Food Porn 2: Gastronomic Pimps Do DxDP ~ 7/30-8/11/08

[honeybee30]

Never eat more than you can lift. – Miss Piggy​

Back again from yet another glorious vacation and only a month and a half behind on my dining reviews! (Those “Stop Procrastinating” hypnosis tapes that I fall asleep to every night must really be paying off! ) And are you in for a treat, my friends! I have no fewer than 383 pictures and at least a tenth as many interesting antidotes to share from nearly two weeks of deluxe dining, snacking, drinking and otherwise gorging ourselves silly at Walt Disney World.

Our August trip was a consolation prize for me and a lesson in providence for DGF. See, last spring, I applied for this really great job at this really great college in this really great beach town, and I was really excited about it. And because I wanted this really great job really badly, I started to get all nervous and stressed out about it. The lengthy, competitive interview process did not help matters much, and DGF, witnessing my distress, did what any kind and loving DGF would do in such a situation. She promised that if I did not get that really great job, then we could go to WDW. That made me smile, and DGF felt better too.

Well, as you may have guessed, I soon got a really nice letter in the mail stating something along the lines of, “Sorry. You did not get the job. You big loser.” I was pretty disappointed, but did I get all depressed? No way! Instead I began planning one mother of a vacation. Polynesian, Deluxe Dining Plan, 10 day Park Hoppers, Cirque Du Soliel, the works… In fact, I put much of the money we had saved up for relocating to that really great beach town towards our trip. I felt redeemed, and DGF learned that she couldn’t make idle promises where WDW was concerned.

Before I began planning the infamous you-didn’t-get-the-job-you-big-loser consolation trip to WDW, I got DGF concert tickets to see Counting Crows and Maroon 5 for her birthday. So come the evening of July 29th, we loaded up the Farfegnugen and went to the concert, smug in our ambitions of hitting the road for Florida right after the show. One downside to this plan (of which there were several) was that we couldn’t drink. Beer makes me drunk and then sleepy. Not very conducive to driving overnight.

Here we are, making merry on the lawn:

A beer sure would taste good right about now…

Heck, we don’t need beer to have a good time!

We thoroughly (albeit soberly ) enjoyed the show and were zooming down I-85 by 11pm. Nine hours, a six pack of Coke, a vat of Pringles, and a pound of peanut M&M’s later, we arrived in Orlando just in time for rush hour. Here I must insert a word of caution: Driving overnight is not recommended for old people. DGF and I were on the border between youth and old age. Driving overnight pushed us right over the edge. It’s nothing but early bird specials and aspercream from here on out. Needless to say, we won’t be doing that again. Anytime. Ever.

True, we were pretty delirious by the time we got to WDW, but we were psyched! And you would be too, if you had this inimitable list of ADRs ahead of you:

Day 1: Boma
Day 1, Part 2: Raglan Road
Day 2: WL Concierge Lounge & Fresh Mediterranean Market
Day 2, Part 2: Spoodles
Day 3: WL Concierge Lounge, Columbia Harbor House, & `Ohana
Day 4: Kringla Bakery, Sake Tasting in Japan, Tokyo Dining, & Tutto Italia
Day 5: Kona Island Coffee Bar, Petrifries, Yak & Yeti, & California Grill
Day 6: Kona Café & Jiko
Day 7: Kona Island Coffee Bar, 50’s Prime Time Café, & Kona Café
Day 8: Kona Island Coffee Bar, the Wave, & Citricos
Day 9: Cantina de San Angel, Wine Tasting in Germany, Yorkshire County Fish Shop, & Narcoossee’s
Day 10: Kona Café & Flying Fish Café
Day 11: Tutto Italia & Yachtsman Steakhouse
Day 12: Polynesian Room Service & Citricos
Day 13: Wolfgang Puck Express & Earl of Sandwich

Judging by that list, you must be thinking, “Wow. All they did was eat the entire time!” And you would be correct. Well mostly. We also drank some, slept a whole lot, and watched a bunch of Olympics on TV. We even managed to get some park time in here and there, as long as it didn’t interfere with the stuffing of the faccia.

 

[honeybee30]

Lunch is for wimps. – Gordon Gekko, Wall Street​

After driving 10 hours overnight, taking one of those weird left exits off of I-4 by mistake, and driving through the ghetto at 7 o’clock in the morning, were we ever happy to see this sign!

