Food and Wine Fest: A bouquet of savory delights

The Food and Wine Festival kicked off at Disney California Adventures (DCA) on March 2nd and had all the foodies and wine lovers rejoicing, myself included.

Walking through the gates of DCA I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect from this festival. Was the park going to be jam packed with parents and their kids in strollers? Were they going to be constantly ramming into the back of my heel or over my foot with those strollers, as per usual, but even more so with a bit of wine in their system? It was all unknown and it intrigued me just how big of a hit this event was going to be.

The theme park holds 12 different marketplaces to check out with five brand new ones to satisfy the cravings for avocado, strawberry, peppers, meat and green eating lovers. All of these are scattered across the enormous park, which is convenient for those who enjoy the thought of not having a million strollers blocking those who are simply trying to get their food and wine fix.

With a plethora of options to choose from in terms of food, I simply couldn’t just try one thing. I had to try at least one item from each marketplace. Did I manage to do so though? No, but hey, I tried and what I did try had my mouth watering and my tummy happy.

At the Garlic Kissed marketplace they had options of garlic food that would either make a person want more or stay away from it, depending on their love for garlic. I, however, tasted the creamy mac and cheese with garlic bread crumble and boy was it tasty! The mixture of the cheese and garlic bread crumble was enough for me to give this an A++ — yes I’m giving it a double plus. It was creamy and the noodles weren’t hard. It was an all around great mac and cheese.

The Strawberry Patch only had two options in terms of food and three alcoholic drinks, so I went ahead and tasted what intrigued me the most off the menu and it was the strawberry and coconut rice “frushi.” What is a frushi? I had that same question before I ordered it, but it’s basically just strawberries sliced, wrapped with coconut rice and topped with sweetened nonfat yogurt. Basically it was a “sushi” roll but with strawberries instead. I was in love with it. It had my taste buds satisfied and not at all disappointed.

Onto the alcohol portion of this review! There was endless options of alcoholic beverages to choose from; there were beers, wine, and a couple of frose. Personally I’m a wine lover and had to try at least one wine from the Uncork California marketplace. I asked one of the workers what they would recommend or what was a park goers favorite thus far, and they recommended Sofia Rose. What it is, is a red wine that’s slightly on the sweet side but not too sweet. It had a great balance of sweet and bitter. If anyone is into that type of wine then I’d recommend it – it’s also one of glasses of wine that wasn’t too pricey, so there’s that.

The last drink I purchased and enjoyed every sip of was a white sangria from the Eat Your Greens marketplace. It was cool, refreshing and topped with blackberries! The aroma of the drink itself was also incredibly enticing and had me wanting more. It was also my favorite drink from this festival. The price wasn’t bad either if being compared to others there. Personally, I’ll be going back grabbing another white sangria and a strawberry and coconut rice frushi!

All in all, the food and wine festival is cute and brought about a huge crowd when I was there. The environment that California Adventures offers for this festival is lively and exciting. If there was one thing I’d have to complain about though, it has to be the prices and the portions for the food. A person is basically paying $6 to $8 on food that is only considered an appetizer portion. However, I wouldn’t want to be spending that much at every marketplace because the portions aren’t enough for the amount you’re paying for. The quality of the food is an A+ though and so were drinks. In the end, I was a happy camper and would give this festival a solid B.