Maybe they don't offer them anymore? I don't know...but here's a pic of the ugly wine trees that they were serving the wine flights on. This was about 18 months ago. Not the best pic, but its the only one I could find. (That's my very bored son in the background).
I wouldn't have minded the wine trees, but somebody didn't think those through too much-they took up way too much of the table and we wound up downing the wine quickly just to get rid of those clunky things.
I think we've all been sold on Blue Zoo. I know it's pricey but judging from the pictures it's worth every dollar. I'll have to make it there as well.
Some of that looked mildly tasty.
With ya on the appearance of the egg thing.
I'm getting scared to spend money at the booths now! LOL
Appreciate your witty foodisms, as usual.
Just got caught up. Blue Zoo looked amazing. Count me as one of those DISers who like WPE although we've only ever had dinner there. Sorry things are almost at an end. We are sadly skipping Disney this year since we just bought a house (hoping to go in 2010) so I will be living through everyone else's reports and will be on the lookout for your next one.
I agree with you about the Irish Coffee. Overpriced, crappy cup & not that much booze, but it still was refreshing on those hot days. I admit being a sucker 2 or 3 times for that one on our trip.
Now about that Beef & Chimichurri...you were swindled my friend. I must have hit that stand up a good 10 times and always got mashed potatoes with my beef. We need to call the potato police.
Maybe they don't offer them anymore? I don't know...but here's a pic of the ugly wine trees that they were serving the wine flights on. This was about 18 months ago. Not the best pic, but its the only one I could find. (That's my very bored son in the background).
I wouldn't have minded the wine trees, but somebody didn't think those through too much-they took up way too much of the table and we wound up downing the wine quickly just to get rid of those clunky things.
Of all the booth grub the Grilled Beef with Chimichurri Sauce was our favorite. Ours was served atop a yummy mash of some kind, it was really good. Sorry y'all had a bad one.
Thursday, October 16th - Wurra! The Final Day Arrives and We're Still Hungry!
In the continued interests of trying new and potentially scary eating establishments, Jay and I hoofed it over to Downtown Disney for breakfast on this sunny, warm, and humid morning. We had discussed dining here before ever leaving Stinktown to embark on our delicious voyage of food discovery and the conversation went something like this:
Brenda: Peeps on the DIS rave frothy about WPE QS; you know, at DTD.
Jason: Huh?
Brenda (very loudly): PEEPS ON THE DIS RAVE FROTHY ABOUT WPE QS; YOU KNOW AT DTD!!!
Jason: In English you know Im acronym averse!
Brenda: Uh, no; actually I didnt know that. Anyway, I've noticed lately there seem to be a lot of people on the restaurant forums who have really good things to say about Wolfgang Puck Express; I thought we could give it a try for breakfast one morning since its within easy walking distance of the resort.
Jason: I should have known you were talking about food.
Since the restaurant doesn't open until 9AM we basically had the place to ourselves when we arrived. I was not feeling well at all this day ... I suppose the previous day's gluttony and overly rich food was finally catching up with my intestinal tract. And it didn't help that I was suffering from a bout of the end-o-trip blues, either. So what did I do in my infinite wisdom, knowing that the Crohn goblin was stirring and it was going to be a hot, sticky day?
I ordered a Belgian Waffle with whipped cream. It was served with fresh fruit and a miserly portion of maple syrup.
It looks better than it tastes
In retrospect I should have been more picky and demanding when I placed my order. For one thing, I don't really like whipped cream on my waffles. That was easily disposed of however; I just used my fork to transfer the whole glob into my coffee cup. I like a little bit of butter and a whole lotta syrup for my waffles, neither of which I received. I also should have asked for my fruit to be served on the side - it would have been much easier for Jay and me to share. The waffle was well cooked and had a light, sweet flavor but it was on the dry side and there was just not enough maple syrup in that weensy plastic container to drown the dry. I suppose I could have asked for more but when I get into this kind of moody funk the fewer people I interact with the better.
