Yummy Yummy Yummy - A live report 11/30-12/6 updated with Spoodles

[ChelleinNC]

I booked the Candlelight Processional Package the day they came out. It took a few tries to be able to get LeCellier, but perserverence paid off Our dinner was at 5:05 followed by the 8:15 show narrated by, wait for it.....Barney Stinson um I mean Doogie Howser

The kids met us a little before 5pm and we checked in for dinner. Took about 20 minutes to be seated. We were seated in Prince Edward Island, home of Anne of Green Gables and our waitress Kater. Kater explained that with the Candlelight Package we would get an appetizer, entree, dessert & non-alcoholic beverage for our set price of $53.99 and that we could use our DDE/TiW discount Last year we couldn't and I was pretty sure I had seen that we couldn't this year, but I'm not gonna pass up saving 20%.

DD complained that she was still full from lunch at Electric Umbrella (eventually she'll post that review ) Since I had to pay for DS as an adult, I told him to just try whatever he wanted for an appetizer since it was paid for anyways. After much debate, he decided to try the Cheddar Cheese soup because he knew that everyone else loved it and he could give it to one of us if he didn't like it. DH & DD also ordered the soup. As much as I love it, I decided that (A.) I should take advantage of the appy being included and get something a little different and (B.) I knew I'd end up with DS's soup so I chose the Duck Two Ways.
Cheddar Cheese soup

The soup was warm & yummy. Perfect! DS was happy to learn it had bacon (he loves bacon) he tried a little bit of pretzel bread dipped in the soup and thought it was pretty good. DH enjoyed every last bit of his and DD only ate about half of her bowl, still saying she was too full and not feeling well.

Duck Two Ways


It was a warm duck leg and a cold pate served with a warm cardamom sticky bun. How was I supposed to turn down an appy that included a sticky bun?! I liked the leg, not so sure about the pate. It was better with the sticky bun. The sticky bun was really good DH finished my pate & I finished DS's soup

 

[ChelleinNC]

Ever since DS got to try a bite of filet at LeCellier last year, he's known what he was having for dinner He order the mushroom filet mignon. We asked for everything to be served seperately/on the side so he could try it but not have something "ruin" the filet. When it was served we were told it was "Filet Mingon TV dinner style" When you look at the pic, you'll see why:


Nothing was touching, the wild mushroom risotto was served in a bowl and the white truffle & herb butter sauces was served in it's own little bowl. DS was in heaven the minute he took a bite of his filet, a perfectly cooked medium rare After awhile he became adventurous and tried the truffle & herb butter and almost fell over at how good it was

Sorry to say that DH, DD & I all ordered the same thing. The new Coffee Rubbed Kansas City Strip. It's only been on the menu for about 3-4 weeks. It's a 16 ounce bone in strip with a coffee rub, served with the cream cheese mashed potatoes.

I will start by saying, this was a BIG steak! It was also very good, a little peppery and definitely had a coffee flavor and did I mention it was BIG?! The cream cheese mashed potatoes were yummy! Smooth and cheesey!

DD did not even cut into her steak, which Kater noticed. She immediately brought out a box for DD's meal so she wouldn't have to look at it while not feeling good. DD seemed to be running a temp and obviously not feeling well Thankfully we were able to enjoy our meal even though she didn't. DS wasn't able to eat his whole filet, so Kater brought him a box for his leftovers and I tossed my leftover steak in with his (did I mention it was a BIG steak?!)

Dessert time! DH & DS both got the Maple Creme Brulee, I decided on the Chocolate Whiskey Cake and Kater asked DD which dessert she would like boxed up (very nice ) DD decided the Chocolate Whiskey Cake would travel best. It arrived at the table all boxed up for her to bring back to the villa.

Maple Creme Brulee


I'm not a big creme brulee fan (texture issue), BUT this one is very good. Top was perfectly crunchy and the inside was smooth and mapley. Some get too eggy/custardy/flan like but this was perfectly silky smooth. DH devoured his and DS made it half way thru before he couldn't eat another bite. He was full, but very happy

Chocolate Whiskey Cake

This is chocolatey goodness! Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse brushed with whiskey, what's not to like The sauces on the side were a chocolate vanilla walnut sauce & a honey-thyme anglaise. Both were good and I was very surprised by the honey thyme combo, but the savory thyme worked really well with it.