But it’s not officially vacation until we pass through those gates! Let the whoopin’ n hollerin’ commence:

Our first stop was Boma for breakfast:

We need coffee stat!

Thanks! And what will you be having?

Here we have bongo juice (aka West African Frunch - a combination of lemonade, pineapple juice, guava juice, orange juice, and papaya juice), fresh fruit (cantaloupe & pineapple), sausage, bacon, potatoes, a piece of cheese omelet, and some curry biscuit casserole stuff:

Everything was tasty, but that casserole was really good. Very rich and spicy. DGF wasn’t as thrilled with it as I was, though. I guess DGF’s a curry in the evening type of gal, whereas I’m receptive to curry anytime of day, which might make me a curry slut, but I’m ok with that.

DGF’s plate looks like more of the same, minus the potatoes, plus some watermelon and a piece corned beef:

We shared some pastries and whatnot for dessert – brioche French toast, a chocolate croissant, a pecan cinnamon roll, and some apple Danishes:

Boma offered an awesome breakfast spread, as always. The coffee was strong and the service was friendly. Our hostess, a very sweet girl from Botswana, took a shine to us for some reason, and chatted with us for quite a while. I’m not quite sure, but she might’ve been trying to pick us up. She gave us her phone number and email address and everything. Either that or she makes a mean lamb Vindaloo and heard that I was easy in that department…

After breakfast, we checked into the first of two resorts in which we would be staying during this trip:

I first booked a vacation package at the Polynesian through AAA, but then a really good AP rate came out, so I quickly booked a couple of extra nights at the Wilderness Lodge before my AP expired.

To make a relatively short story even shorter, we were given a complimentary upgrade to club level at check-in. And better yet, the room was ready! Naptime was imminent! We handed our bags off to bell services, valet parked the car, and crashed hard, sleeping right through lunch and on towards dinner.

 

[honeybee30]

We seldom report of having eaten too little. – Thomas Jefferson ​

That evening we had a date for dinner at Raglan Road, followed by the second showing of Cirque Du Soleil. So after an epic nap and a much needed shower, we drove to Downtown Disney, parked the car, and made our way towards the soon to be defunct Pleasure Island:

Raglan is one of our faves. The food is good, and the atmosphere is comfortable. Something about wood paneling and beer just makes me feel at home. That could indicate one of two things: 1. The trailer park is indeed my natural habitat. or 2. I am the reincarnation of Andy Capp.

We were seated in the main dining room by the little stage and promptly ordered some drinks. I had a delicious Strongbow Cider (or two):

And DGF had a Celtic Sangria, which is now called Jaygail Sangria, but it’s essentially the same thing – fruity, fizzy, yummy:

We were given a basket of Irish soda bread, with olive oil & Guinness for dipping:

I tried not to fill up on this stuff. I find it to be a bit too dense and sweet for me anyway. I would describe the texture as brick-like.

For an appetizer, we shared the Dalkey Duo, which are battered cocktail sausages with a mustard dipping sauce:

I’ve been wanting to try these for a while because in theory, I like fried cocktail weiners. In actuality, they were just ok. Pretty salty and greasy. Go figure. I did enjoy the mustard sauce, though.

Raglan Road has the best fish and chips. We both had them for dinner. Obviously the whole salty & greasy issue that I had with the cocktail weiners does not apply to fried fish.

Of course we had to share a bread and butter pudding for dessert:

Mmmm….butterscotchy:

DGF was in the mood for an after dinner drink, so she ordered a glass of Irish whiskey:

My buxom DGF enjoying her Jameson’s 12 year:

Full from dinner, we mosied on over to the giant, white, tent-like structure that houses Cirque:

We saw La Nouba for the first time last summer, and it was equally as spectacular the second go round.

When we got back to our room, we were met by a nicely turned down bed, and we felt very spoiled:

Pillow mints!

Concierge rocks!

 

[honeybee30]

Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast. – Oscar Wilde​

We woke up the next morning excited to check out the breakfast offerings in the Old Faithful Club:

That’s right…the prospect of breakfast excites us.

