How can you make America’s most beautiful park even more
beautiful and fun? Add
The
Food & Wine event!
Busch Gardens’ true to their
nature doesn’t just plop out little carts and boring kiosks for their Food
& Wine event, they go an additional step and design beautiful structures themed
to the area they are showcasing. This includes music and sometimes even smells.
From cork to fork there are over 70 wonderful
tastes and samples to try. Don’t worry about it going from lips to hips, with
all the walking you do from one kiosk to another, you’re just refueling. This event is so much fun we travel over 600 miles round trip. Busch Gardens is worth every mile.
The food first off is of high quality. Much of it is local,
all the fish used is sustainable. They smoke their own meats, bake their own desserts
and breads, and have a near legendary saucier (sosje)taking care of the sauces. (all homemade).
The menu is thought over for a long period of time to decide what will be added
each year. Executive Chef Justin has said he can sometimes have too many ideas
and eventually scales them down. This year fans selected the two new kiosks Virginia Local and Hawaii. The Hawaiian theme got park employees excited for the possibilities
of design elements, and it did not disappoint.
New kiosks replaced the least popular ones from the previous
year. So no Scandinavia (oh little
meatballs) or Scotland (Scottish Egg will be missed, but at least Thanks to
Justin, I know how it’s made-shush it’s a multi-step process which involves
both deep frying and refrigeration).This maybe the last year for new kiosks for
a little while. But one can’t be sure until the season concludes.
This year we were treated to trying everything in the new
kiosks. Plus given Sampler tickets. A sampler will give you 10 samples of entrees
or dessert (not beverages) for $35. You can also get a deluxe sampler for $50
which includes 15 samples. This picture shows 10 samples, we each had 5 which
had you satisfied without being too full.
Hawaii Menu
Root Vegetable Chips
with Maui Onion Dip- Sweet Potato, Taro Root and Beet Root, made into chips
with a caramelized sweet onion dip (vegetarian)
Spam Slider-Spam
with Sriracha Mayo, grilled pineapple and pineapple-coconut Cole slaw
Huli Huli Chicken-
Sweet Pineapple and Soy BBQ Chicken served with Orange and Purple sweet potato
salad
Tuna Poke- Soy
& Sesame Sushi tuna served in a wonton flower with wasabi aioli, wakame
seaweed salad
Haupi Tart- Sweet
coconut mousse with Kona coffee ganache in a crispy tart shell
Drinks :consist of two types of beer, a Blue Hawaiian
and a Hibiscus Lemonade
Hawaii was fantastic!! Noah, our resident “picky eater’ who
eats like 5 things did try the spam Slider, he liked it! He loved the hibiscus
lemonade.
Virginia replaced the Scotland kiosk, in the Highland Stables area.
Local Virginia Menu
Pork Rinds with
Virginia dips- Deviled ham pate, smoked bacon onion dip, Pimento cheese dip.
She-Crab Soup- a
Virginian favorite, creamy crab soup made with Chesapeake bay crabs, sherry,
and crostini instead of croutons.
Smithfield Ham
tasting- Red Eye Country Ham, Hickory Smoked Pit Ham, Applewood carved ham;
served with biscuit, apple butter, raspberry jam and honey mustard
Bacon & Cheddar
hush puppies-cornmeal fritters with Virginia honey butter(may be magical)
Pecan, Bacon &
Chocolate Bars
Beverages: 4 kinds of Beer, 4 types of Wine and Apple Pie Moonshine
Everything at the new Kiosks, like everything we have tried
has been amazing. If I had to pick a favorite at each I would recommend the
Spam Slider in Hawaii and Hibiscus Lemonade, and the Pecan Chocolate bacon bars
from Virginia for dessert. I also realized I am a huge fan of pimento spread,
really loved the Virginia dips. The She-Crab soup was one of the best I ever had, only rivaled by a place on the Eastern shore of Virginia that has perfected it over the past 15 years, it was that good.
