BriarRosie
<font color=blue>Creator of Tag Fairy Haiku:<br>Cl
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2002
It was eerie how civilized everyone was. I think the colder weather helped for sure. I'm really glad we had an ADR for dinner instead of trying to fight the crowds.
Gluttoberfest: Food and Wine 2009 - Updated 12/24 (Review is complete!)
- Thread starter BriarRosie
- Start date
It was eerie how civilized everyone was. I think the colder weather helped for sure. I'm really glad we had an ADR for dinner instead of trying to fight the crowds.
ChelleinNC
Say "Hi" to Art the Greeter for me!
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2007
well now I want a shot of tequila 
I remember seeing pictures of the crowds that day...I would not have done well
and would've needed several shots to calm myself 
I remember seeing pictures of the crowds that day...I would not have done well
and would've needed several shots to calm myself
BriarRosie
<font color=blue>Creator of Tag Fairy Haiku:<br>Cl
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2002
Saturday, October 17th continued...
I left off with some noshing, a food demo and the tequila tasting. But I wasn't done yet, oh no! There was more gluttorious food action coming up. But not at the food kiosks.
As I said before, the hungry masses in the entire state of Florida came to Epcot. Even the wine shop in Italy had a long line. As Catherine stated, it was practically in Germany. But since the weather was in the 50s, after being around 90 degrees in past few days, people were in good spirits.
That's why I was thankful that I had made an ADR for Bistro de Paris for dinner. Mostly because it's not part of the Disney Dining Plan. I figured (or hoped) there would be fewer kids in there, since they don't have a dedicated kids' menu. (People have been posting that they are allowing kids to order from the kids' menu from Chefs de France.) And perhaps fewer would want to pay out of pocket vs. the dining plan. I think Catherine was happy that she didn't have to wait in the food and wine kiosk lines.
As Catherine and I walked to the podium to check in for our 6:30 ADR, the French host immediately asked if we were on the Dining Plan. I'm sure he has to calm plenty of irate guests who think they are booking Chefs de France, which is on the plan. He seemed relieved to hear me say, "No, we're not on the Dining Plan. We know you don't accept the Dining Plan."
We were asked to wait twice. Once in the chairs on the lower level, and once in the chairs at the top of the Gone With the Wind staircase. I wish I had a picture of that, as it's a grand entrance to the restaurant, for sure.
We were seated one table over from the windowside table, so I was able to look outside.
Our first dish was the complimentary amuse bouche presented by the restaurant. Ours was a salmon mousse on a puff pastry.
It was ok, nothing that exciting. Perfectly decent and gets an OK rating.
Catherine suggested we order a 1/2 bottle of wine, and in the process of eenie, meenie, miney, moe, she said we could try a Bordeaux. The 1/2 bottle selections were limited at best, so this seemed to be the most appealing of the lot to me.
Chateau Falfas
I wanted to call it Chateau Falstaff. Don't ask me why! Anyway, this was a nice medium bodied wine. Since I ordered lamb, and Catherine ordered scallops, it was a good choice. It gets an Excellent rating.
Catherine and I both ordered the same appetizer. I'm getting my menu descriptions from AllEarsNet. Here we go.
Warm Goat Cheese - with basil and sundried tomatoes in a crisp shell, baby mixed greens, balsamic vinaigrette
The goat cheese in pastry shells are in the middle, and we got quite a lot in those 4 "cigars". The balsamic dressing had a good flavor. But the item that didn't do it for me was the sundried tomato, as shown in the top left.
Ever have really tough fruit roll ups? That's the consistency of that tomato. It was tomato leather. I wish they would have re-constituted the tomato a bit so it was easier to eat. It didn't wreck the dish, but it didn't add anything, either.
So I'm giving it a Good.
