Tink in the Parks: More Bites from Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival

Good afternoon, Tinkers!

     Hope you are all well, especially our friends in the Carolinas and Virginia. Stay safe and I'll keep my fingers crossed that Hurricane Joaqin decides to go easy on you!

     Down in O-Town today, it was another hot, hot day, but it looks like cooler temps are on the way this weekend, so we will start to get a small taste of fall. The Hubs ended up having the day off, so while D was still at school, we took K and hit up Epcot for some Food and Wine fun before the weekend crowd rolls in. Well, we were pretty surprised to see how already mobbed Food and Wine was! At 12pm, almost every booth we passed had a line. I think this year's festival is going to be one of the busiest yet, which I guess is great for Epcot, but not so great for those that don't like crowds.

     First we went to Innoventions West, to get our stamps so that we can get our free commemorative Food and Wine glass when we come back for the third time. If you are an annual passholder, make sure you're getting your stamps too! You can get a free glass every third visit to the Festival, as long as you have all of the passport stamps from the booths too.

Pork Spareribs

     For eats, we first visited the two newest booths, Sustainable Chew and The Chew Lab. From Sustainable Chew, we decided to try the Pork Spareribs and the Vanilla Panna Cotta. The ribs were fantastic! They were on a bed of cheesy marscapone grits, which were creamy and SO yummy! The ribs were topped with a red wine sauce, fennel and a slice of jalapeno. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and the flavor was really wonderful. I wish larger portions were available! For $5.50, there were two small bones, and about a half a cup of grits. Absolutely worth the try, though!

Vanilla Panna Cotta

     Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the Panna Cotta. The vanilla cream was topped with a thick gel with pistachio brittle in it, and a fig on top. The gel was a rather unpleasant texture to have in my mouth to begin with, but then I tried the actual panna cotta and found that even MORE offensive. It was mealy and lumpy, more like cottage cheese than panna cotta. It was also rather tart, which I have never experienced with this type of dessert before. It was so unpleasant that I only ate one bite. The Hubs tried it too, but was even more grossed out than I was, so we ended up tossing it in the trash. I wish I could have gotten my $4.25 back, especially since that was a high price for such a small portion.

     After that less than stellar dessert, I told The Hubs to go get one of the Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond Truffles from The Chew Lab.  I had tried it a couple of days ago and loved it. It is well worth the $4.00! The Hubs loved it as much as I did. The semi-frozen, creamy, chocolaty goodness is only made even more delicious by the whiskey caramel.

Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond Truffle

At this point, K literally decided to stop and smell the flowers, so we paused in the cute little dining area next to The Chew booths. There are about 8 high tables, as well as some small counter tops, in a grassy area next to the booths, where you can stop and chill for a bit. This is a nice feature, since almost everywhere else throughout the festival, there seemed to be a shortage of places where you could put a plate down. Guests were using trash cans and benches as table tops. They could definitely use more tables placed throughout World Showcase during the festival weeks.    

     When we were able to move on, we next stopped off at the Canada marketplace, for some Chicken Sausage and Le Cellier's Wild Mushroom Beef Filet. While we ate, we got a little rain shower, but since the sun was scorching hot, it felt nice to get a sprinkle. K liked it so much that he got up from his stroller and did a rain dance. The Hubs said he needed a drink, so he went over to the Refreshment Port to grab a Diet Coke and magically reappeared with a Cronut, a croissant/donut hybrid, covered in cinnamon and sugar. Honestly, I can't say I was upset that the cronut appeared. Cronuts are incredible. If you haven't tried one, you MUST. They are served hot and are basically fried dough from the heavens. One Cronut is a pretty huge portion and totally worth the $4.99. And great news.... They are on Refreshment Port's regular menu, so even if you aren't visiting until after Food and Wine, you should be able to enjoy one of these incredible treats!

The Cronut. The picture doesn't do it justice. That's a full dessert plate. It's huge. 

