So, as late notes: Turkey Hill ice cream is really good, though my favorite local PA ice cream is Kriders. Not nearly as many flavors, but so very good... I love the butter ripple. I don't know if they've expanded outside of south-central PA (particularly, the Amish area), though. They're pretty rare.
For the Fantasmic packages, you can order anything on the menu for your three courses- save Mama Melrose's making you get the dumb dessert platter instead of an actual desert. For drink, that'll mean any soft drink and I think coffee (and I believe sparkling water at Brown Derby, maybe MM too), or one glass of a juice or something like a cappuccino. Brown Derby, notably, has a very nice hot tea menu that is only on their dessert menu with some good choices on it... or at least, they did the last time I was there (last October/November?) that's allowed. All teas were loose leaf, with multiple black teas, one white tea, one green tea and a few herbal infusions (and I think one traditional rooibos). Hopefully they've kept that for October. Mama Melrose probably has Twinning's tea bags, but I never bothered to ask. Brown Derby *may* allow a Shirley Temple for the kids, as I know it's somewhere on the menu (or at least it used to be), but that's probably one of those 'the policy changes randomly and the server will decide randomly' deals. Any appetizers are allowed, with the flatbreads now counting as apps at MM, and that'll include the cheese plate at Brown Derby (which they will also serve you for dessert if you're not a sweets person). All entrees are good, and at Brown Derby, all desserts are good. So... it's all good, basically. Er, good as in it counts. They probably don't all taste good, sadly. Heh.
I will note that the last time we did the Fantasmic package at Mama Melrose, I was so disgusted by the pomegranate lemonade punch of horror that the nice waitress basically just got me an apple juice without any worries, but I don't think they're supposed to do that. As that thing is horrible, though, I think that counts as community service.
BROWN DERBY LOUNGE
Anyway, flashback! We're way back in May. It's five gazillion degrees out. This was Mother's Day (as I think I noted, they gave mom a pretty flower, but we lost it pretty quick), which meant no Tables in Wonderland working. The plan had been to go to Epcot and eat around the Flower and Garden booths (which we never really ended up doing- my fault, getting sick
). But it was HOOOOOTTTT. Also, I think I spent five gazillion hours typing up that Mama Melrose review. We discussed basically running through Epcot towards the back and jumping on the boat and stopping at the two booths on the way, then we realized there was nothing we really cared about at those two booths. So we ended up hungry and at MGM.
Then the plan was to eat at the counter-service in the back, the one with the bar (Studio Catering Company, I think?- I don't really remember, I never eat CS at MGM/HS, so...). We figured the drinks would be weak, but hey, alcohol, and some of the food items (this was just after the menu change) got some decent reviews from that snarky guy who's blog we stalk, so it was like, why not? Unfortunately, despite the paper times guide in front of me telling us those two places would be open (if only for another fifteen minutes or so for the bar), they... were not. Darn you, times sheet!
So it was just sort of like "Screw it, we ARE going to a bar".
(This was visibly painful to mom, going somewhere when she knew any other day she could have gotten a discount there, but she managed. So proud of her.
)
(I upped the size of the photos very slightly. Are they still okay on small monitors? As always, you can click on them for more detail.)
Simple cocktails. A Manhattan and a Sidecar (though they call their Manhattan a Jack Diamond). The Manhattan was the Maker's Mark version, the Sidecar with Couvoisier VS and Cointeau (I bet I spelled one of those words wrong...). Both were basically exactly what you would expect, and obviously strong (...there's really no way you can't make a Manhattan strong with no mixer, but hey). Brown Derby is always a great place for classics.
There was a bit of a delay here for people watching. The young lady who had been acting as a greeter (and chatted with us as we waited the seven or so minutes for a table) and table cleaner, Alyssa, had to go inside for a bit, leaving the waiter, Kevin, doing all three duties (which he did admirably, but there was a definite delay). This was probably made more difficult by a lady at the bar clearly having an awful day and taking it out on the bartender and her two companions and a family waiting who had no interest in watching out for the kids, letting two five-seven or so year olds run around the bar area screaming and basically tripping over everything and wandering around aimlessly. It was actually pretty awkward there for a bit.
(Not as awkward as the one time at Sanaa when the table next to us was letting a little girl color on the *plates* and *windows*- one of the few times I've ever seen a Disney cast member actually angry, though he held his cool until after they were gone.)
