Sweet Tooth & Salt Nut's TOTALLY Live TiW Dining Extravaganza! 1/17 DESSERT PARTY!

[BlovesC]

Greetings and welcome to my first official dining report! I've done a few festival recaps and single-restaurant reviews here and there but I've never gone FULL GLITZ!

I'm B, and my DH is C, and yes my username is girlishly ridiculous but I signed up for the DIS while I was planning our wedding and now I'm stuck with it!

I'm the lover of all things pumpkin and all things sweet, especially cupcakes (my dream is to land on Cupcake Wars someday next to my pastry hero, Florian!) and ice cream and I DEMAND DESSERT EVERY DAY! My DH is a salty snack fanatic and would always choose appetizers over dessert! Unless the dessert is made by me in which case he's forced to regard it as the most fantastic item he's ever eaten.

We'll be checking in tomorrow afternoon (after I attend classes in the morning, boo hiss!) at our favorite resort, AKL, for five nights to celebrate my upcoming birthday (1/16!)

Our lineup of establishments to be visited in the name of science:

1/12
Lunch at the Mara
Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern

1/13
Breakfast at Boma
Snack at Beaches & Cream
Dinner at Coral Reef swapped for La Hacienda de San Angel


1/14
snack at Kusafiri
Lunch at Yak & Yeti
Dinner at 'Ohana

1/15
Lunch at Flame Tree Barbeque

Dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express & Ghiradelli

1/16
Breakfast at Crystal Palace
Snack at Aloha Isle
Dinner at Kona Cafe
Wishes Dessert Party!

1/17
Breakfast at Kona Cafe



BONUS: TIANA BIRTHDAY CAKE!

Check back tomorrow night for our first potential live update...unless we're sucked into the "Must Do's!" vortex and spend our downtime glued to Stacey instead!

 

[Bonniec]

subbing!

We'll be there the 20th so I'll be looking for your reviews. Especially Ohana and the Wishes party!

 

[Happy 2 B Me]

I think there are 35 reasons I really dislike you and Mr. C. Maybe 36 but who is counting MILES. Why or why do so many people have to live MY Dream? Oh, One second-- lets see hurricanes, alligators, posion snakes, misquitos, and that dog gone humitity you call summer. Now that I think of it-- I am living a dream right here in Washington State.

Sorry I just had to feel sorry for myself for a few mins. Grats on Birthday. I think it is wonderful even living so near Disney you stay on site. So hard to have so much fun-- stay up late then have to drive home after a wonderful but long day at WDW.

I will be watching for your reviews-- some how I think the reviews will be fun to read about.

Snack and Yeti Just to cute LOL

 

[gardengirl628]

Yay!!! Can't wait to read your reviews! Count me in.

 

[BlovesC]

We're heeeere! I have a small update for now, but a very important one. I'm obsessed with the disney cake threads and I've ordered one in the past for my DSIL and it was lovely, so I was very very set on ordering a special birthday cake to be delivered to our AKL room. But I just couldn't get past the prices, especially since it's just the two of us.

Soooo, we went to our old cake standby, Publix! We picked it up on our way here and it is a BEAUTY;

Marble cake layers with buttercream filling and frosting. I loooove the princess and the frog and when I saw this design in the publix book I had to have it! It's a 1/4 sheet and cost us $27.99. We haven't cut it yet, we'll have some later (though publix cakes are always delicious!) but we plan on eating it for breakfast for a few mornings because CAKE is the most important meal of the day after all!

The best part of getting cakes like this at Publix is that everyone from the cashier to the decorator ooohs and ahhhs over how much some special little girl will love it...I couldn't fess up that that special little girl is me!

 

[kelleigh1]

Looking forward to following along!

 

[BlovesC]

After we checked in and got our room settled we headed to the Mara for lunch. I had but one wish in my mind when I walked in and was delighted when I saw the following sign: "Soups available: BUTTERNUT SQUASH" We haven't stayed at AKL since 2010, and I hadn't heard anyone mention any soups in Mara reviews for awhile now, so I was thinking they'd gotten rid of my single favorite AKL food item. But there it was!

DH: "What do you want?"
Me, with eyes glazed over: "Soup."
DH: "Yeah, but what to go with the soup?"
Me: "More soup."

So yes, I got two cups of soup for lunch. With a croissant for added measure.

