New to the 2021 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival is The Swanky Saucy Swine.

If you’re looking for the Swanky Saucy Swine, you might just see the smoke coming off of the grill before you see the sign. You can find the Swanky Saucy Swine near Disney Traders as you walk towards the Mexico Pavilion.

Crispy Barbecue Pork Rinds – $4.75

Served with Pimento Cheese

We’ll start with the Crispy Barbecue Pork Rinds, emphasis on the crispy. Actually, crunchy might be a better descriptive term as we found these to be almost inedible because of hard hard they were to bite through.

Part of Emile’s Fromage Montage, the incredibly crunch pork rinds come with a wonderful Pimento Cheese that almost earns the dish a recommendation. A little bit of spice is found within the pimento cheese, but is otherwise a standout offering. If you’re willing to roll the dice with a too-hard pork rind, we can recommend this dish.

Roasted Porchetta – $6.25

Served with Pork-fat Roasted Rosemary Potatoes and Lemon-Parsley Salsa Verde

Next up is the Roasted Prochetta. This super soft pork-fat porchetta is really a hidden gem. We liked this disk almost exclusively as a result of the lemon-parsley salsa verde, which has just a hint of zest to it. The pairing is a smart one and we found ourselves trying to ensure we got a bit of the lemon-parsley salsa verde in every bite. The pork was otherwise perfectly cooked, but the show stopper was certainly the salsa verde.

As a side, you’re given some potatoes that are unremarkable in comparison. We can recommend this dish.

Soy-glazed Sticky Ribs – $7.00

Served with Green Onions and Peanuts

As the most expensive item on the menu, there was a high bar for the Soy-glazed Sticky Ribs. In our opinion, they almost met that high bar, but fall just a bit short given how tough and chewy they were. The flavor profile here is wonderful – everything you’d expect from the name of the dish with an emphasis on sticky. As you saw in the photos at the start of this review, these ribs are smoked on a nearby grill and that smoky flavor is present.

The crumbles of peanut work nicely in the bites that they are present, and the pepper slices are a nice addition as well.

The only thing that missed on these wings were the texture. If chefs are able to get the meat to fall of the bone a bit more as adjustments are made in the opening days, this could be a wonderful option.

Crispy Pig Ear Salad – $5.25

Served with Fire Roasted Tomatillo Sauce, Pickled Red Onions, Queso Fresco, Roasted Corn Salsa and Avocado Cream

An absolute explosion of flavor, the Crispy Pig Ear Salad might almost have too much flavor. Unlike the pork rinds earlier that we found to be too hard to bite through, the pig ears here had a simple crunch that adds a lot to the texture of the salad. They are not difficult to eat and were wonderfully executed.

From pickled red onions to queso fresco and and avocado cream, there is an unavoidable sweetness to this salad that is persistent throughout.

Parish Brewing Co. SIPS Pinot Noir Black Currant Sour, Broussard, LA – $5/$9

A wonderful sour that pairs well with some of the heavier items from the booth. Just like at the Brew-Wing, we find this sour to not be overpowering, but still something that fans of a sour will enjoy.

Rombauer Zinfandel, California – $9.50

Coming soon!

Bourbon Bloody Mary with Labrot & Graham Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey – $11

Souvenir container alert! The Bourbon Bloody Mary comes in a fun Swanky Saucy Swine plastic souvenir container at no extra cost. A departure from vodka to the Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey works perfectly. Classic flavors from the tomato juice are present through the first 3/4 of each sip, while a bourbon whisky finish makes this a unique take on a Bloody Mary that stays mostly true to classic flavors.

What puts this over the top for us is the delicious candied bacon! A long strip of barely cooked bacon flops out of the top of the container and each bite tastes like a dessert of its own.

We’ve seen some “swine” items at EPCOT festivals before, but The Swanky Saucy Swine feels like the most complete version yet. If chefs can figure out the too-hard pork rinds and too-tough ribs, The Swanky Saucy Swine will have a wonderful lineup of food and drink that lives up to the fun name.