Just wondering if any of you fine folks have actually attended any EEs or Signature Dinners and if so, could you tell the rest of us about them? Not looking for a full-blown review (unless you want to!) but just some general information and your impressions / opinions. It might be really helpful for the rest of us who are thinking of attending one if Skull and Bones ... ER, I mean Disney, declassifies their program details.
Thanks in advance because I won't be back on the boards for another 12 hours or so ... Stupid firewalls!
When we first started attending EE's, it was held at the World Showplace in a draped off area from PFTS, now its held at the Odyssey in more recent years. Personally, I think it was nicer at WS, but that's JMO. I tried finding some of our old menus...of course never can when you NEED them!
The Australian one we went to was definitely the one that stands out the most to me-for good and bad reasons. The food was amazing-there was Emu potstickers and lobster sushi that I can recall for hor's doeuvres (there was more, but the memory has faded). We were given champagne with the hor's doeuvres as well. The chef (or ONE of the chefs) was Andrew Ormsby from Tucker in Dallas, TX. Dinner consisted of sea bass, lamb, scallops, quail and a few other goodies (there were a lot of courses to the meal), but all had a distinctively Australian flair to them. Penfold's was the only vintner that evening.
My impression: The food was not given its due time. What I mean is that the chef (or chefs) were introduced in the beginning and then that was it for the rest of the night-not another peep from them. On a foodie level I was sooooo disappointed by that. I really wanted to hear about the preparation of the food or what the chef's inspiration was for the dishes. Didn't happen. As far as Penfold's, the guy that was there was not actually from the winery, but he was there representing them-I can't recall his name, but he was some kind of wine critic I believe. This guy would not shut up the entire time we were there-he talked right up to the time we were walking out the door. For a time he was interesting and informative, but after hearing him drone on for two hours about the glory of all things Penfold's, I wanted to chuck my wine at him. I noticed a lot of people wondering when they should eat because you know, I guess normal people figured it was impolite to be chowing down while this guy was talking, but it became obvious there would be no pause to his Penfold's pitch, so the masses started eating. We also heard the man go on and on about Penfold's Grange and how it was the holy grail of all wines-well, let me be the judge of that (and let me tell you, it wasn't all that IMO).
Things we learned from that EE: We loved the food (just wish it had been given equal time to the wine). We never again chose to go to an EE where there was only ONE vintner present, because as DH said, it seemed like nothing other than a huckster session for Penfold's. I know they are there to promote their wine, but it overshadowed the entire experience. We definitely love EE and had a blast...also, you WILL be hammered when you leave. We never even drank 1/2 of what was put in our glasses and both DH and I were pretty far gone. I think its definitely an event to try once if you can. Just make sure you pick something you will enjoy as far as cuisine style and the wine.
Here are some of the pictures I took. The guy with the glasses on in the 1st pic was the one there on behalf of Penfold's. My pics are actually backwards when I loaded them up...so the hor's doeuvres are at the bottom and then goes through the dinner.
Great pictures KeepMovingForward (known as food porn over on the Disunplugged boards) 
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I would have died of embarrassment! They do tell you what the dress code is on the phone. People tend to dress business casual or cocktail party dress for PFTS. Some still show up in non dress shorts, bb hats and t-s though. F&W Pairings are casual since they are during the day at Epcot. We have yet to do an EE. I would love to do the champagne one!
