Friday, October 16th - Food & Wine Festival Signature Dinner at Todd English's Bluezoo
For years now, since Jay and I discovered the annual fall joy that is usually Epcot's Food & Wine Festival, we have wanted to attend a Festival Signature Dinner. The supposed jewels in the Festival's crown, these dinners were either held in various WDW signature restaurants or at a hidden-in-plain-view venue in Epcot that could only be reached by following Yellowbeard's treasure map.
And each year we planned to attend the Festival there was always a reason why we couldn't book one of these events:
1) The only dinner being offered during our trip dates featured a Pacific Northwest inspired menu. BLEH!!! No offense to our friends on the Upper West Coast, but forest critters, mushrooms, tree bark, and crackberries do not an appetizing menu make for this picky crohn and her hubby.
2) We made the fatal mistake ...
twice... of inviting family to travel with us to WDW to enjoy the Festival months before programming was released only to discover that all the dinners Jay and I would most enjoy -- Unpronounceable French Foods; or Jiko Serves the Savannah-mals; or The China Pavilion Features Kentucky Fried Panda; It's Finger Ling-Ling Good -- were being offered while said family members would be with us. We couldn't abandon them while in WDW and they had no interest in overpriced, weirdly plated, delectable delights paired with wine.
3) In 2008 when it looked like our path was finally clear and we were primed to slop over with money to throw at Epcot, the event planners cut the signature dinners back to just three for the length of the Festival and then scheduled them within five days of each other in November.
Is it just me or does that strike everyone here as an incredibly special kind of stupid?
Moving on to 2009 ...
finally ... imagine our delight coupled with horror when the schedule was released and we discovered that three dinners were going to be offered during our ten-night stay. And that number would have climbed to four if I'd been able to finagle one extra night for the trip, but since I'd gone and given our extra points away to family in a sudden and unexplainable fit of the nices there would be no additional signature dinner and no suckling pig for us.
How then to choose between the three dinners left to us? We eliminated The Wave ...
with a muttered "never invite family again" ... because guests X&Y wouldn't be interested in attending it, and I decided that I wanted to dine at Flying Fish on my birthday (the 17th), so the only choice remaining was Bluezoo. This was not a bad thing, however; the signature dinner held there in 2008 received pretty high marks from many DISers whose opinions I value, and our odds of getting a reservation were significantly higher for this event because Todd English books the entire restaurant for his signature dinner rather than limiting the evening to 30-40 seats.
Jason and I were really looking forward to this evening - we've dined at Bluezoo previously and the food and service were amazing -- and there were a lot of DIS-foodies who were going to be in attendance that we were looking forward to either seeing again or meeting for the first time. While we were getting ready for dinner, Jay and I shared some of the wine we'd picked up the day before in France. Last year during our French Regional Lunch at Bistro Paris we were served this wine and I fell in love with it. I'm not usually a fan of Rose' but this one just struck a chord with me for some reason - it's a lovely coral color, refreshing and somewhat dry with just a hint of fruit.
Rose d'Anjou
The reception was scheduled to start at 6:30PM with dinner at 7PM, and we were meeting up with friends at the restaurant at 6PM to secure a good place in line so that we could get in early and nab some appetizers. It still took us longer to get to the Dolphin than we expected, though, because the weather was stormy and uber-humid. Yet again we'd forgotten to bring an umbrella with us from Stinktown, so I refused to walk outside until I absolutely had to.
All dressed up with someplace to go!
Those of you who've been reading along with me for the last couple of years may recognize my "pose" in the picture above ... you eagle-eyes will also no doubt notice that my recent weight gain has made it impossible for one leg to hide behind the other. I may still be a no-pants-wearing-bewb-flashing-for-freebies kinda gal, but the one-legged trick isn't going to work anymore until I drop about 30 pounds.
By the time we reached Bluezoo there was already a bit of a line to check-in, but our dining buddies had been true to their word and they were all first in line, so Jay and I joined them ahead of the other guests. This did make me feel a bit guilty at first but we were all in the same party so I didn't let it bother me for too long but I do apologize to anyone we may have offended by our buttinski that night. We were joining Webray, Dizneykid, and Redzinner and their respective hubbies for dinner that night and while I knew we would have a good time with them I had no idea just how much fun it was going to be.
The reception was held in Bluezoo's bar, which was far too small for the number of people attending the dinner to comfortably mingle. The best thing to do was get in, find a spot to perch, and then hope someone walked past with a tray of food and drinks. I was very pleased to see that we had our choice of Bluezoo's signature drink - the zooberry - or a glass of Ruffino Pinot Grigio. I snagged a zooberry while Jay opted for the wine and then we stopped at a table to gobble some snacks.
Zooberry!
