Chef Tony Marotta Mix It, Make It, Celebrate It! Culinary Demonstration -- 2016 Food & Wine Festival
*This culinary demonstration took place on October 18, 2016. Guests attending culinary demonstrations with a special diet should contact WDW’s Special Diets Department in advance.
Disney's Epcot Food & Wine Festival always offers new and interesting culinary experiences for guests, and each year, it seems like there's a new demo or meal offering. This year, Disney introduced a new culinary demo series called, "Mix It, Make It, Celebrate It!" which offered guests a chance to work with a chef to create a recipe highlighted by the chef.I've previously been to some of the more basic culinary demonstrations, which include a food sample and a wine sample, but this sounded like a fun experience. The "Mix It, Make It, Celebrate It!" demos took place daily from 4-5 p.m. at the Festival Center, Chef's Showcase. Tickets were $49 per person, tax included.On this particular occasion, Brandon and I had gone to Chef Kevin Dundon's culinary demo during the Epcot 2016 Food & Wine Festival at 2 p.m. and then ended up going to Chef Tony Marotta's "Mix It, Make It, Celebrate It!" at 4 p.m. So, it was all cooking all day!
Chef Tony is the head chef at Disney's Port Orleans French Quarter Resort (home to the amazing gluten free & allergy friendly beignets), so it's no surprise that his dish for the day was decidedly New Orleans inspired.We would be creating our very own New Orleans Style Cobb Salad. Plus, as we learned, we'd get to make our own blackening seasoning and even got to take it home. (Yes, I'll totally be recreating this dish on My Gluten Free Disney Kitchen!).Here are some video highlights from the demo:
We had everything we needed to create our own custom salads. This made it easy, as the cheese could omitted with no worries, and any allergy offending ingredients could be switched too.The culinary team even went above and beyond to make sure all the guests attending the demo had what they needed and that any modifications could be made. Since everything was pre-packaged, that was really easy!Brandon is allergic to fish and shellfish, so the team swapped out his shrimp for more chicken.
First up, Chef Tony showed us how to make our seasoning mix and walked us through how we would season and cook our protein. He then showed us how to make our own salad dressing, giving us the option to customize our recipe every step of the way.On a side note, I loved the New Orleans flare in every part of the demo, including the beads we had on the table!
As you can see from my completed salad above, I chose add lots of chicken, shrimp, ham, and avocado to my salad. Topped with our homemade dressing, it was a huge hit. Even Brandon, who is not a big salad fan, said this was really good.
As a demo take-away, we received a copy of the recipe (which I'll be sharing here on the blog soon!), our own custom blackening seasoning, and a really lovely small Epcot Food & Wine Festival cutting board. How cool is that? For $49, this was definitely a nice touch.
Overall, we had a great time and enjoyed the small atmosphere. The seating for these demos are very limited, and I would say there were about 14 of us in total. It gave us a lot of time to interact with Chef Tony and ask any questions we wanted about the dish. Plus, on the way out, we had to take a photo with the Chef himself!If you have a special dietary need, I would definitely recommend contacting Disney's Special Diets Department in advance to discuss any needs. Many of the Disney chefs are very attune to making allergy friendly meals and often make their dishes during the festival allergy friendly or easily modified, which is great. Chef Tony and his team did an awesome job with our salad options!Here's the full 2016 Mix It, Make It, Celebrate It! Schedule including other allergy friendly demos, such as the one from Erin McKenna's Bakery NYC, so you can see what types of demos might be available. Only time will tell if this series was successful enough to be a repeat in 2017. I do hope it does because we had a great time at it!A special thanks to Chef Tony for making a gluten free and dairy free friendly dish!
Chef Kevin Dundon Culinary Demonstration — 2016 Food & Wine Festival
*This culinary demonstration took place on October 18, 2016. This does not reflect a typical culinary demo experience at Food & Wine as I was able to connect with the Raglan Road staff ahead of time. Guests attending culinary demonstrations with a special diet should contact WDW’s Special Diets Department in advance.
I'm a huge fan of the Epcot Food & Wine Festival culinary demonstration series. Offering a small taste of a dish and a glass of wine, these culinary demos feature chefs from the Walt Disney World Resort, as well as celebrity chefs, whipping up their favorite dishes -- all at a reasonable cost (typically, $15 a person).I try to go to at least a few demos each year, and I specifically look forward to the ones featuring Chef Kevin Dundon from Raglan Road Irish Pub in Disney Springs. Chef Kevin brings such fun and excitement to his demos, and even better, because I'm a repeat guest each year, I'm lucky enough to be able to connect with Chef Kevin and the team at Raglan Road about gluten free options.This year, Chef Kevin went above and beyond, making me a gluten free version of his lamb pie. How cool is that? My dish was brought to me separately by one of the Disney cast members, and I checked in about one hour prior to connect with them and to figure out the easiest spot for me to sit for them to identify me when it came time to serve the food.Here are some video highlights of Chef Kevin Dundon's culinary demo that we went to.As you can see from the demo, Chef Kevin is passionate about fresh, simple ingredients. He's also a huge adovcate for celiac disease and those with gluten sensitivity. I'm always impressed with how knowledgeable he is and how he incorporates accommodating special dietary needs into his restaurants.
My lamb pie was presented to me with a mint pea puree and some fresh greens. Made with a gluten free puff pastry dough (which I wish I could find easily in stores!), the lamb pie was full of rich flavor.
Inside there was plenty of lamb and vegetables like celery root, carrots, and celery. The flavors were rich, but not overpowering, and total comfort food. In fact, I loved it so much that I told Chef Kevin I'd love to see it on their menu as an option for gluten free guests. It was that good!Brandon had the gluten-filled version and also said it was really good.
The neat part about this demo is that because Chef Kevin knew I was there, he demonstrated how to make both the gluten-filled version and gluten free version on stage. He even had gluten free puff pastry on hand.
Afterwards, I got a chance to chat with Chef Kevin, and of course, take a photo. I can't thank Chef Kevin Dundon enough for all that he does to make amazing gluten free food at his restaurants (thank goodness for gluten free fish & chips at Raglan Road!), and for giving me a special culinary demo experience at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival.His demos are always fun, and he always has surprises up his sleeve (like the time he brought me up on stage back in 2013!). If you're every curious about these demos and have special dietary needs, I recommend contacting Disney's Special Diets Department prior to your visit for questions and concerns.A special thanks to Chef Kevin, the Raglan Road team, and the cast members who made my visit extra special.