Not Live but Not Quite Dead Yet Dining Report for Oct 18-26-Completed (Mods please move to Reviews)

agavegirl1

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 23, 2012
And.....Here we go.

Our arrival night after experiencing the safari and Nav’i River Journey. We left Pandora as the rain came down and headed to Nomad Lounge before our Tiffins ADR.

We arrived a little early so we ordered an Annapurna Zing and Tempting Tigris. Thanks for the recommendations.
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We checked in and waited for our text which came at 5:37, 2 minutes after our ADR.

After being seated, we each ordered a new Annapurna Zing. Yes DH liked my drink so much we now own 3 light up lotus flowers.

We perused the menu as we enjoyed our drinks. We settled on sharing the charred octopus. We ordered the pan seared halibut and braised lamb shank with a Manchurian cauliflower “enhancement”. We also ordered a bottle of Argentinian Rose’ I forgot to photograph.
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Octopus..

DH was impressed with the dish and I was impressed I could eat it without a weird reaction to the texture. The char was delicious and the sauce and small amounts of peppers and sausage were very good. Take your taste buds on an adventure and combine the flavors on these plates.

Halibut...

The accompaniments were very complimentary and halibut good but we make better at home. It gave us ideas for the two filets vacuum sealed in our freezer.

Lamb Shank...

Meh..This was bland. I even commented it needed salt. Now, you don’t know me but I am kind of a high flavor but lower salt sort of gal and for me to wish a salt grinder was available is unheard of. The black eyed peas were also, unseasoned. The lamb tasted “gamey” without an herbal enhancement. No mint or thyme or anything. Not even adequate salt and pepper. I prefer the braised pork they used to have at Be Our Guest.

Dessert Trio...

We only needed a few sweet bites for the end of the meal and that is what we got. All of them delicious and all of them small for the price of $14. Pretty much $2 a bite. That, the wine, the cauliflower and the Annapurna Zing were the best parts. We cook a lot and make pretty good entrees with the same proteins. Can't find the photo here

About that cauliflower...we are now finished with day 2 and it is still the best thing so far.

The service was outstanding! Beyond reproach. From the explanation of the premise of the restaurant and inspiration of the the three themed rooms to the recommendation of “cauliflower at it’s best...We have no complaints.

Details and photos will be edited in later.... in November.... When I am not in Florida...And I buy a new computer to download stuff from my camera.

Tomorrow I will write some editable stuff about Garden Grill breakfast and Biergarten “Eat to the Beat” package dinner. Not sure when as I will be branching with Andrew Zimmern at 11:30 and going to Hoop Dee Doo 2nd show.

Name of thread will be changed to “catchy dining thread title”. Later

Okay, mayabe not so catchy but it is....Not so live...
 

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Post 2 Saturday, in the park. Epcot that is.

We started our day making our way to the bus stop at 7:12 AM wearing ponchos in a downpour that was Tropical Storm Nestor. We did not even know there was a tornado watch. We had a pre-park opening ADR for Garden Grill.

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Impressions:

We very much enjoyed it. DH likes sausage and sweets while I am an eggs and bacon fan. The fruit was fresh, the sticky bun the best we ever had and the homemade salsa was very tasty. We each had a POG Mimosa. DH really liked the hazelnut sauce . I didn’t try it.

We asked for our check right away. We met all four characters and Mickey photobombed my pic of the farm from the railing. We had a lovely curved booth on the main level facing the scenery an found it really fun.

Transportation Note.

Bus arrived at POR South Depot 12 minutes after we arrived. Due to the storm, we were the 9th and 10th persons in the security area at Epcot. We waited under the monorail station entrance for protection until 7:42. After Security we waited at the tapstiles for 7-8 minutes. We think there staffing issues because we were technically in a storm. We were the 3rd and 4th people in the restaurant. Subsequently, we rode Soarin Concourse B, Row 1 with 8 other people before anyone else was at the attraction. We called ourselves the day’s guinea pigs and agreed to do it again any time. Only DH and I went around for a second time, much to the amusement of our fellow Guinea Pigs.. 2 rides in Concourse B before 9:05 AM. We rode in row 1 and 3.
 
