Your Guide to the BEST Eats and Drinks at the 2024 EPCOT Festival of the Arts

Come one, come all! Gather round — we’re here to share our honest thoughts on some of the BEST new foods at the EPCOT Festival of the Arts! Grab a paper and pencil and get ready to take some NOTES — you’re not gonna wanna miss these treats.

The 2024 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts event will run from January 12th through February 19th. Of course, we arrived at EPCOT bright and early on opening day to check out the new merchandise, entertainment, and FOOD! This year, there are 25+ NEW menu items to check out, but that doesn’t mean we’re forgetting about some returning favorites. So, come with us to see what made our BEST OF THE FEST list this year!

Check out ALL our TOP foods, desserts, and drink picks at the 2024 EPCOT Festival of the Arts!

Best Eats

In no particular order, these were our favorite entrees of the festival!

Grilled Marinated Skirt Steak — The Craftsman’s Courtyard

The Craftsman’s Courtyard booth blew us away this year.

The Grilled Marinated Skirt Steak was served with caramelized onions and mushrooms, blue cheese fondue, and arugula on a grilled French roll. You could grab it for $7, and we would pay that again in a heartbeat for this juicy and tender steak.

Grilled Pork Belly — The Craftsman’s Courtyard

Here’s another item from the Craftsman’s Courtyard. Seriously, this is probably our favorite booth.

The Grilled Pork Belly comes with salsa verde, broccoli rabe, pickled peppers, and raclette cheese on a grilled sourdough bun. This sandwich is packed with flavor. The great spices that worked so well with all the veggies and bun. It’s totally worth the $6.75 we paid for it.

Tostada de Langosta — El Artista Hambriento

We could tell this artist was hungry (El Artista Hambriento means The Hungry Artist). The food at this booth was also top-tier.

The Tostada de Langosta is all-new this year and it was a big winner in our books! It’s chilled lobster with chipotle aioli, onions, and mango on a fried corn tortilla with guacamole. These flavors and textures were wonderful together! Everything was fresh and beautiful. This tostada is $8.

Saumon Fumé Mousse — L’Art de la Cuisine Fracaise

We know what you’re thinking, “Salmon mousse? Really?” Yes, really.

This looks and sounds interesting, but if you’re brave enough to move past that, it’s surprisingly AMAZING. It is smoked salmon mousse with goat cheese on top of a blini. The texture of the salmon was nice and soft, and it had a great buttery flavor. Everything about this item surprised us, but we would pay $7.95 to try it again.

Carne Asada — El Artista Hambriento

Ah, here we are again, at the Hungry Artist’s booth.

The Carne Asada at this booth was so tender. It is chipotle-marinated beef sirloin, grilled queso fresco, Nopales salad with queso fresco foam, and chicharron dust. Everything partnered together in the best way and the queso was deliciously cheesy (our favorite). It is a little pricier at $10.50, but we really enjoyed it.

Tomato Soup with pimento cheese, bacon, and fried green tomato grilled cheese — Pop Eats!

Pop Eats! is a returning favorite booth of ours!

While you can get a classic grilled cheese and tomato soup here, we would highly recommend going for the loaded version! This is so good. The flavors are amazing, but even better when you dunk the sandwich in the soup. Ours was cooked perfectly and even had a bit of a kick thanks to the pimento cheese. We would definitely get this again for $6.50.

Deconstructed BLT — Deconstructed Dish

The Deconstructed Dish was another one of our favorite booths.

The BLT here is worth the $7.25, plus it’s just fun to play with your food like a kid, again! Since it’s deconstructed, you can eat each part separately, but we recommend butting it all together for the best experience. You get pork belly, onion bread pudding, watercress espuma, and tomato jam for the fanciest BLT you may ever have, and it’s wonderful.

Wild Mushroom Risotto — Gourmet Landscapes

The Wild Mushroom Risotto is our top plant-based pick of the festival.

But don’t count it out if you’re not on a plant-based diet. This was our favorite food item at the Gourmet Landscapes booth! It’s warm, salty, and deliciously earthy. Of course, you gotta love mushrooms to enjoy this dish, but it was a hit for us. It is $9.75.

Red Wine-braised Beef Short Rib — Pastoral Palate

If you want to try another overall good booth, try Pastoral Palate.

Their Red Wine-braised Beef Short Rib comes with parsnip purée, broccolini, baby tomatoes, and balsamic glaze. This meal is a returning favorite of ours and it didn’t let us down this year. While the meat is tender and savory, it was the mashed potatoes that sold us! You can grab it for $8.75.

Chorizo and Potato Empanada — Vibrante & Vívido

Vibrante & Vívido did not let us down this year.

This empanada comes loaded with spicy chorizo! If you’re not a fan of spicy foods, you may want to steer away. But if you can handle a little heat, we highly recommend this item for $6.75.