Jay selected Wolfgangs Breakfast Pocket for his morning meal: scrambled eggs, peppers, Niman Ranch bacon, onions, mushrooms, mozzarella and cheddar cheeses baked into Wolfies signature pizza dough.
On a different day, sans mushrooms, I might have ordered something like this
The husband really enjoyed this - he said it was like eating a great omelet that's been tucked inside perfectly baked pizza dough. Right now it sounds pretty tasty but that morning the sight of it made me want to hurl.
From Downtown Disney we snagged a ride on a bus over to the Boardwalk and then made our way into Epcot through the International Gateway. Once the World Showcase opened our first stop was at Ireland for a quick caffeine infusion - I don't know about the rest of you, but frozen alcoholic coffee always makes me feel better.
Frozen Irish Coffee thats what they called this. I think its coffee, melted ice cream, and a splish of Baileys. Its good but Im always on the fence as to whether or not its $7.50 worth of good. Especially since they didnt even serve it in a cute little plastic coffee cup like they did last year. So that means were being charged a lot for even less boozinated caffeine and that makes me sad.
Do you know how hard it is to drink something like this in cup with no handles?
Along our wanderings we stopped in Buenos Aires, Argentina because Jay likes the kind of stuff they serve at their booth. We ordered the Beef and Corn Pie and the Grilled Beef with Chimichurri Sauce
Meh...
Time for some brutal truth: the beef and corn pie was nasty - overcooked with chewy chunks of some kind of meat. I found this disappointing because it could have and should have been so much better. Our other choice wasn't bad as long as a certain someone could eat around the violently green sauce but I thought the beef was a little stringy. Also, in years past when this has been served at the F&W Festival it usually was resting on a bed of some kind of tasty, mashed vegetable which we both really enjoyed; sadly this year the mash was missing.
We also paid a visit to Santiago, Chile, where we purchased some Shrimp with Cilantro Salsa. This was just as disappointing ... prior festival samples of this item yielded generous servings of shrimp with a lightly spiced salsa. Our sample had three shrimpies and a whole lotta of runny salsa which tasted of vinegar.
Not at all good
Blech! After trying this I was just about ready to drink one of those nasty wine coolers from China to wash the awful taste from my mouth. And speaking of China ... by the time we arrived there my intestines seemed to have straightened themselves out and I was hungry ... still very tired but definitely in need of a pick-me-up. The Chicken sha-cha has always been a safe bet so I parked myself on a shady bench and waited for my lovey to return to me with chick-on-a-stick and a beer.
Chicken Sha Cha Cha
The beer that Jay purchased was Yanjing Beer - the other official beer of the Beijing Olympics. Michelle and Steve had suggested that we give it a try and they were spot on - it was quite good and much better than the singing toe beer that usually is sold at the China booth. My chicken was OK - a little overdone and chewier than usual, but it still had nice flavor, in part thanks to the sauce it was drizzled with.
And then to finish up our grazing before heading over to the Festival Welcome Center and our Kitchen Conversation with Robert Irvine, we stopped in Australia to sample a taste treat called Wattleseed Mousse!
Weetles wattle and then end up in dessert
How best to describe this? It was light and custardy and sweet but the taste actually reminded us of coffee. It wasn't bad but it was a little odd ... I think it might have been better on a less warm day when it wasn't being digested on top of 12 ounces of Chinese beer.
I'm glad we tried it because with a name like wattleseed it demands to be eaten but I'm not sure that we'd eat it again. I always find the dessert options in Australia to be a disappointment ... if they're not making something that's crawling with macadamia nuts they're offering up desserts made from seeds named after birds. Maybe next year ... ooops, now that's this year ... they can offer up a chocolate covered dingo delight.