Having no idea that we’d be upgraded to concierge, we made a slew of dining plans for each day, so we weren’t able to take full advantage of all the concierge meals. Breakfast was a hit, though! Especially the cappuccinos:

We also shared a plate of assorted pastries – mini-muffins and croissants – and some fresh fruit:

Concierge puts out a pretty decent continental breakfast spread. In addition to coffee, fruit, and pastries, there was cereal, yogurt, juice, etc. But what we really enjoyed was the effortlessness of club level service. We’re not big fans of the food court or Nescafe, so we were very pleased to sip our cappuccinos in relative quietude, with a nice view of the lodge and its surroundings.

Movin’ on up! The lobby from the 7th floor:

A view of the courtyard from our breakfast table:

And beyond to Bay Lake:

After a relaxing breakfast, we hung out at the resort for a while and then drove over to MGM. Or Hollywood Studios, if you don’t care to mince words…

I really wanted to ride Toy Story Mania, but it was torrentially raining when we got there, so we decided to go ahead and take the boat over to the Dolphin for our lunch reservation at Fresh.

If not for the courage of the fearless crew the Minnow would be lost, the Minnow would be lost:

The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle:

And the two stranded castaways made their way inside to check-in at the hostess stand:

We noticed quite a few sharply attired conventioneers lunching at Fresh. We were sporting the drowned rat look. After dripping in the waiting area for a while, we were eventually seated at a nice table by the window and left to peruse our menus:

I will warn you in advance that although the food wasn’t too bad, the service at Fresh was wretched. We waited forever for our server to acknowledge us. Finally we flagged someone down, and he filled our water glasses and brought us some pita with hummus:

By the time our waitress finally graced us with her presence, we were more than ready to order. DGF got a duck confit and frisee salad, topped with a fried egg and lardons, and tossed with sherry vinaigrette:

I ordered the California Turkey Club, which was served on a croissant, with turkey, Swiss cheese, avocado, and bacon, and was accompanied by an Israeli couscous salad:

I really enjoyed my sandwich, but DGF found her salad to be a bit bland, or maybe just underdressed. We both ordered a drink with lunch, a Peroni for me and a glass of white Burgundy for DGF. Evidently the restaurant was out of both drinks, which is understandable, but our lovely server neglected to tell us that until we were about half way done with lunch, so we stuck to water, which went largely unrefilled.

One of the cool things about Fresh is that they have a dessert buffet that comes complimentary with your meal. It was pretty picked over by the time we got there, but we found a few things that looked interesting. Peach Clafouti and an Exotic Fruit Éclair:

Chocolate Hazelnut Torte:

Raspberry Pistachio Tower:

I really liked the peach tart and the chocolate hazelnut thing, but DGF felt the desserts looked prettier than they tasted. (Boy, she was hard to please that day!) Really I think the pathetic efforts of our server left a bad taste in both our mouths. She overcharged us on the bill (remember those drinks that we never got) and screwed up basically every other aspect of her job. In other words, she got a lousy tip, and we’re not in a real hurry to return to Fresh. Oh well! It was worth a try.

 

[honeybee30]

A surfeit of the sweetest things… – William Shakespeare​

After lunch, we took the boat back to DHS and rode some stuff, until it was time to take the boat over to the Boardwalk area again for dinner. We like boats, ok… Actually, we ended up getting off at the Swan & Dolphin and walking to the Boardwalk from there:

We must’ve been in the mood for Mediterranean food because we had reservations at Spoodles, which, I’m pleased to report, kicked Fresh’s butt both food and service-wise:

We began the meal with a pitcher of Sangria (a blend of red wine, brandy, triple sec, orange juice and fresh citrus fruit), which at nearly 3 glasses a piece, was a very good deal:

Our fantastic server, Stephani, brought us this delicious foccacia with olive teppanade to snack on:

We weren’t tremendously hungry, so we decided to share some appetizers for dinner. We ordered Garlic Shrimp, with preserved lemon and parsley:

Mediterranean Dips, which included hummus, tzatziki, chermoula, and feta dips, served alongside toasted pita and marinated olives:

And Margherita Flatbread, with tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, and a balsamic vinegar reduction:

Everything was excellent. The shrimp were cooked perfectly, and I loved the combination of all the flavors in the dips. Margherita pizza is one of DGF’s favorites, so she was a happy camper, too. I think we could live off appetizers alone!

Cheers to vacation!

Writing notes in my travel journal:

For dessert, we shared the Lemon Pound Cake, with Limoncello glaze, Zabaglione gelato, and fresh berries:

This was a good choice. It was light and summery. Plus I’m a big fan of lemon.

