; which isn't on the Allears menu. I would have tried the pink triangle pastry.... Oh, and I could have had two glasses of cider. (Yes, I love lemon curd. Get some and smear it on ginger snaps - yummmie!)

Education for the evening: Mace is an aromatic golden brown spice obtained from the dried aril (net-like sheath) which covers the Nutmeg seed, Myristica fragrans Houtt. Mace is yellowish-tan to reddish-tan in color, made up of flat, hornlike, shiny branched pieces with a fragrant, nutmeglike aromatic odor and warm taste. Mace and nutmeg are from the same tree, a large evergreen tree native to the Moluccas Islands and the East Indian Archipelago.