As I mentioned, I ordered for my entree:
Rack of Lamb - roasted with thyme, ratatouille, thin onion tart with rosemary and eggplant caviar gratine with parmesan
While we were there, I noticed how this dish was presented. The servers cut the rack of lamb tableside. With a big honkin' carving knife. So our carving table was wheeled out way in advance of the plate being ready. And the carving knife was sitting there.
This is when I was thinking about the posts I've read here about children running wild in restaurants. At this restaurant, that would be a huge liability. Not because they leave the big honkin' carving knives around.
Because they also like to have pyrotechnics at the table. That's right, they flambé desserts. I did notice there were a few tables with kids, but they seemed pretty well behaved. Catherine mentioned that there was a baby crying, but I think he/she was far enough away that I didn't pay much attention to it.
I did notice the table with kids nearby had one of those flambé carts, as the server made Crepes Suzette at the table. I was enjoying the presentation, and I did notice that the server moved the cart away so that the child nearby would not be near it.
The couple next to us had a really decadent chocolate dessert, and since I knew I would be gorging myself on Brenda's birthday cake, I had declined dessert.
Hmm, looks like it's time to show you my tableside carving!
Cyrill made it look elegant, no? You can see the plate with my side dishes on the table to Cyrill's left.
Enjoy the Money Shot of the lamb. Cyrill seemed to be posing it. "Work it!"
Here is the full plate o' goodness. The ratatouille is beautiful, is it not? I wasn't crazy that they served the bay leaf on it, as I know you really can't eat that. I wonder how many people think they can?
The lamb was tender, and I loved the flaky tartlet on the top left. This gets an Excellent.
As we were getting our entrees served, the couple next to us left, to be replaced by two older women, whom I like to call, the Old Biddies.
Why? From the very start of sitting down, they started kvetching. And in the most annoying ways. Let me explain. Here's what Catherine and I overheard:
Biddie #1. Ohhh...I don't think I can see the view that well here.
Biddie #2: Would you like me to switch seats with you?
Biddie #1: Nooo...I don't want you to go to any trouble.
Biddie #2: It's ok, I'll switch with you if you want.
And they did this a few times. Enough that I wanted to say, "Just let her switch seats with you so you'd stop being so passive-aggressive about it!!
Gah!
So I was trying hard not to laugh when they continued their Biddie Vaudeville act. One of the biddies wanted the lamb, as she probably saw me enjoying mine, but she was intrigued by the prix fixe menu. Lamb is not one of the entree choices, as it was one of the more expensive items on the menu.
Sure enough, when Cyrill came to discuss the menu with them, more comedy ensued. They could not understand him. I really didn't think his accent was difficult, but they did. I was ready to interpret for them in a minute. The biddie next to me asked whether she could have the fixed price menu....but with lamb as her entree. Oy. Guess she didn't know you can't substitute an entree that isn't on list of choices.
So they needed more time with the menu. And we got more comedy gold.
Biddie #1: This is a special dinner.
Biddie #2: We had 3 special dinners this week.
What? You can't have more than one special dinner while on vacation?
Biddie #1: The scallops look good. I think I might order those.
Biddie #2: But you had scallops for dinner a few days ago.
Again, you can't order scallops twice during a trip?
I'm telling you, listening to these Old Biddies was enlightening. I was glad when we were able to pay and leave.
As we left, we passed a display with various sized bottles of Champagne. They started with normal sized up to freakin' ginormous. Catherine called it the Evolution of Champagne and posted a pic of it on her food review thread.
It was time to head back to Beach Club Villas, as we were going to Brenda's birthday party at the Solarium room at 9:30pm. Catherine and I stopped by our villas to pick up the cheese and wine we were bringing.
I went down first, and I noticed that it was almost 9:30pm and Brenda and Jason weren't there yet. But nobody else was, either. Except the cast member from the Yacht and Beach Private Dining. He had the cake and wanted to know where to put it.
As I was the only one there, I made an executive decision to have him leave the cake on one table, and he set up the dishes and cutlery on another table. I took this opportunity to take photos of the cake.
