Have you ever tasted something so good it sounds completely reasonable fly 1,000 miles each way and not sleep for 2 days to try it again? Well…as should be clear to you by now, I am a little Dopey, that’s exactly what I did last weekend! A year ago my daughter and I hit the Festival of the Arts and just about lost our minds over the offerings from the Festival booth The Deconstructed Dish.
To be specific, we had tried a deconstructed BLT, deconstructed French onion soup, and deconstructed key lime pie, that were stuff of legends. We talked about them all year, not thinking that we’d get a chance tor ever try them again. The stars aligned this year with a free weekend, free plane tickets and a cheap hotel, so we decided to go for it.
There was, of course a catch. To use the free plane tickets, we wouldn’t land until midnight, and then our flight out the day after our park-hopping would leave at 7 a.m. Sooo we knew going into this there would be very little sleep. But… there’s time for sleep in the grave.
When the first of the flight delay messages came in I wasn’t too worried. When the fourth and fifth came in, I pretty much gave up hope. Still, there was no cancellation message, so around 10 p.m we headed to the airport for our now midnight flight. The guys at the valet parking thought we were crazy… they rarely if ever see flights so late out of our sleepy little regional airport.
By some miracle we made it to Orlando, albeit four hours late. We got to our hotel room about 4:30 a.m., which gave me a luxurious 2 hours and 15 min before my alarm went off to get in the virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy. But… we made it, I snagged the coveted virual queue position and we were off for a day of park-hopping.
What is Festival of the Arts?
One of the shortest of the rotating festivals at Epcot, this one features the arts: visual, performing, and (of course) culinary. It runs from mid-January to mid-February (smack dab between Marathon and Princess weekends for those of you who think in runDisney terms).The park is dotted with booths featuring Disney and local artists. You can find artists actively working on sidewalk art and step into a photo opportunity featuring renditions of world masterpieces. Disney-related broadway artists perfrom concerts on the weekends, and then there are the food booths.
We came for one thing, and one thing only: the Deconstructed Dish festival food booth, which did not disappoint. I had seen them prepping the booth during Marathon weekend and got crazy excited when I realized our favorites would be back!
Deconstructed BLT
Pork Belly, Soft-Poached Egg, Onion Bread Pudding, Watercress Espuma and Tomato Jam
This is the stuff that dreams are made of. I think the pork belly was a bit overdone and the poached egg was a bit underdone, but I could still eat this every day.
Deconstructed French Onion Soup
Beef Broth Ravioli, Gruyère Cream, Onion Bread Pudding and Onion Textures
I’m not sure what kind of pixie dust is in the onion bread pudding, but OMG. The only think I wished was that the little pickled onion garnish had been warm. It was served cold which was a little bit of a surprise to my mouth.
Deconstructed Key Lime Pie
Flexible Key Lime Curd, “Key Lime” Mousse, Graham Cracker Cake and Meringues
I get as excited as Cogsworth presenting Belle for dinner telling you about this one. This dessert that haunted my dreams was back and just as fabulous as I remembered. First of all, the presentation. Full stop. But key lime pie is one of my all-time favorites (and I’ve tried a few) and this went above an beyond. It was just the right size, and that little gem that looks like a lime on the dish is the key lime mousse. Wow. Just wow. 10/10.
We knew it couldn’t get much better than that, so after we rode Guardians, indulged at The Deconstructed Dish and caught the Voices of Liberty, we figured we should quit while we were ahead! We hopped on a Friendship boat for Disney’s Hollywood Studios and rounded out the day with a viewing of Fantasmic! (Which was also Fantastic!)
The Epcot International Festival of the Arts closes up shop for the year on February 20, so there’s still time to hustle over there if your cravings get the best of you!
Did you sample any amazing foods at the Festival? Leave me a comment and tell me what’s good!
Disney Park Runner 