Review: Mexico 2019 Epcot Food and Wine Festival

We continue from The Alps.

Mexico returns in the same location, either just before the pyramid or right after depending on the way you’re walking.

As usual, Mexico wipes last year’s slate clean and starts anew with only the Cerveza returning. Most of the flavors and ingredients should be similar to past entries, though.

“Only” $49.70 for everything this year, compared to the $60+ we spent here last year.

Here’s how that spread looked with one additional cocktail and the beer.

Taco de Puerco: Shredded Pork Belly on a Corn Tortilla with Salsa Verde – $6.50

Mexico’s Festival offerings are reliably small propositions and this one is a tough couple of bites to share unless you particularly like whoever you’re visiting with. This is very much not the case on Blogger Day, which meant I got the whole thing to myself. The Taco is perhaps three inches in diameter and the toppings cover even less than that with little more than a pinch of dry pork topped with fresh, mildly spicy Salsa Verde that helped brighten the flavor profile considerably. Even if this hit all the high notes, it would still be difficult to recommend at $6.50. And it doesn’t, which makes it an easier skip.

Taste: 4/10

Value: 2/10

Tostada de Carne: Braised Beef on a Corn Tostada with Mole Oaxaqueño and Chicharrón Dust – $6.95

That’s it on the back left. This was a significantly more flavorful outing and I appreciated the crispy Tostada underneath, which added a nice crunch to the complex, sweet and spicy chocolate flavor from the tender Braised Beef. It’s still $2 overpriced, even for the Festival.

Taste: 6/10

Value: 3/10

Capirotada de Chocolate: Chocolate Bread Pudding served with Chocolate Abuelita Crème Anglaise – $4.75

Year in and year out, Mexico does dessert well with predictably delicious results. This year’s Chocolate Bread Pudding is no different and it also benefits from being a significant portion on the plate. The Bread Pudding itself is soft and tastes rich without being overpowering, in part thanks to the cinnamon and powdered sugar. The Crème Anglaise isn’t your typical vanilla flavor, instead adding even more zesty chocolate to the mix. On the downside, ours was a little on the dry side and the sauce underneath had begun to harden by the time we were finishing it. This is another one that you may want to eat quickly.

Taste: 6/10

Value: 6/10

Cerveza Por Favor: Mexican Craft Beer served with a Liqueur Floater – $5

I still don’t think this works. The bitter almond flavor from the liqueur overwhelms the beer, creating an incredibly unpleasant, lingering flavor profile that nobody in our group enjoyed. My eyes inevitably bulge upon tasting a couple of the items during each Festival, but they probably never bulged quite as wide as this. Mexico seems intent on adding liqueurs to their light lagers during the Festivals – we’ve seen pomegranate, ginger, and coffee, among others, but it never really seems to work given the beer’s light qualities. Anyway, if you want to come over, I’d be happy to add a half ounce of Disaronno to a Bud Light and we can both laugh at how bad it tastes as we pour it out. A pretty easy skip.

Mexican Sangria: Red Wine, Blackcurrant Liqueur, Citrus Juices, Strawberry Purée, and a hint of Rum – $9.50

The Citrus Juices and Strawberry Purée sweeten up the wine just enough to cover up any flavor that might be considered unpleasant, but this ends up being your typical sugar bomb that’s probably light on the alcohol. If everyone is ordering margaritas and you’d like a fruitier drink without much bitterness, then this would be a good choice. I’d recommend it at $7.50.

Taste: 5/10

Value: 4/10

Clasica Reyes Margarita: 100% Agave Tequila, Ancho Reyes Liqueur, Lime Juice, and Agave Nectar served on the rocks with a Tajín Chile-Lime Powder Rim – $10.75

This is a proficient margarita, sweet and spicy with a solid tequila presence. The Tajín Chile-Lime Powder Rim adds a nice tang to each sip, too. It would be my pick of the drinks.

Taste: 7/10

Value: 8/10

Smokey Margarita: Mezcal Ilegal, Pineapple-Ginger Juice, Agave Nectar, 100% Agave Tequila and Ancho Reyes Liqueur served on the rocks with a spicy Salt Rim

This is surprisingly similar to the Classic Margarita, as both use Tequila and the Ancho Reyes Liqueur. The Mezcal does add a hint of smokiness, but it’s largely washed away by the tropical flavors of the juice.

Taste: 6/10

Value: 6/10

Overall, Mexico brings another solid round of margaritas with the sangria adding a sweeter, sugarier drink if that’s the direction you’d prefer to take it. The Taco is an easy skip, but you might not let the fact that the Tostada is $2 overpriced deter you from picking one up along with a margarita. When it’s warm and fresh, the Chocolate Bread Pudding is excellent.

Islands of the Caribbean is up next.