California Grill, F&W Fest, Brown Derby and more! Lots of pics. Part 5

[plgrn]

Me (24)
DM (old enough to be my mom )
DH (26)
Just back from FW and this report will include our experiences at

Trails End Restaurant
F&W Festival Booths
California Grill
The Brown Derby
Flame Tree BBQ
Cosmic Ray's
The Biergarten

Click here for our entire trip report. Adults only at FW Towel Animal Quest!

Get ready for lots of food pictures (or as we usually say "food porn" )

Trails End Restaurant
We had an 8:30 PM dinner reservation on a Friday night and the crowd was crazy! I guess we waited about 10 minutes to be seated which wasn't too bad. Service was excellent as well as the food selection. Two people celebrated birthdays while we were there and the entire crowd hollered "yee-ha" at them while their server brought out a chocolate cake with a lighted candle. On to the buffet!

Pictured - BBQ ribs, green beans, salmon, smashed potatoes, and salad.

The ribs were tender and smoky, the green beans were bright, crisp, and fresh, and the Caesar salad dressing was superb! The potatoes were "real" with some of the red skins still left behind. Not pictured and DH's personal favorite was the sausage and pepper dish. The beef roast is also not pictured, but DM said it was a little dry.

Pictured - Peel and eat shrimp, Banana pudding, Blackberry lemonade, and clam chowder.

The clam chowder was excellent, and I would know since I've had some really bad chowder before! the banana pudding was just ok, but the blackbery lemonade was awesome! It was a dessert in itself. Price was $20 for adults, all you can eat, and included a soft drink or tea...blackberry lemonade was extra $$

Up in the next installment....F&W Fest booths!

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Thanks for a great start. Looking forward to reading more of your reports.

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent start ~ Lovely piccies.

 

[pennyplanner]

Keep those reviews and pictures coming!

--penny

 

[TigerKat]

Thanks for the great reviews, can't wait for Cali Grill!!

 

[swankybeth]

Great start, really looking forward to the rest.

 

[plgrn]

Pictured: Canada - Maple Galzed Salmon with argula and roasted corn and Cheddar cheese soup. Poland - Plum filled doughnut

The salmon was mom's favorite entree in the whole showcase. Not fishy at all! the cheese soup was creamy and left you wanting more. The doughnut was so disgusting, we fed all but the plum center to the ducks!

Pictured: France: Cheese pastry ( Chausson au Fromage de Chevre??) and Escargots Provencal

The goat cheese pastry was heavenly and the escargot was flavorful. I love oysters, so the texture wasn't a problem for me.

Pictured: Morocco - Mint iced tea, Pistachio baklava

The mint tea was light on the tea and heavy on the mint. I loved it! The baklava was less flaky than Greek baklava and a little more moist. Delicious!

Pictured: Japan-Spicy Tuna Rolls, Oktoberfest - Pretzel roll with sausage and sauerkraut, and apple strudel with vanilla sauce.

Spicy tuna rolls were indeed spicy and served up with plenty of wasabi. The rolls were a generous size unlike many restaurants. DH LOVED the pretzel roll, but could have done without the sauerkraut. The apple studel with rich and heavy which was a good thing in this case. It took the three of us to eat it even though it was fairly small!

Pictured: Australia - shrimp on the barbie

I was a little appalled at the $4 price tags on these "beauts," but they were very large shrimp and DH said they were worth it.

Pictured: China - Potstickers and Ginger ice cream, Scandinavia - Ligonberry mousse and Kjottkaker? (meatball and cauliflower creamed potatoes)

Mom enjoyed the postickers (as she always does) and the ginger ice cream was the perfect follow-up to all this food! The ginger flavor wasn't overpowering, but just enough to settle the stomach and cleanse the pallet. the Ligonberry mousse was tasty, but a little tart and certainly to substitute for chocolate. DH enjoyed the meatball, but I found the wine sauce a little overpowering. The cauliflower potatoes were rich and delish!

Overall verdict?? Pricey, but a fun way to tour World Showcase especially if you have been many times before. We'll never forget it!

 

[Schucraig]

Thanks for the pictures! I want to have those shrimp in Australia! They look good!

 

[oybolshoi]

Thanks for sharing - DH and I leave for 10 days of Gluttony on the 18th and your pics are making us even more anxious to leave!

 

[plgrn]

Thanks for sharing - DH and I leave for 10 days of Gluttony on the 18th

That sounds like the ultimate vacation!

 

[John's Mom]

Thanks for the great reviews!

 

[plgrn]

The Brown Derby

Pictured: Virgin strawberry daquiri, french rolls with butter

Unfortunately, this is the only food picture we took at the Brown Derby! The daquiri was a little tart, but still good and the bread was excellent. There's nothing like piping hot bread with buttter.

DH had the BBQ chicken breast with mixed greens, but got the dressing on the side. I can't remember the name of it, but it was pistacio green in color was to heavy on the mayonaise taste for his liking. The waiter brought him some ranch dressing instead and he was a happy camper! The chicken was tender and flavorful practically falling off the bone.

