Busch Gardens Food & Wine Festival

I ventured out to Busch Gardens to check out their Food & Wine Festival. This was my first time going to the park during this event, so I really didn't know what to expect. They had 26 booths set up in the back section of the park, mostly under the ruins of Gwazi. You could have bought everything individually, but I went with the package where you got a punch card to try multiple food options.

The first thing I tried was the Venison Chili from the booth called Southern Station. The Food & Wine booklet described this as Venison Chili featuring roasted corn, black beans, and lime sour cream. Pretty tasty, although it was hard to taste the ground venison once in chili form.

Up next was the Potato and Goat Cheese Tart from the Light Fare Canteen booth. This one sounded good, but the goat cheese flavor wasn't prevalent enough.

Duck Tacos came from the Chef's Plantation booth. I think this might have been my favorites of the food I tried. The shredded duck was nice and tender, served in tortillas with cabbage and duck sauce.

I tried the Smoked Beef Brisket from the Gourmet Lodge Booth. It was served with Potatoes Au Gratin. The brisket seemed to be the same meat that is served elsewhere in the park at Zambia Smokehouse. I'm a fan of the brisket at Busch Gardens, so that's a good thing. Potatoes au gratin were disappointing though. Very bland tasting.

Lamb Chop topped with Tzatziki served with tabouleh came from the Field House Eatery Booth. Two pieces of on-bone lamb were placed over the tabouleh. The lamb was a little chewy, but had nice flavor.

Finally, I ended with the Pan-Seared Creole Shrimp with white corn artisan grits from the Artisan Eats booth. The two large shrimp were topped with some sort of salsa and greens. Can't go wrong with shrimp and grits.

Overall, I had fun at the Food & Wine Festival. They did more for the event than I expected with lots of new topiaries and extra entertainment. More importantly, they did a good job with most of the food. If only they would bring more of this food into the park's restaurants for the rest of the year, many of which could use some work...

Zambia Smokehouse at Busch Gardens

We're going to talk theme park food today. I ate lunch at Zambia Smokehouse during a recent visit to Busch Gardens. This restaurant is located under the Sheikra roller coaster, which could be a good or bad thing whether or not you enjoy the roar of a coaster train every minute or so. Historically, I've thought the Sea World owned parks have had the weakest food of the three big theme park companies in Central Florida, but that seems to be changing with some of more recent food experiences with their parks (some, not all). Because of this, I was a little worried if Zambia Smokehouse would live up to Busch Gardens' reputation of nasty food, or if it would be passable...

I ordered the Brisket Platter. This came with three large slices of brisket, French fries, and a roll. In terms of the sides, the fries were what was expected and the roll was disappointing. It was flavorless mushy white bread and left me with no desire to finish the thing. The brisket was actually very tasty. It was nice and lean, unlike some brisket I've had with turns out to be half fat. It had a nice smokey taste and was coated with a rub which provided an extra burst of flavor around the edges of the meat.

While the sides at Zambia Smokehouse could have used some work, the brisket here was good. For a theme park where I've had horrible meals in the past, me liking the brisket was a win for Busch Gardens. Comparing that to the past few quick service meals I've had at Magic Kingdom which have ranged from bad to inedible, I think it's time for Disney to step up their food game again when I'm liking Busch Gardens' food better...

Crown Colony House at Busch Gardens Tampa

I was at Busch Gardens Tampa and ate lunch at a restaurant called Crown Colony House. This restaurant is located in the Egypt section of the park and overlooks the animals in the Edge of Africa section. The Crown Colony House is a cafeteria style fast food restaurant.

I noticed this sign while waiting in line for food. I found this a bit amusing. Busch Gardens is really trying their best to make deep fried food sound healthy. With ZERO grams of trans fat, low saturated fat, Omega 3 fatty acids, and a good source of monounsaturated fat, how could deep fried food be bad for you? Let's eat it every day!

Since the oil used in deep frying has all of those pros with apparently no cons, why not indulge? I had their combo with came with deep fried chicken tenders, deep fried french fries, and a slice of pepperoni pizza (not deep fried but not good for you regardless).

This was typical theme park food. The pizza was mass produced. The chicken was mediocre, as were the fries. At least I was getting lots of my Omega 3 fatty acids though! I always heard fish was a good source of Omega 3s. Why bother when you can get the same stuff from deep fried foods? Thanks for the education Busch Gardens!

Desert Grill at Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL

I went to Busch Gardens for Howl-O-Scream this October. Eventually, I started to feel hungry so I ventured to the Desert Grill in the Timbuktu section of the park. The restaurant doubled as the theater for their Blood Relations show, so I was able to watch the show during my meal.