Have you ever heard of Jens Dahlmann?

Fortunately, I had, because Saturday afternoon – as Mrs. All in WDW and I were sneaking in an extra serving of Pulled Pig Slider outside of The American Adventure – Epcot Executive Chef Jens Dahlmann strolled up to ask us if we were enjoying the food and the festival. Wow!

Chef Jens has been the Chef de Cuisine at both California Grill and Flying Fish Cafe. He is now the Executive Chef of Epcot Food & Beverage. And, he wanted our opinion? That’s outstanding! Thanks for the honor, Chef!

Here’s a funny side-story. We had just …

… ordered the pig sliders – but not made as Chef Jens had intended. I hope he didn’t notice, but I’m sure he did. We had asked to have them made with The Smokehouse’s vinegar-based cole slaw on the side because we wanted to be able to douse the pork in hot BBQ sauce. See?

Back to this little story in a second. You’ll see how I learned my lesson.

Mrs. All in WDW – ever the publicist – proudly told Chef Jens how I run a web site, and how I pre-ranked twenty of the items, and how we’ve tasted all twenty on this weekend’s trip. He asked us what we liked and – ever the perfectionist, I’m sure – what we did not. Bravely, we told him that the U.K. cheddar biscuit and Germany’s potato pancake were just a little bit salty. I “chickened out” and didn’t disrespect France’s pâté.

We raved about the introduction of food kiosks at Flower & Garden, praised Food & Wine, complimented the chef on the fantastic food at both festivals, and even spent a little bit of time talking about the culinary scene in Atlanta. We were delighted when he brought up a dinner he recently had at a local (to us) restaurant where even we have dined.

Thank you, Chef Jens, for spending a little bit of your valuable time with us!

Now, back to that little side-story. Mere minutes after Chef Jens walked away, I determined that the pig slider just didn’t taste “right”. I piled some of the cole slaw on top of the BBQ sauce-laden pork and took another bite. Yes, Chef Jens, you are right. I should have left it alone and ate it as you intended.