Sushi Donut — Goshiki

We can’t leave off the famous sushi donut!

The sushi donut is a returning favorite for a lot of folks. It features salmon, tuna, shrimp, cucumber, and sesame seed over a decorated plate of wasabi aïoli, sriracha aïoli, and eel sauce. The fish melts in your mouth as you enjoy this savory donut. Our only complaint would be that we would have liked a bit more sauce to go with it. But that wouldn’t stop us from spending $8.75 to get it again.

There were LOTS  of great food options at the festival. Whether you like these or one of the many other items, we hope you find an entree that you love!

Now, on to the best desserts!

Best Desserts

The best desserts of the festival, in no particular order, were…

Torta Ricotta di Cioccolata — L’Arte di Mangiare

Over in Italy, you’ll find this booth and a little, tasty dessert.

This is a chocolate cheesecake (YUM) with whipped cream and a chocolate decoration on top. Do not, we repeat, do not look past this just because it is cheesecake! This cheesecake is brilliant. It has a fantastic dark chocolate flavor and is not overly sweet. Dark chocolate lovers or anyone looking for a dessert that’s not full of sugar, check this one out for $8.

Rainbow Cake with freeze-dried Skittles– Figment’s Inspiration Station at the Odyssey

On the other hand, if you want a sugary and colorful dessert, you’ll need to head to the Odyssey building.

This rainbow cake has layers of colored vanilla cake with Skittles-flavored icing between them. The cake is fluffy and everything you want a cake to be. The flavor comes pretty strictly from the Skittles icing, but the vanilla cake is also really great (for vanilla). If you love Skittles, go get this for $4.50 (or any other treat from Figment’s Inspiration Station)!

Hummingbird Cake — The Artist’s Table

The Hummingbird Cake is the ONLY reason we would stop at this booth, and why we’ll keep going back.

The Hummingbird Cake is a returning dessert and we’re so happy it’s back. The cake itself is like a ginger spice cake and then it’s topped with what reminds us of a cinnamon roll icing. It’s decadent, and we love it. It’s $4.75.

Deconstructed Key Lime Pie — Deconstructed Dish

The Deconstructed Dish booth is fun and has a couple of items on our list.

The beautiful display of this dessert reminds us a bit of Inside Out when Joy and Bing Bong are deconstructed. It’s fun and gorgeous. And luckily, the flavor lives up to its looks! It’s a lovely bright and refreshing item. The flavors are great and it’s so much better when you mix all the items together. You can get this combo for $6.50.

There were lots of great desserts (especially for chocolate lovers like the Black Forest Cake at Pastoral Palate), but these were our top favorites. We hope you find some you enjoy, too!

Now that the Disney Dining Plan is finally back, we had to give our top pick for the item that would be the best use of a snack credit!

Best Disney Dining Plan Snack

Crazy Chocolate Funnel Cake Sandwich — Funnel Cake Stand

Yep, we always have to check out the funnel cakes!

This is a cute, chocolate mini funnel cake with vanilla ice cream, rainbow whipped cream, strawberry sauce, powdered sugar, and sprinkles. It’s surprisingly good and tastes a lot like chocolate crispy cereal. The downside? It costs $12. HOWEVER, this is a great item to use one of your Dining Plan snack credits on! That’s a high price for a snack, but this one is really yummy and worth it if you’re using a snack credit.

On to our top drinks!

Best Drinks

There were several good drinks, but these two topped them all!

Smokey Banana Bliss Margarita — El Artista Hambriento

Yes, we have a banana margarita on our top drinks of the festival list!

This banana margarita is made with Ten to One Rum, Ilegal Mezcal Joven, banana purée, and lime juice. It’s $15.50 for a strong banana flavor that is delicious! We also enjoyed the hint of lime from the rum. We would definitely get this again.

Frozen French Martini — L’Art de la Cuisine Frencaise

The returning Grey Goose Vodka martini is still a favorite of ours!

It is made with the vodka, chambord liqueur, pineapple, orange, and grape juices with a lemon-lime foam. It’s a little pricier at $15.25, but it’s totally worth it! It’s like an adult SweetTart drink that’s not too sweet and has a great fruity flavor.

Best of Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine

If you complete the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine, you can grab yourself a prize! But eating this dessert for the challenge might be the only prize you need.

Deconstructed Key Lime Pie — Deconstructed Dish

So, we meet again.

Out of everything you have to get to complete the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine, this dessert was by far our favorite. It’s just that good (but you knew that already).

OK, be honest. Are you feeling hungry all of a sudden? Craving some sweets, maybe? We certainly are! In the meantime, we’re always on the lookout for the latest Disney news, so stay tuned for more Festival of the Arts coverage.

Want to see EVERYTHING we got to check out at the festival? Click HERE!

Which of these do YOU want to try? Tell us in the comments!

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