I had a great “Dining Recon” queued up for you to enjoy for lunch today, but you’re going to have to wait one more day. You see, I was lurking around the Touring Plans Lines chat app last night and ran into and old friend – JustTimmy.
He pointed us in the direction of AllEars.net and their, recently-published, update on Epcot’s “other” food festival – “Food” & Garden ’14!
Oh, so, OK. It’s really the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival, but we know better, now, don’t we? Bring on “Food” & Garden!
I encourage you to pop over to AllEars in order to see the full “spiel”, but, in the meantime, here are the important things you need to know.
First, the festival opens on March 5, 2014 and runs to May 18, 2014. It’s hard to believe that it is just a mere three months away! Mark it down, folks! March 5th!
Second, the food is definitely back! At this past July’s Food & Wine preview event, Chef Marianne Hunnel told us that …
… the culinary aspects of Flower & Garden might make an encore appearance. We’ve even seen it reported here-and-there over the last few months, but, yes, the food returns. Delicious bites will join the flowers and gardens in turning this 75-day Spring festival into a full-out celebration!
Third, since we’re talking about what’s important – the food – The Smokehouse is also back! Yeah! Does that mean we’ll get another chance to enjoy last year’s winning dishes? If you look back, you’ll see that The Smokehouse’s Pulled Pig Slider with cole slaw and Smoked Beef Brisket with collard greens and jalapeño corn bread ruled the festival at #’s 1 and 2, respectively, in 2013’s All in WDW Final Top 20. Both were “must haves” and quite delicious!
2013’s #1! Pig Slider!
2013’s #2! Smoked Brisket!
If you go by the AllEars report, however, we may have a slight problem. According to their early “newsflash”, The Smokehouse is geared up to serve us a Barbecued Chicken Leg. Oh, no! Don’t do it, Epcot! The slider and brisket were outstanding!
In an intriguing addition to the menu, The Smokehouse is, evidently, gearing up to deliver “Piggylicious” Bacon Cupcakes. Hmm. Well, it fits with the debut of Kermit and Miss Piggy at this year’s festival, and it sounds really interesting. I’m imagining a chocolate-bacon cupcake, but we’ll have to wait and see!
Finally, in a great piece of news, Florida Fresh’s Watermelon Salad with pickled red onions, baby arugula, feta cheese, and balsamic reduction has been confirmed to be coming back for its second appearance. I know that a lot of people will be thrilled with this fact. It was an incredibly tasty and refreshing treat, and when we learned that it wouldn’t be served at this past Fall’s Food & Wine festival, we were quite disappointed.
2013’s Watermelon Salad.
Make your plans now, my friends! Visit the 21st Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival! But, don’t go for the flowers. Go for the food! Then, enjoy the flowers. In the meantime, keep up with the news by following us, here, at All in WDW, over at AllEars.net, or on Disney’s own site!