And thus ended our F&W snacking for the trip. We disappointed ourselves because we didn't hit up every booth, although some of that was from choice. Canada hasn't offered anything new in so long that we don't even stop to look at their menu board and South Africa isn't much better. And while we wanted to try the booth from Austria their food choices just never sounded all that appealing to us when we happened to be there. Overall we were pleased with much of our grazing - there were some misses but for the most part we enjoyed our snacking and thought much (not all) of the food was well prepared and tasty. We're looking forward to trying to eat the entire World Showcase one last time in October 2009!
Next up: a review of Kitchen Conversations ... Turn up the Volume!
I totally don't remember seeing those on the menu. They look like avant garde Seussian wine trees. They are interesting in a strange way, though.
But yeah, kinda ugly.
Of all the booth grub the Grilled Beef with Chimichurri Sauce was our favorite. Ours was served atop a yummy mash of some kind, it was really good. Sorry y'all had a bad one.
I ordered a Belgian Waffle with whipped cream. It was served with fresh fruit and a miserly portion of maple syrup.
It looks better than it tastes
In retrospect I should have been more picky and demanding when I placed my order. For one thing, I don't really like whipped cream on my waffles. That was easily disposed of however; I just used my fork to transfer the whole glob into my coffee cup. I like a little bit of butter and a whole lotta syrup for my waffles, neither of which I received. I also should have asked for my fruit to be served on the side - it would have been much easier for Jay and me to share. The waffle was well cooked and had a light, sweet flavor but it was on the dry side and there was just not enough maple syrup in that weensy plastic container to drown the dry. I suppose I could have asked for more but when I get into this kind of moody funk the fewer people I interact with the better.
Thanks so much for reading and I'm very happpy that you enjoyed it although I am sorry to complicate your anniversary planning. Which other restaurants are you considering?
Jay and I give high marks to Jiko, Flying Fish, Citricos, and Bistro Paris. And if you really want to splurge you can try V&A - that DDE discount is good in the dining room and that's a pretty hefty discount!
Anything's possible ... and if you've had too much to drink and take a wrong turn on the way to your vacation villa and end up in sand trap it can seem just like a dessert island. Not that I would know this from personal experience ...
Thursday, October 16th - Wurra! The Final Day Arrives and We're Still Hungry!
In the continued interests of trying new and potentially scary eating establishments, Jay and I hoofed it over to Downtown Disney for breakfast on this sunny, warm, and humid morning. We had discussed dining here before ever leaving Stinktown to embark on our delicious voyage of food discovery and the conversation went something like this:
Brenda: Peeps on the DIS rave frothy about WPE QS; you know, at DTD.
Jason: Huh?
Brenda (very loudly): PEEPS ON THE DIS RAVE FROTHY ABOUT WPE QS; YOU KNOW AT DTD!!!
Jason: In English you know Im acronym averse!
Brenda: Uh, no; actually I didnt know that. Anyway, I've noticed lately there seem to be a lot of people on the restaurant forums who have really good things to say about Wolfgang Puck Express; I thought we could give it a try for breakfast one morning since its within easy walking distance of the resort.
Jason: I should have known you were talking about food.
Since the restaurant doesn't open until 9AM we basically had the place to ourselves when we arrived. I was not feeling well at all this day ... I suppose the previous day's gluttony and overly rich food was finally catching up with my intestinal tract. And it didn't help that I was suffering from a bout of the end-o-trip blues, either. So what did I do in my infinite wisdom, knowing that the Crohn goblin was stirring and it was going to be a hot, sticky day?
I ordered a Belgian Waffle with whipped cream. It was served with fresh fruit and a miserly portion of maple syrup.
It looks better than it tastes
In retrospect I should have been more picky and demanding when I placed my order. For one thing, I don't really like whipped cream on my waffles. That was easily disposed of however; I just used my fork to transfer the whole glob into my coffee cup. I like a little bit of butter and a whole lotta syrup for my waffles, neither of which I received. I also should have asked for my fruit to be served on the side - it would have been much easier for Jay and me to share. The waffle was well cooked and had a light, sweet flavor but it was on the dry side and there was just not enough maple syrup in that weensy plastic container to drown the dry. I suppose I could have asked for more but when I get into this kind of moody funk the fewer people I interact with the better.
