Eat This: Food & Wine’s Farm Fresh Booth

I had a chance to stop by Epcot yesterday night after an already busy day of running, Magic Kingdom, and Skipper’s Canteen. I was actually there with my partner in crime, who had scored tickets to both tapings of Wheel of Fortune, but before the show started we had a chance to sample both food offerings from Food & Wine’s Farm Fresh booth. And these were calories well spent.

• Crispy Chicken with Griddled Cornbread and Red Eye Gravy ($4.75)

This took me a minute to absorb but actually turned out to be delicious. I had walked past this booth 1,000 times and always just assumed they were serving up pieces of chicken with sides of cornbread. It’s actually more of a sweet cornbread cake with chicken and gravy icing – and if you can’t get behind that then we probably can’t be friends.

Seriously, though, this one surprised me. The cornbread is very sweet – with a distinct maple flavor that my friend likened to cornbread pancakes. It sort of needs the chicken and gravy to balance it out, but if you can get it all in your mouth at once your tastebuds will make quick work of blending it all together and making a single taste that’s just right.

• Roasted Beet Salad with Green Beans, Feta Cheese, Minus 8 Vinaigrette, and Toasted Walnuts ($3.75)

I’m not a huge lover of beets but enjoy them when they’re playing in the right setting. This salad was so fresh and lovely. The beets are a warm and cozy addition to this crisp salad full of greens, walnuts, and fresh green beans. The feta gives it just the right punch and I don’t know what Minus 8 dressing is but apparently I dig it. For the $3.75 price tag, this was a healthy serving and a great value.

• Two Henrys Elderberry Cream Hard Cider ($4) and Florida Orange Groves Mango Mamma Wine ($5.50)

It’s good to know going in that the Two Henrys Elderberry Cream Cider is in fact very much an elderberry. cream. cider. It has that round sort of taste that almost tastes malted and the elderberry is a bit syrupy. It wouldn’t be a go to drink for me but in the right mood it would do the trick.

The Mango Mamma Wine is very light and crisp and went down easily on a hot night. It made a good partner to the earthy beet salad and rich fried chicken dish.