How cute is that? They did a wonderful job on her birthday cake!
Here's the birthday girl with the cake.
Another shot of her cutting the cake.
It was really good. The layers were different cakes with ganache. One layer was white cake with chocolate mousse filling, and another layer was chocolate cake with white chocolate ganache filling. I did try both.
Oink.
About 20 people came to Brenda's party. Brenda brought a treasure chest full of travel sized bottles o' booze. I picked out Amarula.
It was fun to meet people who have posted to the food threads and place faces to names. I don't want to single people out for fear of missing naming everyone I met! You know who you are, and I enjoyed meeting you!
Before the party broke up, I had asked to pose for a photo with Brenda. We're sharing the Goofy love.
That's not all, folks. I still have one full day o' vacation left, complete with lots of food porn!
I left off with some noshing, a food demo and the tequila tasting. But I wasn't done yet, oh no! There was more gluttorious food action coming up. But not at the food kiosks.
As I said before, the hungry masses in the entire state of Florida came to Epcot. Even the wine shop in Italy had a long line. As Catherine stated, it was practically in Germany. But since the weather was in the 50s, after being around 90 degrees in past few days, people were in good spirits.
That's why I was thankful that I had made an ADR for Bistro de Paris for dinner. Mostly because it's not part of the Disney Dining Plan. I figured (or hoped) there would be fewer kids in there, since they don't have a dedicated kids' menu. (People have been posting that they are allowing kids to order from the kids' menu from Chefs de France.) And perhaps fewer would want to pay out of pocket vs. the dining plan. I think Catherine was happy that she didn't have to wait in the food and wine kiosk lines.
As Catherine and I walked to the podium to check in for our 6:30 ADR, the French host immediately asked if we were on the Dining Plan. I'm sure he has to calm plenty of irate guests who think they are booking Chefs de France, which is on the plan. He seemed relieved to hear me say, "No, we're not on the Dining Plan. We know you don't accept the Dining Plan."
We were asked to wait twice. Once in the chairs on the lower level, and once in the chairs at the top of the Gone With the Wind staircase. I wish I had a picture of that, as it's a grand entrance to the restaurant, for sure.
We were seated one table over from the windowside table, so I was able to look outside.
Our first dish was the complimentary amuse bouche presented by the restaurant. Ours was a salmon mousse on a puff pastry.
It was ok, nothing that exciting. Perfectly decent and gets an OK rating.
Catherine suggested we order a 1/2 bottle of wine, and in the process of eenie, meenie, miney, moe, she said we could try a Bordeaux. The 1/2 bottle selections were limited at best, so this seemed to be the most appealing of the lot to me.
Chateau Falfas
I wanted to call it Chateau Falstaff. Don't ask me why! Anyway, this was a nice medium bodied wine. Since I ordered lamb, and Catherine ordered scallops, it was a good choice. It gets an Excellent rating.
Catherine and I both ordered the same appetizer. I'm getting my menu descriptions from AllEarsNet. Here we go.
Warm Goat Cheese - with basil and sundried tomatoes in a crisp shell, baby mixed greens, balsamic vinaigrette
The goat cheese in pastry shells are in the middle, and we got quite a lot in those 4 "cigars". The balsamic dressing had a good flavor. But the item that didn't do it for me was the sundried tomato, as shown in the top left.
Ever have really tough fruit roll ups? That's the consistency of that tomato. It was tomato leather. I wish they would have re-constituted the tomato a bit so it was easier to eat. It didn't wreck the dish, but it didn't add anything, either.
So I'm giving it a Good.
As I mentioned, I ordered for my entree:
Rack of Lamb - roasted with thyme, ratatouille, thin onion tart with rosemary and eggplant caviar gratine with parmesan
While we were there, I noticed how this dish was presented. The servers cut the rack of lamb tableside. With a big honkin' carving knife. So our carving table was wheeled out way in advance of the plate being ready. And the carving knife was sitting there.
