Two Weeks of Food, Wine & Fun! REVIEWS COMPLETE!

[jedijill]

I love Citricos! The food is always amazing.

Jill in CO

 

[smile4stamps]

What a wonderful review of Citricos - we really need to get ourselves there one of these days!
It's on the wish list for 2014 as we can't squeeze it in on our next trip
I love the photos of you both with the chefs

Yes you do! Too bad you have other plans for our Citrico's night in December!

I'm there 10/18 to 10/27!!!! I'll be on the Dream from the 20th to the 24th. Are you guys flying from Denver?

Jill in CO

Yes, well kinda, I am flying from San Jose with my layover in Denver where Hunter will be waiting and we will continue on to MCO together. Our flight is actually on the 17th but it is the last flight to MCO so we get to WDW property after midnight (ie why I say the 18th). We then fly back on Monday the 28th.. airfare was much less on Monday vs Sunday!

I love Citricos! The food is always amazing.

Jill in CO

Yes it is! My DH says we can just eat there and CA Grill lol.

 

[jedijill]

Yes you do! Too bad you have other plans for our Citrico's night in December!



Yes, well kinda, I am flying from San Jose with my layover in Denver where Hunter will be waiting and we will continue on to MCO together. Our flight is actually on the 17th but it is the last flight to MCO so we get to WDW property after midnight (ie why I say the 18th). We then fly back on Monday the 28th.. airfare was much less on Monday vs Sunday!



Yes it is! My DH says we can just eat there and CA Grill lol.

Thought we might end up the same flight but I'm leaving on the first flight on Friday morning....cheaper than flying on Saturday! I thought about flying on Monday but I've already borrowed enough DVC points for the trip.

I'm having dinner at CA Grill on my birthday on the 25th....Can't wait to see the new changes!

Jill in CO

 

[smile4stamps]

Thought we might end up the same flight but I'm leaving on the first flight on Friday morning....cheaper than flying on Saturday! I thought about flying on Monday but I've already borrowed enough DVC points for the trip.

I'm having dinner at CA Grill on my birthday on the 25th....Can't wait to see the new changes!

Jill in CO

With my coming from CA the early flights don't work, especially since I work night shift till 7:30am.

I'm surprised the Friday flight was cheaper! When I went to see my DH last week I flew back on Saturday because it was half the price of Friday.

We are at CA Grill on the 21st and 27th! And Citrico's on the 20th and 24th.. Yup.. you can tell what restaurants we like lol.

 

[DisneyDreamerMN]

Oh My God your dinner at Citrico's looks absolutely delish! My next couple of questions may seem silly but I honestly don't know and am very curious. Can anyone ask for a tasting meal? Like could I go there next month and ask for that or is it only offered at certain times. Do you remember about how much it was for the two of you or per person?

 

[smile4stamps]

Oh My God your dinner at Citrico's looks absolutely delish! My next couple of questions may seem silly but I honestly don't know and am very curious. Can anyone ask for a tasting meal? Like could I go there next month and ask for that or is it only offered at certain times. Do you remember about how much it was for the two of you or per person?

Thanks Jamie. I have NO idea if they would do the tasting menu for anyone who asks. It couldn't hurt to try! The price we paid was I THINK$125 per person for the food and wine pairings. I actually tried to find my receipt so I could include that but I couldn't locate it yesterday. It was really awesome of them to do this for us!

 

[smile4stamps]

On October 23rd I woke up and got ready for the day before my husband and since he isn't a huge breakfast fan and I knew there was something I definitely wanted to try from Roaring Forks I headed out to get my breakfast!

Before We had gone there were rumors about them not having some of the waffles anymore so I had taken a picture of the menu to prove that they did indeed still have them!

And then one some of the other breakfast choices.

Hard to tell from this picture but those are Mickey waffles completly covered with Bananas Foster sauce!

These were so rich and delicious! I managed to eat about half of them before I had to say no more despite how good they were tasting!

A few hours later we again had a meal from Roaring Fork. This time it was lunch!

I had the Tomato and Basil Flatbread!

I REALLY enjoyed this. I didn't realize till a few years ago how much I love basil and now I just love it on so much stuff!

Hunter had I believe its a ham and cheese... um not sure what it's called, looks like a pita/flatbread that was grilled? With the side being cucumber salad

I do know he enjoyed this whatever it was!

