Living the DLuxe Life-Sep 2019 (Universal & WDW DTR)-Completed 12/27

Oh I'm sure :rotfl: And I can just imagine the person complaining "why is this so cold?! Why would they serve me cold food?!" :laughing:

What if it’s not even food but a realistic looking plastic display? :rotfl: (It looks like real food). But I feel like it would be more convenient to have a display you can use everyday vs making them new everyday.
 
What if it’s not even food but a realistic looking plastic display? :rotfl: (It looks like real food). But I feel like it would be more convenient to have a display you can use everyday vs making them new everyday.
:rotfl2: Yes, I agree - def more convenient to just grab the plastic display and forget about spending the time making it only for it to look a bit... tired... a couple hours later :laughing:
 


Toothsome Snacks

So the other day when we had been at Toothsome we had seen the bakery case full of goodies, and made a promise that before the Universal portion of our trip was done we'd go back and sample some of them. So after IOA we decided to do just that.

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We'd seen some Halloween treats in the case, but when we got up close there seemed to be less of those than we thought. We went with one Halloween & one regular treat:


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The Chocolate Pretzel Shot:
This was a little hard to divide amongst ourselves since the "cup" portion is made of chocolate and kind of thick, so we just kind of ended up both digging in. Inside the chocolate cup was a chocolate/pretzel mousse. The candy on top might've been raspberry filled (Samantha tried it so I don't remember), and the fangs were fondant. Overall this was my favorite one, not for the things on top, but the mousse and the chocolate shell were pretty good. However this seems hard and messy to eat even for one person.

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The next thing we got was a Salted Caramel Truffle Cake:
This one was a little chocolate cake with salted caramel frosting on top and chocolate gears. Samantha really enjoyed the taste of the frosting on this one, but I thought the frosting was too sweet; and the cake was a little dry. I did enjoy the chocolate gears though since it was the same kind of chocolate as the other one.

Overall these were pretty decent snacks, and I'd like to try more from Toothsome in the future since they have sooo much stuff. Although I think I'd stay away from some of the messier ones or the truffle cake ones in the future. I would like to try some of their cupcakes and chocolate covered treats though, but it's much easier when you have someone to split them with because these are pretty big snacks.

Before going back to HHN we decided to stop and eat at...


Jake's American Bar

Originally we were going to try Bigfire, but we decided we just wanted to split some appetizers again.


We got the:

Spinach & Artichoke Flatbread
Sundried Tomato, Mozzarella, Parmesan Cheese


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As you can see the flatbreads are pretty substantial portion wise. We both liked the flatbread, although I definitely don't think we finished it. :rotfl:

And the:


Fly Boy Beef & Cheese Fries
French Fries, Beef, Jalapeño, Pico de Gallo, Vermont Cheddar Cheese


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These were also delicious. If you remember from my last DTR when Josh and I came here. (I think it was Dec 2017). We had these then as well, and they were my favorite part of the meal, so I knew we had to get them this time too. They're a french fry dish that reminds me of nachos (with the toppings) so that's two very good things mixed together.

I love staying at Royal Pacific, and Jake's is always a solid choice when staying there. I haven't been there too many times, but everything I've had has been good, and it's obviously very convenient since it's at the resort.
 
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All of this looked delish! I don't know what I would have chosen out of the bakery cases though... I might have had a few just for myself 😆
 


Nomad Lounge

So we've finally reached the Disney dining portion of this trip!

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When we arrived at Gran Destino our room wasn't ready yet, so we headed out to AK, and decided to get lunch at the Nomad Lounge. I've had drinks and dessert there before, and ate once at Tiffins to do the Rivers of Light package, but I'd never had a chance to try any of the food at Nomad Lounge so I was excited.

Once we were seated we ordered the:

Leaping Lizard
Malibu Pineapple Rum and Augusta Cachaça with Orange, Passion Fruit, and Mango Juices


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We both ended up getting the same drink and we both enjoyed them.
To eat we split a few things like the:

Truffle Poutine
Truffle Tremor Cheese, French Fries, Crispy Onions, Black Truffle Salt


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This wasn't too bad, but definitely wasn't my favorite poutine. We both found the cheese to be a little stronger than we thought (more like goat cheese which neither of us are fond of).The gravy was probably the best part, but the cheese was overwhelming if you got more than a little.

