by Beth Keating
Review
DisneyBizJournal.com
December 5, 2021
Le Cellier, at EPCOT’s Canada Pavilion, is completely deserving of the designation as a Disney “Signature Restaurant.” In fact, one of our diners remarked that the Le Cellier Filet Mignon was a near-life-changing experience!
Our server was a delightful cast member by the name of Emma, who happened to be from the same town we were from! Emma was warm and welcoming, with a personality that bubbled.
Emma started us off with a small bread basket with yummy warm pretzel rolls, ciabatta and multi-grain rolls, and a dish of maple decked butter.
For our appetizers, we chose the Heirloom Tomato & Burrata Salad ($15.00), an incredibly fresh dish of three delicate little balls of goodness tucked in amongst a plate of beautiful red and yellow heirloom tomatoes and deep green basil leaves. The soft pillows of burrata were topped with crispy prosciutto and pickled red onions, and dressed up with dots of creamy basil aioli and served atop a light pool of sherry vinaigrette, which made a very nice complement to the cheese.
We also ordered one of the appetizers Le Cellier is famed for, its Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup ($13.00), made with Moosehead Pale Ale and Nueske’s Applewood-smoked Bacon. Guests who haven’t been able to get reservations at Le Cellier can sometimes take advantage of sample size servings of this soup at the Canadian festival booth at events like the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival. This soup was creamy and smooth, with a delicious, smoky bacon flavor. This soup alone would warrant dinner at Le Cellier, but it turns out to only be a part of this culinary treat.
We added two “enhancements” to our meal – one with our appetizers, and one to accompany our entrées. The restaurant’s Signature Poutine ($14.00), brought with our appetizers, was a skillet of fresh-cut French fries, crisp on the outside and soft inside, tossed with Canadian cheddar cheese curds and truffle, and drizzled with a strong red wine reduction. The fries, by the way, stood up nicely with the extensive toppings.
The second enhancement we added was the Five-Cheese Macaroni & Cheese ($11.00), which we arranged to have brought out with our entrées. One of our diners called it “Grown Up Mac and Cheese,” but someone else offered that they thought calling it mac and cheese might be somewhat insulting, because it was more upscale. The pasta was small, shell-shaped macaroni, and a combination of provolone, fontina, asiago, parmesan, and goat cheese provided the blend for this delicious white sauce. A topping of crunchy bread crumbs gave the dish a nice bit of texture.
We made the entrées easy for the wait staff. We all had ordered the same thing, and our responses were all the same as well – phenomenal! We ordered the Le Cellier Filet Mignon ($59.00), a AAA Canadian Tenderloin brought in from Canada, and served over a bed of mushroom risotto with an asparagus-tomato relish. The creamy mushroom risotto was flawless, and soaked up extra flavor from both the filet that rested above it, as well as from the truffle-butter sauce that came with the filet. The filet itself was perfectly done. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it’s true: It was so tender (one person in our party declared it “beyond tender”) you could almost cut it with a fork, and seasoned lightly on the outside, with just a bit of a char, and the asparagus had a slight tang to it. Life changing? Well, again, one of our diners thought so.
By the time dessert arrived, we were stuffed, and debating the wisdom of ordering anything else, but since Le Cellier has a certain reputation for their desserts, we sacrificed for our readers. We ordered the Maple Crème Brûlée ($13.00), Carrot Cake ($10.00), and the Maple Leaf Cheesecake ($12.00).
We had enjoyed the Maple Crème Brûlée 20 years earlier when we’d last visited Le Cellier, and it was just as good as we remembered it being. And we aren’t the only ones who feel that way. Our server told us that the restaurant tried taking it off the menu for a very brief time, and guests rioted – and the dessert promptly found itself back on the menu!
Served with a light maple whipped cream and a shortbread leaf shaped cookie, the crème brûlée has a strong maple flavor. The custard itself is not overly sweet, despite the maple flavor, but the crispy sugar shell brings it back into the realm of a sugary dessert. The sugar topping had a satisfying crack to it when it was tapped open.
The Maple Leaf Cheesecake was a totally unexpected surprise. As tasty as it was adorable, the cheesecake was shaped like a maple leaf, and covered in red crumb dust with a chocolate base. Nestled alongside was the crème fraîche whipped cream with sliced strawberries and maple leaf shortbread cookies.
The Carrot Cake was moist (sometimes lost with carrot cakes), and offered just the right amount of sweetness.
Our server also brought out a complimentary surprise for us - Le Cellier’s version of a “chocolate moose.” The endearing little face was almost too cute to eat, but he was one of the best parts of the meal. The strong cocoa flavor, with a smooth rather than fluffy version of a mousse, was a chocolate lover’s perfect ending to the meal. Our sincere thanks to the staff of Le Cellier for such a treat!
Le Cellier is also one of the Disney restaurants to be gifted with its own specialty blend of coffee from Joffrey’s, and we ordered up a pot of their French press, which was a wonderful addition to the meal.
There are many fine dining options in EPCOT, but Le Cellier ranks among the best of the best!
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Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.
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