DH & I both had a cup of coffee with dessert (no charge for the extra drink). While enjoying our dessert, Chef Nicholas came out and made his way around the dining room. We had a chance to tell him how good our meal was and DS was able to thank him for the TV dinner

Excellent meal
4 "adults" at $53.99 each
DDE/TiW discount $43.19
total with tax & tip $222.88

 

[ChelleinNC]

a few pics from Candlelight:






and a family pic from our dinner at HBD

 

[jeminni]

Excellent reviews so far. What a beautiful picture of your family.

 

[disnut1149]

Sunday 11/30

This is probably our favorite restaurant and has become a 1st night tradition for us.

We had a 7pm ADR at Hollywood Brown Derby. After riding a few rides & avoiding as many raindrops as possible we made our way to HBD, starving & anticipating a wonderful meal. We were not disappointed!

We started with cocktails: DH ordered the Manhattan (just seems like the kind of drink you should have here)

I couldn't decide what I wanted Our server Laura suggested the Pumpkin martini but I wasn't real sure about that (especially before dinner) I asked how the Candy Cane martini was and she said "awful!" She said that while it sounded like a good idea, in reality it looks and tastes like Pepto Bismol I decided to go with her other suggestion of the Hollywood It took awhile for my drink to come. Laura informed us that they had a new bartender that night and he was still getting used to things She admitted that my drink was the 3rd attempt and she still wasn't sure it was quite right. It tasted fine to me, but I was pretty sure it had a lot more Chambord in it than it was supposed to I don't remember what else was in it, but it was Yummy!
We started with the Cobb Salad. This is why DH loves HBD.

What can I say other than I'm glad the kids don't like it It was wonderful as always.


The rolls were warm, crusty on the outside & soft on the inside. Delicious Butter is served as a slab on a plate. DS "embellished" his:


Dinner:
DH & I both had the Grilled Atlantic Salmon on soft mascarpone polenta with gorgonzola, balsamic glaze and Sicillan olive tapenade. I've had this several times now and it's always incredible. The salmon is good enough that they can cook/serve it medium rare or even rare. The marscapone polenta is creamy goodness with bits of gorgonzola to add a little bite to it. The olive tapenade is good, but I prefer black olives to green. For those that like green olives, you'd probably think the tapenade was to die for.


DD had the Roasted Sterling Silver Pork Rib Chop with mustard spaetzle, white cheddar, rainbow chard, vinegar onions and pan juices. She fell in love with the pork at HBD last December. It's been a little different each time since, but she's loved every last bite of it. The pork was melt in your mouth, cut it with a butter knife tender. She probably wouldn't eat most of the sides on their own, but said they worked really well together


DS had his usual, what he calls "the best hotdog on property"

It's an all beef hot dog, served with chips. Laura told DS he could have french fries instead, even recommending them because the chips are a "healthy" chip. He gladly took her recommendation

part 2 up next

Hi
Great reviews!! Thanks for sharing. I just wanted to mention that I always thought that pork was supposed to be cooked well done. This looks like it's on the rare side. Did you ask for it that way? Can't wait to read more!!

 

[John's Mom]

Enjoying your great reviews and pics!

 

[MickeyNicki]

What a beautiful family! Hope your daughter is feeling much better.....thanks for the great Le Cellier review....I just booked a quick weekend trip for March and was lucky enough to snag a LC dinner....super excited since we have not been since Dec 06 and DH is really psyched on the new steak....he will be glad to hear how big it is!

 

[TigerKat]

I agree with everyone, beautiful family!!!!!! Great reviews so far. We had Doogie as our narrator for CP last year!

 

[allyphoe]

Hi
I always thought that pork was supposed to be cooked well done.

Trichina (which is the reason for cooking pork well-done, even though it's not an issue for commercially-raised pork anymore) dies at 137 F. So a little pink in the middle won't hurt anything.

 

[ChelleinNC]

Loving your reviews even though I am more than a little bit jealous of you there. Hope you have a fabulous time and spare the time to keep writing your reviews.

So glad that you have posted a review about Hollywood Brown Derby as we try that for the first time in February.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Thanks for reading along We really do love HBD, we've gone 4 times now in the last 2 years (June & Dec 07, June & Nov/Dec 08). We've had excellent food & service each time I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Good start can't wait to hear and see more. Le Celliar yum

Hope you enjoyed the LeCellier pics

Excellent reviews so far. What a beautiful picture of your family.

Thank you

Hi
Great reviews!! Thanks for sharing. I just wanted to mention that I always thought that pork was supposed to be cooked well done. This looks like it's on the rare side. Did you ask for it that way? Can't wait to read more!!