I was a little hungrier so I also ordered the:

Impossible™ Sliders
Chipotle Aïoli, Yucca Fries


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I had heard the regular sliders were kind of dry in a review from awhile ago and I guess that stuck with me. I've also been curious and enjoy trying vegetarian/vegan meat substitutes and wanted to see how it compared to the other Impossible patty I had in San Diego. I'm not a fan of yucca fries however so I didn't really have any of those.

The Impossible sliders were pretty good, but didn't taste the same as the other Impossible patty I'd tried. That patty tasted just like meat, but these had a bit of a grittier texture (not in a bad way), but in a way that reminded me more of a black bean or quinoa burger. I still enjoyed them though as I don't mind either of those kinds of burgers, but I wouldn't say I'd have guessed it was an Impossible burger if I didn't know. The sauce on top also had a nice kick, but wasn't too spicy.

And finally for dessert we shared the:

Churros
Vanilla Crema, Chili-Strawberry


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I told Samantha she had to try these, and once she bit into one she was totally sold. These are amazing!

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Entirely gluten free, with soft insides, made hot and fresh. These are some of the best churros I've ever had. I prefer the vanilla sauce, but the strawberry chili is pretty good too. I got these once with Josh, and now I tell everyone to order these because they’re amazing.

Overall we enjoyed dining at the Nomad Lounge, and I think it’s a solid choice for drinks and small plates.
 
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Oh Nomads how do I love thee!!! Totally agree with you on the poutine, not our favorite at all, but the drinks and churros are perfection. Haven't tried the impossible burgers yet but the regular ones aren't the best. Now I could eat a whole plate of yucca. Give me yucca over fries any day of the week.
 
Oh Nomads how do I love thee!!! Totally agree with you on the poutine, not our favorite at all, but the drinks and churros are perfection. Haven't tried the impossible burgers yet but the regular ones aren't the best. Now I could eat a whole plate of yucca. Give me yucca over fries any day of the week.

Yes! The drinks are churros are so good! I think I’ve heard the regular sliders aren’t from more than one person so I’m glad I skipped them normally that’s what I would’ve got. The Impossible ones were pretty good.
 
Hello! I"m coming out of lurkdom to tell you that I always enjoy your reports. Some of my family is gluten-free (and a lot of other-things-free) and I always hope that other GF people have had good experiences, as we usually do.
 
Hello! I"m coming out of lurkdom to tell you that I always enjoy your reports. Some of my family is gluten-free (and a lot of other-things-free) and I always hope that other GF people have had good experiences, as we usually do.

Aw thank you! We usually have good GF experiences too. Disney & Universal do a pretty great job with GF food.
 
Nomad lounge looks like great fun. I am so glad the churros were amazing! It’s my must try for next trip. I think I might skip the savoury items and going straight for these!
 
Fly Boy Beef & Cheese Fries
French Fries, Beef, Jalapeño, Pico de Gallo, Vermont Cheddar Cheese


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These were also delicious. If you remember from my last DTR when Josh and I came here. (I think it was Dec 2017). We had these then as well, and they were my favorite part of the meal, so I knew we had to get them this time too. They're a french fry dish that reminds me of nachos (with the toppings) so that's two very good things mixed together.

I'm at Jake's right now because of your review and they've taken the fries off the menu as of last week! I'm heartbroken 😭
 
LOVE Nomads! I think we've been there once on like our last 6 or 7 trips! Totally missed it last month but we plan on going in January :goodvibes

Truffle Poutine
Truffle Tremor Cheese, French Fries, Crispy Onions, Black Truffle Salt
I do like these and have gotten them a few times. My favorite is the bread service!
The Impossible sliders were pretty good, but didn't taste the same as the other Impossible patty I'd tried.
Now Steve and the boys really really like the regular sliders and the boys even ask to go here now for them. If you go again give them a try!
 
