Getting ready for Food & Wine 2017... by reviewing Food & Wine 2015!

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Hi, everyone! I'm thrilled to say that I'm currently in the planning phase of a November 2017 return trip to the Food & Wine Festival with my sis, sis-in-law, and niece! We went together for the first time in November 2015 and all agreed it's a must-do for us every two years (at the least, every year would be better!). We had such a blast sharing bites and drinks, checking out all of the entertainment, wandering through the Festival Center, and sharing more bites and drinks! As I was reminiscing over our pics, I thought maybe you'd like to see them too since many of the food and drink items repeat from year to year. So come along with me on a stroll through the World Showcase!

Sustainable Chew:
- Pork Spareribs with Red Wine, Fennel, and Cheesy Mascarpone Grits - these were tender and flavorful, the meat fell off the bone, and we loved the cheesy, rich grits.
- Ricotta and Zucchini Ravioli with Rustic Tomato Sauce - this was light and delicious, and the tomato sauce was really bright.
- Vanilla Panna Cotta with Fresh Figs and Pistachio Brittle - delicious! The salt in the pistachios was a perfect complement to the sweet pudding.
- Beso del Sol White Sangria - very sweet, this was a good match with the the ravioli but too sweet for the panna cotta. The fruit in it was a little too soft... Maybe sat too long.
- Frozen Chew-Tini - this was one of our top drinks at the festival - awesome texture, not too sweet, and a gorgeous color!

 

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Chew Lab:
- Olive Oil-poached Salmon with Fresh Corn, Bacon, and Pepper Jam - this was a really delicious preparation. I thought it might be heavy from being poached in oil, but it was tender and flaky, and the fresh sweet corn really popped against the salty bacon and pepper Jam. I hope they bring this back sometime.
- New York Strip with Parsnip Silk, Balsamic Glaze, and Arugula Foam - this was very tasty and had a lot of different textures which made each bite really interesting, but I will say that we were disappointed in the size of the pieces of meat... They were tiny, tiny, tiny.
- Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle with a warm Whiskey-Caramel - this was my favorite dessert of the festival, with its crunchy outside and soft, mousse-like inside, and the caramel sauce was absolutely delicious.
- Smoking Hibiscus - two of us loved this, and two of us hated it. It had Mezcal, which has a really distinct smoky flavor, and if you don't like it, you won't like this drink. The edible hibiscus flower was really good, though!

 

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Cheese Studio:
- Trio of Artisan Cheeses - Karst cave-aged cheese with honey, goat cheese with Craisin bread, and blue cheese with berry-port compote. We liked all three of these, but the goat cheese with the Craisin bread was our winner here. The little pool of honey sure attracted the bees, though, to the point where others who had this dish were screaming and running around. I was glad to see that they got rid of the honey in 2016!
- Cheese Fondue with Sourdough Bread - this was good, but not outstanding, and the ratio of bread to cheese was too light on the bread for us.
- Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc, Still River Winery Apfel Eis, and Sterling Vintner's Collection Cabernet Sauvignon - the red paired really well with the blue cheese, but none of these really stood out to us as we love Reislings the most.

Sorry, no pics of this one... We were too busy waving off the bees.

 

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Dominican Republic:
- Soufflé de Yuca: Yuca Soufflé Topped with Griddled Cheese - wow, was this good. The cheese was soft and mild, and the yuca was surprisingly sweet with an interesting texture.
- Caramel Flan with Rum-roasted Pineapple - the caramel and pineapple combo was really good, and you could definitely taste the rum flavor as well. Very yummy!
- Frozen Sugar Cane Cocktail - Mmm Mmm good! This one was sweet, but still had the bite of the rum. We loved munching on the sugar cane as well... Something we don't get at home!

The portion sizes here were really generous, and the table area is really beautiful with tons of flowering plants. This was a great spot to chill out for a bit.

 

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Greece:
- Chicken Gyro with Tzatziki Sauce - this was fine, but a very small portion size. I bought the cookbook at the Festival and I make this quite often at home - my husband loves it!
- Spanakopita - these were two nice sized bites to split between the four of us. This was a good quality, but not outstanding, especially compared to some we have had here at home.

No pic of this one, it was getting late and crowded and we ate on the run.

 

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Desserts & Champagne:
- Strawberry-Basil Champagne "Toast" - we split two of these between the four of us because they looked so good, and they were delicious! The little pearls on top of the whipped cream were sweet (maybe white chocolate like the decoration?), the middle was a mousse texture with chunks of strawberries, and the bottom was champagne. The basil was a nice offset to the sweet strawberry flavor. Winner for all of us!
- Guylian Belgian Chocolate Seashell Truffles - I brought these home for my kids and they loved them!