The All in WDW Readers’ 2014 “Food” & Garden Pre-Festival Top 15!

My first reaction when I first saw your Top 15?  “Wow!”

I mean it!  After I was done sifting through your four-days-worth of votes on Sunday afternoon, I found myself truly impressed with the product that your intense and dedicated labor produced.  It is an outstanding “Food” & Garden Pre-Festival Top 15!

Without further delay, let’s take a look.  I’ll make my comments afterwards.  Cumulative vote totals are in parenthesis.

  1. Pulled Pig Slider (45)
  2. Smoked Beef Brisket (44)
  3. Potato and Cheddar Cheese Biscuit (37)
  4. Smoked Turkey “Rib”  (33)
  5. Pork and Apple Sausage Roll (30)
  6. Three-Cheese Manicotti (29)
  7. Shrimp and Stone-Ground Grits (27)
  8. Corn Tortilla Pork Taco (24)
  9. Ghost Pepper-dusted Tilapia (24)
  10. Sweet Potato Cinnamon Waffle (22)
  11. Watermelon Salad (20)
  12. Parisian-style Dumplings (16)
  13. Pulled Duck Confit (15)
  14. Caprese (15)
  15. Lamb Brewat Roll (14)

Now, that’s a fantastic menu!

Imagine this … you’re making your first visit to WDW.  You only have time for a quick “lunch” through “Food” & Garden.  What do you eat?  What’s good?

Why not start your trek with this list?  Or, with my official list?  Or, with Sarah’s (our “almost” daughter-in-law’s) list?  That one will publish tomorrow, by the way.

You remember Sarah, don’t you?  She wrote “The Delicious (Two) Dozen!” for last year’s Food & Wine!  I also used her rankings to break the couple of ties in voting that you might have caught above.

So.  My thoughts?

Well, you already know how much we loved the “pig” and the “cow” (brisket).  Good job putting them one-two.  We’ll probably see that again in a few days, I think.  Hint-hint at my list.

Not only is the brisket outstanding, the jalapeno cornbread is fantastic!

Not only is the brisket outstanding, the jalapeno cornbread is fantastic!

Speaking of my list … five of your items missed the All in WDW “cut”.  Yep.  That’s the beauty of doing this.  Everyone’s tastes are different.  Everyone’s list is different.  Now, why did those dishes fall off my radar?  You’ll find out later.

Perhaps my biggest disappointment is the absence of China’s Spring Pancake with grilled chicken and green apple.  Fans, to “know” the Spring Pancake is to love the Spring Pancake.  You’ll find it high on my list!  I’ll come back later with a dissertation on why!  Lol.

Poor, Spring Pancake.

Poor, Spring Pancake.

Great work, all!  You should be proud of this list.  And, I thank you very much for your support in building this Top 15!

The “Food” & Garden Voting Finale!

Yes, your last chances to weigh in.  I had intended to run three rounds of voting when it came to the entrees, but, in actuality, through two rounds, you’ve already given me more than enough data.

After one more “blast” today, I think the All in WDW “super-computer” will be able to formulate both a 2014 All in WDW Readers’ “Food” & Garden Pre-Festival Top 15 as well as a list of our Top 10 desserts!

You know, as you have been making your selections, I have been very busy carving Epcot’s 25 “dinner delights” into my Top 15.  As usual, it has been excruciating!

I’m not ready to “spill the beans” just yet, but I can divulge five of the items that will not make my 2014 menu.  They are:

  • Vegetable Spring Rolls – Lotus House (China)
  • Pickled Beet Salad – Urban Farm Eats
  • Field Greens – The Buttercup Cottage (United Kingdom)

The three of them are much too on the mundane side for me, and, well, ten of these items have to go if I’m going to get this list down to a Top 15!

  • Frushi – Hanami (Japan)

If I’m going to have sushi, I’ll have “real” sushi.  Not fruity-sushi.  Actually, I struggled with whether or not this one belonged with the desserts.  In the end, its popularity, and the fact that I think Disney means for it to be a kid-friendly “dinner” option sold me on slotting it with the entrees.

2013's Frushi

2013′s Frushi

  • Mushroom and Cheese Quesadilla – Jardin de Fiestas (Mexico)

Yeah.  You lost me at “mushroom”.

OK.  Now, let’s get on with the last day of voting.  One group of entrees and two groups of desserts.  That’s what stands between us and our menus!

Hey!  Before you proceed, if you haven’t registered your votes in the previous polls, go back and find them all at this link!

Now, vote, vote, vote!

Vote for as many as TWO entree items in the group below.

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Vote for as many as THREE desserts in each of the groups below (6 votes total).

It’s Friday’s “Food” & Garden Feast! – a.k.a, Round 2 of “Voting”!

Good morning, my friends!  Happy Friday!  And, welcome to another fun-filled day of feasting on festival delights!

Thank you for all your support the last few days!

"Not-So-Hidden" Mickey!

I know it’s tough to sift through, and vote on, lists of food items when you haven’t been able to experience them as yet.  Keep in mind … as you are voting for your picks, I’m trying to carve these 25 dishes down to my pre-festival list of 15.  As always, it’s excruciating!

You guys are doing a fantastic job of piling up the votes.

Now, if you’re one of our friends that has been busy this week and has missed out on all the fun, I made things a little bit more simple for you last night.

To get back to all of the polls from one page of links, use the drop-down called 2014 “Food” & Garden Polls at the top of All in WDW.  You can find it under the item called Epcot “Food” & Garden ’14.

Let’s move back into the entrees and rack up more support for the dishes we think might end up being our favorites!

Can We Have Dessert for Breakfast? “Food” & Garden Continues!

Uh, actually, I’m very sorry, but no.  You can’t.

2013's Watermelon Salad

2013′s Watermelon Salad

Oh, all right.  How can I say ‘no’ to you guys?!  How can I deny you the experience of digging into Disney’s best, delectable, sugary, bits of tastiness?

Do me a favor.  Finish up the last of the entree’s first, and we’ll take our first look at the desserts!  OK?

Oh, wait!  Did you make your choices in the four polls yesterday?  No?  Then, do not proceed past ‘Go’.  Do not collect … oh, just go back to these links!

“Food” & Garden Poll #1

“Food” & Garden Polls #2 and 3

“Food” & Garden Poll #4

OK.  Now, you’re set!  Here are the last five “entrees”.  Put them through their “first round” paces, will ya’?!  What looks good, folks!  Remember.  You can choose TWO!

Now, let’s talk about “piggy” cupcakes.  Doesn’t everything taste better with bacon?

There are two groups below.  They include all of “Food” & Garden’s desserts.  Vote for the THREE that you want from each group.  Six votes in total!  Enjoy!

Next polls come tomorrow, my friends.  We’ll be back to take another look through the entrees!  Pass the word!  Get your friends to vote!

One more time today? Pick your “Food” & Garden “must-haves”!

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for dinner. Tonight, it’ll be seasoned and baked orange roughy draped in a blanket of freshly-made corn salsa. Yum!

In the meantime, let’s tackle one more set of Epcot’s culinary creations. You know how it goes … pick TWO!

If you need a better description, click here or use the drop-down link above.

Oh, and, by the way … if you want to make sure you don’t miss any of these polls, you’re best bet is to stop back and visit All in WDW often throughout the day.

Alternatively, keep an eye on the All in WDW Facebook Page, my Twitter feed, or All in WDW on tumblr.  Every time one of these polls post, it’ll appear automatically in each of those places!

2013's Cheddar Cheese Biscuit

2013′s Cheddar Cheese Biscuit