NOT drowning ourselves in LeFou's Brew for our 2ndAnni: Update 11/11/12 COMPLETED!

[BlovesC]

It's thaaaaaaaaaat time again! We are going back to the world for another ridiculously quick stay (oh how I LOVE January when we get a whole week!!) in our favorite place, this time celebrating the second anniversary of our mawwiage!

I'm Becky, and I love AK, Maleficent, Living with the Land, cortland apples, and everything and anything with pumpkin!
He's Charlie and he loves dole whips, Big Thunder Mountain, chinese food, and everything and anything with jalapeños!

We're staying at one of our favorite (DH's VERY favorite!) resorts, POFQ (edit; NOPE, we were bumped to SSR due to overbooking ), and we're actually skipping our very favorite park (AK) on this trip simply because we want to bask in the Halloween atmosphere at MK as much as we can. We both LOVE the fall and Halloween is our favorite holiday (which is why we married in October and had a giant pumpkin atop our cake! )!



Here is the dining lineup for our mini-cation! A couple old favorites but three that are ALL NEW to us, exciting!


10/21
Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern
Dinner at Narcoossee's

10/22
Lunch at Sci-Fi Drive-In
Dinner at Sanaa!
Wishes Dessert Party!

10/23
Breakfast at Crystal Palace
Lunch at Artist's Palette
Dinner at Via Napoli
Drinks at La Cava del Tequila!

10/24
Breakfast at Kouzzina


Narcoossee's was a last minute edition. We originally had an ADR for Jiko. We've never eaten at Jiko, which is sad because we adore AKL, and we LOVE Boma, the Mara, and Sanaa. I'm sure we'd love any meal at Jiko. BUT! When the live reporters in Barb's thread shared the updated fall menu, I was crushed. No new appetizers and they removed the peri-peri chicken! And then I saw the Narcoossee's menu with its multiple pumpkin-inspired offerings and that sealed our fate. Narcoossee's it is! I hope we made a good decision!
(edit; we didn't!)

As for the title of our dining report....we attended MNSSHP on Tuesday and got to explore the fantasyland expansion during the party, where we tried a cup of THIS:

Horrible picture, but that is LeFou's Brew. And it might have just been the party atmosphere making our brains all wonky, but we LOOOOOVED this stuff. I personally love apples, hate apple juice because it's so cloyingly sweet. But I love apple cider, and this to me tasted like a lighter apple cider with a hint of toasted marshmallow. Um, YUM.

DH (who usually doesn't abuse hyperbole like me!) declared it his FAVORITE THING in MK and insists we drink at least two or three or twenty cups per day during this trip. I also think he intends on trying one of the pork shanks offered at Gaston's. I have no idea where he plans on fitting in a pork shank as a 'snack', nor do I think his pancreas could handle twenty cups of LeFou's Brew, but that's his plan!

(edit; we were overly optimistic in our plans to drown ourselves in LeFou's Brew, apparently, because we couldn't get into FLE at all this week! We apparently just lucked out last week. How often is it that the food named in a dining report title doesn't actually get enjoyed during said report? HA!)

 

[BlovesC]

Random bonus! I bake cupcakes now and then as a hobby...I had to bake some tonight to bring in to work tomorrow to try and sweet talk them all into forgiving me for taking random days off for Disney trips all the time!

Pumpkin-buttermilk cupcakes with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting!

A little pumpkin makes everything better!

 

[jabead]

Count me in!

ETA: I want one of those cupcakes!!!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Yay, another dining report! The new brew sounds really tasty to me - glad you both enjoyed it so much. And those cupcakes look awesome.

I'm really interested in your restaurant reviews, especially Narcoossee's and The Wave. These restaurants seem to be hit-or-miss (even for me), but my recent experiences at both have definitely been hits. Hopefully you'll be very satisfied with your decision to try new places!

And I still recommend reconsidering Jiko (not for this trip, but sometime soon). When the chef told us in August that the peri peri chicken would be removed soon, it was somewhat sad news (since it's my mom's favorite dish there), but we definitely trust that he'll come up with something equally delicious. Also, I believe the peri peri chicken is currently being used as a flatbread topping at Jiko.

