Sunday, February 9, 2014

Boatwright's at Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside

Last night, I dined at Boatwright's Dining Hall at Disney's Port Orleans Resort Riverside for the first time.  I was there to have dinner with my friend Sarah from Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW, who was celebrating her birthday.


Port Orleans Resort is impressive.  After eating too many gluten free beignets at Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory a couple of months ago, a friend and I spend over an hour walking around both Port Orleans French Quarter and Port Orleans Riverside.  The buildings, the river, and the landscaping are so beautiful.  You feel like you've been transported to Louisiana.


Boatwright's has an impressive menu, and even more impressive is the fact that so many of their menu items are naturally gluten free or can be modified to be gluten free.  The four gluten free diners at our table were brought a basket of GNI rolls.  I was just about to take a bite when my appetizer arrived, so I never tasted them.  I was here to eat some New Orleans specialties, so I was ok with skipping the bread.  


Gluten free appetizer options include shrimp & grits, seasonal spinach salad without croutons, romaine salad without croutons, French onion soup without the crouton, or Cajun-seasoned crawfish bites with a gluten free batter.  I am so happy I chose the crawfish bites.  They were absolutely over the top amazing!  Everything about them was perfect -- the amount of batter to crawfish, the seasoning, and the nice crunchy outside.  I did not eat the remoulade because I don't eat most of the ingredients in it, but I was told that it was very good by others at the table who sampled it.  


For entrees, I had the jambalaya, grilled New York strip, voodoo chicken, andouille-crusted catfish, vegetarian jambalaya, slow-cooked beef short rib, slow-roasted prime rib (minus the red wine demi-glace), blackened fish fillet, or sweet tea brined pork chop to choose from.  I couldn't pass up the slow-cooked beef short rib with cheesy grits and red wine reduction.  I had no idea that it came with onion straws on top when I ordered it, so that was an added bonus.  I loved everything on this plate!  The short rib was nice and tender, and perfectly complemented by the red wine reduction and grits.  The onion straws were just as delicious as the crawfish, which were cooked in the same gluten free batter.  


One of Sarah's friends generously offered me a bite of his Voodoo Chicken.  Wow!  This meal was terrific too, especially the peach marmalade it was served with.  It was sweet with a little bit of heat, just like I prefer my sauces.  To make the dish gluten free, it was served with roasted potatoes and green beans instead of red beans, rice, and collard greens.  

For dessert, you can select the butterscotch creme brulee, bananas foster angel food cake without the cake, ice cream, or OMG...It's Gluten Free cookies and brownies.  

Many thanks to Chef Tony and Chef Paul for a fantastic meal, and a big thank you to my friend Sarah for inviting me to be a part of her special celebration.  I can't wait to take my family to Boatwright's.  I know they are going to love it.  

You can read Sarah's review of Boatwright's here.  She ordered the sweet tea brined pork chop, which looked really incredible!  


February 22, 2014 Update -- I took my family to Boatwright's for dinner tonight.  My husband and father both loved the short rib and said it was their favorite dish.  We ordered the Voodoo Chicken to share with our daughters.  The roasted potatoes and peach marmalade that accompany this dish are excellent.  I had the bananas foster angel food cake, minus the cake, for dessert.  It was the perfect ending to another great meal at Boatwright's!  


July 21, 2014 Update 

This past weekend, I had gluten free chicken & Mickey waffles at Boatwright's!  You can read more about this amazing dish here.


We started our meal with this lovely and delicious seasonal spinach salad with strawberries, almonds, and a house-made vinaigrette.

August 3, 2014 Update

Last night, we dined at Boatwright's and finally tried the sweet tea-brined pork chop with sweet potato hash and citrus-whiskey glaze.  The pork was so incredibly tender and flavorful, and I loved eating each bite with the sweet potato hash on top. 


My daughters split an order of the jambalaya.  Emma seemed to really enjoy it, but Katie didn't seem too crazy about it. 


We also ordered the fried chicken with Mickey waffles again, which is the main reason we visited Boatwright's last night.  I got a better picture this time, but the fried chicken was bone-in, and I prefer boneless.  My daughters and husband pretty much devoured the entire plate of food.  I think they enjoyed it.  :-)


June 10, 2015 Update

Boatwright's has adopted a new allergy-friendly menu.  You can view the gluten free options on this menu in my blog post about Disney's Port Orleans Resort Allergy-Friendly Menus.

You can make advance dining reservations for Boatwright's on Disney's website here.  When making your reservation, you can note any food allergies that members of your party have.

What are your favorite gluten free dishes at Boatwright's Dining Hall?



5 comments:

  1. Do you know if the French Onion Soup was vegetarian too? I might have to go check it out! I loved their crawfish bites... :-)))

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  2. Went to Boatwright's last night and they no longer make the crawfish bites. The appetizer is now a "crawfish cake," similar to a crab cake. Maybe things would be different if I had time to email Special Diets in advance. The slow cooked ribs with cheesy grits is GF and phenomenal!

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    1. The crawfish bites are still available, even though they are no longer on the menu. They have to be pre-ordered by contacting special diets. I just had them last month. :-)

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  3. We went here in March completely based on the crawfish bites, which were AMAZING!!!! I ended up getting the pork chop but instead of the hash ordered the horseradish potatoes (which were divine- and have made them several times since getting home) and I had to try the bananas fosters, but had the chef put it on top of an OMG brownie..... bananas and chocolate- it was incredible! I can't wait to head back next March with my son who is also GF. Thank you so much for this blog!

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