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Saturday in the park Day 2 Continues...

Biergarten

A favorite venue for us and DH enjoyed it every bit as much as before. I wasn’t as impressed since the salt level for many savory dishes, including vegetable salads was above my tolerance level and the option for “cooked to order” does not exist . I made the mistake of putting hunters gravy on my schnitzel and spatzle and kind of ruined it. On a positive note, the schnitzel was pork and not chicken. DH enjoyed four plates of food and a liter of beer. I had two plates I couldn’t finish and got most of the way through a beer. The show was great as always.
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There are no photos of this meal that turned out.
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Note on the “Eat to the Beat” package...

This was for Biergarten and raised the price by $11 for the two of us. The discount for Disney Visa cardholders was also $11 so we sat in the front row for Baha Men for basically free.454725
 
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Sunday October 20th and I am falling behind.

Sunday Brunch with Andrew Zimmern, a Food and Wine special event.

We arrived and picked up our tickets at the Festival Center, a warehouse like building with painted fancy facade between the Canada and UK pavilions. When there is no event, a wooden gate covers the entrance.

We were allowed to enter shortly thereafter and received our welcome glass of Prosecco, the only glass we would receive. There was orange juice and water at the assigned table and coffee was served. After all were seated, Pam, who is apparently the self-proclaimed “Festival Queen” introduced our brunch and attempted humor.

We had a menu of the buffet items at our place setting, which Pam repeated as if we were illiterate. The buffet was supposedly inspired by the words of wisdom we would hear from chef Zimmern. After the buffet, we would each receive a serving of a dish created by our featured speaker.
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I read the menu with some dismay. Everything seemed to involve fish, even the scrambled eggs with caviar creme fraiche. The smoked salmon tasted old and simply raw with a smoke flavor. I did not try the trout. The sea bass was okay. The “signature dish” of cured sustainable salmon with a cucumber, dill and creamy salad tasted like raw salmon jello. The texture was really unappetizing.

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I enjoyed the Quiche Lorraine and grilled pickled vegetables. That was it out of the entire buffet.

As for Andrew Zimmern...His focus was sustainability. He focused on some surprising topics such as the “fact” that humans are the only species who eat for pleasure. In order to make our current agricultural system sustainable, we should eat one or two days a week for sustenance only, such as a vitamin and mineral enriched smoothie. He even mentioned a nutritionally complete meal replacement called “Soylent”. Yes it is a real thing.

Pam fawned over his every word and injected her pet points at inopportune moments. As a result of chef Zimmern trying to cram in his propaganda and marketing and Pam’s interruptions, there was no time for audience questions. That was what we were interested in...that and a story or two from his travels.

He also touted his new series of books for young readers and his new TV show for MSNBC, all while trying to make us feel guilty about climate change, instill fear into the audience, and even lie about the winters in MN and when the ice goes out.

I went away hungry, wishing I could have at least gotten second flute of Prosecco and feeling pretty ripped off value wise.
 
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Dinner on Sunday was Hoop Dee Doo Review. Why can't I find any Photos of Food??? We enjoyed everything. The servings for a table of 2 is the same quantities as a table of 3 so we had to much food and felt so wasteful. We were seated right behind the musicians. Here...
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Our next day was October 21 and we were headed to EEMH at DHS. We mostly snacked randomly throughout the day. At about 9:30 AM, we headed to Epcot via Skyliner for Breakfast at Les Halles. We shared a Bacon, egg and cheese croissant, Napoleon and Creme Brulee'. We also got Macarons for the hotel. Here is our Breakfast of Champions.
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Our dinner was at Morimoto Asia. We originally booked Yachtsman but they took A5 Wagyu beef off the menu at the beginning of October. This was one of those Yolo moments. We had saved up a lot of Disney points from my Visa and were ready for this once in a lifetime meal.