 

[Ro Z]

Random bonus! I bake cupcakes now and then as a hobby...I had to bake some tonight to bring in to work tomorrow to try and sweet talk them all into forgiving me for taking random days off for Disney trips all the time!

Pumpkin-buttermilk cupcakes with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting!

A little pumpkin makes everything better!

Wish someone in my house had a cupcake hobby!!!

 

[BlovesC]

Well, we're here now, with an unexpected change. When we attempted to check-in at POFQ they told us they had overbooked (damn conference!) and offered us an 'upgrade' to Saratoga Springs. I have family who own DVC at SSR, and in my mind offering an 'upgrade' to SSR is like offering a 'free gourmet meal' at Hollywood and Vine. Obviously I'm not much of a fan. I would have refused, BUT they offered us a 1BR villa, and it's just three nights. The room itself is pretty nice, they've been refurbished since my last stay and they have more of a 'theme' now. Not looking forward to dealing with twenty million bus stops though (we don't like driving during our resort stays!). And we won't get to run into Nicki and Todd around the resort!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Joining in! We really enjoyed both The Wave and Narcoossees in August so I look forward to your reviews.

Sorry to hear that POFQ was booked but cool on the 1BR Villa.

And we are really looking forward to trying LeFous brew in November!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Oh no on SSR! They tried to do that to us last year and we wouldn't take it. Sorry we won't see each other at POFQ but we are eating at the Wave tomorrow night and then Mk. See u there?

 

[BlovesC]

Time to plow ahead with some reviews! So like I had already posted, we were bumped over to SSR when we arrived to check in. I do wish we'd refused, I wasn't really thinking when it all happened. We did walk into the room and see this through the windows though:

Seems like a good omen for an anniversary trip doesn't it?! But, my grumblings about SSR don't belong in this thread. Let's get to the FOOD!

We headed to MK and to lunch at our favorite MK TS, Liberty Tree Tavern!

We were seated in the Martha Washington room:

First order of business, after drinks, was to request some rolls (normally served with dinner, but available if you ask)!

We just love these things. Hot, soft, with that sweet honey flavor...comfort food!

So much on LTT's lunch menu appeals to me. I'd really love to try their veggie burger someday, I've heard such great reviews on it! I also LOVE their pilgrim's feast to death. But I decided to go with something a bit lighter today...

Colony Salad - Washington apples, sweet pecans and applewood smoked cheddar, dried cranberry Craisins, and grilled chicken tossed with field greens in honey shallot vinaigrette

This was just such a perfect salad to me. The chicken looks dry on the plate, but it wasn't at all, it was juicy and a generous portion. The smoked cheddar had an amazing flavor, and the honey-shallot dressing was very subtle, not too sweet. The craisins, apples, and pecans offered a nice crunchy texture. I loved this so much! I think it's my new favorite entree here.

DH chose an item that was new to the menu;

The Liberty Boys BLT-Slow-roasted Pork, fresh Greens, and Tomatoes on House-made Bread with Caramelized Shallots and Mushroom-Mayonnaise Spread

This sucker was huuuuuge and packed full of meat. He loved the flavor of the pork, and he loved that there were some pieces with a slightly crispy fatty edge to them that had a bacon effect. The mushroom-mayo wasn't so much 'spread' on as it was 'generously applied in buckets', or at least that's what it looked like to me, but it was a perfect amount to his mayo-loving tastebuds . He also really liked the bread, so much so that he made me try a piece. We both agreed it had notes of onion to it...it was sort of like a multigrain onion focaccia?! Very unique, but very soft, fresh, and tasty! The fries were hot and crispy, and DH looooves pickles (not quite as much as Nicki's Todd though! ) so overall he loved this. In fact, he declared it the best thing he's eaten in WDW. A few hours later, he clarified it to the best thing he's eaten in MK. That's more believable!

And for dessert...there can only be on option! The dessert which needs no introduction in a post about LTT!

Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake
Vanilla Cake with a Gooey Toffee Filling, Caramel Sauce, and Vanilla Ice Cream

Just as good as last time...pure indulgent bliss! The cake is more of a giant toffee-chocolate chip cookie, with a slightly crispy exterior, and served piping hot and gooey under all that creamy ice cream and warm sauce. YUM. We always wind up fighting for the last bite, we may have to each get our
own next time!