This is when I was thinking about the posts I've read here about children running wild in restaurants. At this restaurant, that would be a huge liability. Not because they leave the big honkin' carving knives around.
Because they also like to have pyrotechnics at the table. That's right, they flambé desserts. I did notice there were a few tables with kids, but they seemed pretty well behaved. Catherine mentioned that there was a baby crying, but I think he/she was far enough away that I didn't pay much attention to it.
I did notice the table with kids nearby had one of those flambé carts, as the server made Crepes Suzette at the table. I was enjoying the presentation, and I did notice that the server moved the cart away so that the child nearby would not be near it.
The couple next to us had a really decadent chocolate dessert, and since I knew I would be gorging myself on Brenda's birthday cake, I had declined dessert.
Hmm, looks like it's time to show you my tableside carving!
Cyrill made it look elegant, no? You can see the plate with my side dishes on the table to Cyrill's left.
Enjoy the Money Shot of the lamb. Cyrill seemed to be posing it. "Work it!"
Here is the full plate o' goodness. The ratatouille is beautiful, is it not? I wasn't crazy that they served the bay leaf on it, as I know you really can't eat that. I wonder how many people think they can?
The lamb was tender, and I loved the flaky tartlet on the top left. This gets an Excellent.
As we were getting our entrees served, the couple next to us left, to be replaced by two older women, whom I like to call, the Old Biddies.
Why? From the very start of sitting down, they started kvetching. And in the most annoying ways. Let me explain. Here's what Catherine and I overheard:
Biddie #1. Ohhh...I don't think I can see the view that well here.
Biddie #2: Would you like me to switch seats with you?
Biddie #1: Nooo...I don't want you to go to any trouble.
Biddie #2: It's ok, I'll switch with you if you want.
And they did this a few times. Enough that I wanted to say, "Just let her switch seats with you so you'd stop being so passive-aggressive about it!!
Gah!
So I was trying hard not to laugh when they continued their Biddie Vaudeville act. One of the biddies wanted the lamb, as she probably saw me enjoying mine, but she was intrigued by the prix fixe menu. Lamb is not one of the entree choices, as it was one of the more expensive items on the menu.
Sure enough, when Cyrill came to discuss the menu with them, more comedy ensued. They could not understand him. I really didn't think his accent was difficult, but they did. I was ready to interpret for them in a minute. The biddie next to me asked whether she could have the fixed price menu....but with lamb as her entree. Oy. Guess she didn't know you can't substitute an entree that isn't on list of choices.
So they needed more time with the menu. And we got more comedy gold.
Biddie #1: This is a special dinner.
Biddie #2: We had 3 special dinners this week.
What? You can't have more than one special dinner while on vacation?
Biddie #1: The scallops look good. I think I might order those.
Biddie #2: But you had scallops for dinner a few days ago.
Again, you can't order scallops twice during a trip?
I'm telling you, listening to these Old Biddies was enlightening. I was glad when we were able to pay and leave.
As we left, we passed a display with various sized bottles of Champagne. They started with normal sized up to freakin' ginormous. Catherine called it the Evolution of Champagne and posted a pic of it on her food review thread.
It was time to head back to Beach Club Villas, as we were going to Brenda's birthday party at the Solarium room at 9:30pm. Catherine and I stopped by our villas to pick up the cheese and wine we were bringing.
I went down first, and I noticed that it was almost 9:30pm and Brenda and Jason weren't there yet. But nobody else was, either. Except the cast member from the Yacht and Beach Private Dining. He had the cake and wanted to know where to put it.
As I was the only one there, I made an executive decision to have him leave the cake on one table, and he set up the dishes and cutlery on another table. I took this opportunity to take photos of the cake.
How cute is that? They did a wonderful job on her birthday cake!
Here's the birthday girl with the cake.
Another shot of her cutting the cake.
