Epcot Food & Wine Festival

Jonathan and I had free Disney passes for volunteering, so we utilized them during Epcot's Food & Wine Festival. I had never been before, but Jonathan went a few years ago. As you may already know, about half of the park is a "Word Showcase," featuring rides, pavilions, foods, films, and other things from various countries. During the Food & Wine Festival, additional countries are on display, and each has a kiosk where they sell small portions of authentic cuisine and drinks. This is where the fact that our tickets and parking was free comes into play... we spent about $50 on food and drink. But it was delicious! Everything was wonderful, so we have no regrets. And besides, places like South Korea and Ireland are not at the top of our international travel list, anyway.

We spent several hours doing the attractions throughout the park, but at 6pm we began our little tour of world cuisine. We technically walked the Festival backwards, but we'd actually recommend doing it that way.

Our first stop was Charcuterie & Cheese, which isn't specific to any one country, but specializes in wines & cheeses. We had the Nueske's Charcuterie Plate, which had smoked beef, duck, and ham with bread. It was all good, but the beef in particular had a nice flavor. I also had the sample of Prosecco, a peach sparking wine by Martini & Rossi. It was nothing special. Canada was next, where we shared the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup (one of our favorites of the night) and tried the Inniskillin Pearl Vidal Icewine. Now, we adore icewine but rarely have it because it's expensive. It was wonderful here, tho a little thick (also not uncommon with icewine). I wanted to stop at Ireland for the Lobster and Scallop Fisherman's Pie, which was absolutely scrumptious. It had carrots and onions in it, and the scallops were plentiful. It was topped with a baked mashed potato, and I'd probably call it my favorite item, tied with the cheese soup. Jonathan liked it, especially because he had a big lump of lobster in his bite!

Morocco was a bit of a let-down, as we went with the Tangerine Mimosa Royale, which wasn't anything special. Tasted like you'd expect, and was a bit pricey for the serving size.

I think Jonathan's favorite was probably Australia. He had a grilled lamb chop with roasted potato salad and red wine reduction. I tried it, but of course I don't really like lamb. I thought the potatoes had a nice flavor, despite the red wine drizzle. I had considered getting the Lamington from that station as well, but it turned out that the chocolate-covered butter cake was also covered in coconut, so I skipped it.

Then it was on to Germany! We were really looking forward to that one, and honestly would've ordered everything on the menu (except the two beers) if we weren't pacing ourselves! They had 4 Rieslings to try, and since Jonathan enjoys Riesling, he was hard-pressed to choose one. He went with the Gunderloch Diva Spätlese, which ended up being rather sweet, and even I enjoyed it. We also had a Nürnberger Sausage in a pretzel roll, which came with a wonderful mustard and was delicious (and probably the largest portion for the price that we had anywhere). Again, I had planned on trying the Apfel Strudel with Werther's Oiriginal Karamell Sauce, but was told it was covered in nuts, so I refrained. Our next stop was South Korea, where we couldn't resist the Barbecue Short Ribs with steamed rice and cucumber kimchi. The ribs had an excellent flavor, and I thoroughly missed the Korean sauces, since it's been so long since I've had that. I was getting pretty full, otherwise I would've dived right into finishing off the rice (which was sticky like sushi rice) and the cucumber (which was plentiful). After some deliberation, Jonathan tried the Grilled Pork Skewer with Farofa at the Brazil kiosk, which he enjoyed. Farofa is really ground up spices covering the pork, making it incredibly dry in your mouth, LoL. I thought it was kinda bland, especially since it was supposed to be a "rooty" flavor.

I was really excited about the Desserts & Champagne booth, and had planned to order two out of the three items. At this point, Jonathan was feeling like something chocolate, so he was probably going to order the third item. I was getting concerned about running out of money (we had picked up a Disney gift card earlier to make transactions faster), but it turned out that at that station only you could get all 3 items for just $3.50! That settled that! I dove into the Strawberry Angel Verrine, although Jonathan did try the middle part of that layered dessert, and found it to be very good. I enjoyed the Pear Streusel Pudding cake much more than he did, too. He did eat the bulk of the Dark Chocolate Sensation (kinda like a brownie bite with chocolate mousse on top) tho, which was fine with me. On our way to find a nice place to watch the fireworks, we stopped at the Puerto Rico location and got a Bacardi Frozen Torched Cherry Colada. It was very creamy, and probably the least coconut-ty colada I've ever had. It was a nice way to finish.

Pampas in Palo Alto

Vivian celebrated her birthday at Pampas this year. There were 14 of us gathered around a large table in the downstairs (there are three levels) seating area. The place was very dim (we could have easily used twice as many candles at the table), but it was a fun time.

Pampas is a Brazilian Steakhouse, and they call themselves a Rodizio as opposed to a Churrascaria (not sure why). Basically, servers come by with large hunks of different meats, and slice each person what he/she wants. Same fashion as Texas de Brazil, which I would call one of JB and my favorite restaurants.

For those of you who have been to Texas de Brazil (we went to the one in Orlando for Jonathan's 24th birthday, so a bunch of the Melbourne peeps have been there), they are completely different. The Pampas salad bar (which comes with the meal) is probably about half the size of the one at TdB, and only offers cold items. So instead of lobster bisque, the soup choice was a chilled cucumber, which was strangely sour. There were many cheese options (and good salami, too), but the general "salad" toppings were lacking in variety (no carrots, for example). But, let's be serious. You don't come to spend $44/person (before tax/tip) for the salad bar, you come for the meat!

If you like beef, this is a good restaurant for you. For those who prefer pork or chicken (such as myself), you kinda lose out. There was one pork option and one sausage option. There were two chicken options (aside from chicken hearts), and one turkey option. There was also a pineapple choice, which was unique and nice. There were two lamb options and five beef options, so there was a good half the menu I didn't try. (I should add the disclaimer that I do enjoy hamburger/meatloaf/brisket, probably because they're all well-done. but I really don't like steak at all, with the small exception of well-done tri-tip, which is hard to come by anyway.)

The spicy pork was easily my favorite of the evening, and I had three pieces. It's one of the few meats that comes with an accompanying sauce, which I loved with it. Jonathan liked the pork without the sauce. Everyone seemed to enjoy the top sirloin and both lamb options. There were a couple different sirloin fillets that nobody complained about (so they must've been tasty), a skirt steak that I heard a few people label as their favorite, and a rock-salted tri-tip that a few people got seconds of. The chicken options included a sweet thigh and a spicy leg. The spicy was a vinegar-spicy, so it wasn't much to speak of, and rather blase. The sweet was good, and if I had room, I would have tried another piece as well. The sausages were standard breakfast-size, but very juicy (I had two). The turkey could have become a favorite had it been cooked a little longer. It was wrapped in bacon, and both were smoked... however the bacon was still very limp, so it didn't really fit with the smoked turkey (which was nearly ham, as is most prepared in this fashion). The pineapple was extremely juicy, wonderful, and delicious.

Was it worth $44? Not really, no. BUT, I do need to mention that the complimentary starters included FANTASTIC cheese bread (I think I had four pieces all in all), fried plantains (pretty good), and fried polenta (eh). Otherwise, the meats were kinda fatty and not as flavorful as they could have been, and the salad bar was lacking. The tabouleh was overly dry, the whipped potatoes lacked flavor, and the grilled veggies (squash, eggplant, peppers) were oily.

Is TdB worth $50? Heck yeah. Serve me a good soup, a diverse salad bar, and lean, tasty meats and I'm good to go. (and we've been there more than once, so it wasn't just a "lucky occasion" that I'm remembering, LoL).