Jay selected Wolfgangs Breakfast Pocket for his morning meal: scrambled eggs, peppers, Niman Ranch bacon, onions, mushrooms, mozzarella and cheddar cheeses baked into Wolfies signature pizza dough.
On a different day, sans mushrooms, I might have ordered something like this
The husband really enjoyed this - he said it was like eating a great omelet that's been tucked inside perfectly baked pizza dough. Right now it sounds pretty tasty but that morning the sight of it made me want to hurl.
From Downtown Disney we snagged a ride on a bus over to the Boardwalk and then made our way into Epcot through the International Gateway. Once the World Showcase opened our first stop was at Ireland for a quick caffeine infusion - I don't know about the rest of you, but frozen alcoholic coffee always makes me feel better.
Frozen Irish Coffee thats what they called this. I think its coffee, melted ice cream, and a splish of Baileys. Its good but Im always on the fence as to whether or not its $7.50 worth of good. Especially since they didnt even serve it in a cute little plastic coffee cup like they did last year. So that means were being charged a lot for even less boozinated caffeine and that makes me sad.
Do you know how hard it is to drink something like this in cup with no handles?
Along our wanderings we stopped in Buenos Aires, Argentina because Jay likes the kind of stuff they serve at their booth. We ordered the Beef and Corn Pie and the Grilled Beef with Chimichurri Sauce
Meh...
Time for some brutal truth: the beef and corn pie was nasty - overcooked with chewy chunks of some kind of meat. I found this disappointing because it could have and should have been so much better. Our other choice wasn't bad as long as a certain someone could eat around the violently green sauce but I thought the beef was a little stringy. Also, in years past when this has been served at the F&W Festival it usually was resting on a bed of some kind of tasty, mashed vegetable which we both really enjoyed; sadly this year the mash was missing.
We also paid a visit to Santiago, Chile, where we purchased some Shrimp with Cilantro Salsa. This was just as disappointing ... prior festival samples of this item yielded generous servings of shrimp with a lightly spiced salsa. Our sample had three shrimpies and a whole lotta of runny salsa which tasted of vinegar.
Not at all good
Blech! After trying this I was just about ready to drink one of those nasty wine coolers from China to wash the awful taste from my mouth. And speaking of China ... by the time we arrived there my intestines seemed to have straightened themselves out and I was hungry ... still very tired but definitely in need of a pick-me-up. The Chicken sha-cha has always been a safe bet so I parked myself on a shady bench and waited for my lovey to return to me with chick-on-a-stick and a beer.
Chicken Sha Cha Cha
The beer that Jay purchased was Yanjing Beer - the other official beer of the Beijing Olympics. Michelle and Steve had suggested that we give it a try and they were spot on - it was quite good and much better than the singing toe beer that usually is sold at the China booth. My chicken was OK - a little overdone and chewier than usual, but it still had nice flavor, in part thanks to the sauce it was drizzled with.
And then to finish up our grazing before heading over to the Festival Welcome Center and our Kitchen Conversation with Robert Irvine, we stopped in Australia to sample a taste treat called Wattleseed Mousse!
Weetles wattle and then end up in dessert
How best to describe this? It was light and custardy and sweet but the taste actually reminded us of coffee. It wasn't bad but it was a little odd ... I think it might have been better on a less warm day when it wasn't being digested on top of 12 ounces of Chinese beer.
I'm glad we tried it because with a name like wattleseed it demands to be eaten but I'm not sure that we'd eat it again. I always find the dessert options in Australia to be a disappointment ... if they're not making something that's crawling with macadamia nuts they're offering up desserts made from seeds named after birds. Maybe next year ... ooops, now that's this year ... they can offer up a chocolate covered dingo delight.
