Now that the first full weekend of the Arts Festival is complete, I’d like get everyone’s opinion on the festival kiosk menu items they have tried. I’ve seen some general comments about the food in my original thread (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...sks-compared-to-other-epcot-festivals.923729/), but I thought I’d create a new thread to get more specific about the food and drinks. Despite being disappointed with the food and it's cost during my first visit to the Arts Festival on Friday, I’m contemplating making another trip. There were a few things I didn’t get the chance to try that day and I want to know if they are worth trying. These are the items I still want to try, I would appreciate reviews from anyone who has had a chance to taste them.
Below is a list of the items I tried on Friday. I never do drinks at any of the festivals, so I can’t comment on any of the beverage items. With everything so expensive at these festivals (and at Disney in general), I decided long ago I’d rather spend my money on food. I’m typically a repeat buyer of festival food items that I like, but I wouldn’t get any of these again. Some I liked, some I didn’t, but those I liked were still too overpriced. It can be a good place to get ideas, a lot of times I realize I can make something comparable at home for a fraction of the price. And I don’t like to cook – the prep, the cooking, the clean-up – I’d rather spend my time on other things. If it’s got more than 4-5 ingredients, I don’t make it. But I’ve made many things from both the F&G and F&W festivals very easily and cheaply at home. As far as the artistry, some of them had no more artistry that what you see at the other festivals. And for those that did, I did take that into consideration with regards to the overall value. Now that I’m done with the disclaimers, let’s dive into my reviews!
- Braised Short Rib with Parsnip Purée, Broccolini, Baby Tomatoes and Aged Balsamic
- Port Wine Poached Pear, Panna Cotta and Pistachio Crumbs
- Smoked Salmon Tartare, Caviar, Crisp Lavash and Traditional Accompaniments
- Trio of Savory Croissant Doughnuts (Cream Cheese, Chicken Mousse, Spicy Tuna) – those who got to try these with the original pastries, and not those half cut-up donut things
Below is a list of the items I tried on Friday. I never do drinks at any of the festivals, so I can’t comment on any of the beverage items. With everything so expensive at these festivals (and at Disney in general), I decided long ago I’d rather spend my money on food. I’m typically a repeat buyer of festival food items that I like, but I wouldn’t get any of these again. Some I liked, some I didn’t, but those I liked were still too overpriced. It can be a good place to get ideas, a lot of times I realize I can make something comparable at home for a fraction of the price. And I don’t like to cook – the prep, the cooking, the clean-up – I’d rather spend my time on other things. If it’s got more than 4-5 ingredients, I don’t make it. But I’ve made many things from both the F&G and F&W festivals very easily and cheaply at home. As far as the artistry, some of them had no more artistry that what you see at the other festivals. And for those that did, I did take that into consideration with regards to the overall value. Now that I’m done with the disclaimers, let’s dive into my reviews!
- Deconstructed Purple Sweet Potato Pie, Salted Caramel, Bourbon-soaked Cake and Marshmallow Whipped Cream $6.50 – This was a big disappointment to me on many fronts. Even if they gave it to me for free, I wouldn’t eat it again. The purple pie was a very strange texture, even after 4 days I can’t think of how to adequately describe it, except maybe like mashed potatoes mixed with gelatin as firming/molding agent? I don’t know, it was just strange. It also didn’t taste like anything. I had multiple bites of it by itself, and it just tasted like nothing. There was a quarter-size dab of caramel on the plate, and even less of the marshmallow whip cream which just tasted like plain whip cream to me. The bourbon-soaked cake wound up being 3 nickel-size pieces of plain white cake without even a hint of bourbon taste or even bourbon smell. Overall this dish was totally disappointing from a flavor, texture and portion standpoint. But it got even worse, when I started feeling sick about 30 minutes later. It was the only thing I ate at that time, and I hadn’t eaten anything for a few hours and had been feeling fine all day, so I know that this was the cause. I think it had something to do with the weird texture of the pie, like it was just sitting in my stomach and not being digested and making me feel nauseous. Even tums didn’t help. Ultimately, I didn’t feel better until it left my system the next morning (I know, yuck, but it made me feel like crap all night, not fun).