Mom had the cobb salad, and it breaks my heart that we didn't get a picture of it because it was arranged in the bowl so beautifully! They were happy to put the bleu cheese crumbles on the side for us since she was going to share with me. I'd never had cobb salad before and was pleasantly surprised at how filling it was. Usually I feel a little cheated if a salad is my entree, but with all the bacon and turkey in the salad I almost forgot I wasn't really eating a main course!

On to dessert which was vanilla bean creme brulee. To die for!! DH even loved it and he's a very picky eater.

Sorry there aren't more pictures!

 

[shovan]

I can't believe you were able to restrain yourself & take the time to take pics at the food booths! Great Job! I wish I had pics of all the wonderful food we had at the booths! We're trying to finagle a quick trip back before the F&W fest is over! We'll definitely be back next year!

 

[plgrn]

I am sooo hungry right now, so it's going to be difficult to get through this! Especially since it's back to rice and ramen noodles now that we're home.

California Grill - there's a trip report link in my siggy if you'd like to see the view. I'm dedication this thread to food pics only.

We started off with Sourdough bread with extra-virgin olive oil for dipping.

I'm not a big fan of sourdough bread, but this was actually palatable! very soft on the inside and the crust was crispy, but not so hard that you needed a hacksaw to get into it. Then out came the appetizers. For me it was the goat cheese ravioli:

Delicious! One giant piece of ravioli filled with feta cheese and topped with a mushroom red pepper sauce.

Mom and DH shared the triple cheese flatbread which was also excellent:

Next came our main course. I couldn't resist the hand-rolled sushi varieties so I opted for Yoshi's Deluxe (maki and nigri) Sushi Platter.

I love sushi, so of course it was all delicious to me, but what really stood out were the two rolls just to the left of the soy sauce dish. See that one has a big shrimp sitcking out of the top? I don't know what they are wrapped with, but it was crispy/nutty tasting and I just loved it! Plus the shrimp was unique. It seemed to have been boiled then coated with a fried coating without the shrimp actually being deep-fried. Yum!

DH had the oak-fired beef fillet and said it was the best piece of meat he has ever tasted! I have to agree with him. Mom and I shared a beef fillet at Narcoosee's last year that we thought was impossible to beat, but I do believe the California Grill outdid them!

Mom opted for the vegitarian Potatoe Gnocchi with fresh truffles.

we all sampled a bite and could not believe that the dish was meatless! Those ****take mushrooms really gave it a meaty flavor. At this point we are hurting, but when has that ever stopped us? On to dessert.

This was insane!! I can't remember the name of it since we didn't have it in writing, but it's basically creme brulee topped with bananas foster. Does it get any better? The top and bottom pieces that are sandwiching the creme brulee are made of phyllo dough and the whole thing was drizzled with a caramel and coffee chip mix. OMG!!!!!! If you don't eat anything else at California Grill make sure you try this one.

DH on the other hand refuses to eat fruit or anything fruit flavored. Problem was everything on the dessert menu had fruit in it somehow! Our server was nice enough to bring him the chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream instead of the raspberry ice cream it normally comes with. He also omitted the raspberry sauce that is normally drizzled on top.

Don't get me wrong....I took a bite of his cake and it was great! There was hot fudge in the center that oozes out when you cut the cake. But....NOTHING compares to that bananas foster/creme brulee thing!


Overall, the California Grill's food was to die for. I must make mention however that the service was crappy. I realize this is gourmet food and takes time to prepare, but it wasn't uncommon for us to sit for 15 minutes or more with empty drink glasses. Also when our server took our 3 Disney gifts cards as payment (yay for Sunshine Rewards!) he inisisted that we had only given him 2 cards. The one he lost had $100 dollars on it! At mom's insistance he went back to check for it, and finally found where he had mis-placed it on a tray of dirty dishes. The food was so wonderful it more than made up for the service. Just be aware of the fact before you go, and make plans accordingly.

 

[plgrn]

The boards won't let me describe the mushrooms! That is hilarious...maybe if I spell in differently.

Shi-Take

There we go.

 

[cdtommie]

Thanks for the great review. That Yoshi platter has my name all over it when we visit end of November.

 

[oybolshoi]

We're going to to California Grill as part of our glutton-fest...those pictures of yours are making me hungry, especially the sushi platter!!

And I can't believe the filter wouldn't let you type the name of the mushrooms.

 

[Krissalee]

Amazing reviews, and great photos! I will be at WDW in 2 days (so excited!) and hope I can take great photos for reviews, like you did. I will just have to learn how to post photos!

 

[Adi12982]

Thanks for the reports - we had quite the oppsite service at CG - our server actually brought us new drinks when ours were only 1/2 done! Guess it depends on who you get- because it was the BEST service we have ever had, period! Quick, friendly, etc.

 

[llqool]

thanks for the reviews (love your mushroom remarks!). we also had a good experience both food and service-wise at CG, but i realize it is totally dependent on the server you get and even their particular mood that night. at least you had a great culinary experience and i'm glad they found your gift card -- losing it would have really stunk!