The 2025 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts is going on now through February 24th! Of course one of the biggest highlights of the festival is the special menu items found throughout the park. If you’re starting the right way in World Showcase aka Mexico, you will quickly stumble upon the El Artista Hambriento festival booth. This is usually a very popular booth with a long line. In fact, we waited around 30 minutes on the first day of the festival! Fortunately, two of the items we tried made it well worth the wait.
Croqueta – chipotle chicken and chorizo croquette in chipotle salsa with chipotle aioli, avocado mousse, and truffle oil – $8
Our initial reaction to the Croqueta was disappointment in the serving size for $8. It definitely should have been a few dollars less but hey, we did it for the truffle oil! Unfortunately, the truffle oil might have been the highlight. The texture of the croquette was so dry and was mostly cornmeal with little chicken or chorizo. The heat from the chipotle did pair nicely with the avocado mousse but not enough to redeem the dry croquette.
Carne Asada – ancho-marinated beef sirloin with pasilla chile sauce, grilled queso fresco, nopales salad, and chicharron dust – $10.75
This was one of our favorites from the first day of the festival! The price was again a few dollars higher than we would have liked, but it was tasty enough that we quickly forgot about the value. The beef sirloin was both tender and flavorful, plus the chile sauce and grilled queso fresco made it that much better. The nopales salad was also a nice addition to the textures and flavors. We would splurge on this item again if stopping in Mexico.
Floridita – (pictured above left) Centinela Blanco Tequila, citrus juice, orange liqueur, and grapefruit soda with a hint of Aperol (New) – $16.50
This was the cocktail I was most excited for! Specifically for the combination of grapefruit, Aperol, and tequila. Overall, we liked the light, citrus flavor of the drink and appreciated the subtleness of Aperol which didn’t overpower the tequila. While it’s a solid margarita, it wasn’t memorable enough to pay $16.50 again for this small portion.
Strawberry Fields Margarita – (pictured above right) Tromba Blanco Tequila, Dos Hombres Mezcal, strawberry purée, and blackcurrant liqueur – $15.50
While not new to the festival, this is the first time we’ve had the Strawberry Fields Margarita and it was delicious! The sweetness from the strawberry purée with the smokiness from mezcal was perfection. It also was a slightly better value than the Floridita. This margarita was so good, I plan to make a point to get it again before Festival of the Arts is over!
Be sure to let us know in the comments what you liked most or are looking forward to trying at El Artista Hambriento!
