Food and Wine Festival

It’s nice to still be on the mailing list for the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot at WDW. Perhaps it’s because we used to have the Disney Dining Experience card when we lived in Florida.

This is our very favorite time of year to be at WDW. But each year the prices go up and new higher-priced venues are added. One of the most interesting events this year is new. For those who enjoy cooking competitions, you might want to book The Bocuse D’or Grand Gala for $450 per person. The finalists will represent the U.S. at the Bocuse D’Or International Cuisine Competition in France in 2009.

One of the events we used to attend was the “Sweet Sunday,” showcasing a celebrity pastry chef preparing tasty desserts while you dine on a breakfast buffet, complete with champagne. At the end of the demonstration, you get to sample the fabulous desserts prepared by the chef. But not only has the price gone up from $55 to $75 per person this year, but the hot buffet breakfast is now being called a “continental buffet.” Hmmm… seems to be the Disney trend.

The most popular event is probably “Party for the Senses” held every Saturday night during the festival. We found that many attending the “Sweet Sunday” had also attend the Party the night before. There’s also a Friday night event called “City Tastes” on a few of the Friday nights during the festival so you could book a long week-end during the festival and enjoy all three of these events. Sounds fabulous!

You Had Us at the Corn Muffin

In a recent post, I mentioned the fabulous celebrity restaurants in Las Vegas. So if any of you are planning a side trip to Las Vegas from Disneyland, we thought you might want to take a peek at the amazing meal we had at Bobby Flay’s for Rich’s birthday (we’ll continue that celebration at Disneyland).

After my fabulous birthday dinner (described in One Perfect Evening), how could we even come close to something as spectacular for Rich’s birthday? We mulled over several of our top choices, but in the end, we knew we had to do Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill at Caesar’s Palace. There are more celebrity chefs in Las Vegas that Elvis impersonators these days, and having experienced Puck, Emeril, and Mario Batali, Bobby was our obvious choice. Let’s just say this, “He had us at the corn muffin.”

When a local makes a reservation at any of the Strip restaurants, the staff knows it must be for a special occasion. And the service is just as terrific as if you had just flown in from New York. That’s the great thing about Las Vegas. Before we moved here, we often chose to vacation in Las Vegas for the same reason we would vacation at other resorts: great service, great pools, great dining, great entertainment, and overall great value for the money. But nobody does service quite like Vegas. They make the average joe or jane feel like they’re somebody special.

We arrived early and were seated by the open-flame kitchen and began our “adventure of the taste buds.” You often hear judges on “Iron Chef” say that the tastes were layered – that they tasted one flavor upfront and were hit by the heat in the back of the throat at the end – especially when they’re judging Bobby Flay’s food – it is so true, but more on that later.

First off they brought us a basket of bread and the blue corn jalapeno muffin was amazing. We were hooked on Bobby’s food right then and couldn’t wait to try the rest of the meal. We ordered two Mesa Grill Margaritas and they were so fresh and tasty, I would have to say these were the best Margaritas I’ve ever had. In fact, this was the best southwestern meal I’ve ever had and that’s saying a lot because it’s my favorite cuisine.

Here’s what we ordered:

Appetizers

(R) Goat Cheese Queso Fundido: Rajas + Blue Corn Tortilla Strips

(K) Blue Corn Pancake: Barbecued Duck+ Habanero Chile – Star Anise Sauce

Entrees

(R) Ancho Chile-Honey Glazed Salmon: Spicy Black Bean Sauce + Roasted Jalapeno Crema

(K) Mahi Mahi Tacos (pictured at right): Black Bean Salsa, Avocado Relish + Meyer Lemon-Habanero Sauce

Dessert

(R&K) Lemon Meringue Creme Brulee + Sundried Strawberry Biscotti
Coffees

While everything was over-the-top delicious, the most amazing adventure of the taste buds was the salmon that Rich ordered. When I took a bite, my first reaction was that I didn’t recognize this flavor, but it was delicious. Then as the taste bud adventure continued, the salmon began to reveal itself to me, along with the heat, and it was just incredible. I had to have another bite to do it all over again.

We’ve been spoiled forever. Del Taco will never be the same.

One Perfect Evening

This is a repost of my birthday celebration last month.

Rich reserved a table at Mon Ami Gabi at Paris Las Vegas for my birthday dinner. We chose a time where we would arrive early enough but still be dining late enough to see the Bellagio fountains perform across the street lit up at night. We had dined at Mon Ami Gami before at lunch inside the main dining room. This time they led us out to the much-prized patio. And because the weather had cooled off to under 100, the weather for dining alfresco was perfect.

Not realizing we would be dining outside, we had left our sunglasses in the car, but soon the sun began to set behind the low clouds hugging the mountains in the distance. It was an amazing evening, and we were treated to fabulous service, a superb meal, and an exciting but romantic setting. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else on the Strip or anywhere but Las Vegas, for that matter.

Our Dining Extravaganza

First, our waiter brought us 2 glasses of water and a delicious French baguette with butter and the tastiest shredded carrots I ever had. And I thought my friend from Montreal performed miracles with carrots (not a favorite veggie).

Appetizer:

(R & K): Sea Scallops Gratinées – caramelized fennel, onion marmalade, mussel cream (the best scallops ever)

Wine:

Kathy: Champagne – Marquis de la Tour – Loire, NV
Rich: Chardonnay – Vouvray – Domaine Gaultier, 06

Entrée:

Kathy – Steak Classique – maítre d’hôtel butter, served with Pomme Frites
Rich – Steak Roquefort – blue cheese sauce, served with Pomme Frites

Dessert:

(R & K): Profiteroles – vanilla ice cream filled pastry, fudge sauce

We were given special treatment on our last meal at Mon Ami Gabi and we didn’t dare hope it would be just as good but it was even better. While waiting for our reservation, we stopped by the elevator to the Eiffel Tower restaurant and were invited to take a personal tour of the restaurant and kitchen where there must have been close to 20 chefs. People stared at us, wondering who the VIPs were.

The hostess was wonderful, the view looked amazing from up there, and we will definitely be back. After getting reacquainted with Paris Las Vegas, we can’t wait to book a stay there sometime. I may become a Francophile without ever going to France. But it must be in my genes – grandpa was a Frenchman.

In the meantime, check out the finale to our glorious meal and show, complete with Bellagio fountains performing to Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon. It was a superb ending to a perfect night out on the Strip.

From Bookends to the Blue Bayou

When the Disney Store email announced their sale on globes, we knew as soon as we saw the “Bookends” that we had to have them. And we were able to use our Rewards points to pay for them.

Naturally, the books in-between the bookends are our Passporter books: Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Disney Cruise Line and a couple of Birnbaum Disney books.

Soon it’ll be September and we’ll be back at Disneyland. So we decided to get a PS at Blue Bayou (it’s still called “PS” at Disneyland). On our last trip we said it wasn’t worth it to us anymore, but nostalgia wins and we must dine there for the atmosphere inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

We’ve also noticed that with so many fabulous celebrity chef restaurants at home, we don’t go to Disneyland for the food, although we do plan to try Napa Rose for the first time on our December trip.