I'm no lightweight, but I admitted defeat when I got to the second cup and DH had to finish it. This isn't really even soup, people, it's MOLTEN HOT LIQUID PUMPKIN PIE IN A CUP. I swear! I've had many varieties of butternut squash soup but none as rich, creamy, and full of nutmeg as this stuff. It's definitely a heavy option!

DH had the chicken pita with a side of fries:

His review is, and I quote: "It's good!" Well, there you have it!

 

[BlovesC]

Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern
or as I shall forever remember it, thanksgiving hangover at Magic Kingdom

This was a first for us! We were seated relatively quickly after checking in. The colonial decor is really kind of warm and welcoming.

Our server was a bit distant, not overly friendly, and I told him up front we had TiW, reminded him again, then asked if he'd like the card, which he declined...only to bring us a bill without any TiW discount. So I had to shove the card at him and wait for a new receipt. That was a little odd. But he kept the meal going at a nice pace!

We started with the declaration salad, just your basic mixed salad, and dinner rolls. These dinners rolls were pure golden fluffy pillows of EVIL. I don't know if it was the rolls or the butter or both, but they were light, warm, and had a fantastic honey flavor. I wanted to eat the entire basket and cancel the rest of the meal.

Buuuut luckily I didn't, because soon enough the main course arrived! Our poor little table for two was soon covered in bowls and plates. At first I thought "holy cow, they don't shrink the serving sizes for parties of two?!" but then we saw even larger platters brought out to a table of four next to us, so nope, all this food was really supposed to be for us!

On my plate I selected turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, mac & cheese, green bean casserole, some of the apple chutney-esque stuff, and a small piece of roast beef that I gave back to my DH, way too rare for me.

I'm a turkey junky and we eat it in some form more than any other meat in our house, so I was quite happy! It was a bit similar to lunchmeat turkey, but flavorful. The potatoes and gravy were creamy and delicious. The green bean casserole was a little bland, but that's not really one of my favorite dishes anyway. The mac & cheese was thick and gooey, fairly typical but tasty mac. The only thing I really didn't like was the stuffing, which had a strong garlic flavor that I didn't expect. The turkey is the plate winner for me!

On DH's plate he had all the same stuff except he added pork, cauliflower, and more beef.

He didn't like the stuffing either, because of the garlic, and didn't really eat the mac and cheese. He loved the turkey and gravy, and thought the pork was a bit bland. But the beef, oh he loved the beef. So much so that he asked for seconds.

Now, about halfway through my plate, I suddenly got hit with that brick wall of food overload that usually occurs on thanksgiving after three plates. I'm not sure why it hit me so quickly with this meal, perhaps because the gravy was surely made from pure concentrated lard, or the 27 honeylicious rolls I'd eaten suddenly caught up with me. But I kinda slumped down in my seat for a bit, and when DH asked for seconds on the beef, and they brought him out a full dinner-sized plate with about five bright red meaty slabs, I just about lost it. I asked DH if he could somehow arrange for the AKL bus to drive up the door of LTT so I could roll right onto it and back to the room to die.

But before I faded completely, this was brought out:

DESSERT! CAKE! ICE CREAM!

Johnny Appleseed Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream

One bite of this completely cured my gut's previous displeasure. I know, that's hard to understand, but trust me, it's science. The cake, which was served slightly warm, was a yellow cake filled with apples and craisins. I wasn't at all excited by the description, but it was VERY moist and yummy, not too overbearingly heavy after the insane feast just served, and with deliciously creamy ice cream on top, how can you go wrong?!

I truly advise folks who intend to hit LTT for dinner and get their money's worth, don't eat anything in the 12 or so hours prior to your reservation. Or maybe 24 hours. Or 48. Seriously, that's one heavy meal!

Back tomorrow with Boma breakfast!

 

[gardengirl628]

I love your cake! And dinner at LTT looks yummy!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

The cake is beautiful, waiting for more wonderful reviews : and I love a live report - have an amazing time and send our love to AKL

 

[wilma-bride]

Great start to the reviews. Looking forward to hearing about Kona and 'Ohana, two of our favourites.

 

[Linda67]

Great reviews!
Count me in for the rest

 

[BlovesC]

1/13 Boma Breakfast

We had a reaaaally early Boma reservation (7:30) because this had originally been our DHS day, which we never bother with unless we make it to rope drop. We'd decided the night before to ditch DHS and stay at the resort, but we still dragged ourselves out of bed for our super early breakfast!

After a short argument about the name of Boma's magical juicy juice (I say frunch, DH says jambo juice, the server shot us both down by calling it jungle juice!) we grabbed our first plates.

