Food & Wine Festival
- Thread starter bgbackdoor
- Start date
Holy cow- amazing write up! The format made it feel like some professional guidebook or something. I'll tell you, I certainly plan on using that article as a guide at the park soon. 
Had some fun today at F&W festival. First up was baklava from the Greece booth. It was very good. Then we hit the Asia booth for dumplings and they were very tasty, but a little mushy. Next up was the Virginia booth. This was the first real disappointment for the day as the fryer was broken and they could not serve hush puppies. We settled for a ham sampler with Apple moonshine. It was as Nicole said in the review, not offensive, but nothing to write home about. The moonshine was most excellent though. Next, we ended up at the French quarter booth. We ordered a banana fosters cheesecake and square doughnuts. Both were very tasty. This was the extent of our tastings today. We left the park fairly early. Looking forward to trying some more offerings next trip.
Just filled out a survey on my way out of the park about Food & Wine. Questions focused on Ireland, Canada, and Italy. Anyone else taken it this year? Did your questions tend towards the same booths? Could these booths be options for the chopping block next year?
I wouldn't be surprised to find those on the chopping block. I haven't taken a survey since the Food & Wine Festival, but the park has been showing signs of neglect with those booths. Honestly though, I'm surprised to see Canada on that list. What with the best-seller last year being Canadian-Cheddar Mac and Cheese, I would think it's one of the best booths in their eyes.
The Italian kiosk, in my opinion, is a bit of a waste. You can get the same desserts in Marco Polo's Market Place now. It's just a different presentation. I think Ireland has good cheese, and I love the bangers and mash, but it could too similar to Canada's offerings.
In my opinion- Greece, and even the Caribbean have been the most iffy kiosks in recent years. I can't even remember the last time that Greece was consistent. So if I had to choose three to get rid of; Greece would be first, followed by Italy and Ireland. I think The Caribbean still has some hope. They just need their offerings to be less redundant between the three listed in Zachary's survey.
tl/dr:I think the survey is about variety.
The Italian kiosk, in my opinion, is a bit of a waste. You can get the same desserts in Marco Polo's Market Place now. It's just a different presentation. I think Ireland has good cheese, and I love the bangers and mash, but it could too similar to Canada's offerings.
In my opinion- Greece, and even the Caribbean have been the most iffy kiosks in recent years. I can't even remember the last time that Greece was consistent. So if I had to choose three to get rid of; Greece would be first, followed by Italy and Ireland. I think The Caribbean still has some hope. They just need their offerings to be less redundant between the three listed in Zachary's survey.
tl/dr:I think the survey is about variety.
This is just an observation that I made about the 10 item deal they are selling online for $35. I was getting ready to click submit and decided to crunch some numbers. First off, there is a $3.50 fee that pops up bringing the total to $38.50 for the 10 items. I added up the total for the 10 things I planned on getting, and after applying the pass member discount, the total came up to $31.00 bucks. Needless to say, I did not purchase the package deal. Turns out, for what I was interested in, it was not a deal at all.
While pulling together our next article on the F&WF, BGWFans ended up creating two new and hopefully interesting lists:
1. Every dish at Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2016 Food & Wine Festival ranked in order from best to worst; and
2. Our favorite sweet and savory dishes from each booth at Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2016 Food & Wine Festival.
I want to caveat these lists, however. They are based on our five-person team's experiences over Memorial Day weekend. What Zachary and I learned last Sunday, however, is that many of our favorites were terrible the second time around. We have a post coming out soon looking at the problem with consistency at the event.
1. Every dish at Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2016 Food & Wine Festival ranked in order from best to worst; and
2. Our favorite sweet and savory dishes from each booth at Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2016 Food & Wine Festival.
I want to caveat these lists, however. They are based on our five-person team's experiences over Memorial Day weekend. What Zachary and I learned last Sunday, however, is that many of our favorites were terrible the second time around. We have a post coming out soon looking at the problem with consistency at the event.
Just finished up all the formatting and photo work for part two of BGWFans's Food & Wine coverage! Yes, it's a hefty read, but I promise it's worth it.
[facebook=https://www.facebook.com/BGWFans/posts/10153772989908721]
Very curious to see what you all think about the critiques we dove into in the second half of the article. Do your experiences reflect what we've been seeing? Where there any dishes with scores that shocked you (low or high vs your experience(s))? Anything we should take another taste of?
Also, one last note: Likes and especially comments/shares on Facebook help a ton. If you don't mind taking a minute to toss out a comment there, I'd be exceedingly grateful.
[facebook=https://www.facebook.com/BGWFans/posts/10153772989908721]
Very curious to see what you all think about the critiques we dove into in the second half of the article. Do your experiences reflect what we've been seeing? Where there any dishes with scores that shocked you (low or high vs your experience(s))? Anything we should take another taste of?
Also, one last note: Likes and especially comments/shares on Facebook help a ton. If you don't mind taking a minute to toss out a comment there, I'd be exceedingly grateful.
I'm sad to say that I agree with almost all of your criticisms. I agree that the Schinkennudel needs to go. There are so many other German dumplings that might withstand the heat better and fit the American taste pallet. I also can't seem to find anything good at the Greece kiosk anymore, although I am glad to hear about the trio.
Some of the dishes that won so much praise surprised me the most, namely the Panna Cotta. I agree that it has a great consistency, presentation, and sauce. However, most of the times I have tried it, I thought it tasted bland. Does anyone think it's possible that I got it on an "off-day" more than once in early season? I would try it again.
Just about everything has trouble with being consistent. As soon as one kiosk gets attention, another falls behind. Hopefully this vicious cycle can be stopped by the end of this season. I don't want it to affect future events because I love the Food and Wine Festival.
Some of the dishes that won so much praise surprised me the most, namely the Panna Cotta. I agree that it has a great consistency, presentation, and sauce. However, most of the times I have tried it, I thought it tasted bland. Does anyone think it's possible that I got it on an "off-day" more than once in early season? I would try it again.
Just about everything has trouble with being consistent. As soon as one kiosk gets attention, another falls behind. Hopefully this vicious cycle can be stopped by the end of this season. I don't want it to affect future events because I love the Food and Wine Festival.
So, I realized on the way home that I had forgotten a critical section of the post. For those of you, who have already read the article, you might want to go back and check out the three new paragraphs below the picture of Canada's chowder.
COS: When we first tried the Panna Cotta it had intense vanilla and strawberry flavors and a near-perfect texture. I agree that it will never be a very challenging dish, but we all just enjoyed eating it immensely. That said, the plate we were served last week was so bad that we threw it away. My guess it that either your tastes are different than ours, or just as likely, you got a bad serving.
Honestly, Zachary and I were incredibly frustrated, when we went back. I was really looking forward to eating everything we had enjoyed before. Instead, we disliked almost everything we bought.
COS: When we first tried the Panna Cotta it had intense vanilla and strawberry flavors and a near-perfect texture. I agree that it will never be a very challenging dish, but we all just enjoyed eating it immensely. That said, the plate we were served last week was so bad that we threw it away. My guess it that either your tastes are different than ours, or just as likely, you got a bad serving.
Honestly, Zachary and I were incredibly frustrated, when we went back. I was really looking forward to eating everything we had enjoyed before. Instead, we disliked almost everything we bought.
Really the only critique that surprised me was the dislike of the Gumbo. I thought it had just the right amount of heat and the texture, while different, I assume relies on the order of the ingredients. Either way, that and the Coq au Vin were easily my favorite dishes of the year.