To cap off our meal, we both had an espresso:

Leaving Spoodles, we took a peak inside the candy shop next door and then back on the boat:

For a return trip to DHS:

Where we got the opportunity to ride TSM and catch the second showing Fantasmic!

 

[oybolshoi]

Huzzah! You've returned to us!

And now I must ask ... what gives with the el-cheapo bread pudding sauce portions at Raglan Road?

Other random comments ... Boma looks delicious and I cannot wait to finally try it next month; Spoodles also looks very very tasty and if you have any Sangria left could you send some this way?

Looking foward to reading more of your always wonderful reviews!

 

[ChelleinNC]

This sounds like a fun ride

 

[jeminni]

I cant wait to go back to Spoodles for the sangria and mediterraean dips

 

[BriarRosie]

Ooh, I'm breakin' out the Geritol as I'm reading! You made me feel like I'm ancient when I read about your marathon drive down to WDW.

What would be the opposite of a curry slut be? A curry nun? That would be me. I can handle tandoori, but that's about it.

And you started with my favorite breakfast, Boma. Press pot coffee, Frunch, a really good selection on the buffet...mmmm. And then the upgrade to WL club level and cappuccino?

I've only done Fresh at breakfast, but only when it was done as buffet stations. I never had a terrible time then, but I would be annoyed with your server. I'm glad Spoodles is still as good as ever.

 

[honeybee30]

Huzzah! You've returned to us!

And now I must ask ... what gives with the el-cheapo bread pudding sauce portions at Raglan Road?

Other random comments ... Boma looks delicious and I cannot wait to finally try it next month; Spoodles also looks very very tasty and if you have any Sangria left could you send some this way?

Looking foward to reading more of your always wonderful reviews!

Hey, lady. How you doin'?

Yeah, all the sauces seemed to be on the skimpy side at Raglan. And speaking of sauce, you know we sucked that pitcher dry at Spoodles!

This sounds like a fun ride

Thanks for jumping on board!

I cant wait to go back to Spoodles for the sangria and mediterraean dips

They are mighty good!

 

[honeybee30]

Ooh, I'm breakin' out the Geritol as I'm reading! You made me feel like I'm ancient when I read about your marathon drive down to WDW.

What would be the opposite of a curry slut be? A curry nun? That would be me. I can handle tandoori, but that's about it.

And you started with my favorite breakfast, Boma. Press pot coffee, Frunch, a really good selection on the buffet...mmmm. And then the upgrade to WL club level and cappuccino?

I've only done Fresh at breakfast, but only when it was done as buffet stations. I never had a terrible time then, but I would be annoyed with your server. I'm glad Spoodles is still as good as ever.

Curry nun...Is there abstinence education for that?

Boma's gotta be our favorite breakfast, too. And we were super spoiled to get an upgrade at WL.

 

[alaskanmommy]

Great to see another review from you! Very informative as well, I just learned that I, too, am a curry slut.

 

[Briarmom]

Great reviews, curry slut!

 

[habg1]

Awesome, awesome reviews

 

[MickeyNicki]

YAY! I'm in, I cannot wait to read all about your trip, your meals and your fun!

 

[HonnyDipp]

This thread is amazing!

 

[honeybee30]

Great to see another review from you! Very informative as well, I just learned that I, too, am a curry slut.

There is no shame in that, as long as you practice safe curry consumption.

Great reviews, curry slut!

I know you are, but what am I?

Awesome, awesome reviews

Thanks for reading!

YAY! I'm in, I cannot wait to read all about your trip, your meals and your fun!

Wuz up, girl!

This thread is amazing!

Aw shucks...

 

[ttalover]

I'm all about Strongbow Cider

 

[John's Mom]

honeybee30,

Glad I found your dining and drinking report. Congrats on the WL upgrade!

Boma. Dessert at breakfast. Press pot of Kenyan coffee. Who could ask for more! Great way to start a day!

Anxiously waiting for more of your great reviews.

 

[honeybee30]

I'm all about Strongbow Cider

Me too! I've been getting it a lot lately.

honeybee30,

Glad I found your dining and drinking report. Congrats on the WL upgrade!

Boma. Dessert at breakfast. Press pot of Kenyan coffee. Who could ask for more! Great way to start a day!

Anxiously waiting for more of your great reviews.

Yay! I'm glad you found me too!

We were really surprised to get an upgrade. That was the first time in all our trips to WDW.