     Ok, back to our Canadian goodies... The Chicken Sausage was served on creamy polenta with Minus 8 onion jam on it. The sausage had a lot of kick to it, which we were not expecting. It was tasty, but whew! Unexpected heat can really throw you off! The polenta was sweet and creamy, and really cut the heat nicely. The portion was good for the $4.50 price tag and I'd definitely recommend it, especially if you like a little spice. 

Chicken Sausage with Polenta and Onion Jam

     The Filet was fantastic! Pretty much everything from Le Cellier is awesome anyway, but the filet was perfectly seasoned, and cooked to a nice medium. It was fork tender and the truffle butter sauce was a great compliment. I am not a mushroom eater, so I let The Hubs have those. Actually, K ended up eating the majority of the beef, and loved it. It is $7.50 and probably only about  2-3 oz., but what I would recommend is to skip the sirloin from The Chew Lab, and go with the filet in Canada instead. 

Le Cellier Filet with Truffle Butter and Mushrooms

     We skipped Ireland and decided to head over the bridge to France, instead. I had been dying to try the Vanilla and Chocolate Creme Brulee. While in line, the smell of the Boeuf Bourguignon on the man's plate who was seated nearby was enough to convince me to order one of those too. The Boeuf Bourguignon had a rich, red wine flavor in the brown sauce, and the beef was super tender and delicious. K also at a good share of that. The mashed potatoes that were served with it were unfortunately a bit like cafeteria potatoes and ended up being discarded. The serving had two large chunks of meat, and about a quarter of a cup or potatoes, and was $5.95. I was glad I tried it, but probably wouldn't order it again.

Boeuf Bourguignon

     The creme brulee had the magical, silky creaminess that only the French can create. I swear that the France pavilion has some of the very best creme brulee that I have ever had, and I have had it in actual France before. This special Food and Wine version is a smaller portion that what they serve in Les Halles, but it is ribboned with a melty chocolate swirl. C'est Magnifique! $4.25 well spent. 

Vanilla/Chocolate Creme Brulee

      We were starting to fill up and I knew I wanted to make a stop at the Desserts and Champagne marketplace, so we hopped the boat back over to the Future World side of the lagoon. At Desserts and Champagne, we went for the Chocolate Cherry Explosion, The Cream Soda Float and the Chocolate Seashells. The seashells were quickly claimed by K, since they were the only thing served in a package, and therefor, the only thing that we knew for sure was egg free. I guess they were good, but since he gobbled each of the two shells in one mouthful, I wouldn't know for sure. The $1.75 was worth it, since he seemed so content shoving them in his mouth like he had never eaten before.

     The Cream Soda Float was tasty. I would say that the portion of caramel ice cream included in it was pretty large for the cup size. I was surprised to find that the soda was pink, and I actually asked a Cast Member if I had picked up the right order, just to be sure. It was good, but for the $4.50 price tag, next time I will pass. I really want to try the Frozen S'More, which looked awesome and is only $3.25.

Don't be fooled. My husband has a freakishly large hand. This is probably a 5 oz. cup. 

     The Chocolate Cherry Explosion had an awesome presentation. The chocolate mousse triangle had a chocolate covered cherry on top, and a chocolate straw decorating it, plus the cherry sauce on the top of it was wondrously iridescent. Oooo.... sparkly! 

  

The mousse was very dense and had cherry bits throughout, giving it a hint of tartness. I really liked it and thought the portion was plenty big enough to share. And it was only $3.75! Score!

     We only had about 30 minutes until we had to leave to get D from school, so we started walking toward the front. K was dying to get out of his stroller and run amok, (amok, amok, amok, amok!), so we let him loose at the splash pad and he damn near lost his mind. He had SO. MUCH. FUN. He splashed and played for twenty five minutes, and was hooting and hollering the whole time. Guests were stopping to watch him because he was clearly having massive amounts of fun. 

     Of course, he wasn't pleased when it was time to go, but I bribed him with a lollipop and we were on our way! We had an fantastic afternoon and tried some tasty treats. I totally can't wait to come back and get some more. Next on my list will be hitting up the Italy marketplace and trying that yummy frozen s'more ar Desserts and Champagne! Watch for reviews soon!