Here's mine;

The bottom half of the plate was a mistake and I blame it on my sleepy eyes. I never eat pork, as most ham/bacon/sausage items make me queasy, so the bacon went to waste. The scrambled eggs, which you can kind of tell from the pic, were suuuuper runny, which I noticed when I was scooping them but felt it was kinda rude to just drop the scoop back into the pot. The corned beef hash I mistook for turkey bobotie...woops! But the pancakes, potatoes, and strawberries were delicious!

DH's first plate;

His plate was a success except for the bacon. DH is pretty much a fan of all things meat but their whimpy, soggy bacon makes him weep meat-tears. He had corned beef AND the corned beef hash and loved it, it's not something he eats often outside of St Patty's anyway and it was delicious, as were the roasted tomatoes.

He also had quinoa...which, if someone had leaned in and told him "pssst, that stuff's good for you!", would have wound up being thrown against the wall, but he chose it of his own free will and actually liked it.

My second trip was MUCH more successful, as I went to the omelette station and got this beauty;

filled with mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheese. Delicious! I'll never do breakfast here again without getting an omelet. I also grabbed some strawberry banana yogurt. With an additional strawberry bonus.

DH's second plate was meatapalooza again:

sausage ("good!"), ham with Boma mustard ("woah, hot! my nose is running!"), MORE corned beef hash ("I want a whole skillet of this"), and a sticky bun ("meh").

But wait, there's more! Have you caught on that we're not light eaters yet?

I had to get a pastry plate;

it was all lovely, but I should have cut the selections in half. The sweetness of the banana bread and chocolate croissant was just too much so early, even for me, but the croissant and muffins were great.

DH went back up and made this...concoction...

it's yogurt on top of rice krispies. I have no idea. Buffets just make him TOO adventurous I think. But he ate it, and liked it. Though he generally likes everything!

And our meal ended with a birthday surprise, complete with our very sweet server lighting a candle and singing to me! The tray of goodies contained a pistachio macaroon, a spice cake, chocolate truffle, and guava gummy.

I celebrate my birthday at Disney each year, and without failure Boma remains the one restaurant that ALWAYS acknowledges special occasions, at least in my experience! I never expect anything, but Boma is fairly reliable with their tray of goodies. Even though I don't quite care for most of them it's a nice gesture, and often they'll give you a card with hand-written wishes from the staff as well. Can't beat the friendliness here!

 

[BlovesC]

subbing!
We'll be there the 20th so I'll be looking for your reviews. Especially Ohana and the Wishes party!

Yay, enjoy you're upcoming trip! It's our first time for Ohana and the dessert party so we're stoked!

Now that I think of it-- I am living a dream right here in Washington State.

You ARE, because I'm a huge fan of apples and you have some of the best varieties! Here in FL it's extremely hard to grow any and for some reason they don't even bother important many varieties...some of my favorites that I used to get growing up never make it down here even in season. Pfffbt, these people can keep their citrus, gimme an apple anyday! You also get lovely fall weather, which is the greatest season!

I will be watching for your reviews-- some how I think the reviews will be fun to read about.

TY so much!

Yay!!! Can't wait to read your reviews! Count me in.

Looking forward to following along!

Welcome aboard!

The cake is beautiful, waiting for more wonderful reviews : and I love a live report - have an amazing time and send our love to AKL

Publix makes great cakes for a great price! AKL received your love and sends hugs and zebra domes back!

Great start to the reviews. Looking forward to hearing about Kona and 'Ohana, two of our favourites.

TY! Kona is our fave restaurant in all of WDW, so it's kind of odd we've never tried Ohana yet! It's popularity does make it hard though. I'm pretty certain DH will be on cloud nine there!

Great reviews! Count me in for the rest

Thank you and welcome! Dining out is such a hard job, good thing we're professionals!

 

[jedijill]

I'm in!

Great review so far.

Jill in CO

 

[BlovesC]

1/13 Beaches & Cream SNACK TIME!

A few hours after breakfast, despite not deciding to go anywhere, we left AKL and headed to DHS anyway. We rode RnR and ToT and were ready to split, as there's just something about that park that makes us itchy to leave after barely an hour. We were in an exploratory mood so we decided to head to the Epcot resorts area, which we've really never spent any time in. I knew if we were over there we HAD to try Beaches and Cream, which I've seen so many drool-worthy reviews of here on the DIS. Sure enough, we strolled up shortly before noon and were seated promptly.