It was really good. The layers were different cakes with ganache. One layer was white cake with chocolate mousse filling, and another layer was chocolate cake with white chocolate ganache filling. I did try both.
Oink.
About 20 people came to Brenda's party. Brenda brought a treasure chest full of travel sized bottles o' booze. I picked out Amarula.
It was fun to meet people who have posted to the food threads and place faces to names. I don't want to single people out for fear of missing naming everyone I met! You know who you are, and I enjoyed meeting you!
Before the party broke up, I had asked to pose for a photo with Brenda. We're sharing the Goofy love.
That's not all, folks. I still have one full day o' vacation left, complete with lots of food porn!
Shenanigoat
I shall call him squishy. And he shall be mine. An
- Joined
- May 20, 2009
What a great dinnner! Knifes and pyrotechnics sounds like my kinda meal. And those "ratings" seriously crack me up. One of the best super/minor characters ever.
One of the best super/minor characters ever.
oybolshoi
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2004
Hiya Lori - loved the update! I'm sorry to say that I think Jay and I were on the better side of Bistro but your lamb (which I don't like) looked amazing. Jay already said that the next time we dine there (I guess he must be thinking about 2011) he's ordering the lamb. 
Thanks again for jumping in with private dining that night ... who knew I'd be late to my own shin-dig? I blame Flying Fish ... they were running behind the eight-ball all night and when they gave us free creme brulee for my birthday I felt like we had to eat some of it before bolting.
Your pictures look great - as do you! And that cake was so good ... I wish we were all eating it right now ... in the Ditch! There were about 15 people who no-showed ... ah well, more cake and booze and attendance prizes for the rest of us! 
Thanks again for jumping in with private dining that night ... who knew I'd be late to my own shin-dig? I blame Flying Fish ... they were running behind the eight-ball all night and when they gave us free creme brulee for my birthday I felt like we had to eat some of it before bolting.
Your pictures look great - as do you! And that cake was so good ... I wish we were all eating it right now ... in the Ditch!
There were about 15 people who no-showed ... ah well, more cake and booze and attendance prizes for the rest of us! 
whogirl'smom
<font color=royalblue>Any leftover grumpiness can
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2006
So, did they ever actually switch seats? Sounded like a great birthday party!
Sounded like a great birthday party!
BriarRosie
<font color=blue>Creator of Tag Fairy Haiku:<br>Cl
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2002
She was tucked away near the Wonders of Life, so I don't think the Disney Gestapo had gotten their marching papers to patrol that area yet.
well now I want a shot of tequila
I remember seeing pictures of the crowds that day...I would not have done well
I forgot to mention that the line to get to the bar, which was still open during our tequila tasting event, was looooooooooong. And it was equally as long, snaking around the merchandise kiosks where they sell silly hats, when we left.
What a great dinnner! Knifes and pyrotechnics sounds like my kinda meal. And those "ratings" seriously crack me up.
You saw the knife Cyrill was wielding. That was sitting right next to me for a good long time. They have a lot of trust going on at this restaurant! And yeah, I really love the Minstrel character. When I did Adventures by Disney last year for the Hollywood/Disneyland tour, they had a Disney artist/historian drawing any character you wanted. I really wanted her to draw the Minstrel, but she said she wouldn't do him justice unless she had a reference model. She was able to draw an equally obscure character for me. The Reluctant Dragon!
It was good, but it wasn't the best lamb I've had. I'd probably want to try the scallops if they're still on the menu next time I go there.
Oh gosh, you're going to make my ego explode!
Hiya Lori - loved the update! I'm sorry to say that I think Jay and I were on the better side of Bistro but your lamb (which I don't like) looked amazing. Jay already said that the next time we dine there (I guess he must be thinking about 2011) he's ordering the lamb.
Thanks again for jumping in with private dining that night ... who knew I'd be late to my own shin-dig? I blame Flying Fish ... they were running behind the eight-ball all night and when they gave us free creme brulee for my birthday I felt like we had to eat some of it before bolting.
