The Food Was Not Undelicious: May 25-June 1, 2007!! Completed - Post #794

[oybolshoi]

Greetings friends and food-lovers! The hubby and I are just returned from a one-week stint at WDW to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. Through an unprecedented stroke of good fortune we nabbed the Chef's Table for the night of our anniversary and presto chango...another Disney trip was simmering in the ol' vacation crockpot.

Join us now as we re-live the food love...we'll try some new restaurants and visit some old favorites, making absolute pigs of ourselves along the way - with pictures, I might add!

In order to whet your appetites allow me to provide you with a menu of reviews to come:

Ghiradelli - Page 1
Raglan Road - Page 3
Interlude - Page 7
Chefs de France - Page 10
Jiko - Page 13
House of Blues Gospel Brunch - Page 17
Kona Cafe - Page 19
Flying Fish - Page 25
Artist Point - Page 31
California Grill - Page 34
Victoria & Albert's Chef's Table - Page 37, 41, 44, 48, and 51



Thanks in advance for reading!!

Edited to add - we were not on the dining plan for this trip but we did take advantage of the DDE card that is available to annual passholders. With this fabu little card you can get 20% off all food and alcohol purchased at participating restaurants (and it's a lot of restaurants, including a few that don't accept the dining plan).

At the end of the day, the DDP probably would have been a wash with the DDE. I say this because although we easily spent enough money to justify the dining plan, we only would have used the credits for dinner. Our snack and counter service credits would have been wasted because we just don't eat that much food in a day...we save it all up for dinner!

Just thought I'd throw that out there for folks to chew on.

 

[jedijill]

Yea!!!! You are back with more food porn!!!

Happy Anniversary!

Jill in KC

 

[NC Belle]

Happy belated anniversary!

I can't wait to read your reviews!

 

[kindakrazy2]

Happy Anniversary!

Bring on the food!

 

[rentayenta]

Greetings friends and food-lovers! The hubby and I are just returned from a one-week stint at WDW to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. Through an unprecedented stroke of good fortune we nabbed the Chef's Table for the night of our anniversary and presto chango...another Disney trip was simmering in the ol' vacation crockpot.

Join us now as we re-live the food love...we'll try some new restaurants and visit some old favorites, making absolute pigs of ourselves along the way - with pictures, I might add!

In order to whet your appetites allow me to provide you with a menu of reviews to come:

Ghiradelli
Raglan Road
Chefs de France
Jiko
Gospel Brunch at House of Blues
Kona Cafe
Flying Fish
Victoria and Albert's - Chefs Table
California Grill
Earl of Sandwich
Artist Point


Thanks in advance for reading!!

Awesome! We will be trying California Grill and Ragland Road; can't wait to read all about it!

 

[oybolshoi]

Friday, May 25th - I want a hamburger...no, a cheeseburger. I want a hotdog; I want a milkshake...


A brief introduction is probably in order, don't you think?

Your tablemates for this group of reviews are as follows:

Oybolshoi - Brenda (37) ... I'm a picky eater primarily due to Crohns Disease, which I am fortunate enough to keep in check (for the most part) with lots of daily pills and avoidance of most foods spicy and / or barbequed and / or overly saucy, etc. Luckily for me I can eat junk with little or no trouble, and alcohol is still my friend.

DH - Jason (37) ... Has a cast-iron digestive system, loves spicy food, and is willing to try almost anything at least once. Vacation is one of the few times that he can look forward to new and potentially exotic food choices after months of culinary boredom at home.

We stayed at Saratoga Springs during this visit to the World, and we were unpacked and very hungry by about 12:30 PM on Friday afternoon. We thought this might be a good time to wander over to Downtown Disney and finally try that Earl of Sandwich place that everyone on the DIS is always raving and drooling and generally making a fuss about. Silly us, thinking that we could get a quick sandwich on a Friday afternoon...on Memorial Day Weekend...at Downtown Disney. The line was backing up out the door and as far as I'm concerned no sandwich is that good when the local hot dog stand only has three people waiting in line.

I never know if this place actually has a name, but it's a small, painted shed located in DTD almost directly across from the Disney Vacation Club kiosk and on a diagonal from Ghiradelli. Jay and I each ordered a hot dog meal which consisted of a tasty, good-sized beef dog, a bag of Doritos, and a bottle of water.

For the first real meal of the day, this was just fine. The dog was hot (so that's where the name comes from!) and juicy with a good flavor and that bottle of water really hit the spot. The only downside to the meal, and now that I think about this it wasn't a downside as much as it was an annoyance, was the wind.

I really don't like the wind.

It blows tiny particles of dirt into my eyes preventing me from wearing my contacts...it mucks up my carefullly prepared coiffure...it forces me to wear a jacket in 80-degree weather...and it makes a hollow mockery of any attempt at outdoor dining.

