It’s my least favorite time of the year, when reservations open for Epcot Food & Wine Festival in November. Today was the pre-sale for Chase Disney Visa Cardholders and regular booking opens later this week. I managed to score reservations for the new Japanese Craft Beer Tasting and our old standby the Mexican Tequila Lunch, which we have not missed since they started.
I didn’t manage to reserve our number one must do on race day, which is the Cheese Tasting. We’ll have to try again with the regular booking. This has been a race day tradition since our first Wine & Dine Half Marathon, so it’s top priority. Because there is nothing like drinking wine all day before running a race!
This year, we also registered for the Duckhorn Vineyards tasting directly following the Cheese seminar, because as I mentioned, there is nothing like drinking wine all day before running a race. And it will probably make us feel more comfortable after Medoc, since we will be freshly pickled from France. (45 days!!!)
November 2014 Tequila Lunch
We actually did the tequila Lunch three times last year, which was an almost horrible experience, as the menu was exactly the same in early October as it was in late October as it was in November. I mean it was wonderful, but it was exactly the same menu each time. That is our fault. The tequila lunch being our favorite, and our November trip being for Artboy’s birthday, we booked it as much as possible thinking that like the other lunch pairings it would have a different menu. Now we know.
Can’t ever complain about tequila, right? The tequilas were slightly different for the pairing. But you get the basics–blanco, reposado, and anejo–with each. And while we enjoyed Hilda for two of our three seminars in 2014, we actually had someone else for one of them. Too much tequila, but I’m pretty sure it was Humbert. He was definitely our guy for 2013. According to Artboy, we had Hilda all the way back to 2009 before they added the lunch portion, but I only remember her from 2012!
I have no photos of November 2014 thanks to a severely wet Day 2 of Quadzuki for Grandpa’s Wish(half)bone and my lack of turning of wifi. And apparently Artboy only takes photos of receipts, luggage tags, and his feet on midget sinks. But I did dig up photos of some of the previous tequila pairings. As you may know, I only take pictures of booze and pugs, so not many food photos (busy shoveling it in my mouth before it gets cold/warm/eaten by someone else).
In 2013, we started with a horchata margarita, which was probably a smart choice as most people didn’t finish their as it is quite sweet (read: I got three). The soup was Crema de Cilantro, which I could eat buckets of every day. It was at this lunch where I met the wonderfully amazing fellow runDisney and margarita lovin’ (and misophonia sufferer) Meg, who had to sit next to my dad (he wasn’t too bad I hope!). She wrote her own recap of the lunch on her blog.
In 2014, we started with the San Angel Inn, which is a classic choice , or the La Hacienda, which is just slightly better but a still a twist on the classic. The soup, Sweet Potato Cream, was absolutely divine. I’m not sure which soup wins!
This year, the 2015 menu is already well publicized (and photographed), so barring any last minute changes, I know what to expect. I’ll send you over to Disney Food Blog for the info on the 2015 menu.
And this is just three reason why we return to Epoct Food & Wine Festival each year–blanco, reposado, anejo. Well mostly anejo!