Our total with taxes and tip was just under $43 with our TIW discount. A bargain, considering you can easily drop $35 at a CS for two people!


Up next, dinner at Narcoossee's! That will be a very easy review for me to write...

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Oh my...all the red updates in your first post have me nervous about what's coming next. A resort bump, a signature review that I'm afraid to read, and a lack of LeFou's brew? I'm looking forward to hearing if anything actually went according to plan! (the live updates give me hope that some meals delivered )

LTT seems like a solid start though. Glad you enjoyed the colony salad like I did, and I have to try that toffee cake!

 

[BlovesC]

Oh my...all the red updates in your first post have me nervous about what's coming next. A resort bump, a signature review that I'm afraid to read, and a lack of LeFou's brew? I'm looking forward to hearing if anything actually went according to plan! (the live updates give me hope that some meals delivered )

Yeah, the SSR move kind of took the wind out of my sails, so to speak, and then our dinner that night didn't help matters. But we absolutely did have some delicious meals, thankfully!

LTT seems like a solid start though. Glad you enjoyed the colony salad like I did, and I have to try that toffee cake!

That salad was so delicious! It's going to be very difficult for me to make a choice at LTT next time!

 

[jmm476]

Joining in! The Colony Salad looks delish.

And your pumpkin cupcakes... I wish I could reach into the screen and grab one!

 

[debrapagliasotti]

Joining in from the live review thread.

LTT looks great as usual.

Your pumpkin cupcakes...look absolutely DELISH!!

 

[BlovesC]

We had planned on having one signature meal during our trip, to serve as THE anniversary dinner. We had originally decided on Jiko, which we'd never tried but we love AKL and all the other restaurants so much we were pretty confident we'd love it.

Well, silly fickle me, the week before we left, saw the new fall menus in the Live thread. Jiko had removed the item I'd wanted, which made me sad, and then I saw the Narcoossee's menu and its PUMPKIN RAVIOLI, which I absolutely love, so I talked to DH and we switched our reservation. And I will have to live with that decision forever!

We checked in at Narcoossee's and had a pretty lengthy wait to be seated. The first thing that sort of ruined the night for us; the tiny seating area inside the restaurant was packed, but the OUTSIDE waiting areas? Smokers galore. Yes, folks were walking two steps from the restaurant doors and lighting up. Fantastic! But we gave ourselves some distance and I snapped a photo of my fave monorail resort from across the water!

We were finally seated, and noticed this strange divide inside the restaurant. Half the patrons were in theme park wear, t-shirts and shorts, the other half were women totally decked out to go clubbing. It was such an odd mix. I know the dress code at signatures is now mostly 'anything goes' because after all, it's Disney, but it was definitely the most casual atmosphere we've seen.

Our server gave us special 'anniversary' menus which was sweet:

We took a look at the drink menu and I was intrigued by a non-alcoholic offering, a Coconut Elixir. It was coconut water, pineapple juice, and cranberry juice. I love coconut water, so why not!

They seem to have forgotten the cranberry juice! It was still tasty though, but nothing I couldn't get from a bottle for 1/5th the price.

We were given bread and butter, and somehow I forgot to snap a picture of the bread, and only grabbed the butter!

Ice-cold butter (whyyyy) with sea salt.

We ordered an appetizer to share:

Jumbo lump crab cakes with gingered "sweet potato salad" with herbed creole mustard sauce and candied pecans.

The crab cakes had almost no flavor or seasoning. It was like canned crab meat pounded into a ball and dumped into some hot oil for a few seconds. The sauce was very good though, although there was way too much for the two tiny lumps. The sweet potato salad, however, we both liked. It was very unique, the sweet potato pieces were mildly crunchy and it had a tangy kick to it like a macaroni salad. Not good enough to warrant the $19 price tag of this appetizer, but at least it was tastier and fresher than the crab!

Onward to our entrees...

I chose, of course, the item that inspired me to book the ADR in the first place:

House-made Roasted Japanese Pumpkin and Mascarpone Ravioli: buttercup squash, wilted baby swiss chard, wild mushrooms, black mission figs, pumpkin seed pesto, and sherry-hazelnut cream sauce.

