One of the new food trends I noticed on my last visit to Walt Disney World was the use of savory beignets as sides or garnishes in many of the dishes I tried!
I don’t know about you, but beignets have always been sweet and powdered-sugary in my world; I’d never heard or seen a savory version! But it’s always good to sample something new! Here are a few of the versions I saw…
Sweet Potato Beignet: Yachtsman Steakhouse
At Yachtsman Steakhouse in Disney’s Yacht Club Resort, the Sweet Potato Beignet was a rib-eye steak side dish that we thought was a lot of fun!
Light, airy, and savory-sweet, this was an interesting mouth feel for a flavor most of us know well.
Sweet Potato Beignets at Yachtsman Steakhouse
Sweet Potato Beignets at Yachtsman close-up
Mushroom Beignet: Flying Fish Cafe
Over at my beloved Flying Fish Cafe, the “exotic forest mushroom beignets” came as an accompaniment to the Sherry-laced Sweet Onion Crema soup of the day, and, my oh my was it amazing!
The beignets didn’t have a strong mushroom flavor, but added another texture and a mushroom-y essence to the (deeeelicious!) soup.
Mushroom Beignets in the Onion Soup at Flying Fish Cafe
Crawfish Beignet: Boatwright’s
Thanks to Deb Koma from AllEars.net who told me about the crawfish beignets over at Boatwrights at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort Riverside! These accompany the grilled tenderloin medallions, which are also served with “mac and cheese.” Deb gives them a thumbs up!
Crawfish Beignets at Boatwrights
Would you welcome savory beignets on your plate, or is the concept just a bit too weird for you? I wasn’t 100% sure I’d like that same texture without the sweet taste, but as it turned out, they seemed more like flavored bread than dessert, so I ended up enjoying them all the same.
Have you tried any of these savory beignets? Are you seeing this food trend in any other restaurants? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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OMG, crawfish beignets! I SO want to try that one!!!!! I wonder if Flying Fish Cafe would serve those mushroom beignets without the soup … I’m not a fan of onions 😀
I’m pretty sure “Crawfish” and “Beignets” appearing in the same sentence is some sort of gift from Providence…
That soup looks and sounds ridiculously good.
AFoodie — The soup isn’t currently on the menu, but I wonder if you were to just request the beignets… it never hurts to ask!
Deej — Ha ha! This is heaven for you, eh? 😉
Mark D. — It was awesome! I’m an onion-soup devotee, and this was great!
You should have seen how quickly I clicked on this link when I read ‘crawfish beignets’! Sounds AMAZING! This may need to be added to my ever-growing list of must-eat WDW foods! I shall officially blame this blog for all of the pounds I shall gain (and thank this blog for all of the amazing things I shall eat!)
Aren’t these really just “fritters”? Whatever you call them, they look delicious! To paraphrase Shakespeare: “A beignet by any other name would taste as yummy!”
I had the sweet potato beignet with the ribeye at Yachtsman’s Steakhouse. They were good, but too sweet to accompany the steak. The flavor match was way off. I did not like them together. You can’t really call these a savory, because the sweet potato is intensely sweet. It felt like a dessert or breakfast item.
When Flying Fish had Clam Chowder on the menu recently, it was accompanied by Clam Beignets. They were so good I think they should offer a plate of just the beignets as an appetizer!
That Onion Soup with Mushroom Beignets looks like another hit soup from Flying Fish!
They should do an assorted beignets plate! Yum!
I tried the crawfish beignet at Boatwrights. It comes as a side with the Grilled Tenderloin Medallions. The beignet was okay, but the mac and cheese side dish that comes with this entree was what stood out with me–a more sophisticated “adult” version of the classic–I loved it.
Coming from the home of beignets I’m always suspicious when I see them on the menu, but I can second that the sweet potato version at the Yachtsman is very tasty!