Noah's favorite was the Hibiscus Lemonade
and Pizza.
However, that is always there at Fest Haus, & now the Marco Polo Marketplace (different review)
This year’s Kiosks
·
American South West
·
Asia
·
Canada
·
Caribbean
·
Crepes & Coffee
·
France (adding Beignets- French doughnuts)
·
French Quarter
·
Germany (swapped out the linzer torte for a
German Chocolate cake)
·
Greece
·
Hawaii
·
Italy (no more Italian bites)
·
Ireland
·
Spain (no more dessert)
·
Virginia
Our Favorites (everything!)
This year tried the chicken mole,(American South West) also repeated some of our
favs the Jamaican Jerk chicken, Gamba fritters from the Caribbean, the Venison
and Polenta in Canada (eh!) Joe loves the beef peppercorn crusted with brandy
cream sauce in France. I like the Muffaletta in French quarter, Empanadas in Spain,
scallop bacon wrapped ...um everything, it all was delicious.
SPAIN: Scallop and Bacon, with a little rice.
Samples are generous portions for being a sample, I highly recommend the sampler ticket. 10 will get you
through the day, 5 samples can fill u
up. It’s nice to have it prepaid and then you just scan it where ever you go,
no need to dig for money. If you don’t use all your samples during the weekend,
they can be used anytime during the event (all month long).
Seriously our Favorites
Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Guava BBQ sauce
EASIEST WITHOUT A TABLE
The Gamba Fritters in the Caribbean or the Empanadas in Spain
BEST DESSERTS
Couldn't pick one, these have stolen our tastebuds, The New dessert in Virginia and the Bananas Fosters in France.
SO GOOD WE WENT BACK A SECOND TIME
The Venison Sausage in Canada, and the New Spam Slider in Hawaii. I also ate my Dad & Ginger's Tuna Poke's since they aren't sushi fans. So very fresh, wasabi aoli was perfectly balanced.
TIPS!
Here are a few tips to make your time at the Food & Wine
even the most fun, and maximize your food time if you are only going for a day.
This is our third event, the first one we missed by a day (however I did get to
sample one thing that opened early ) This year I went to all 3 days of opening
weekend, by day 3 Joe and Noah were done, but not I. I had a sampler ticket
to use, Tupperware, a backpack and a can-do attitude! The people of BG were
both impressed and helpful with my exploits. Some of them even packed my food
for me. Gosh I love this place.
OK Tips!
* Look at the kiosks on the website beforehand, try to narrow
down where you want to go (in case of only having a day) if you have all
weekend, well then just get your stomach ready.
They will give you a small booklet that looks like this.
It will have descriptions, a map and even more tips.
*Consider the Sampler or Deluxe Sampler for a good value, or
the cashless wristbands. We used them last year I linked a credit card, which
closed out at the end of the day. You can also just prepay in cash. I was able
to also use this for regular dining, as well, not just the Food & Wine. It
was really convenient and I kept to my budget. The bands can be found at the
Welcome Center before you enter, England at Guest Services, Castle O Sullivan
(back of Ireland) and three other locations in the park (Griffon Gifts in
France, Marketplace in Germany and Bella Casa in Italy)
*Stash a couple of cheapo Ziploc type Tupperware in your bag or sandwich bags, if you want to take some food
out to enjoy later. Better if you have an insulated type. I was in the park for
2 hours the day I gathered food, it was still warm, not spoiled when I
returned.
Enjoy yourself! Take in the ambiance, catch the art of food
displays or the Ice sculpting it’s a cool show. (pun intended)
The Festival lasts from May 27 - June 26 and is on Fridays,
Saturdays and Sundays. (Plus was open Memorial Day). Kiosks open at 11 am. and
serve all day.
What kind of Thrill
Seeker are you ?
Tell Next time!
But if you can't wait, here is a
video montage of photos of a walkthrough America's most beautiful park
