Citricos and Narcoossee's at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort

By Nick 

On Episode 23 of The Disney Exchange Podcast, we talk about our choices for a progressive dinner, which is a group meal where each course is served at a different venue, around the Walt Disney World Monorail Loop. 2 of my choices were at Narcoossee's and Citricos at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort.

My wife Barbie and I had dinner at both of these venues in January of 2014, and enjoyed both meals, so I thought I'd share what we had as well as a look inside each.
Let's start at Narcoosee's.

Narcoossee's is located on the shores of Seven Seas Lagoon, at the end of the Grand Floridian transportation boat dock.

It has an open "show" kitchen and a wonderful staff. Be sure to say hello!

 

I was impressed with the beer menu, not overwhelming but a nice selection.

 

 

 

We asked the bartender for a food suggestion, and he said his favorite was the scallops.
As we were being brought to our table, Barbie spotted a man wearing a vest covered in Disney pins. She approached him, and they spoke at length. He came over to introduce himself and his wife. They were locals, and they also suggested the scallops, as well as the calamari.

If you time it right, and have a table facing Cinderella Castle, you can see Wishes at the Magic Kingdom. I made our advanced dining reservation at 180 days out for 8:00 pm, thinking the fireworks would be at either 8:00 or 9:00 pm. They were at 10:00 pm that evening, and while I could have changed our ADR, we both agreed that was rather late for dinner.

The menu is somewhat limited.

 

 

As our bread was being set on the table, we asked our server for an entree suggestion, and weren't really surprised when she said the scallops.

 

The bread was very crunchy with a soft center, almost a sourdough. I love butter with course salt!

 

 

We shared the  Crispy Rhoade Island Calamari with pepperoncini-olive relish and tomato coulis appetizer. In fact, I enjoyed these so much, I chose these as my appetizer course for the progressive dinner on the Podcast episode.

 

 

The calamari was very light and crispy yet tender, not chewy. The relish was just the right kick, and the tomato coulis was the perfect acidic addition. Barbie thought they were the best Calamari she'd ever had! With a salad, this could easily be an economical choice for an entree.

 

For dinner, we both ordered the Pan-seared Georges Bank Day Boat Scallops with Trofie pasta with Sultana raisins, Marcona almonds, young string beans and herb creme with wild mushrooms, lemon-thyme-mustard au jus and arugula.

 

 

We both agreed these were the best scallops we'd ever had. They were perfectly prepared, and as good as they were, the pasta and mushrooms in the lemon-thyme-mustard au jus was even better.

We would have loved dessert, but were too full!

There is no doubt we will return to Narcoossee's in the future, and we will try to choose different food selections, but it won't be easy!

 

Let's go inside Grand Floridian now, and head up to the second floor, which is where you'll find Citricos.

 

 

 

A very nice bar is immediately to the left as you enter.

Like Narcoossees, the kitchen is open and lovely to behold.

 Hidden Mickey?

 

 

The beautiful dining room. While this is a large upscale space, it manages to feel warm and cozy.

 

 

 

We didn't even realize we'd have a terrific view of Wishes, which was at 8pm on that evening!

 

 

On to dinner.For an appetizer, I had the Lamb Albondiga. a lamb meatball cooked in curry tomato sauce over herb polenta with crumble Feta.

 

Unlike some meatballs which can be very dense, this was a light, flavorful start.

For my entree, I had the Berkshire Pork Two Ways, which is Sumac rubbed tenderloin and slow braised belly accompanied by a shishito and and sunchoke hash with natural reduction.

I'm going to admit, I have no idea what shishito and and sunchoke hash is, but I love pork. But I'm sorry to say, I thought this dish was somewhat uneven. I felt the tenderloin was somewhat lacking in flavor, though Barbie thought it was juicy and tasty. As for the pork belly, one piece was a bit dry and chewy, while the other piece was much more tender and savory.

Barbie liked my meal more than mine, which is good, because I preferred her Madeira Braised Short Ribs, Strozzapreti pasta with hand harvested mushroom ragout and Piccante Gorgonzola. This was much more flavorful than my selection, the short ribs moist, and the pasta perfectly cooked, and I would absolutely order this on a future visit. So, we switched meals!

 

 

For dessert Barbie had the Lemon Scented Cheesecake. She would have preferred it to be more lemony, but she loved the overall combination of flavors.

 

 

I had the Warm Chocolate-Banana Torte with vanilla ice cream and hancrafted Belgian couverture chocolate crown.

 

 

 

Was it as awesome as it looks? Yes!

I love bananas. And, well, love isn't a strong enough word to describe how I feel about chocolate. I would return to Citricos JUST for this.

