***2009*** Epcot Food & Wine Festival ENDED NOV. 8

[TDC Nala]

Out of principle I try not to order anything you can buy year round. Yep that includes the Canadian cheese soup. I did order the sausage but I know I'll never get into Le Cellier to try the sausage...but I've had the soup.

[eporter66]

We just got back and loved it!!! We went on Tuesday (10/20). The World Showcase really did not get crowded at all until after 6:00. We spent a lot of the afternoon eating our way around - here is what we had and how we liked it.

Canada - Cheddar Cheese Soup...One of our favs
Argentina - Beef Empenada and Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri - both favorites as well
Mexico - Chipotle Chicken - pretty good
Italy - The pizza was very disappointing this year compared to the sausage pizza from years past. However, the veal meatballs and Cannelloni our DD5 gobbled right up
New Oleans - Gumbo very tasty
Beer Hop - Expensive ($12 for 4 4oz beers) Peroni, Murphy's, Kona, Hacker-Pschorr Octoberfest (Outside of the Peroni all the others were excellent).
Germany - Sausage on a Pretzel Roll - pretty good
Greece - Spanakopita - ok
Sam Adams Festival Beer - Blackberry - the wife liked this one, me...not so much.

I wish I could have tried more. I did like getting the swipe card rather than walking around with cash and change the whole time. I also got the EPCOT cookbook, which had our favorite recipes. I will be making the cheddar cheese soup very soon.

[TeresaWen]

I so agree about the pizza this year! In years passt we would walk from the international gateway to Italy JUST to get the pizza before we left for the night. Now - we got it once and that was it...I have had better frozen pizza!

[TDC Nala]

I think I had a zeppole from the Italy booth once years ago - otherwise I've never gone there. Pizza and meatballs? c'mon.

My friend swore by the big portion of baked ziti that they had last year though (this year they don't have it). Maybe they werent' really that big, they just thought he looked hungry and gave him a large piece.

[BriarRosie]

I skip things out of principle, too.

Like TDC Nala, I tend to skip items I can get year 'round, like the Cheddar Cheese Soup. In prior years, I did get the soup because I loved it. Now I figure there are too many other things I want to try. I skip Italy because pizza doesn't seem special enough.

[webray]

Originally Posted by TeresaWen

I so agree about the pizza this year! In years passt we would walk from the international gateway to Italy JUST to get the pizza before we left for the night. Now - we got it once and that was it...I have had better frozen pizza!

We think the pizza this year is better than in years past. We were wondering if they ordered from Papa Johns in years past, and the pasta has always been disgusting. Tutto is quite good, hubby and I wonder why the offerings at the Italy booth are the worst offerings of all of food/wine fest.

Those chefs/that booth really needs to step it up. Send them down to Fort Lauderdale to Todd English's restaurant, then they will know what Italian food is really like..maybe the booth will offer something worth purchasing then.

[Skoolie]

Originally Posted by BriarRosie

I skip things out of principle, too.

Like TDC Nala, I tend to skip items I can get year 'round, like the Cheddar Cheese Soup. In prior years, I did get the soup because I loved it. Now I figure there are too many other things I want to try. I skip Italy because pizza doesn't seem special enough.

Fair enough, and that does make sense. Sometimes I like to throw in something that I already know I liked, especially if I just ate something I didn't really care for. Same goes for drinks, I also got a fiesta margarita which you can get at anytime but it was tall and nice and cool and I knew what I was getting myself into.

I guess for me I like to mix in some favs or show people who I go with that have never had it before.

I mostly agree with you ;P

I'm just saying sometimes its okay to induldge in a few favs.

[Inkmahm]

Even if I do get to eat at Le cellier, I never have enough room to eat a full serving of soup AND a steak. The portion size at F&W is perfect for me so I don't miss getting that soup.

