EPCOT’s Festival of the Arts is a celebration of arts and cuisine that bridges the gap between the Festival of the Holidays and Flower and Garden Festiva in EPCOTs ever expanding festival schedule. This year it runs from January 13 through February 20th. It was previously more of an afterthought but has lately become a full fledged festival like the others. I’ve experienced all 4 festivals and this one is my favorite. It’s a little more relaxed than the others, though this year seemed more crowded than our first experience in January 2020.
The festival offers the usual food booths and speciality treats. In our experience the offerings for this festival are of a higher quality and what one might expect from Food and Wine both in presentation and flavor. More on the food later. In addition to the food the festival also showcases art of Disney in both visual and audio formats. There are art galleries centered around certain artists or art mediums, as well as special music performances from DIsney on Broadway performers. There are also more interactive offerings such as a paint by number mural or animation classes. Truly something for everyone!
On this trip we almost exclusively focused on the food booths. Strolling around World Showcase and indulging on food and drink is one of our favorite ways to spend a day at Disney World. The many art galleries and activities provide the perfect way to pass the time until the next bite or sip.
Ok, enough background. Let’s get to the meat and potatoes of this post and talk about all the food items we experienced over parts of 2 days at the festival.
On Day 1 we went to 3 of the booths between front of the park and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure heading towards international gateway. We had just ridden several rides and were starving. In my eagerness to stuff my face and make my LL return time for Remy’s I neglected to take photos of anything. I was more professional on Day 2 and managed to remember to take photos of almost everything!
The first booth we hit was The Deconstructed Dish, located near the Near Port of Entry. Here is the full menu:
Food
- Deconstructed BLT: Pork belly, soft-poached egg, onion bread pudding, watercress espuma, and tomato jam – $7.00
- Deconstructed French Onion Soup: Beef broth ravioli, gruyère cream, onion bread pudding, and onion textures – $6.50
- Deconstructed Key Lime Pie: Flexible Key lime curd, “Key lime” mousse, graham cracker cake, and meringues – $6.25
Beverages
- Deconstructed Apple Pie à la Mode: Apple-cinnamon gelato, cinnamon apple cider, apple pie filling, and streusel (Non-alcoholic) – $4.50
- Wicked Weed Brewing Blank Canvas Belgian Blonde Witbier – 6 oz. $5.50 /12 oz. $9.50
We opted for the Deconstructed BLT and Deconstructed Onion Soup. The presentation, especially on the BLT, was quite nice.
As far as taste both dishes were good, but I thought the BLT was a standout. I love a pork belly and poached eggs, so this was right up my alley. The pork belly was a nice cut with the right ratio of fat to meat. It was tender and flavorful. The poached egg was perhaps a little over cooked; i would have preferred it more runny, but it was still silky and paired well with the pork belly. The onion bread pudding was very flavorful without being too “oniony”. The tomato jam and watercress espuma (yes I had to google what that means – Spanish for froth or foam) filled out the dish nicely. It was a nice sized portion, but given how much I enjoyed this I would have appreciated more. This isn’t a dish you can eat on the go or standing up without a surface to cut on. Final Verdict:
Taste – 9/10
Value – 10/10
Garbage Can Required? – Yes
Next up was the Onion Soup. This dish was another winner flavor wise. I’d describe it as more mellow than the traditional onion soup you’re probably used to. More balanced, less onion forward. The Ravioli was a bit awkward to eat in “soup” format. I would have preferred a starch component that was more bite sized, maybe something like gnocchi. But overall the dish worked well. The portion was not as substantial as the BLT, but it is a soup dish so I suppose that tracks. At $6.50 it seemed maybe $1 too much, but as far as EPCOT festival prices it’s still very reasonable. Definitely another dish that would be difficult to eat on the go due to the ravioli component.
Taste – 7/10
Value – 6/10
Garbage Can Required? – Y
Overall, this booth was a winner on taste, presentation, and price. Worth a stop.
Next up was a stop was Gourmet Landscapes located at the beginning of the Canada Pavilion if you’re headed the “wrong” way around World Showcase. Disney says: “Savor stunning dishes artfully composed with the finest ingredients farmed and foraged from the land.”