(I'm mentioning this basically because, well, any place at Disney is going to have good and bad days. It's worth remembering. The food and drinks made this manageable, especially after the kids were gone, but things in the tiny outdoor lounge were pretty horrible there for around fifteen minutes. Everything turned out great, but even 'fancy' places are going to have inappropriate and ick sometimes.)
But Alyssa came back, herded the kids to calmness, and we finally got to the food part.
Crudites! At least, that's what mom calls them. There were actually two different kinds, though I... didn't catch what they were (we didn't actually realize there were two different kinds until we'd finished one kind of them). One was made with white bread, one with wheat, I think, and they were lightly flavored with herbs and salt.
Those went with the Cheese and Charcuterie (a word I cannot pronounce for the life of me- Kevin kept trying to get me to say it right (chatatruce is usually my mangled pronouncation), and I couldn't /sheepish) plate!
And, wow, it's hard to remember what was what. Thank goodness for my book of notes.
The top left is the capicola (that's, er, pork muscle), done sort of like a pate (there were berries in there? It was odd, and really not like any other capicola I've ever had to the point that now I really wonder if it was capicola). Going clockwise, next were the (spicy!) housemade pickles. Next to that is the apple mustard marmlade. Then there's the Bayley Hazen Blue Cheese. On the top right is one of the two salumi. Below that was the Wensleydale Cranberry, with two slices of pear somewhat inbetween (the menu said apple, but pear was fine). To the left is the other salumi: one was salumi caprisi, the other salumi tuscata (I think), but at the moment I don't remember which was which. Then was a cheddar: it was new to the menu, and no one seemed to really know what it was. Finally, on the bottom left is the obviously identifiable prosciutto.
So, first: everything was good. I'm not a big fan of hard cheese, so the cheddar was just sort of meh to me (mom's the hard cheese fan: she liked it). However, even though I'm not the biggest fan of pates or blue cheese, I did enjoy both the Bayley Hazen and the capicola. Actually, the capicola was really surprisingly good.
The two salumi and prosciutto were probably pretty standard (notably, the salumi tuscata was spicy (to our tastes- we don't have high tolerance for 'hot' spiciness, as I think I've mentioned), but water was constantly refilled) for this sort of thing, but they were still delicious... and, hey, cured meats are yummy, right? I really love prosciutto... put me in an Italian restaurant, and it's almost a guarantee I'll order it.
To me the super standout was the Wensleydale Cranberry (a Yorkshire cheese). It was still firm, but it wasn't hard, and it was sweet and fruity. (It also looks like something you can pick up in almost any grocery store in this world with a gourmet cheese selection, but I'd never had it before.) It was just a really enjoyable cheese, and would go great on almost any cheese plate.
However, the absolute best thing of all was the little apple mustard marmalade and the delicious homemade pickles. I think those are the best pickles I ever had in my life, actually. They were quite spicy, but just so interesting. I wonder if they're used on the sliders or a burger or something? They should do more with them. I'd eat them alone as just an olive and pickle platter, personally. As for the marmalade, it went well with EVERYTHING on the plate. The cheese, the meat, the pickles, the pears, the bread- it all worked! It was sort of amazing, actually.
The Brown Derby lounge menu (as a note, the full inside menu was offered as well, but I don't think the few lounge only items (this and the sliders, mostly) were allowed in the resturaunt) had the Moonshine flight that I'd wanted since last October still on it, but sadly, apparently no one but me was ever interested in it and the bartender didn't have the moonshines.
That was a shame. So we left with just that, which I think kept us decent till the next day at Yak and Yeti; that much meat and cheese is surprisingly filling. There was no need for Starbucks breakfast, at any rate.
Speaking of flights, though, I do want to recommend the little martini flight they have if you like straight martinis. It's a lot of booze, and they're served in these adorable mini-martini glasses: both major pluses! The margarita flight is delicious as well, and more approachable if you're not a big fan of the taste of alcohol. Wine flights are hit and miss, but not a bad way to try new things. I'd really like to try the GM flight if it's still there next in October, but that's expensive.
Anyway. Later today or tomorrow, a rather simple meal at Yak and Yeti. After that is the lovely Victoria and Alberts, which I may actually skip and review last as that review will take forever to write. So many courses...