Awhile later we found ourselves at the Trout Pass Pool Bar (as we would quite a bit this day and the following!)

We started with some Paradise Punch

This drink was good but not my favorite.

Hunter had to go use the restroom and when he came back he brought our these beauties!

A Smore's Cupcake and a Carrot Cake Cupcake
Both were pretty good but too much for us! I think we only managed half of each between the two of us.

But then it was time for another drink. This time I had what would become a favorite for me! The Poolside Plunge!

Apparently I did not get any pictures of the other drinks Hunter had!

It was a relaxing day!!

 

[smile4stamps]

Hello Everyone! Today is October 1st which means it's Disney Month! That means I have until October 17 to complete this review! However I am heading to DisneyLAND in the morning and am not bringing my laptop so no reviews will be done until at least Saturday! I hope everyone has a good week!

 

[Linda67]

Roaring Fork and the Trout Pass Pool Bar ..... Two of my favorite places in WDW Have fun in DL !

 

[Imagineer5]

Hey Paula!!! Hope Disneyland is a blast!! And your trip in a few weeks - JEALOUS!!


Glad I just read 1- citricos and 2- your fun food at the WL since we are staying there in December. Will have to check that out for breakfast especially, that looked amazing, citricos is a place I might finally be over our horrible meal there - your "tasting" menu makes me wish I ate all that lol. Part of the reason I am SOOO excited about my birthday next year at v&a since they have a vegetarian prix fix meal.

 

[rachel09985]

I NEED to try those waffles in december. I have been wanting to try them forever.

 

[smile4stamps]

Roaring Fork and the Trout Pass Pool Bar ..... Two of my favorite places in WDW Have fun in DL !

Ours too! Add in Territory Lounge and we don't need to leave WL! lol

Hey Paula!!! Hope Disneyland is a blast!! And your trip in a few weeks - JEALOUS!!


Glad I just read 1- citricos and 2- your fun food at the WL since we are staying there in December. Will have to check that out for breakfast especially, that looked amazing, citricos is a place I might finally be over our horrible meal there - your "tasting" menu makes me wish I ate all that lol. Part of the reason I am SOOO excited about my birthday next year at v&a since they have a vegetarian prix fix meal.

Disneyland was lots of fun! I took it pretty easy.. I guess I am getting lax in my Cammando ways as I don't feel the need to do EVERYTHING anymore! In fact I realized when I got home that I never rode It's a Small World! How did that happen?!?!

Citrico's is amazing! At least for us it always has been. I know others who have not always had the best of experiences.

I NEED to try those waffles in december. I have been wanting to try them forever.

They are delicious... But WHERE do you find room in the December schedule to have them?!?!

 

[smile4stamps]

For dinner tonight we had an ADR at Flying Fish. So far we had a very relaxing day and I was hoping the evening would continue to be so. Unfortunatly on our way to dinner (by way of Bus to DHS and then boat to the boardwalk) we received word that our house in Colorado was being evacuated due to a nearby wildfire. (It had been a really windy day and the power lines were swinging and 2 connected and then you have a wildfire.) Thankfully there were some major hills between the fire and our house so we did not have any damage but all through dinner we were worrying about my MIL as she was being evacuated with our 3 dogs! It was a very stressful dinner and therefore neither Hunter nor I really remember much about our experience. I will share the photos but thats about it!

A pic of the menu

A DISMeet

The cheese menu

And the cheeses

Some soup

Bread&Butter

Our entrees

I want to say this is the Pork Tenderloin

Hunter had the NY Strip Steak with the sauce on the side

For dessert we had the PB&J Creme Brulee.. I do remember this being interesting but not something I would be running to have again!

After dinner we went to the late La Nouba show where we were able to take our minds off our troubles a bit and enjoyed the show!

Hunter wanted a late night snack though and remembering the wonderful Pizza he had from Wolfgang Puck Express in '09 we stopped to get some pizza to take with us to the room. We couldn't decide on one so we got 2! Sorry I don't know the official names but looks like a Tomato Pesto

And a Sausage!

Hunter had some when we got to the room and then munched on them whenever he was hungry and in the room the next few days. And bonus! They were able to give us the TiW card! Now I'm not sure if this is just at the West Side location because the sit down restuarant is there or if they will do it at both but I was happy to hear it regardless!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Ugh! I am sorry you had do much stress for your FF dinner! That is one place I am sorry we didn't get to in August. So glad to hear all ended up ok!