Your pictures look great - as do you! And that cake was so good ... I wish we were all eating it right now ... in the Ditch!
I'd rather be eating that cake, too! It was so good! Glad you enjoyed my lamb porn. I think you would have gone nuts if you were seated next to the Old Biddie Comedy Team.
Thanks, Elin! I haven't uploaded the next batch of photos yet.
So, did they ever actually switch seats?
No, the Old Biddies did not switch seats, no matter how much I wanted them to do it!
And yes, the party was fun. 
BriarRosie
<font color=blue>Creator of Tag Fairy Haiku:<br>Cl
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2002
They were funnier once we didn't have to listen to them for the rest of their meal!
I'm going to eventually post my Vegas food pics on Bendy's thread on the Community Board.
Great update. Your lamb chops, all 4 of them, looked fabulous.
What all was on the tartlet?
It was an onion tart with parmesan cheese, I think. It was tasty.
BriarRosie
<font color=blue>Creator of Tag Fairy Haiku:<br>Cl
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2002
I think it was more than time to pimp out Chelsi's review, so I added it to my first page. It's linked in blue towards the bottom, along with the other threads I've cross-pimped.
She's kabuki, for those who don't know.
She's kabuki, for those who don't know.
ChelleinNC
Say "Hi" to Art the Greeter for me!
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2007
Lori your meal looked wonderful! I love lamb and scallops so it would be tough to decide.
Love the pics of the cake and you & brenda at the bday party. The cake sounds so good, and I'm sure it would go really well with my coffee this morning
No shows? I would've gladly taken their place
enquiring minds want to know
Love the pics of the cake and you & brenda at the bday party. The cake sounds so good, and I'm sure it would go really well with my coffee this morning
Hiya Lori - loved the update! I'm sorry to say that I think Jay and I were on the better side of Bistro but your lamb (which I don't like) looked amazing. Jay already said that the next time we dine there (I guess he must be thinking about 2011) he's ordering the lamb.
Thanks again for jumping in with private dining that night ... who knew I'd be late to my own shin-dig? I blame Flying Fish ... they were running behind the eight-ball all night and when they gave us free creme brulee for my birthday I felt like we had to eat some of it before bolting.
Your pictures look great - as do you! And that cake was so good ... I wish we were all eating it right now ... in the Ditch!
No shows? I would've gladly taken their place
So, did they ever actually switch seats?
enquiring minds want to know
BriarRosie
<font color=blue>Creator of Tag Fairy Haiku:<br>Cl
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2002
Bring on those Vegas reviews, bay-bee! I've only got 158 days until we go to Vegas for Jay's 40th birthday!!
I'm fairly close to finishing this review. Then I'll tackle Vegas. Promise.
Wish I had a photo of all the strange and wonderful outfits people wore in public.
Lori your meal looked wonderful! I love lamb and scallops so it would be tough to decide.
Love the pics of the cake and you & brenda at the bday party. The cake sounds so good, and I'm sure it would go really well with my coffee this morning
No shows? I would've gladly taken their place
enquiring minds want to know
Thanks! And you'd have had lots of cake had you been able to attend.
And no, the biddies didn't switch seats. I think I addressed that in another reply you might have missed.
tony67
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 22, 2003
Lori,Thanks everyone! I had a wonderful trip to Vegas.
I ate a lot of food, drank a lot of booze, and most importantly, got my foie gras fix. So I say...
Suck it, Disney!
I'll have to get my pics from Saturday, October 17th uploaded and such to continue on with my report here.
Glad you had a good time. I know youre a Foie Gras fan, if you get a chance check out the Foie Gras Brulee at one of Jean-Gorges locations. He just opened a place in Boston and I am looking forward to getting over to try it.
It looks amazing and gets rave reviews.
Someone posted a photo of it, here is the link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28881905@N03/3743158696/
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