The pork was cooked medium, nowadays with commercial pork the risk isn't there anymore so you don't have to overcook it. Glad you're enjoying the reviews, thanks for reading

What a beautiful family! Hope your daughter is feeling much better.....thanks for the great Le Cellier review....I just booked a quick weekend trip for March and was lucky enough to snag a LC dinner....super excited since we have not been since Dec 06 and DH is really psyched on the new steak....he will be glad to hear how big it is!

Thanks Nicki! It was a rough night for Megan last night, thankfully she's feeling better now. So January & March now? I'm jealous!

I agree with everyone, beautiful family!!!!!! Great reviews so far. We had Doogie as our narrator for CP last year!

You're so sweet! Thank you! Doogie was awesome, legendary even We saw Edward James Olmos last year. He was wonderful, very reverent almost solemn. Neil Patrick Harris started with a joke and had a lighter tone, but you could see he was very much into it. He watched the musicians & singers and even sang along a bit.

Trichina (which is the reason for cooking pork well-done, even though it's not an issue for commercially-raised pork anymore) dies at 137 F. So a little pink in the middle won't hurt anything.

Exactly, great thing when you don't have to over cook and dry out the pork Thanks for stopping in

 

[ChelleinNC]

It was a rough night last night for DD. She really wanted to see Neil Patrick Harris at CP, so she toughed it out till the show ended. Her little brother took her "home" as soon as the show was over and let DH & I stay for Illuminations.

I swore to myself that I was not going to miss the slushies in France this trip, so DH & I got ourselves a little treat to have during Illuminations. He got the Grey Goose slushy & I got the Grand Marnier slushy. Yummy Yummy Yummy! I can't believe I've missed this all these years If you haven't tried it, the Grey Goose limon lemonade slushy tastes like a slightly melted lemon italian ice with vodka The Grand Marnier slushy tastes like a spiked melted orange sherbert

$8.45 each plus tax, total for 2 drinks $18.00 and so worth it

The kids reported in when they got to the villa and DD was sound asleep by the time we got back. Unfortunately she was up a few hours later By this morning she was feeling better. Whatever it was, it seems to have left her system

We decided to take it easy today (just in case) which is how I got caught up on my reports After big meals the last two nights and DD still not being really hungry we decided to cancel Chefs de France and just head over to DTD for the evening.

Planet Hollywood review up next

 

[DizWisher]

The thread is awesome, first of all, and made us want to try HBD.

Nicki, I'm also the product of a Jewish father and Italian mother, so my matzah balls are...interesting.
We went to Boma breakfast and Tutto Italia dinner after reading your reviews and we were delighted, so thanks.

OK, hijack over, thread rethreaded, more food porn!

Miri
aka
DizWisher

 

[oybolshoi]

Now that's the way to start off a busy day!!! I love it - thanks so much!!!

CRUNKY!!!!!

For your viewing pleasure Crunky and other assorted items from Mitsukoshi Department Store in Japan

 

[MickeyNicki]

The thread is awesome, first of all, and made us want to try HBD.

Nicki, I'm also the product of a Jewish father and Italian mother, so my matzah balls are...interesting.
We went to Boma breakfast and Tutto Italia dinner after reading your reviews and we were delighted, so thanks.

OK, hijack over, thread rethreaded, more food porn!

Miri
aka
DizWisher

LOVE IT!!!! And here I thought I was the only one that went to church and temple...both in one weekend!

I am so glad that you enjoyed both Boma and Tutto....they are my favorite places!

Chelle...cannot wait to hear about DTD!

 

[oybolshoi]

BTW ... your reviews have been great so far and your family is too cute! And I'm very glad you finally made it to the squishee stand in France ... ahhhlcoholic squishees - does life get any better?

 

[ChelleinNC]

The thread is awesome, first of all, and made us want to try HBD.

Nicki, I'm also the product of a Jewish father and Italian mother, so my matzah balls are...interesting.
We went to Boma breakfast and Tutto Italia dinner after reading your reviews and we were delighted, so thanks.

OK, hijack over, thread rethreaded, more food porn!

Miri
aka
DizWisher

Thanks joining in!

Now that's the way to start off a busy day!!! I love it - thanks so much!!!

CRUNKY!!!!!

Glad to spread some pixie dust for you

LOVE IT!!!! And here I thought I was the only one that went to church and temple...both in one weekend!

