The 2021 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts has officially arrived!

We headed out for the first day of the festival to see what each of the Food Studios has in store for guests this year. Without further ado, let’s continue our food journey!

Our latest stop takes us to The Painter’s Palate, a booth that’s returning after a one-year hiatus. Guests will find The Painter’s Palate located inside World Showplace.

Menu

Here’s a peek at the menu!

We’re ready to try it!

Eats from the Painters Palate booth! #artfulepcot pic.twitter.com/ZT60hpGFeb

— AJ Wolfe (@DisneyFoodBlog) January 8, 2021

Food

First up, we tried the Prime Steak Tartare with pickled vegetables, parsley salad, Béarnaise Anglaise, and sous vide quail egg for $8.50. Both of the tartare dishes have the same accompaniments and a GREAT price for what you get.

The steak tartare was really nice and would be a good option for anyone who likes raw steak. It had a nice creamy texture and we enjoyed the crusty toast points with it. We definitely recommend getting a bite of everything together — including the parsley salad, pickled carrot, jalapeno, and quail egg!

That’s not the only savory dish this booth has in store. The Painter’s Palate also has the Salt-roasted Beet Tartare with pickled vegetables, parsley salad, and Béarnaise aïoli for $6.50. And believe it or not, this is actually a plant-based item!

We felt really positive about the accompaniments for both dishes but the beet tartare didn’t really sell us. The beets were…not great. Granted, our reporter isn’t a HUGE beet person, but she said they had a really weird aftertaste. Still, it’s nice there is an offering for plant-based folks.

For dessert, there’s the Pistachio Cake with cherry mousse and Morello cherries for $5.50. This dessert is pretty complex and has a lot of elements so try to stay with us as we break it down!

The pistachio cake itself is very light and doesn’t have a lot of major flavors. We noticed a slight pistachio aftertaste and the cake isn’t very sweet. It’s not bad, it just doesn’t have a whole lot of flavor!

The cherry-shaped treats are actually made of chocolate! They’ve got an ooey-gooey chocolate center with a white chocolate shell, dyed red to look like a cherry. It was a very good element to the dessert!

The little triangle things are the cherry mousse. This part was pretty tart so it’s best to mix it with the sweetness from something else.

The little crumbles tasted like a little pistachio crumble cake that added some dimension and the real Morello cherries brought some more tartness to the dish. Cherry lovers will like this dessert more than pistachio lovers and if you’re looking for something sweet, you might want to look elsewhere!

Drinks

And there are several beverage options to pair with your eats! At this booth, guests will find the Kalimotxo, a Red Wine Cocktail with Pibb Xtra for $6. Yes, a cocktail made with red wine and Pibb…? So, this tastes exactly like what it is. You get a kinda weird combo of red wine mixed with Pibb Xtra. We weren’t huge fans, but it was pretty sweet.

Or maybe the Frozen Rusty Nail Cocktail is more your speed for $15! The Rusty nail cocktail taste like a cinnamony frozen cider. It’s bourbon and tea with a chocolate nail. Cute…but we wouldn’t necessarily get it again.

Last, but not least, you could also sip on the Pinord La Dama Reserva Familiar Brut Rosé for $12. The bubbly was delicious and not too sweet with more of a fruity profile. We really enjoyed it!

We’ll continue to make our way around to all of the other Food Studios at the festival, so stay tuned for more reviews…and, of course, this year’s Best of the Fest list!

Here’s our Best of the Fest list from last year’s Festival of the Arts!

Which of these menu items are you the most excited to try? Let us know in the comments!