**By the way, which one of the above comments is a blatant lie, inserted only for the sake of poking fun at myself and hopefully generating a laugh?**

As I was saying, I don't like the wind. The wind doesn't really like me. And this was a mighty wind that for the most part didn't stop blowing during the entire week. We didn't realize just how strong the wind was until we sat down at a small table near the DTD marina to eat our lunch only to have the table attempt to take flight.

Whoa, Nellie!

Those umbrellas provide nice shade but in 25-mph wind gusts they take on a sinsiter life of their own and I, for one, don't like battling the elements or the furniture when I'm trying to enjoy a meal. It had to be comical to watch us struggle to eat while the table was trying to make a mad dash for freedom and all the food was scattering in eighty-seven different directions. In fact, I know it was funny because during the rest of the week we enjoyed many a good laugh at the expense of others experiencing this very same problem.

We decided that the only way to improve the overall situation would be to have dessert. Jay and I don't typically indulge in stuff like this during the day, but based on past experience we had already decided that if we were ever going to try Ghiradelli's Soda Fountain without enduring a two-hour wait we would have to pay a visit during the day.

So...I present now for your lip-smacking enjoyment...

Ghiradelli Soda Fountain

Thanks to some on-line poking around and some great advice from folks here on the DIS, I registered on Ghiradelli's official web-site for something they call Choco-Mail. As a registration thank-you the company will send you an email coupon good for 20% off a purchase in one of their stores, from their on-line catalogue, or at their soda fountain.

Coupon in hand, Jay and I scanned the menu. We considered sharing but the truth of the matter was that I just wasn't interested in many of the items that Jason wanted to try. And I hated to consign him to vanilla ice cream and hot fudge when I knew he'd much prefer dark chocolate ice cream with coffee and toffee and all kinds of other weird stuff.

The result?

I ordered the Warm Brownie Sundae, described thusly: A scoop of premium vanilla ice cream paired with warm Ghirardelli double chocolate brownie smothered with hot fudge sauce and topped with whipped cream, chopped almonds and a cherry. I ordered mine sans almonds...Crohns disease and nuts just don't mix.

I notice that in my excitement to eat the first of many vacation desserts the over-bite I thought was corrected with four years of orthodontics in high school appears to have returned. Interesting phenomena...

I also notice that I'm flashing some unintentional dessert cleavage...bad posture and the promise of hot fudge tend to have that effect on me.

How was the dessert itself? It was worth every penny. Thick, rich whipped cream covered the entire serving and the brownie was awesome - warm and moist and full of dense, chocolate flavor. The ice cream was a wonderful vanilla with flecks of vanilla bean and it was heaven paired with all that hot fudge. I couldn't finish this - it was just too much for me to eat - but I made a pretty good dent in it.

Jason ordered the Espresso Escape, described as follows: two scoops of espresso chip ice cream, dark chocolate hot fudge sauce, whipped cream and a square of Espresso Escape Intense Dark chocolate.

Jay said this was terrific. He prefers dark chocolate and really likes coffee flavored ice cream, so this choice was perfect for him. I did try a taste of it and it was very good, but too intense for me. Jason, by the way, did not have any trouble finishing his dessert.

Next up: dinner at Raglan Road, a new favorite. Thanks for reading!

 

[rentayenta]

**By the way, which one of the above comments is a blatant lie, inserted only for the sake of poking fun at myself and hopefully generating a laugh?**

The hair! What do I win Wink?


Fun report!

 

[BabyPiglet]

I love your dining reviews so much. I'm glad you've started another one, and I can't wait for the next installment.

:]

 

[passthepixiedust]

Your dessert looks AWESOME! I can't wait to read the rest!

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent

 

[BriarRosie]

Oh wow. I'm so glad I found you at the beginning of the report!
I cannot finish my Ghirardelli dessert, either.

 

[DisneyJo]

Brenda I have not been dissappointed with your first review you're hilarious, keep them coming

 

[veryblessed]

Can't wait to read more! We are eating a Raglan Rd. for the first time on our Sept. trip and we are staying at SSR!!! Looking foward to your next review!

 

[eliza61]

Well done Brenda,
Great report & don't worry about the **** flashing thing, hey that dessert looks like it would make me lift a shirt.

Can't wait for the next installment.

 

[DisneyMom5]

Yum. So far so good.

My guess at the blatant lie: Coat in 80 degree weather.

Why?

Well...If you don't wear pants when it is subzero, it stands to reason you won't wear a coat when it's 80 degrees.


Hope I am right! [What's the prize?]

[Side note - I am kicking myself I didn't have you send postcards to my niece, nephew, and my kids. DOH!]

Keep up the good work!

 

[praisehisname]

Yay, you've started! I hope this means you are feeling better. Those sundaes look soooo good, and they are huge!!!

Looking forward to more!

Denise

 

[lajones81]

Great reviews! I can't wait to read more!

 

[John's Mom]

Really enjoy reading your reviews!

 

[cmp1111]

Yum!
Glad you're feeling better!

 

[ursula28]

Great start, can't wait to read more!