I did like this drink, but it was a little stronger than I expected and not as cold as I would have preferred. I'm not sure that I would order it the next time we dine at Bluezoo because it was also a little fruitier and sweeter than I typically like my cocktails, but I'm glad I had a chance to try it.
There were three appetizers being passed around: Hamachi; Pork Belly; and an Octopus skewer. I really liked the hamachi which was served with salmon roe so it had nice texture as well as a wonderful sweet / salt taste combination. The pork belly didn't do much for me ... I'm not really a fan of pork fat regardless of who's prepared it, but it was served on a bed of yummy vegetable puree that I really enjoyed. Jay said he actually thought the pork belly was the best appetizer offering because it had a really good flavor but he also liked the hamachi quite a bit.
The octopus wasn't something that I wanted to eat but I'd promised Jay that I would try to be more adventurous tonight since we'd spent so much to attend the dinner. All I recall from this is that it was chewy and I didn't like it. It must not have made much of an impression on Jason, because he said he doesn't really remember anything about it either.
Appetizer selection left to right: hamachi; pork gut; squid skewer.
There was one additional appetizer that we never would have known about if Webray hadn't told us about it. There were these long skewers at the bar with some kind of lobster chunk hanging off the end - the idea being that patrons walked up, asked the bartender for a skewer, and then leaned forward and sucked it right off.
Shocking! Naughty! Tasty!
I'm not a big lobster fan but I did enjoy this, probably more because of the presentation than the taste. We tried to get a decent picture but it was really difficult, especially with the dim lighting in the bar, so we gave up and went back to our drinks. It wasn't long before they began seating parties for the dinner - I don't know if it's because Webray has top-secret foodie connections or because of our party size, but we were seated in Bluezoo's wine room with two other groups that we found out later were winery representatives.
Jay was nice enough to take a picture of the room from the foot of our table:
We call this the Wino-Room!
We received top-notch service and a whole lotta wine through the course of the dinner, but it did feel like we were isolated from the happenings in the main dining room and it was difficult to hear anything that was being said by the chef, the Ruffino winery rep, or the leather muppet himself - Todd English.
The meal started with an Amuse: apple
cider, celery
Served with Ruffino Orvieto Classico, Orvieto
**the menu was presented a little oddly and as I read through it all I kept thinking was "what the hell are we actually going to be served???" I have listed each item here as it's shown on the menu so that you, too, can be confused.**
This was one of my favorite courses of the evening I thought the presentation was fun and the flavors light and crisp. The shooter actually tasted better as a kind of gelatinous drink with tiny apple chunks than it did eaten from a spoon. The four of us at our end of the table all ended up pounding back a shot of apple goo, and it was good!
Amused yet?
Shot glass of apple goo.
The first course of the evening was listed as: scallop
lobster jus, littleneck clam, iberico ham broth, sorrel
Served with Ruffino libaio Chardonnay, Toscana
This was pretty good - the scallop was cooked perfectly with a light sear, and it was tender and sweet. And I don't do clams, so mine migrated to Jay's plate where it met with an untimely demise. The rest of the plate, to be honest, just baffled me. There were two small cubes of meat that looked like spam chunks but which Jay and I suspect were actually iberico ham, and those bright dots ... they were some kind of vegetable that we've since forgotten the name of and they were just weird. The texture was thick and gooey and I thought they were actually kind of tasteless. They looked cool but that's about it - like hobbits, they are not for eating!
The scallop slides ... and ... it's safe!
Second course: porcini papardelle
fall mushrooms, ricotta salata, focaccia breadcrumbs
Served with Santedame Estate Romitorio di Santedame, Toscana
I knew enough from reading the menu in advance to know that I wasn't going to like this dish one bit. I don't like mushrooms ... I never have and I never will ... but I thought I'd be safe eating the pasta. Was I ever wrong. This was the saltiest, most unpleasant pasta I've ever tried to eat. It was horrible. And it wasn't just me; the folks at our table and people I spoke with afterwards who also attended all seemed to be in agreement - somebody in the kitchen royally screwed up this dish.
Lori & Catherine's table wins the prize for best re-named dish by dubbing this Dead Sea Pasta. If the name fits ...
Thanks, but I have a salt lick back in the room.
Third course: vitello tonnato
sweetbreads, toro, lemon, garlic chip
Served with Ruffino Riserva Ducale Oro Chianti Classico Riserva, Toscana
Another internal sigh on my part ... I don't care for sweetbreads. I don't like food that calls itself one name and then shows up as something else entirely. So to clarify, I like sweet breads such as lemon-poppyseed cake, but I do not like sweetbreads which are animal glands trying to trick you into eating them. But I was very excited to see that toro was draped across the top of the dish - I love tuna and just assumed that I would be happy eating the toro which is the fatty belly of a tuna. In fact, I was so comfortable in this assumption that I picked up the toro and tossed the whole thing into my mouth. BLEARGH!!! It was salty and fishy ... nothing like the delicate, buttery delight I was expecting. Again, others at our table also expressed that they thought the toro was too salty and too fishy, which leads me to believe that we were on the receiving end of not-so-fresh fish because fresh fish doesn't smell fishy. Jay said his toro tasted of fat and nothing else and he didn't like it one bit.