I'm at Jake's right now because of your review and they've taken the fries off the menu as of last week! I'm heartbroken 😭

Noooooo :sad: I'm heartbroken too! That was the best thing on the menu.

Now Steve and the boys really really like the regular sliders and the boys even ask to go here now for them. If you go again give them a try!

I'll have to give them a try next time!
 
Food & Wine Part 1/Three Bridges Bar & Grill

Tonight we were headed to Epcot to try some Food & Wine snacks, but we did get there a little late (since it was so hot out during the day we wanted to wait till it cooled down), and we had some trouble navigating all the construction walls in FutureWorld.




So we only had about an hour to try as many snacks as we could.

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Our first stop was something we had both liked in previous years:

Loaded Macaroni & Cheese with Nueske’s® Pepper Bacon, Cheddar and Leeks


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I heard they changed the recipe a little this year and you can tell. First of all this clump of macaroni they served us looks pretty unappetizing, but the changes mean it's lost all the flavor of the previous dish. It now tastes like hot dogs and a very plain mac and cheese. This was not a winner.

We followed this up with:

Black Pepper Boursin® Soufflé with Fig Marmalade


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I expected this to be filled with cheese for some reason, but it wasn't. The vlog moment when we tried this is one of the funniest I've ever had. We had the same look on our face when we turned to each other, and Samantha said "it tastes like an undercooked KFC biscuit", and it did. The marmalade on top helped a little, but overall we didn't think this could be saved.



Over at Refreshment Port we decided to go with something we knew would be a winner:

Traditional Poutine


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This was a decent size helping for F&W, and it was very hot. It was very good as poutine usually is, but I do prefer the thicker cut fries at The Daily Poutine.

We attempted to be artsy with the poutine:


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Finally at Canada we got something I've always wanted to try:

Canadian Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Soup served with a Pretzel Roll


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And I was disappointed. I didn't really like this, but I'm glad I didn't go to the restaurant and order a whole portion. Sometimes I like beer cheese, and sometimes I think it tastes too strongly, and this was one of the times where I felt the beer cheese was too overwhelming and I didn't really like the flavor.

We also grabbed a filet to split:

Le Cellier Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle-Butter Sauce


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This one depends on the cut you get, and like last year we got a bad cut. We had to improvise with cutting because we hadn't gotten a knife and we were now in the bar area of Appleseed Orchard. If we had a good cut I assume it would've been tender enough to use a fork on, but this cut we ended up giving up on that and just trying to bite into it. That was difficult too, and the few bites I got were way too chewy.

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We shut down the night at Appleseed Orchard Cider Bar (literally they were closing as we got our drinks).



I got the:

Woodchuck Hard Cider Spiced Apple, Middlebury, VT

And Samantha got the:

Sea Dog Brewing Co. Green Apple Ale, Clearwater, FL


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These were very good, we drank them as we headed out. We ended up skipping Illuminations because we were hoping to miss the crowds on the way out.

Still a little hungry, and by now used to staying up all night at HHN we weren't ready for the food or the night to end.
We debated going to Disney Springs, but ultimately settled on going back to our hotel and checking out the Three Bridges Bar and Grill. It was a nice little place (although very overrun by drunk convention folk this night).

We had a lovely waitress (of course I don't remember her name) who made some great suggestions, and I'd love to go back there for a full meal sometime, but tonight we got the:

Warm Manchego and Oaxaca Cheese Dip
chorizo, poblano peppers, tortilla chips


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This was so good! I'm not usually a big fan of chorizo, but will eat it chopped up in some things. Some of the pieces were a little bigger, but it all worked together, and was delicious.

Samantha got a Sangria.

And I went with a:

Blue Point Mad Sea’d Sea Salt & Watermelon Lager – Long Island, NY
This was okay. I was debating this or the hard cider which I already knew I liked, and I think I would've liked that better, but this wasn't bad.

Though our first trip to Food & Wine was mostly disappointing, and we didn't get to a lot on our list we had a fun night; and food-wise Three Bridges Bar & Grill saved our night because the appetizer we shared was so good. I'd definitely go back there next time I'm at Coronado Springs.
 
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