Food
- Blood Orange-braised Beet Tartare with mustard vinaigrette, pickled clamshell mushrooms, and golden beets (Plant-based Item) (Gluten/ Wheat Friendly) – $5.50
- Roasted Bone Marrow with onion marmalade, pickled mushrooms, and petite lettuce – $10.50
- Wild Mushroom Risotto with aged Parmesan, truffle shavings, and zinfandel reduction – $9.75
Beverages
- Whole Hog Brewery Raspberry Chéret Double Radler – 6 oz. $5.50 /12 oz. $9.50
- Schlumberger Cuvée Klimt Brut – $9.00
- The Meeker Vineyard Winemaker’s Handprint Merlot – $11.00
- Frozen Rusty Nail Cocktail – $15.00
Having just inhaled the BLT and Onion Soup we opted to order just one dish here, the Mushroom Risotto. I lack the literary skills to do this dish justice. If you like mushroom, and more specifically truffle, do yourself a favor and seek this dish out. The risotto was cooked perfectly – that almost impossible balance of smooth but toothsome texture you’d expect, but the flavor was where the dish shined. The truffle shavings were the most prominent flavor at first bite, but were not overpowering. The parmesan came through on the finish with the zinfandel reduction kind of connecting everything together. The portion size was pretty substantial, but the price was a bit high at $9.75.
Taste – 9/10
Value – 7/10
Garbage Can Required? – N
We were now temporarily satiated and continue around World Showcase towards France. We were in no rush and the crowds weren’t too bad, so we took our time and took in the sites.
As we passed the L’Art de la Cuisine Français, the festival booth in France, we took not of the menu. The options were very enticing:
Food
- Crème de Brie en Petit Pain: Warm creamy brie in a house-made bread bowl – $9.75
- Croissant à la Truffle Noir d’Hiver: Black winter truffle croissant – $9.50
- Mille-Feuille de Betteraves aux Herbes et Noix de Cajoux: Plant-based napoleon with beets, cashew-herb filling, pepper-pine nut sauce, and balsamic vinegar caviar (New) (Plant-based Item) – $12.75
- Moelleux aux Noisettes et Chocolats Valrhona: Molten chocolate and hazelnut cake with pure origin Valrhona chocolates and passion fruit-mango sauce – $9.00
Beverages
- Frozen French Martini: Grey Goose Vodka, vodka, chambord liqueur, pineapple, orange, and grape juices with lemon-lime foam – $15.00
- Charles Lafitte, Brut Rosé Prestige, Méthode Traditionnelle Champenoise, French Rosé Sparkling Wine – $9.00
- Domaine Raphaël Sallet, Mâcon-Uchizy Les Maranches 2020, Chardonnay, Mâconnais, Burgundy – $12.75
- Cîroc Sunset Citrus Vodka Spritz – $15.50
We were still pretty full from the previous booths, so we decided to ride Remy’s first then return for a snack.
After the ride we stopped for the Croissant and a Frozen Martini. This is one of the more expensive booths across the board. The croissant was $9.50 and the Martini was $15.00! Nothing on the menu was less than $9.00.
I really wish I remember to grab a picture of the croissant. The photo on the menu makes the croissant look like a normal sized croissant you’d get a bakery, your supermarket, Starbucks, etc. The reality, however, is that the croissant was closer in size to a crescent roll! The flavor was just ok to me. I wanted a more truffle forward flavor like what we found in the risotto earlier in the day. This had just a mild mushroom flavor. The pastry was fluffy and sufficiently buttery, so all was not lost. Overall, it was good, but not something I’d get again at the price point. This is a $5 item in my opinion.
Taste – 6/10
Value – 2/10
Garbage Can Required? – N
The frozen martini didn’t exactly scream value either at $15.00. It was quite tasty though, and very nice on a hot and humid day. It did feel like there was a decent amount of alcohol in it as well. We split it and still felt a little “relaxed” after we finished it. On a hot day I’d get it again if i was in the area, but wouldn’t seek it out. On the price, alcohol in the parks is expensive and you can easily find $15+ offerings elsewhere. That being said, this was from a pre-mixed “slushy” machine with just a little bit of overhead to add the foam. For a cocktail that required more manual intervention I wouldn’t bat an eye at $15, but here it did seem a bit extra.
Taste – 8/10
Value – 5/10
We had tickets to the Hollywood Studios after hours event, so we headed to the front of the park to do a few more rides and called it at day at the Festival. In hindsight I wish we took advantage of more of the festival offerings this day. We knew we’d returning the following day and the weather was supposed to be much cooler. The next day turned out to feel more crowded though and touring was less pleasant because of that. Tough to predict crowds in today’s Disney World, so lesson learned here is to take what’s given and stay flexible. Overall it was a still a nice day at EPCOT and our first impression of the food at the festival was almost entirely positive.