 

[Linda67]

Shame you had some stressful news ahead of your dinner
I'm sure La Nouba helped to take your mind off things as you can't take your eyes off the stage for a second !
I love the cheese pesto pizza from WPE - I didn't know they took TiW

 

[smile4stamps]

Ugh! I am sorry you had do much stress for your FF dinner! That is one place I am sorry we didn't get to in August. So glad to hear all ended up ok!

Yeah.. It wasn't the most fun time at dinner but it all turned out okay.

Shame you had some stressful news ahead of your dinner
I'm sure La Nouba helped to take your mind off things as you can't take your eyes off the stage for a second !
I love the cheese pesto pizza from WPE - I didn't know they took TiW

Yes. La Nouba was a good thing to take our minds off of it.

I just asked when we were there about the TiW. I figure it doesn't hurt to ask!

 

[smile4stamps]

October 24th we slept in and had some Pizza in the room as our breakfast. Then for lunch we headed to the Polynesian. Most likely we took the boat from the WL to MK and then another boat to the Poly as the boats were our main transportation method!

Our destination was of course

Some pics of the restaurant.. It was pretty empty as breakfast was ending and lunch not quite started yet,

Then some pics from inside the Polynesion to waste some time till we were to be seated.

Here are the menus from a year ago.. I'm sure there have been changes!

The first being the sushi menu which you can order from both inside Kona and at the Kona Island Sushi bar

Then the main lunch menu

For lunch we started with these skewars.. I'm not sure if they were a special or what as I am not seeing them on the menu!

And the sticky wings! Which I have no recollection as trying because everytime I look at Kona's menu I say I want to try them lol.

I went for the Pan Asian Noodles with Chicken for my entree

Hunter went with the burger

Both items were really good but my noodles were delicious! Hunter kept digging in! It was a huge portion so more than enough for him to share!

After all the apps and entree's we had we did pass on dessert. It's not a favorite of ours at Kona anyways so we were completly ok with being too full to order any of them.

 

[smile4stamps]

Jiko Wine & Cheese Tasting

I have no idea how I learned about this event.. Possible the Disney Food Blog. I thought it sounded like something that we would enjoy so I pre-paid for it and off we went.

We arrived early and managed to get off at the wrong stop but decided to take the time to take some pictures of some animals from a viewing area..

We managed to make it to the correct building by way of the internal shuttle. We were still a little early so we just kinda hung out.

Finally it was time to be seated and we had this in front of us.

The wines we would be receiving

A description of the cheeses

The cheeses were mainly okay but we really did not like the Smokey Oregon Blue. It just did not taste well to us and paired with the wine just made the wine taste bad as well. One of the wines we had had at the Party For the Senses so that was also a little dissapointing to not be able to try all new wines.

Overall it's nice that they offer a Cheese and Wine Pairing but we were expecting some more unique selections (and I guess the smokey blue counts for that lol but it wasn't to our taste!)

I did have an ulterier motive for booking this though as I was hoping that it would convince my DH to dine at Jiko again but that was a failure so we headed out to find dinner at another location.. Stay tuned to find out where!

 

[smile4stamps]

Hello everyone!! It's only 2 days to go till my next trip and I have a few more updates to do!! I have no idea if I will get to them all as I still have a lot to do before I leave!!

Lets pick up again with where we were heading on October 24 for dinner. WE had just completed a wine & cheese tasting at Jiko that I had been hoping would lead him to want to have dinner there. This was NOT the case though and so we decided to go see if we could get a table at one of our favorite WDW restaurants. You ask where?!?

Citrico's! We knew getting in at California Grill was probably slim to none and figured we would have a better chance of getting a spot at Citrico's.

We arrived probably 5:30ish and checked at the podium to see if there were any table were available. We were told it would probably be a bit of a wait so we went to check out the bar. We grabbed 2 seats there and they said we could order from the menu there! Great news. Let me go tell the hostess we won't need a table! So we sit at the bar and check out the menu. Order some drinks. Then Chef Phillip comes by! We talk for awhile and he says he has a Wine Dinner tonight and he will send us out some scooby snacks from the dinner! Awesome we think! So we order some appetizers and sip on our drinks when Chef Phillip comes out again and says "Hey, we had a no-show for the Wine Dinner, would you like to join us?!" Sure we say!! So we tell the bartender what is happening and told Chef Phillip we had already ordered appetizers. He said no problem, we will bring them to the wine dinner when they are ready.