We did the French regional lunch yesterday with P0mmery champagne. It took 3 hours, not 2! The food was good and the champagne was 5 different kinds, pretty much as much as you cared to drink. The Pommery representative was entertaining and did a good job, too. DH and I both liked it but said we'd both be happy just doing a second afternoon of eating around the World next year rather tha another regional lunch. I'm glad we did it once, but I think we'll stick to just doing PFTS in the wine view room as our scheduled event next year.

[TDC Nala]

I balk at $3.75 for half a dixie cup of soup that you could buy a whole bowl of for $6.99 assuming you can get into the restaurant. (When I bought it in the restaurant in September it didn't cost that much, just to show how fast the prices are climbing in there)

That said, the cheddar cheese soup is by far the most popular item sold at the festival booths - and has been for years - so I think a lot of people see things in that soup that I don't see, because I can't personally understand its overwhelming popularity. It's good but it isn't THAT good - having had it enough times I dont' think it's worth standing in line to snag a miniscule portion. Of course it still sells like hotcakes, so I'm obviously in the minority.

I'm also not a fan of the refusal of Food & Wine to sell anything "unusual" at the Italy booth other than the stuff Americans always eat.

But that's why there's so many kiosks to choose from - I may eat everything from Thailand on Saturday because even on Oct. 17 when there were more people in Epcot than there are in Orlando (OK, slight exaggeration) there was no line at the Thailand kiosk.

[Dis_Yoda]

Nah - I'm the real minority as I dont like the soup at all

[Skoolie]

Originally Posted by TDC Nala

But that's why there's so many kiosks to choose from - I may eat everything from Thailand on Saturday because even on Oct. 17 when there were more people in Epcot than there are in Orlando (OK, slight exaggeration) there was no line at the Thailand kiosk.

I was there on the 17th and it was extremely busy. This Saturday was less busy but still pretty busy. I had the same idea. I wasn't planning on hitting everything at thailand it was just that it was such a short line

[ReggieB]

Originally Posted by Skoolie

I was there on the 17th and it was extremely busy. This Saturday was less busy but still pretty busy. I had the same idea. I wasn't planning on hitting everything at thailand it was just that it was such a short line

I wonder if the temperature had anything to do with it? It was very pleasant on 17th, maybe a bit cool. I found it a too hot on 24th, though it was fine in the shade. I would never last a summer in Florida!

I just about managed to try every booth, except India and Italy. Both offerings were a little disappointing. DH loves Indain food, so I was surprised he was not all that excited about the booth either. My DS9 was an absolute nightmare...he would keep stealing our samples! He is not very good at food sharing! He had a blast though.

[BriarRosie]

Originally Posted by ReggieB

I wonder if the temperature had anything to do with it? It was very pleasant on 17th, maybe a bit cool. I found it a too hot on 24th, though it was fine in the shade. I would never last a summer in Florida!

I just about managed to try every booth, except India and Italy. Both offerings were a little disappointing. DH loves Indain food, so I was surprised he was not all that excited about the booth either. My DS9 was an absolute nightmare...he would keep stealing our samples! He is not very good at food sharing! He had a blast though.

It was more crowded in World Showcase than I have ever seen it when I was there on October 17th, and I believe it was directly related to the cooler weather. Everyone came to the festival in droves. And I couldn't believe Thailand had no line. India had a bigger line.

[oybolshoi]

We were stunned by the crowd sizes on the 17th and the 18th, too. The hubby and I have never seen crowds like that during F&W - we were happy to leave Epcot both days to get ready for other events.

I have to say that we were both pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food at this year's festival. While there were some items that I didn't personally care for, the overall consistently good food was a nice change from last year's uneven quality.

[Inkmahm]

Originally Posted by ImprovGal

I went last night and of the 3 PFTS I've attended so far (Spain & Classical being the other two) it was my favorite. I thought it was very true-to-theme, but had such a wonderful variety of flavors, many of them being quite assertive.

Were you in the wine view lounge? I'm still trying to figure out who is in the autographed picture they gave us!