It’s only fitting that our first restaurant visit while visiting Orlando was a place specializing in fried chicken. Chef Art Smiths Homcomin has a menu that features Florida Southern comfort food. I literally wanted everything on the menu. Lucky for us, we ate here while on the Disney Dining Plan so we got to try a little bit of everything.
We were on the “deluxe” plan so we each got a drink (non-boozy), appetizer, entree, and dessert. Yes, it’s a lot of food. Yes, it was worth it. We had been traveling all day with a 9-month-old and surprisingly an alcoholic drink wasn’t on my mind at this point. But, they do have a long menu full of cocktails featuring their signature Moonshine recipes. I stuck with a pretty lame glass of fresh iced tea. Fun fact: you can get cocktails to go in Disney Springs. Not sure why, but it was a pretty awesome thing that I’ll take advantage of next time we are at Chef Art Smiths Homecomin.
Alright, on to the snacks at Chef Art Smiths Homecomin. The Beard chose the Thigh High Chicken biscuits for his appetizer. They were unreal. The cheddar cheese drop biscuits were a little on the thin side so I felt like they didn’t’ really stay together as a sandwich, but I’m not complaining. The chicken was crispy and the honey drizzle was sticky, sweet and just a tad bit spicy. It paired perfectly with their housemade pickles. I actually could have just eaten an entire bowl of the pickles.
My appetizer of choice was the bunch of puppies, a large serving of house-made fried hushpuppies. Served alongside the little-fried goodies was a dollop of pimento cheese and some red jalapeno jelly. I didn’t love the pimento dip but I was obsessed with the red jalapeno jelly. It was so so good and didn’t have that weird gelatinous texture like bottled sauces. The hushpuppies were fabulous, crisp but soft and flavorful on the inside.
Okay, on to my entree at Chef Art Smiths Homecomin, which was literally so amazing. I’ve been known to say that The Barn has the best fried chicken. Well, sorry but this was better. I got the fried chicken & doughnuts which was two pieces of chicken served alongside some house-made sugar doughnuts. Typically, it comes with creamy mashed potatoes but The Beard was getting those so I got the Momma’s Mac and Cheese which was UNREAL. I took a few minutes until I actually got to dig into my doughnuts (dinner with a baby, eesh) so they got a little hard but they still tasted fantastic. The mix of savory chicken with a bite of doughnut dipped in their molasses maple syrup is what I imagine Heaven’s food is like.
Just another picture of this amazingly creamy and gooey and amazing mac and cheese. I know people are obsessed with mac and cheese and I’m actually not one of those people. But, I kept going back for more in this one.
Okay, so The Beard also got fried chicken which usually would annoy me because I hate when people get the same thing at dinner. But, this fried chicken is literally so good that I didn’t care because I didn’t have to share. He got Chef Art Smiths Famous Fried Chicken which came with the aforementioned creamy mashed potatoes and another one of those yummy little biscuits. He also got gravy on top of the potatoes which I would totally recommend! Dessert! Yes, we still ate more food after the appetizers and entrees. Don’t judge us. I opted for the Hummingbird Cake which was fantastic. The cake was moist, super balanced and topped with a fantastically tart and perfect cream cheese frosting. I’m actually writing this and want it right now. I wonder how I can recreate this. Hmm, next baking project.
The Beard is not a big dessert person and he loved this. Probably because it has moonshine in it. I feel like one of two things happens when you put alcohol in dessert. One, that is all you taste or two, you don’t taste it at all. Neither of those is the case here. It is totally balanced and we ate every single bite. My only thing I didn’t love about both desserts is the little scoop of ice cream and giant mint leaf you get with them. Gordon Ramsey has drilled into my head that if a garnish isn’t to be eaten, then don’t put it on the plate. That’s how I felt with the mint leaf. Only a small complaint on an otherwise perfect meal at Chef Art Smiths Homecomin in Disney Springs.
Lastly, here is a picture of our daughter with a mustache coaster on her face because it’s funny and she’s pretty darn cute. Even the little ones loved Chef Art Smiths Homecomin! Be sure to be on the lookout for the rest of our reviews from our visit to Walt Disney World!
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