I took on the world with my FATHER & HUSBAND..and we all survived :) And we ate WELL!

[gardengirl628]

Great reviews! Thinking about Portabello now....hmmm....how to fit that in! The cake looked awesome. Thanks for sharing!

 

[BLTLDZ]

subbing!

Thanks for following along

Great reviews! Thinking about Portabello now....hmmm....how to fit that in! The cake looked awesome. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you! My father LOVED the cake. I was very happy with everything...Yes, even if you can fit Portobello in for lunch, it was SO worth it.

 

[archdandy]

What an awesome cake! I bet he loved it! Great reviews so far, I can't wait to see the rest of them.

 

[halleous]

Subbing!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

great reviews so far- the cake is amazing and I love the look of your Portobello meal too

 

[jess20k]

Thanks for the wonderful reviews!! I can't wait to read more!

 

[BLTLDZ]

What an awesome cake! I bet he loved it! Great reviews so far, I can't wait to see the rest of them.

Thank you!

Subbing!

Welcome aboard

great reviews so far- the cake is amazing and I love the look of your Portobello meal too

Thanks!

Thanks for the wonderful reviews!! I can't wait to read more!

You're welcome! Stay tuned for more...

 

[BLTLDZ]

Tonight we headed over to AKL for our dinner reservation at Jiko. This is another one of our absolute favorites.

We were seated at a nice table in the back of the restaurant, and had a wonderful waiter named Ron. (We had Ron again in december, and he remembered us).

We decided to order a bottle of red wine based off of Ron's recommendation. It was great. It had a chocolate/cherry taste, and was velvety smooth.



Then we had the delicious bread with tandoori butter.



I love this bread. It has a nutty/pumpkin flavor . We ate the whole basket!

Then we started off with the Roasted Mushrooms flatbread - with Pleasant Ridge Reserve, masala curry, crispy fennel and ice wine gastrique
This was REALLY good




Then we received our entrees:
I ordered my usual..Grilled Wild Gulf Shrimp Curry - with Citrus-Coconut Basmati, spring vegetables, and Durban Curry Sauce



This was cooked perfectly, and was nice & spicy, just how I love it

Dad had the Corvina fish :Maize-crusted Corvina - with Vegetables of the Moment and Tomato-Butter Sauce



(I had never heard of this fish before, but it is a nice, light & mild white fish)
This was REALLY good as well, and my dad really enjoyed it. I tasted it, and really liked it.

DH had The Seared Wild Atlantic Grouper "Kushairi" - with toasted pearl couscous, lentils, fresh chickpeas, almonds, tomato, corn "pudding", crispy onions and harissa vinaigrette



He normally gets the oak grilled filet, but decided to try something different. He really enjoyed this, and was glad he deviated away from the filet and tried something new. This was also cooked perfectly.

The whole meal took over two hours, but that was fine with us. We really enjoyed the whole experience. When we go back, we will definitely dine at Jiko again. Those that are hesitant to try it, just do it! You will be glad you did !!

 

[mamaboogie]

Great review!

We also love Jiko and can't wait to go back in August. Although, all your dishes looked amazing - I'm going to be spoilt for choice!

Did you have any desserts at Jiko?

 

[BLTLDZ]

Back in 2007, which was my first disney trip, DH & I ate in Italy when it was "Alfredo's". We really enjoyed it then, and then for a few trips after, we kept trying to get to Tutto, but it never worked out.

This time, I was determined because dad was with us.

We were seated promptly for our 8:50 reservation.
Probably because it was so close to Illuminations, the restaurant was pretty empty. Even so, we felt rushed throughout our whole dinner.

Our server came over, (his name escapes me), but at any rate, he was nothing special.

We started off with their bread & olive oil.



This was fine.

We then started with the Calamari Fritti - with spicy marinara sauce



This looks WAY better than what it tasted!
The Calamari was rubbery, greasy & cold! The marinara sauce would have been ok, but that was cold too.
At this point, our server pulled a disappearing act, and we STILL had not ordered our entrees.

When we finally did receive our entrees, this is what we ordered.
I had the Casareci - cavatelli pasta, sweet sausage ragu, tomatoes, Pecorino Romano



This was also cold.
The pasta was SO mushy, and I am an al'dente girl
At any rate, I barely put a dent in it.

My father had Farfalle - bowtie pasta, Italian prosciutto ham, peas, parmesan cream



This was actually quite tasty, I should have ordered this!!

DH ordered Cannelloni al Forno - baked with spinach, ricotta, bechamel and parmesan cheese



This was cold as well.
Not sure what was going on this night, but until I hear glowing, consistent reviews of Tutto from here on in, we will not be back. All in all, not the best experience.
I would also like to mention, we had politely told our waitor about the cold food, he rolled his eyes. In retrospect, we should have complained, but we did not. Oh well...you win some, you lose some!!

 

[H20DogsNDisney]

My parents went to tutto's and said it was only okay nothing they would rush back for.sorry to hear your food was cold it did look good

 

[kelleigh1]

We'll be dining at Jiko in October. Looking forward to it.

How awful that Tutto was cold. Cold Italian is not good.

 

[BLTLDZ]

Great review!

We also love Jiko and can't wait to go back in August. Although, all your dishes looked amazing - I'm going to be spoilt for choice!

Did you have any desserts at Jiko?

Don;t laugh...we DID have dessert, but I can't remember what we shared , and I didn't take a picture!

It was good though! Maybe bread pudding? Sorry!

 

[BLTLDZ]

My parents went to tutto's and said it was only okay nothing they would rush back for.sorry to hear your food was cold it did look good

It did look good, right?