I am so glad that you enjoyed both Boma and Tutto....they are my favorite places!

Chelle...cannot wait to hear about DTD!

Coming up!

BTW ... your reviews have been great so far and your family is too cute! And I'm very glad you finally made it to the squishee stand in France ... ahhhlcoholic squishees - does life get any better?

Those were so good! BTW if anyone wants the Grey Goose slushy and isn't at Epcot, I noticed that several of the stands at DTD had them

 

[ChelleinNC]

After a day of mostly lounging around the villa and pool time for crazy DS (it was 59 degrees ) we headed over to DTD. First stop at the Happy Holidays set up at Marketplace:

Then a stop in the Christmas Shop so I could get a 2008 ornament. I get a new ornament every time we come in December We walked slowly thru the Marketplace and a very sad/empty/depressing PI The only thing of interest was the drink stands (there are several). Grey Goose Slushy was available and the other drink that caught my eye was the SoCo Hurricane. I love Hurricanes & I love Southern Comfort, so I'm thinking I'll have to go back and try one

We walked up to Planet Hollywood without an ADR and were told to walk right in. Had the required picture taken and then we were seated within minutes. Our waitress for the evening was Amber, she was nice but not the brightest bulb if ya know what I mean I know PH gets a bad rap here on the DIS, but we've eaten here several times now without a bad experience. Experience is what told us to skip the appetizers so we would have room for dinner & dessert

DH had his favorite, the LA Lasagna. From allears: A California twist to a classic lasagna! Fresh pasta tubes filled with ricotta cheese and bolognese meat sauce fried to a golden brown and covered with garlic cream sauce and tomato basil sauce.
I can't imagine anyone in LA eating this sounds like more of a Southern food We like our food rich & fried

DH did share a little with me and it was really good! Crisp/crunchy outside and really rich inside. I like heavy rich foods, but I don't think I could eat a whole order of it. DH really enjoyed it

After asking Amber's opinion on a few choices, I went with the Crab Cakes, served with mashed potatoes & fresh vegetables.

The crab cakes were smaller than I expected, but they were full of crab meat with very little filler and the outside had a nice breading that was very crunchy.
Not half eaten, cut open to show all the crab meat

Mashed potatoes were good, veggies were good. Broccoli was just right and the zuchini & squash were very good. I shared with DH and he was thrilled that they weren't over seasoned, that you could actually taste the squash & zuchini. Crisp, not squishy, perfectly cooked

DS is an 11 year old boy who really likes his pizza. He orders it at PH everytime and loves it.

Very cheesey and quite large. He was a happy boy

DD wasn't very hungry so she ordered the potato skin appy.

Not much to say about these, they were potato skins. They were good skins but nothing amazing.

Dessert up next

 

[ChelleinNC]

We like dessert here, as a matter of fact DS had to ask our waitress before we ordered if his favorite dessert was still available. I think we would have left if it wasn't

DS & DH shared the Banana Split Creme Brulee


It's creme brulee on the bottom covered with a banana split They ate every last bite, so I'm pretty sure it was good

DD & I shared the Double Chocolate Brownie Sundae


Huge Ghiradelli chocolate brownie with chocolate icecream & vanilla icecream, chocolate sauce and more whipped cream than you can imagine topped with shaved chocolate & a cherry I love chocolate, I mean LOVE chocolate! So this is perfect for me DD & I finished this and enjoyed every single bite

Total for the meal after DDE/TiW discount was $88.52

It wasn't a gourmet meal, but it really hit the spot and everyone was full & happy afterwards

It was a bit chilly out after dinner, so we headed to the bus stop instead of stopping for a drink. I'll try to get back over there for that SoCo Hurricane later this week.

DD started started feeling blah again before bed and unfortunately I woke up with the upset tummy and DH woke up with the chills/fever/muscle aches. I'm feeling better now, DH is getting there slowly and DD is hibernating in her room so who knows This is where I say Thank goodness for DVC! I am so glad that we're in a 2BR villa with lots of room to spread out (and 2 bathrooms )

Plan for today is to eventually head out to AK for the afternoon & evening EMH. I'm sure we'll have Flame Tree BBQ at some point today and who knows what else.

 

[Me&3]

Sorry to hear you guys aren't feeling well . How many days do you have left? It would be a great day for AK the weather is perfect for it.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Enjoying your reviews!
It was 45 degrees in WPB today, what was the temp at WDW? Brrr!