Now, when I read this entree description I practically danced for joy. It's like a smorgasbord of some of my favorite food items. I love Japanese pumpkin (kabocha), mascarpone, squash, mushrooms, figs, all of it. It seemed like a heavenly combination.

The problem is, honestly, that there was TOO MUCH going on in this dish. My first bite was so confusing that DH kept asking me how it was and I couldn't even form an answer until I'd finished two ravioli. The flavors were kind of a mess. The filling of the ravioli was pure sweetness with no herb or spice mixed in. The past few times I've ordered pumpkin ravioli in a restaurant, it's contained a good deal of sage and had more of a savory element, but there was nothing like that here. Then the fig on top added even more sweetness. It was just so much. The pumpkin seed pesto was lightly dusted on top of each ravioli, under the fig. I could see it, but I couldn't taste it. The cream sauce was super heavy and again, sweet. The swiss chard was overly salted, and the mushrooms were just kind of out of place. The ravioli were a bit overcooked and slightly too chewy. I was really, really disappointed.

Charlie had better luck with his entree:

Grilled wild-line caught Florida Swordfish: roasted marble potatoes, rainbow cauliflower, sweet zellwood corn puree, picholine olives, warm tomato-pickled mustard seed vinaigrette, crispy ****ake mushrooms, and arugula.


The fish was perfectly cooked with a nice slight char on the outside. The phonebook-length list of veggies underneath were kind of hard for DH to discern and he couldn't taste any olives, but he did enjoy the three tiny potatoes and the cauliflower, and the vinaigrette and corn puree went well together. It gave a nice flavor boost to the mild fish. I stole more than one forkful of this and certainly liked it a lot more than my entree. He liked it, but said it was nowhere near the level of the tuna he'd had at Flying Fish.


We watched the water pageant from our table, which was fun:

We contemplated dessert, which is usually my favorite part of any meal! But decided not to waste any more money at this place.

Our server, though, eliminated that problem by delivering this:

Almond-crusted cheesecake with Lambert cherry sauce.

I loved this. It's not often that I meet a piece of cheesecake that I DON'T love, but this was pretty darn tasty. Even Charlie, who is not a big cheesecake fan, enjoyed it. The almond crust provided such a yummy, flavorful crunch to the creamy cake and the cherry sauce wasn't too sweet.

This was a nice bonus to our meal, but kind of a surprise. Up until this point our server had been anything but personable. No friendly greetings, suggestions on the menu, comments on our selections, inquiries to how things were...it was like a strict business transaction. You get more personality at Applebee's! I know free 'celebration' desserts like this are common protocol usually, but I was just shocked our server made the extra effort.


Our total bill was $103 with a TIW discount. The meal wasn't awful, I'm being overly critical in my review here. But if we'd paid $50 for the meal, we would have said "it wasn't that great, let's not come here again", so to have to drop twice that for service, atmosphere, and food that just weren't good turns a 'meh' experience into a BAD one. I don't think we'll give Narcoossee's another try.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Aw. That ravioli dish was perfect when I had it in July - it was a pea & mascarpone ravioli with plenty of savory ingredients (sheep's milk cheese, toasted pumpkin seeds, etc) to balance out any notes of sweetness.

The crab cake doesn't look very good, and it sounds like other things were off as well. At least the dessert was good.

 

[BlovesC]

Aw. That ravioli dish was perfect when I had it in July - it was a pea & mascarpone ravioli with plenty of savory ingredients (sheep's milk cheese, toasted pumpkin seeds, etc) to balance out any notes of sweetness.

So I'm guessing the ravioli is their standard vegetarian offering and then they just swap out the star ingredient with each season, huh? How creative! What will they offer in December, fruit mincemeat and mascarpone ravioli with a brandied eggnog cream?!

But yes, I'd love to have that almond cheesecake again!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

So I'm guessing the ravioli is their standard vegetarian offering and then they just swap out the star ingredient with each season, huh? How creative! What will they offer in December, fruit mincemeat and mascarpone ravioli with a brandied eggnog cream?!

I'm pretty sure the ravioli was new in the spring. Their vegetarian dish in 2011 was a vegetarian lasagna, and their vegetarian dish in 2010 was a sampling of 4 'side dishes' (which I thought was underwhelming compared to the ravioli I had in July). And it's still more creative than Citricos, where the vegetarian entree has been the same tofu with ratatouille for a few years now.