We'll be dining at Jiko in October. Looking forward to it.

How awful that Tutto was cold. Cold Italian is not good.

No. not good! Jiko is the BEST!!

 

[BLTLDZ]

Well, Tutto was a flop, and we were hoping Via Napoli would make up for it....
So, did it??

We started off with some bread



Then we ordered a tossed salad to start:



This was pretty tasty and fresh.

Then we ordered a large pie to share... We ordered half eggplant, half sausage.



This was SOOO good!!! We have had Via Napolis pizza two other times prior to this one, and this time was the BEST. The other two times were great as well, but this time the pizza was AMAZING.

So unlike it's other italian counterpart, we thoroughly enjoyed this ! I still think Via Napoli has the best pizza on property

Stay tuned for BLue Zoo Ddinner at the Dolphin!

 

[H20DogsNDisney]

Via Napoli- look good.
I ate in April 2011 it was very yummy. I would book Via Napoli over and over again.

 

[bcrook]

Thanks for the reviews. The pictures are fantastic.

 

[BLTLDZ]

Via Napoli- look good.
I ate in April 2011 it was very yummy. I would book Via Napoli over and over again.

Same here! I have it booked for lunch in May

Thanks for the reviews. The pictures are fantastic.

You're very welcome! You have all given me the incentive to keep going! I usually stop halfway through, it seems like no one is listening!
I will finish this one!!

 

[BLTLDZ]

We headed over to the Dolphin to eat at Todd English's Blue Zoo...This is an excellent restaurant...if you love seafood, you MUST try it!!

I also love the inside of this restaurant..it has a soft, romantic vibe.

Here's a pic



I started off with Blue Zoo's signature drink, a "Zootini" These are GOOD, but they pack a punch! It was some sort of vodka infused fruit punchy type drink..




Then they brought over their delicious bread...it's bread plus some parmesan flatbread...SO GOOD! There was also some Foccacia in there...it's too hard not to eat the WHOLE basket!!




For appetizers, we started off with :Teppan Seared Jumbo Sea Scallops - braised beef short rib, silky cauliflower puree



These were MELT IN YOUR MOUTH good, by far the BEST scallops we have had that I can recall...

Also, we ordered the Selection Platter - maine lobster tail, oysters, clams, jumbo shrimp, day's ceviche, tuna cruda, dipping sauces



This is a MUST if you enjoy oysters, clams, etc...SO GOOD!

At this point, I admit, I was pondering why we ordered entrees...we were SO full! But , alas, they came and we ate them

I ordered Two-pound Maine "Cantonese Lobster" - fried and tossed in sticky soy glaze



Yes, this was 2 WHOLE LBS, and yes, even though I was full as heck, I ate the WHOLE thing..... OMG..this was OUTRAGOUS! My father & husband were cracking up at me because I REFUSED to leave until I finished that bad boy! (It was not cheap!). It took me over an hour to polish off. Girl needed a break!

If you enjoy lobster, this is the place to go!!

Both my father & DH ordered Simply Fish (menu description below)

Our daily selection of finest fresh fish selected from coastal waters around the world, simply grilled on our teppanyaki grill, served with your selection of sauce below

Selection of sauces
Red curry coconut
Cucumber vinaigrette
Warm crabmeat, dijon mustard, chives

Add lobster $5

Ok, so the fish was Sea Bass, and they both ordered it with the Warm crabmeat, dijon mustard & chives. They were grunting as they ate the whole thing, that was how good it was.



(I just LOVE That little pot that the sauce comes in)
It is some sort of "Warmer".

We were WAY too full for dessert. This was AMAZING. They also had live entertainment at the bar, which was a really great jazz trio. I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. While it is not cheap, at least you are paying for excellent & innovative food.

All in all, a GREAT meal.

 

[BLTLDZ]

Ok, so we decided to do this as our "event" for F&W festival.
Basically, there are LOADS of stations from all over, with well known chefs making GREAT food. With a bunch of wines to go with it.

They are not stingy with anything, nor should they be at $135 Per person!!

The best way to describe it would be a LONG cocktail hour....
So we lined up about 20 minutes or so before the doors opened. Let me just say: People get CRAZY!!! I mean, shoving, cursing, cutting each other...sheesh

We were handed one wine glass PP, (even though a LOT of people kept on grabbing the glasses themselves, after being told repeatedly by the CM's to wait)

Anyways, this is the wine glass we were given



While I don't have many pictures (I was too busy eating & drinking!), I do have a FEW.

Here's a pic from inside the event


(The tables were "first come first serve". guaranteed seating could have been purchased, but it was quite a bit more, I believe around $200 PP, and we didn't feel like it was worth it.)

They also had tables where you could stand. We were able to get one, and keep one throughout the event.

People were coming over to stand and eat with us, but we loved it. We met a lot of nice people, and we were constantly rotating with others at the table, as we went from station to station.

Cirque De Solei acrobats came out and performed a few times throughout the party...that was really neat.

I DID take a picture of one of my personal favorites, it was a lobster pancake, with an apricot glaze, and shrimp. This was GOOD.




Most everything was delicious...... The only negative, was that it was too much mixing , and I payed for it the next day.. HOLY HANGOVER

That was the first time I slept past 10 AM while in disney! I did not get of bed until 6:30 PM!!!! It was worth it, but if we ever do it again, I will be sure to take it easier.... I allowed my eyes to take over my stomach. It really was a "party for the senses".

My dad & DH were in seventh heaven, and STILL talk about the party.
Would we go again? ABSOLUTELY If you are a foodie or a wino, or BOTH, and you are there during F&W, I think this WELL worth it.

*These are only held on saturday nights