- Crisp Caramel Chocolate Mousse Bar, Flavored Merengue Kisses and Passion Fruit Sauce $6.75 – The dessert was pretty, but that’s really all it was. Once I started eating this dessert, I immediately began to wonder how they came up with the name. It was essentially a layered dessert with a thin layer of what tasted like plain chocolate cake on the bottom, some caramel colored stuff in the middle that had sort of a firm pudding texture but didn’t really taste like anything, and a thin later of chocolate ganache on top. There was nothing crisp about the bar, so I have no idea why that word was in the description. There was also no caramel mousse, no chocolate mousse, no caramel chocolate mousse – there was nothing in the bar that had a mousse-like texture. And the pudding-like stuff inside the bar literally had no taste. The meringue kisses were good but nothing special, and if you like meringue you can go to the bakery in France and get a big chuck of it that’s half dipped in chocolate. The passion fruit sauce was good, for the few drops you get. But ultimately the bar just tasted like plain chocolate, and I’m certainly a fan of a plain bar of chocolate every once in a while, but not when it costs $6.75.
- Choriqueso Taco served with Chihuahua Cheese, Red and Green Peppers over a Corn Tortilla and garnished with Poblano Peppers and Micro Cilantro $7.41 – This is one of those strange cases where tax isn’t included in the price posted on the menu so the final price winds up being higher (I don’t know why some kiosks include tax and some don’t). You only get 2 very small flat tacos for this price, and while they were good the price was way too high for such a small portion. This shouldn’t have been more than $5.50 (including tax). You could easily make something comparable at home for a fraction of the price – chorizo, cheese, tortillas and salsa – pretty simple.
- Pan-Seared Scallop with Chorizo, Roasted Red Pepper Coulis and a Parmesan Crisp $6.25 – This tasted fine, pretty much as you’d expect, but was not a good value for the portion size. One scallop, one tablespoon of a mixture of chorizo with bell pepper or celery (I’m not exactly sure since the vegetable ingredients weren’t listed on the menu), one tablespoon of red pepper puree and a parmesan crisp about the size of a half dollar. And for the one tablespoon “chorizo” mixture there were really only 2 small pea-sized pieces of chorizo, the rest was veggies. The chef prepared the dish right in front of me, so I could see the exact amounts and saw him use just one tablespoon for the red pepper puree and chorizo mixtures respectively. At the 2016 F&W festival, they had a comparable dish for $5.50 with a single scallop served with truffled celery root puree, brussel sprouts and wild mushrooms (with definitely more than a tablespoon-sized portion of these sides). I also want you to remember the words “truffled” and “wild mushrooms” that I just mentioned, I’m going to refer to them again in my risotto review below.
- Wild Mushroom Risotto, Aged Parmesan, Truffle Shavings and Zinfandel Reduction $9 – This was definitely the worst value of all the items I tried. There was no artistic element to the prep of this dish – scoop rice out of a tray and sprinkle with some shaved parmesan. They basically used an ice cream scoop to scoop up some risotto and then scraped the flat side of the scoop against the side of the tray that the pre-made risotto was in. So it wasn’t even a rounded scoop like they do with ice cream, it was essentially half of that. Yes, the description says “wild mushrooms” and “aged parmesan”, but my guess is that the “truffle shavings” are the main thing that contributed to the $9 price tag. Sure, truffles are expensive, but for the small portion of rice you get you would only need the tiniest flake (think fish food flake size, or even smaller) of truffle to get that truffle-y taste. A basic small portion of rice like this shouldn’t have been more than $6 even with the truffle ingredient. Also, let’s refer back to my scallop dish review. Remember that scallop dish from the 2016 F&G festival? Truffles, check, wild mushrooms, check, AND it had a meat ingredient (the scallop) – all for $5.50! To make the $9 price tag even harder to swallow, this could easily be made at home. I know the word “risotto” scares people, images of standing in front of a stove for an hour or more stirring constantly, but it’s actually quite simple, all you is a rice cooker. Put risotto rice, stock and what ever other ingredients you want (wild mushrooms, white wine, herbs) in the rice cooker, stir once and then walk away! In an hour (about 30 minutes to cook and then 30 minutes on warm for the flavors to meld) you will have some awesome risotto. Truffle oil is certainly optional, but it’s also not as cost prohibitive as some might think. You can get a small bottle of truffle oil (black or white, I personally can’t taste much of a difference between to two) at your local grocery store for around $12 (for a 3-4 oz bottle). And while the bottle is small, a little goes a long way with truffle oil and you would only need a drop or two per serving of risotto. I’ve been using truffle oil for years, it is a very strong taste so I don’t use it very often, but when I do invest in a small bottle it lasts a long time.
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