 

Have you eaten at either of these restaurants, and what was your experience?

Favorite Food Friday: Breakfast at The Grand Floridian Cafe

By Nick

On our trip to Walt Disney World this January, we tried to eat at several restaurants we hadn't previously visited at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort. We hit Narcoossee's, Citricos, and Gasparilla Island Grill.

On our last day, I decided we needed to try the Grand Floridian Cafe for breakfast. We'd passed this restaurant just about every day of our trip, but had never stopped for one reason or another.

Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the Grand Floridian Cafe is located off the main lobby of the GF, and offers beautiful views of the courtyard pool and rose garden.

 

 

Barbie wasn't in the mood for a large breakfast, so only ordered a bagel with cream cheese with a side of bacon.

I had the Citrus Pancakes which are roasted pecan and sundried cranberry pancakes served with house made orange butter and a choice of bacon or sausage. I had bacon.

I'm not going to lie. These were maybe my favorite pancakes. Ever. The flavors were excellent. The citrus, cranberry and nuts reminded me of a cranberry muffin, but sweeter and less flaky.  My stomach is growling as I write this. The bacon was not the typical "Disney bacon" (thin and not very flavorful) that you find at a buffet, but rather a really nice smokey bacon. -growl-growl-

I look forward to returning for more pancakes, and to try other meals at the Grand Floridian Cafe in the future.

Craft Beer at Walt Disney World

By: Nick

Today is National Beer Day in the United States, so I thought we'd take a look at the emerging craft beer selections at Walt Disney World.

On our last 2 trips, in October of 2013, and this past January, I discovered several locations offering a fairly decent beer menu.

Let's start with what I found in October.

Barbie and I stayed at the Art of Animation Resort. The food court, Landscape of Flavors, has a fairly decent beer selection, including offerings from local Orlando Brewing. But I was really excited to find a couple of beers from the highly rated Cigar City Brewing out of Tampa Florida, as well as a couple other excellent choices from Bell's and Breckenridge Brewing over at Pop Century's Everything Pop food court.

I took a couple back over to Art of Animation to enjoy at the pool.

One of the best times for beer at WDW is during Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival. There are dozens of choices, with just about every food booth offering at least one beer. A couple of my favorites were found at the Florida Local stand.

Me enjoying a Cigar City Florida Cracker Belgian-style White Ale

 

In addition, there are booths dedicated exclusively to beer!

Menu from the Craft Beer stand.

 

It was on this trip that I also discovered one of Disney's best kept secrets located inside the Mitsukoshi Department Store in Epcot's Japan Pavilion. The Garden House Sake Bar serves Ginga Kogen, a wheat beer. It is awesome.

There is also a new permanent structure serving craft beer located outside of the United States Pavilion at Epcot called Block & Hans, which was a souvenir stand at one time. There were only a few beers to choose from, but they are quality choices. The cast member I spoke to said they would be expanding their selection in the future, which they have indeed done, as we'll see when we look at January's offerings!

One more stop from October can be found at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The Gardens is a gluten free stand which has some gluten free beers!

I confess, I didn't try any, but it's good to know these choices are available.

In January we stayed the The Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort, and I was very happy with the beer selection at the pools and restaurants.

Both Beaches Pool Bar & Grill and Courtyard Pool Bar have a good selection.

The menus even break down beer by categories to help you decide!

Further assisting your choices is a description of the beers!

While not quite as extensive as the pool menus, the beer choices at Narcoosee's located on the shores of the Seven Seas Seas Lagoon has a pretty good list.

Citricos, located inside the Grand Floridian also has a few nice choices.

Let's shoot over to Epcot. In the France Pavilion at Le Vins des Chefs de France you'll find one of my favorite beers, 1664 Blanc, as well as Kronenbourg 1664.

Over in the Mexico Pavilion, La Cava del Tequila is now offering beer from Dia de los Muertos. I did not try them because when in Rome, er, Mexico, I drink Tequila, but I intend to try these out if I ever see them at a local beer store.

Last but not least, we'll return to Block & Hans, where, as promised, the beer selection has become slightly more robust.

They are also carrying Mickey-shaped and Jalapeno Pretzels, which are excellent with a Hopageddon Imperial IPA from Napa Smith, maybe one of the best India Pale Ales I've ever had!

There is a great site to visit for a more comprehensive overview of beer in Walt Disney World called Beers and Ears, in fact I reviewed their app a few months back. However, things constantly change at Disney World, and clearly this topic requires much further investigation, and I will endeavor to do as much research as needed in the future.

It's the least I can do for you loyal readers!