Monday, October 24, 2011

A Specific Chef TJ Post

I get a lot of questions regarding Chef TJ's schedule, and generally speaking, these days, your guesses are as good as mine since the chefs themselves don't generally know their schedule until just a week or so before.

Generally, he's done the whole Sunday-Thursday thing, however, I just received a call today informing me that due to the Food and Wine Fest, his schedule right now is more inconsistent than normal. He's been doing cooking demos which I hear are very good. (Though I don't know as getting to one will be in the cards for our upcoming trip...)

For anyone who's going in the next couple of weeks, he's working on 10/27, then 10/30-11/2. Then apparently he's off for another week or so.

This information was a considerable bummer because we had booked two night at 1900 PF, only to find out he wasn't going to be there either night. We are changing one of them, so hopefully I'll get one Chef TJ meal during the trip, and due to the lack of availability at this late stage, it looks like we'll be keeping the second ressie and hoping for the best.


Sunday, October 16, 2011

From an Anonymous Poster (AJ)

This was kindly posted in the comment section of my last entry, but since I feel it has some good relevant information, I'm giving it a spot of its own.

(Incidentally, our next trip is quickly approaching, so I hope to be posting my own finds shorty!)
Thanks for reading.

And AJ, thanks for sharing!



We have just returned from a week at Disney World. I am not really vegan. I will eat things prepared with butter or milk if there are no other options, no eggs or meat of any kind though and I am real weird about the hidden animal derived ingredients that I have trouble pronouncing. It is just all real gross to me. I traveled with my husband, my six year old twins, and my parents – all meat eaters.Here is what I ate and my experiences dining at Disney.

Day 1 – Vegan chili, fries, and apple pie at Columbia Harbour House – always very good
Day 2- Lunch -Tusker House – Marakesh couscous, roasted potatoes, pita bread, and fresh fruit – best pineapple ever, not crazy about much else
Supper- vegan pizza at Wolfgang puck express- tomatos, zucinni, onion, and peppers,NO cheese- Special ordered – very good but it could have used a little sauce
Day 3 – Lunch – Via Napoli -their vegetable pizza minus the cheese added olives- OK but no where near as good as Wolfgang Puck
Supper – Garden Grill – special ordered- vegetarian pot pie no topping to make it vegan, side of corn and other mixed veggies (heavy on butter if that bothers you), bread, fruit crumble ( again has butter in the topping, comes with cream but they put that on the side – I talked with the chef here – not a great meal, however I think my special order was better than my families preplated meal – good only if your kids really want to eat with Chip and Dale, mine did
Day 4- Pop Century food court – Lunch – Black bean burrito (not on the menu) pick your own toppings, comes with tortilla chips – this was good, but I tried to order it later in the trip at supper and the black beans have meat in them at night
Supper – food court again- Asian salad no chicken -I did not ask about the dressing – just hoping for the best – I really wanted the salad so I really just did not want to know – it was a good salad
Day 5 – Lunch – Hollywood and Vine – Bean cassarole and rice, roll, tofutti ice cream (you have to ask) with strawberry syrup – I really like the mixed beans here
Supper – vegetable soup (food court again)
Day 6- Liberty Tree Tavern (had not planned to eat here, but it turned out Ok) Liberty salad – no meat, cheese or pecans (candied with egg glaze, I was sad because I really wanted pecans in the salad)- talked to the chef- he thought I was crazy because they have a vegetarian burger that he can make vegan – I just don’t like fake burgers it is too much like the real thing plus I can’t help but think there are gross animal by products in the bun – he really recommended the burger but reluctantly made the salad – it was pretty good with just greens, dressing, cranberries, and apples. I also got a very good strawberry sorbet.
Day 7 – 50’s Prime Time – spaghetti and “meat”balls- on the menu, minus cheese to make it vegan, decent if you like spaghetti. I did not try the “meat”balls, I just pushed them to the side, I had another tofutti sundae, and a vanilla coke – the coke was great!

Snacks – Divvies cookies (first time to try them – I am definately a new Divvies fan), donut and cupcake top from Babycakes ( I am not a fan. The donut was the size of a half dollar and very dried out. The icing on the cupcake top was foamy and gross). Pretzel and popcorn (Disney has the best popcorn ever!)

I hope this is helpful to somebody headed to Disney and don’t forget get fastpasses to Toy Story Mania early – it’s the best ride there! Also if you have a little boy between 4-10 sign him up for Jedi training.





AJ