It is a Spanish Wine Dinner presented by a winery I had never heard of with a wine rep in attendance going over all the details of the wines as we have them. They bring several of each bottle to the dinner and if you want more as long as there is some left its available! So about halfway through I don't know a thing the wine rep said.. I saw the lips moving and heard sounds but it was like nothing to me. We thouroughly enjoyed the dinner though and I do remember the food, just the voice of the wine rep was too mellow I guess cause it was just like blah blah blah in my head!

So.. lets get to the actual dinner shall we!

The menu.

An Amuse Bouche

I'm sorry I do not remember what this was.. looks like some blue cheese and something else!

Next up was our appetizers we had ordered at the bar! I felt kinda bad eating it while the other guests were waiting but we hadn't known about the dinner when we ordered! They all said it was fine!

I had the corn soup! I LOVE corn soup! This was NO exception!!

Hunter had... oh... I dunno, lol. I wanted to say it was some sort of fried cheese but it may have been the arranchini? He loved it regardless of my not remembering what he had!

Then back to the wine dinner! The First Course was a Paella! What to pair with Spanish Wines better than a Paella?!?!

Now this looked delicious! Lots of Seafood in it! However it was a bit salty so therefor my least favorite dish of the night.

Hmmm... SEAFOOD?!? Yes this meant that Hunter could not have this dish. Did he have to skip this course? Of course not! He got this instead

I want to say it was some pork over a Tomato Saffron Rissotto? I had a bit and it was delicious! I was envious of it over the Paella!

I didn't have to be envious for long as we both were able to have the next course.

This was a wood grilled rabbit loin with Roasted Squash. Delicious!

Next would be my favorite of the night!

A little closer up!

How can you go wrong with PORK BELLY! This was served with Wilted Escarole and Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes

An Intermezzo was next! I believe this was a lemon sorbet with some sort of herb in it. Very Refreshing!

Then we were to enjoy a Veal Osso Bucco! This was with a White Bean Puree and Roasted Vegetable.

Oh Yes! Shaved Truffles on top!

Desert was Tres Leche with caramel gelato! Again, what would be more spanish than a Tres Leche!

And to complete the meal.. Chocolate truffles and fruit jellies!

All Very Good!

Hunter with the Chefs! The person in the middle is the Executive Chef from Club 33 in Disneyland!

Overall this was a delightful meal! We had good food, good wine and good company!

The only thing wrong with it was after 3 meals at Citrico's this trip I still didn't get to order what I wanted as an entree from the menu!!

Price wise this was I think $135 a person plus tax and unfortunately no Tables in Wonderland Discount except for the apps and drinks which were a seperate bill.

I did absorb one thing from the Wine Rep. A Wine can be Corked, meaning it takes on the smell and taste of the cork! One of the bottles from that night was this way so he took it back and poured everyone from a new bottle. Most of the people at the table were not able to smell the corkiness (I think I just made that word up!) but both Hunter and I did!

 

[smile4stamps]

Kona Breakfast was something I'd been wanting to have since I saw pictures of the Tonga Toast before our 2009 trip. We had an ADR there then but canceled it in favor of sleeping in! This time I had several "tentative" spots for it but nothing confirmed. I didn't want to book it and then cancel again but was REALLY hoping we would make it over there. Since Hunter is not much of a breakfast person it was a hard sell!

However.. we FINALLY made it!

We shared the press pot of coffee.

Hunter ordered the Samoan.

He did enjoy these!

I agonized.. serioulsy agonized over what to order! I had always wanted to try the Tonga Toast... but the Macadamia Nut pancakes just sound so good too!! In the end... these won my internal battle!

Yes.. I still haven't tried the Tonga Toast! But the Pancakes! Oh so Good!! But so filling!
I had decided to call it quits at this point...

Which was plenty! However, Hunter, decided we weren't leaving till I had finished them.. So finish I did!

After breakfast I was VERY full but there was another food item I was dying to try... To get there we took the Monorail to the Contempory, got off and headed to Contempo Cafe
I had heard about these from Marissa's TR and I NEEDED to have one! So sad they are no longer available!

It's the Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcake!! It was NOT consumed on this day though as I was stuffed!