Farm Fresh Marketplace – Epcot International Food & Wine Festival 2014

November 6, 2014

We had stopped by Farm Fresh Marketplace earlier in the Festival and tried the Bacon Hash (here). Today, we arrived with empty tummies and time to kill before our wine lunch in Italy.

Today, we wanted to try the other item on the Farm Fresh Marketplace menu – Chicken

While Nick waited in line, I got us a table in the area next to Kringla Bakery. Pretty soon, my phone rang and Nick had a “line update” for me…
The line was long, there was only one Cast Member taking orders and pouring beers, there were three Cast Members in the cooking area waiting for guests… WDW excellence in action.

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Griddled “Yard Bird” with braised greens and house-made habanero sauce

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More quickly than I expected, here comes Nick with our Yardbird and a flight of beer (didn’t expect that!)

The chicken was quite good. The skin was crispy. The flesh was moist. The habanero sauce wasn’t all that spicy but was flavorful. The star of the dish was the braised greens – excellent, bits of ham, chopped garlic, delicious flavor.

Nick said, “just give me a bowl of those greens!”

We’re repeatedly amazed at how good the greens are at Epcot Festivals. Now, for heavens sake, put them on the menu at American Adventure so that people can enjoy them all the time! Greens, savory cornbread (not that sweet stuff please), and a nice smokey pork or chicken… yum yum.

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The beer flight wasn’t anything spectacular, some of them, we’d had before.

Top to Bottom, Left to Right: #1 Orlando Brewing Company I-4 IPA, #2 Vinta Brewing Company BaBa Black Lager, #3 Bold city Brewery Duke’s Cold Nose Brown Ale, and #4 Cigar City Brewery Florida Cracker Belgian Style White Ale.

I think we’ve had the I-4 IPA and the Florida Cracker beers in the past.

BaBa Black Lager was “eh, not bad” to me and “eh, okay” to nick.

We were surprised at how much we liked the I-4 IPA (remember not that long ago, we were the duo saying “no IPAs!!”).

The Duke’s Cold Nose Brown Ale was very nice, we both liked it the best. It had toasty flavors.

Nick’s assessment:

  • I-4 IPA better than Florida Cracker White Ale
  • Duke’s Cold Nose Brown Ale better than BaBa Black Lager

In conclusion, the Yard Bird was better than the Bacon Hash, but our Bacon Hash had serious undercooking failures. The Yard Bird is something we’d definitely look forward to next year.

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