It almost goes without saying what we ordered! The famed No Way Jose!

DH looks like a kid in a candy store doesn't he?! This sundae was faaaaantastic. We both love peanut butter in any combination with ice cream, and while I'd usually never get vanilla ice cream in sundaes, this was perfect because a stronger flavor would have been almost overbearing. Creamy and delicious, the peanut butter and fudge was heaped on generously. Probably the best $8 we've ever spent in a Disney eatery! The CMs at Beaches and Cream were as sweet and fun as the atmosphere and decorations, we definitely plan on going back for a full meal!

 

[BlovesC]

1/13 Dinner at La Hacienda de San Angel

or "why you should never change your answers!"


Our dinner tonight was originally supposed to be at Coral Reef, which we'd never been to and I was excited for the atmosphere, however, as dinner time approached, I simply didn't FEEL like having fish, and there was nothing else on the CR menu that interested me. So we looked to see what other ADRs were open and selected La Hacienda, another place that was new to us.

Biiiiiiiiiig mistake! Never change a meal you were previously excited about just because your taste buds were suddenly being whacky!

We were seated promptly at La Hacienda and the restaurant is VERY nice inside, huge windows, colorful artwork, beautiful blown glass (I think?) lanterns hanging from the ceiling, a really nice atmosphere. Unfortunately, we were seated at a table for two sandwiched, and I mean sandwiched, in beween two four-tops, and the servers had to literally turn sideways to get between our table and the chairs from the opposite tables backed up to it. DH and I were bumped into, with apologies, all night. Not a great start!

Our server was very friendly and attentive though. We started with the chips and salsa and the Mango Fire margarita for DH. I'm not into chips, but he liked them well enough. The margarita description mentioned Tabasco sauce, but it wasn't hot at all.

For our entree, we went with the La Hacienda mixed grill, with chicken, chorizo, and flank steak:

This smelled and looked amazing when it came out, but our reviews are very mixed. Again, I don't like pork, and I'm not big on steak, so DH was going to tackle those while I had the chicken. Unfortunately, the sweet sauce they put on the chicken made it kind of weirdly moist in a way that made it seem like the chicken was undercooked. DH swore up and down that it was cooked perfectly, and I could SEE that it looked fine, but I'm a freak about poultry and the moment my mind tells me something is undercooked I just can't eat it. So DH got to eat the meats. I focused on the vegetables and the sides:

The rice was average, but the black beans were VERY tasty. A bit salty, but they packed a lot more flavor than I expected.

So, yeah, I filled my plate with rice, black beans, and corn, which was a little disappointing. But DH loved absolutely everything that was served. We're both big on mexican/southwestern/south american food, but this just didn't do it for me.

I decided to rely on my old standby that never lets me down; DESSERT! I ordered the "Empanada de Manzana - Puff pastry filled with sauteed caramel apples and vanilla bean ice cream with kahlua sauce".

This is what it looked like when it came out:

This is what it looked like when I stuck my spoon in it:

Is anyone else confused? Because I sure was. I've had beef empanadas before...and expected this to be a dessert take on it. So I expected a puffed pastry filled with apples. I dug through the entire pastry and couldn't find a single apple morsel, although there was a glaze-like substance on the bottom of the shell, almost like there had been apples that magically evaporated. I expressed my confusion to our server and she brought out a second empanada, but it was exactly the same as the first. So I'm guessing I'm just misunderstanding the dessert, and it's a puffed pastry shell with an apple...flavoring? to it somehow? I have no idea. The dulce de leche ice cream served on the side (which only came out on the first plate) was delicious though!

It wasn't a horrible dinner by any means, it just really didn't work out for me, but again, DH voted it the best so far ( out of all two nights! ) so others may have better luck!

 

[wilma-bride]

DH is a big fan of the No Way Jose, I prefer the Hot Fudge Sundae. Either way, Beaches and Cream is always a winner for us.

Did you share your meal at La Hacienda? The steak looks mega dry from the picture. I am funny about chicken as well and wouldn't have eaten it if I thought it was undercooked - who wants salmonella on a vacation (or at any other time, for that matter)

 

[emmysmommy]

Loving your review!!

I would absolutely expect something inside the carmamel apple empanada. That is just so odd. The photo looks yummy!

 

[kelleigh1]

We'll be staying at YC for our next trip and I suspect we'll be a Beaches & Cream several times during the week. I love ICE CREAM!!!