We started with a cocktail at the bar because a convention rented out the entire upstairs so they were behind on seating. We waited a total of 40 minutes. Our server brought us a complimentary order of Edamame. We practiced our chopsticks skills while deciding what else besides beef we were going to order.


We decided on the ribs.
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Then, the Wagyu Beef.
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They brought it out uncooked and prepared it tableside. No seasoning was required. It is very rich...3 oz of this is as filling as 6 oz of a regular steak.
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We ordered 5 ounces each. Way too much for me.
The round thing is a pat of fat from the same animal which is used to grease the cooktop.
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We also received a certificate of authenticity signed by the farmer in Japan and the Executive Chef of Morimotos. It also had the identification number of the steer and his nose print.

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Tuesday dawned hot and steamy as we headed to AK for our first ride on Flight of Passage. We also had a very Animal Kingdom centric eating plan for the day. Breakfast consisted of macarons from Epcot eaten in the room with in-room Joffreys coffee.

After Riding FOP (and Everest and Safari), we headed to Satu'li for lunch. I chose the shrimp with noodles and DH opted for the chicken with potato hash. Both were good but the servings were large. We also each opted for a beer.
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Later in the afternoon, we needed ice cream and enjoyed these from Dino Bites Snacks...Old Fashioned Hot Fudge Sundae and Scrooge McDuck Billionaire Bacon Caramel Sundae.
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We continued to tour Animal Kingdom then took a bus to AK Lodge Kidani for an early dinner at Sanaa.

Of course we opted for the full Bread Service. DH was impressed.
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We then shared a bottle of South African wine and the
Braaivleis, South African Braai Sampler Plate- trio of grilled meats with Seasonal Accompaniments $33
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The octopus at Tiffins was very good.
3 of the 4 of us had it and loved it.
The short ribs lamb shank and halibut were all very good.
 
Wednesday, October 23rd was laundry day so we had brunch in the Food Court at POR. We shared the ubiquitous "Bounty Platter" that is available at just about every resort. I took no photographs of this, just take my word for it.

We then headed back to Hollywood Studios for a SDD FP and lunch at Woody's Lunchbox. We shared a grilled cheese with tots and had a couple of beers.
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We had a 3:40 Oga's Cantina reservation and were escorted in a little before that. With only two of us, it wasn't hard to find a couple of square feet of standing space.
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Knowing how expensive the drinks are, we opted for a couple of Gold Squadron Lagers.
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We didn't eat at Oga's since we had a Sci Fi Dine Inn ADR. We ordered a bottle of wine (apparently this is extremely rare as Drive In dining fare) and a couple of basic burgers. (Digging for the extremely dark photo I have somewhere). Ah, on my phone of course....The wine did not photograph well. It was red and went with burgers.
We really enjoyed the quiet, cozy atmosphere our somewhat late (8:30 PM)
ADR provided. We had a car to ourselves. Our server was very friendly and attentive and the food was simple but good.
 

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The octopus at Tiffins was very good.
3 of the 4 of us had it and loved it.
The short ribs lamb shank and halibut were all very good.
Our server explained that the octopus is cooked sous vide to make it really tender before charring. It sure works.
 
Thursday October 24th Tequila Lunch.

We had another lazy morning and munched some Grab and Go from the Food Court at POR. Picture your average gas station pre-made wrap and that's breakfast. Hmmm...that reminds me, I saved all my receipts and planned to include them. More editing.

We made our way to Epcot by bus and got to La Cantina De San Angel with plenty of time to spare. They were a little late seating us and shade was hard to come by. After we sweltered for awhile, we were called inside. We sat with a really friendly bunch of frequent attendees of Food and Wine special events.

The Menu of the day...
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I rotated it in my files but it shows up sideways anyway. We started with a welcome Margarita. Our presenter was very knowledgeable and gave us an introductory talk followed by our first course, Swordfish Ceviche paired with Tapatio Blanco Tequila. Good but I was over gelatinous fish by this time.
I did not take a photo of the ceviche.