That said, perhaps your review will cause them to quickly remove any trace of ravioli from the menu.

 

[debrapagliasotti]

Sorry to hear your dinner at Narcoossee's wasnt all that great

 

[jabead]

So I'm guessing the ravioli is their standard vegetarian offering and then they just swap out the star ingredient with each season, huh? How creative! What will they offer in December, fruit mincemeat and mascarpone ravioli with a brandied eggnog cream?!

But yes, I'd love to have that almond cheesecake again!

You crack me up, Becky! I told everyone that your Narcoossee's review would be interesting and you definitely delivered.

It's just too bad that this was your designated anniversary celebration dinner. But at least I know that your dining experiences will be much better from here on out.

 

[BlovesC]

Our plan this day was to hit DHS at rope drop and then head to Sci-Fi for lunch! We love Sci-Fi. It's really the only place we'll eat in DHS. The CS options are dismal, Mama Melrose is meh, the menu at 50's Prime Time totally doesn't appeal to me, and I don't think I'll ever be willing to take a gamble on HBD. So Sci-Fi it is, every time!

We had a quick in-room breakfast before we hit the bus stop. We'd stopped at Artist's Palette the night before for some drinks and snacks for the morning, and I chose this:

Strawberry yogurt parfait. Pretty basic and way overpriced, I kicked myself for mocking the absurd $3 price on the Oikos cups at the Greece F&W kiosk, this was a buck more and half as good!

DH only wanted one thing at AP:

Yes, he had a pickle for breakfast. No, he saw nothing wrong with that.

Anyway! When we arrived at Sci-Fi we were seated promptly and got to be third-row hitchhikers to another family! We were both starving by that point (pickles don't really hold one over, surprise!) and we started our meal with these beauties!

Charlie's Solar Flare milkshake on the left, and my chocolate one on the right!

The Solar Flare milkshake is like an orange creamsicle. Not my kind of thing, but he thought it was SO GOOD. And I absolutely loved my chocolate milkshake! It was super creamy and thick. There's nothing worse than water, syrupy-tasting milkshakes! These were perfect.

For entrees, I chose...

Vegetable Burger - Vegetable patty topped with cucumber planks, vine-ripened tomatoes, grilled red onions, peppery arugula, and pickle spear drizzled with balsamic vinegar served with sweet potato fries (hold the onions)

When they say veggie burger, they are NOT kidding! There were three massive cucumber planks, a giant tomato slice, and you can't really see it in the pic but under the burger was a huge pile of arugula! I actually wound up taking the veggies off and eating them like a side salad. As for the burger, well, it wasn't the best. I prefer veggie burgers when they're spicy, or at least dressed with something to provide a kick. The balsamic vinegar was put on so lightly that the burger just wound up being pretty plain and dry. I had to douse it in mustard! The sweet potato fries though, were fantastic, but I will choose sweet potato fries over regular ANY day.


DH chose something that he's been eying for awhile now...

The All American Picnic Burger - flame broiled Angus burger patty topped with grilled hot dog, sauerkraut, and sauteed onions, drizzled with ketchup, mustard and crowned with a pickle spear, served with french fries

The description sounds so gross to me, but he looooooved it. He said it was more a burger on a hot dog than a hot dog on top of a burger, it had TWO hot dogs flayed open on the bottom of the bun. Talk about a meat lover's special! The burger was cooked well and the toppings were generous. He declared it the best meal he's ever had at Sci-Fi.

In all our trips to Sci-Fi, we'd actually never ordered dessert. On a whim I decided to change that today, and we received...

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Cake - Warm chocolate cake with a creamy peanut butter center served a la mode

I've seen countless pics of this in dining reviews so I knew what to expect, but still I was pleasantly surprised. It's no Ooey Gooey toffee cake, but it was pretty good! Very simple and basic chocolate cake, but the warm rich center and the cold ice cream and crispy reese's pieces were a tasty combination.

Another fun, cheap, enjoyable meal at Sci-Fi! We don't eat many meals at DHS, since don't spend much time there (when we do go, we tend to ride the 'big three' and then leave the park!) but the next time we do eat there I'm sure we'll be back at Sci-Fi. If it's not broke, don't fix it!