Glands and fat; eat them up, yum!
Fourth course: wagyu
shortrib, cauliflower, petite vegetables
Served with Tenuta Greppone Mazzi Brunello di Montalcino, Toscana
This course was much anticipated and after the disappointment of the previous two dishes, we were all quite pleased to be presented with something truly tasty that saved the evening from being a total let-down. The wagyu, draped across the shortrib, was fabulous - flavorful and tender and juicy. The vegetable puree was a dream - I love veggies when they're served like this. If Seven-Eleven were to add a new product line I'd be all over a pulverized potato squishee!
Wagyu, shortrib, and puree...
More wagyu ... with a tail!
Fifth course: humboldt fog
chestnut, maple, brioche, nitro raisin
Served with Ruffino Modus Super Tuscan Tocscana
At first I was happy to see this on the menu because I loves me some humboldt fog, but then I realized this was the only cheese we were going to be served and that kind of irked me. If you're going to be lazy and have a cheese course ... and I'm not knocking cheese courses because I love them, but they don't require much effort ... then at least
try to impress your guests. I guess that's what the nitro raisin was for.
The nitro raisin was served tableside - the raisins were dropped into a small pot of liquid nitrogen and then the remnants were spooned onto the cheese plate. While it was a cool thing to see, it didn't do anything for me in the taste department ... it was just powdery and a little gacky.
Humboldt Fog plate ...
Nitro Raisin
Nitro Raisins or Rabbit Turds? You Be the Judge!
And finally, the sixth and final course of the evening: pear and caramel millefeuille
tonka bean ice cream
Served with Ruffino Serelle Vin Santo Del Chianti, Toscana
I had high hopes for this dessert because it was such a lovely presentation (other than the smear of baby poop on the plate); unfortunately it was completely bland and tasteless. I never picked up any actual flavor, just an overpowering sweetness. Tonka beans, by the way, are from South America and are apparently used as a substitute for vanilla. We thought it was just Muppet Man's clever name for a dessert that would be served in a toy truck.
Just because the cookie is shaped like a pear that doesn't mean it will taste like one!
Here's a shot of all the wines we were served throughout the dinner:
I know we drank more than this...
And a group picture at the end of the evening:
Hey brother pour the wine!
So, what did we think? Man, that's a tough question. We had a really good time with our friends and we're glad we went but honestly, for the price we paid to attend we expected better. It's bad enough that one course was prepared poorly, but for two or three of them to be less than stellar was just unacceptable. Obviously we didn't attend the Bluezoo dinner in 2008, but from everything I read that was the better of the two signature events. The sad thing is that almost everyone who attended both dinners said the same thing - last year's dinner was better. I also take issue with the winery - it was apparently the same winery that was featured last year. That smacks of laziness. And while I have nothing against Ruffino - they produce fine and affordable wines - for the cost of attendance ($185 per person plus tax & gratuity) I really expected a higher quality wine and more interesting pairings.
We're not soured on the F&W Festival signature dinner experience ... yet ... but we will not book another event at Bluezoo. We could, and did, have a far better dinner in Bluezoo's bar the following week than we had at the signature event. Live and learn, I suppose.
I am unable to rate this event according to the scale I established before we left for WDW ... it's on the border between pretty good and "meh" depending on the course. Perhaps the better thing to do is this: based on our experience with the food we wouldn't feel comfortable recommending the Bluezoo signature dinner to our friends or enemies. The food quality was too uneven for such a highly priced event and the wine pairings were uninspired. Do yourself a favor and just book a regular reservation for dinner and try a bacon-bourbon blast in the bar - you will probably have a better meal.
Thanks for reading - coming up next Bendy turns 40 and orders room service for breakfast while Jay tries to shake off the effects of all that wine!
Great review as always B
Thanks for reading - I agree with Catherine's reply ... it's great to do once just for educational and tasting purposes but after that spend your hard-earned vacation dollars on the margaritas. 
On the other hand, now we get to go to Alinea with all the money we're saving with no Vegas trip.
So where did everyone go to eat after that? It didn't look like there was enough edible food to fill anyone up (how can anyone mess up pasta 
)....or is that what the wine was for? 
I am looking forward to returning to BZ in Feb though.
We also miss the days of snagging an ADR at the last minute on resort with no trouble at all. Rose & Crown anyone? 