These are the aromatics to help us detect the various notes of the tequilas.
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Next up was a delicious red masa huarache topped with mushrooms, prosciutto and arugula with some truffle oil. It was so good.
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Our main course was a delightful filet paired with a Mezcal.
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And finally, chocolate cheesecake and anejo tequila.
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Our bold tablemates cajoled the servers to pass over the untouched tequila that would have gone to waste due to some no-shows nearby.
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We would do this specialty dining experience again. We learned a great deal about tequila (which we enjoy) and the food and experience were wonderful.
 
For Thursday Evening, we had a 7:30 ADR for Jaleo. I had read a whole bunch of reviews of this place. Josh over at EasyWDW had a very thorough review involving tasting and reviewing a large number of items along with other bloggers.

We took the boat from POR and transferred at the landing.
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I like the Tapas format for this restaurant. We were able to try a number of new things and share. Since we were quite early, we started off with cocktails...
Catamaran-Barcelo Imperial rum, Fever Tree Indian tonic, lime, Angostura bitters $15

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After being seated, we started with
Pan de Cristal con Tomate Toasted slices of uniquely crispy and ethereal bread brushed with fresh tomato $12 Crisp and fresh tasting. Yum.

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Followed by
Datiles con Tocino 'Como Hace Todo el Mundo'Fried bacon-wrapped dates served with an apple-mustard sauce $11 These were so good.
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Paletilla Ibérica de Bellota36-month cured ham shoulder from the legendary free range, acorn-fed, black-footed ibérico pigs of Spain $30 Very good but pricy.
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Gambas a al Zahara,Head-on shrimp, with garlic and extra virgin olive oil prepared as Jose does in summer $28 These are so flavorful I wish we could get them somewhere near us.

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And the already being shared and consumed Paella which was a chicken and mushroom I believe.
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Now for something completely different....The Bathroom.....

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The other one is the same but bright green per DH. Almost blinding.
 
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Friday the 25th was our MNSSHP night. We had an ADR at Be Our Guest prior to the party at 4:20PM. We dodged rain showers and made it to the restauraunt right on time. We were seated at a tiny two top in the Ballroom but it wasn't bad as it was against a wall and we had only one table near us to contend with.

We started with wine (of course). It was the same Rose' we had ordered 5 years prior. We remembered we liked it. For our Prix Fixe menu, DH ordered: Lobster Bisque with Lamb Chops and I ordered French Onion Soup and the Filet. We both got the Dessert Trio of course.
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DH's Lobster Bisque looked like it had been sitting awhile and upon tasting it, he noted it had cooled and had a film on top. You can see it around the edges of the bowl.
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My French Onion Soup was very good and tasted better than prior years. The Manager (who came by later) told us they are using veal stock now instead of the vegetable stock they used to use.

DH really enjoyed the lamb.
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I found the filiet to be flavorful and perfectly cooked. The potatoes, however tasted undercooked.
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The Dessert Trio was cute but soooo.... sweet. The raspberry macaron was so tempting with the fresh raspberries I couldn't resist.
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We were visited while we ate dessert by both the Maitre'D and Manager. We commented on the good and bad of our meal. To show appreciation for our candid commentary, the manager approved a 20% discount for our entire meal.
 
We attended Cruella's party within a party. We did not take pictures of our selections but due to raining pretty much the whole time, we were there for most of the time it was open. We tried to venture out when the parade finally started, but we our feet were already soaked and we just took a patio table and listened to the music. The offerings were all pretty good. I enjoy savory items and DH has a sweet tooth so there was plenty for us. They had a pretty good Chardonnay too.
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The next morning we went to the Parisian Breakfast at Les Chef's and also did not take photos. Well, we did, but they got accidentally deleted.

The offerings were very pastry heavy but there were meats and cheeses as well. I enjoyed everything I tried and the bottomless Mimosas were a real plus.

After a couple of Fast Passes, we were on our way to the second half of our vacation, Universal Orlando.
 

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