And thus ended our F&W snacking for the trip. We disappointed ourselves because we didn't hit up every booth, although some of that was from choice. Canada hasn't offered anything new in so long that we don't even stop to look at their menu board and South Africa isn't much better. And while we wanted to try the booth from Austria their food choices just never sounded all that appealing to us when we happened to be there. Overall we were pleased with much of our grazing - there were some misses but for the most part we enjoyed our snacking and thought much (not all) of the food was well prepared and tasty. We're looking forward to trying to eat the entire World Showcase one last time in October 2009!
Next up: a review of Kitchen Conversations ... Turn up the Volume!
Your breakfast at WPE looked really delicious but I know what you mean about the maple syrup! I like my waffles to be swimming in syrup. Some of the F&W foods didn't look all that appetizing but I'm glad you were able to sample so many of the booths this year. My DH and I haven't ever tried any of the foods at the F&W Festival because we're too cheap. It's fun to live vicarious through your dining reports!
This is one of those times I wish I was able to eavesdrop on your conversations. Too funny!
Oh no, I was just starting my gluttony that I never considered you were starting to OD on it!
That looked great to me, except my pet peeve are strawberries that have the little green tops still attached. Come on people, it's not that hard to slice strawberries. I would have kept the whipped cream on them, as well.
That looked awesome, but I probably would have wanted to split that and add some fresh fruit. Pizza dough and omelet? Who'd have thunk it?
I didn't try this, mainly because of the price point. I just don't think I would have wanted to spend $7.50 on that, but I do like Irish Coffee. I make my own.
I blame the Disney Dining Borg Collective for those cups. That's their all-purpose generic drink cup, right?
Ok, since I ordered the same corn pie thing on the SAME day, but pretty close to the time we went to the Kitchen Conversation, I have to say that I liked mine. It was hot and fresh and reminded me of an omelet or quiche. The meat in it had a nice spice kick to it. Maybe you had a bad batch. Or like my reaction last year to the Peru thing I found nasty, Catherine just loved. You don't like mushrooms and I do, so I'll just chalk it up to different tastes.
Totally looked disappointing, and I didn't get that either.
I never found the Chicken Sha Cha or the pot stickers to be bad choices in China. Wish I tried that beer, though.
Yay, another item I tried. I would call it Australian Tiramisu. It was not overly sweet, so people who find desserts too sweet might actually love this dessert.
ROFL chocolate covered dingo!
Yeah, I regret not trying the Tafelspitz thing in Austria.
Woohoo, this is where I met my new BFF, Robert Irvine!
I really enjoyed the bluezoo review, Brenda. Might have to put it on our list for October! Thanks for the evening's entertainment!
OMG! I'm laughing because I thought they looked like something out of Dr. Seuss too-its the swirly tops I think. Maybe they shipped those ugly things over to Universal where they would fit in?
It was our favorite dish too. Me and DD were totally addicted and it was the dish we got the most. If they dared serve me without potatoes, it would not have been pretty.
Why am I seeing Meg Ryan BEFORE the famous "O" scene???
I have to say your "weetles wattle but they don't fall down" might be my favorite joke in your trip reports. Considering the numerous funny lines you write, that is probably pretty sad on my part, but I just find that hilarious.
Don't ya know that as soon as I had finished my reply last night, the clock had struck 10pm and the boards went down......ugh! I saved it to Word, so hopefully this works:
We're staying at BCV in July, so we're thinking of something in the Epcot/Epcot resort area. Flying Fish and Bistro are 2 that we've never been to that we thought would be nice for our anniversary (and within stumbling distance of Jellyrolls and our villa). DH has already decided that we'll do V&A in 2 years for our 20th
Breakfast looks really good and the commentary was
1. Anything with Bailey's in it
2. Most of the snacks looked "eh", take it or leave it (except the shrimp which really looked like leave it). Or maybe I'm just really full after eating Chinese buffet tonight
Another great review!