Y’all. We are eating SO much today, but we do it for YOU — and for science, of course!

The 2023 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival has started, and we’re eating our way around the food booths so you’ll know what to eat at the festival, as well as what to skip. We’ve already showed you some of the merchandise available at the festival, and we’ll be checking out the Eat to the Beat concert series, too. But right now, we are ALL about the food, so let’s check out the Flavors From Fire booth!

Menu

Over at Flavors From Fire, you’ll find one of our returning favorites, the Smoked Corned Beef with House-made Potato Chips, Cheese Curds, Pickled Onions and Beer-Cheese Fondue. You’ll also find the Impossible Burger Slider here, which has previously been at the Earth Eats food booth (that booth won’t appear at this year’s festival). But there are also some NEW items to check out at Flavors From Fire this year, too!

Now that we’ve taken a look at the menu, let’s dive into the food itself!

Eats

Let’s start with one of this year’s NEW items, the Chimichurri Marinated Skirt Steak Taco with crushed avocado, grilled corn salsa, pickled red onions, queso fresco, and cilantro-lime cream for $6.50. 

This was surprisingly acidic due to the pickled onions, but the crema and avocado were nice and creamy. Sadly, the steak was slightly overcooked on our particular portion, a little bit chewier than we would’ve liked.

We also wish that the corn tortilla had been served warm, that would’ve made a big different in the overall effect here. All in all, this was fine, and the rating we give this might vary depending on how that steak was cooked on each particular visit.

The other new snack here is Spiced Chocolate Tart with BBQ potato chip crust, salted whisky-caramel, and smoked sea salt for $4.75. Oh, you had us at Spiced Chocolate and Whisky.

This tart was so deliciously chocolatey and fudgy, but there was a nice bit of spice at the bottom to round out the flavor profile. It was a little bit of a surprise — like the prize at the bottom of a cereal box!

Now to the returning snacks. As we mentioned, the Smoked Corned Beef with house-made potato chips, cheese curds, pickled onions, and beer-cheese fondue for $6.50 is an old favorite that rarely disappoints. We always loved how that salty beef pairs with the creamy cheese, plus the pickled onion just adds an extra dimension of flavor. Note that this dish is also part of Emile’s Montage Fromage (aka the Cheese Crawl).

This year, we loved this dish just as much as we have in the past! There were a lot of textures throughout, which added some dimension, and the cheese was AMAZING. It’s just generally a warm, comforting win as far as festival food goes and we think it’s one of the best options at the festival! (Really, it’s the cheese that wins us over. But are you actually surprised about that?!)

If there was ONE reason we’d come back to Flavors From Fire, it would be the Corned Beef. YUM.

Also returning is the The Impossible Burger Slider with wasabi cream and spicy Asian slaw on a sesame seed bun for $6, although this was found at the Earth Eats food booth at last year’s festival. We’ve always felt that the portion size for this snack is a great value for the money, but we found the texture of the “meat” to be a bit off.

If you’re not prepared for it, you would probably find the spice level on this burger to be a little shocking. (That wasabi ain’t playing!) The Impossible meat was a much better texture this year and we’d actually recommend it to plant-based eaters or meat-eaters. The extra flavors with the various elements really make this better than just a “fake” burger.

Drinks

All the drinks here are returning from previous years and include the Saugatuck Brewing Company Bonfire Beer which is $5.50 for a 6oz ($9.50 for a 12oz) and the Four Virtues Bourbon Barrel Zinfandel which is $6.50. The Swine Brine featuring Jim Beam Bourbon for $11 is also returning, but we had to try it again because it’s such a unique drink.

It starts off with a sweet cocktail-ness and then immediately hits you with a strong flavor of bone broth and BOY that was a smidge alarming. Also, the pork inside the drink looked gray in color, which was pretty off-putting. Sadly, we didn’t enjoy this nearly as much as we had in the past, and we’d probably recommend a hard PASS based on this experience.

OVERALL

There were some definite winners at this booth, as well as some that didn’t measure up. The Impossible Slider and the Corned Beef are still some festival favorites that we’ll come back for again and again, and we really enjoyed that Chocolate Tart — try it if you’re a fan of spice. However, our taco was a bit of a letdown because of the meat and you’d have to have some VERY specific tastes to enjoy the Swine Brine.

That’s it for this food booth, but we have many more to go — and our stomachs are ready! So stay tuned to DFB for more reviews!

Click here to see FULL reviews of EVERY. SINGLE. BOOTH. at the Food & Wine Festival!

Trying to plan the PERFECT trip to the 2023 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival? We’ll be keeping you updated on all of the latest. Click our links below for the information you need to know:

• Learn about the Eat to the Beat Concert Series and Dining Packages
• Check out ALL of the 2023 Food & Wine Booth Menus
• See what eats you’ll need to try to get a PRIZE at the Festival!

And don’t forget to pick up our 2023 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival e-book! See more details about the book below.

What items from this booth would you most want to try? Tell us in the comments!