Los Angeles Mag's The Food Event 2011 Recap

Hey folks, Kung Food Panda here. I’m back, and again have the privilege of guest blogging on GP’s site. Some of you may remember me from such post as the Chocolate Salon a few years back . 

With Gourmet Pigs out of town, she generously gave me her passes to document the LA Magazine’s The Food Event, located at the beautiful Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu. I’ve attended this fantastic event in the previous two years, and loved it both times. The location of Saddlerock Ranch was serene and beautiful, and the food, well, there are definitely a lot of things to try during the event. As shown in some of the pictures below, I definitely had some tasty bites. 

One in particular was the Flan de Elote from Playa Rivera. My main regret was not going back for seconds and third of this flan. Simply, my favorite thing I ate that day. 

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The Food Event 2009. Another Year, Another Blast

Last year's The Food Event, hosted by Los Angeles magazine, was at the top of my favorite food events in 2008. This year, The Food Event was a huge success yet again.



I was excited to see the Petrossian booth as soon as I came in and enjoyed their offerings, including this tartar topped with caviar.

There were plenty of notable bites that day, including a slider from Dakota, pear and burrata salad from a new tapas place in Pasadena called Noir, desserts from Essential Chocolate, and various offerings from Gordon Ramsay, Gaylord's, Dominick's, and more.

Lemonade LA offers something different with their mint lemonade and cold deli items such as the couscous and the poke.

Naturally there were tons of wines to sip and sample. The ones I got to try some Syrah Rose from Eagle Castle, a blend called RED from Vina Robles, and of course some Semler wines from Malibu's very own vines.

And then there were the cooking demonstrations! Famous Los Angeles chefs standing 5 feet away from you showing you how to cook?

First up was Chef Andrew Kirschner from the Wilshire restaurant demonstrating his Steamed Mussels in Curry Broth (here's the recipe).

Chef David Myers from Sona and Comme Ca showed us how to make Pumpkin Creme Brulee, just in time for the holidays.


In case you missed the video I posted on Monday, Chef Ludo Lefebvre of Ludobites showed us how to make his Spicy Chocolate Mousse with Orange Olive Oil puree all the while making jokes and bantering with the audience.
For those of you who missed it, here's the video, sans subtitle.

Chef Suzanne Tracht couldn't make it but the chefs from Jar came and whipped up a simple but amazing salad.

Last but not least, Chef John Sedlar of Rivera and his chef de cuisine talks about tortilla and the history of guacamole and his tortillas florales.


Chef Sedlar also talks about his recent trip to Tijuana with some of us foodbloggers and hitting 22 restaurants/taco stands in 48 hours (oh yeah, that's how we roll) and some of the implications of the surge of foodbloggers.






Read estarla's coverage here

The Food Event: Food and So Much More

The Food Event, hosted by Los Angeles Magazine, is perhaps my favorite of this type of events so far this year! And it is actually the cheapest at that - $60 admission (disclosure: I was able to obtain a media pass for the event, but you'll see the $60 would be well worth it! Plus it also benefits Concern Foundation and LA Food Bank!). I bumped into LA&OC Foodie there, who already posted his review, and we both agree that this event is definitely going into our calendar next year!

First, there's the venue. The Food Event took place yesterday (Sunday) in the grounds of Saddlerock Ranch in the Malibu Hills. It's a beautiful property with grape vines, llamas, horses, zebras etc.
A bit out of the way but the drive through the hills was similarly beautiful. Going to this event felt like a mini getaway. Albeit a bit hot, the venue definitely beats all other events.

Then, there's the food (of course). A sampling below of some of my faves, clockwise: orechiette with mushrooms and truffles (excellent), octopus carpaccio from Tra di Noi, bison tartare and pheasant mousse from Saddle Peak Lodge, and tuna tartar from Chaya Brasserie.
But those are only what I started out with. There's also lobster bisque (also one of my fave there!) from Darren's, cold poached salmon from Paperfish, and hamachi poke and tomato gazpacho both from the Four Seasons hotel in Westlake Village.
The lobster is creamy with coconut, and has a bit of spicy kick to it.

The beer sponsors served their beverage in their signature beer glasses - which we get to take home. Hmm ... is this a friendly challenge to see how much I can drink? Well, the glasses below are what we ended up taking home :P
Some of the highlights are the "Provence" wine from Peju - a blend of 5 grapes that include both reds and whites. It was meant to introduce red wine to those who normally drink whites. It's a crisp, light wine with a bit of the tannin taste. As for the beer, my favorite was the blond Leffe.

And let's not forget the desserts. We had macaroons from La Provence Patisserie, gelato from Gelato Bar, an assortment of excellent pastries from Rustic Canyon, and some amazing blueberry mint lemonade from Lemonade - loved it (then again mint is my true love :P ).
It's a hot day so the lemonades went fast! And so did all the Fiji water bottles there - my only complaint is perhaps how they ran out of water halfway through the event, although wine and beer were still abound.

So that was the food and drinks. But that's not all! What really brings this event to the top is all the chef cooking demonstrations (well, and of course, eating their food right after)!

The chef cooking demonstration starts off with Chef David Linville from The Shore, who demonstrated how to make mozzarella from scratch.
Simple but always excellent dish - mozzarella with basil leaves and tomatoes!

After managing to grab some seats, Nancy Silverton set up right in front of us. Best seats in the house :) Known for both Osteria and Pizzeria Mozza, she of course brought some burrata with her.
Silverton demo'd making celery pesto sauce from scratch (I got this on video, which I will hopefully post later- waiting for an OK from LA Mag PR people), and served up some celery salad topped with lovely burrata and the pesto sauce!

Then there's Neal Fraser from Grace, cooking up some uni pumpkin risotto!
Everything was in a pot which meant we didn't get to see much. There was fun conversation about the best salt to use. The risotto was excellent. Al dente and creamy, with bits of uni still visible.

The Two Dudes (Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo) from Animal on Fairfax made a quick demo of how to make their awesome BBQ ribs. A quick demo of seasoning and putting in the oven - then another quickie of their BBQ sauce (got this on video too, hopefully will put up later!)
Here too they use Niman ranch meat, just like in their restaurant. Loved it there, loving it here too. The meat was so tender and falling off the bones. One of the most satisfying bites of the day (who can say no to ribs?).

Kerry Simon also demonstrated wheat penne pasta, and brought tubs of his famous junk food desserts - we're talking rice krispies, cookies, and kettle corn! Yum!

The awesome afternoon ended with a Cook-off, Top Chef style! Defending her reign after two consecutive wins is Top Chef's Betty Fraser, exec chef of Grub. The challenger is Makoto Okuwa, of the newly opened Sashi in Manhattan Beach (and former assistant of Morimoto in Iron Chef).
Chef Fraser served up some shrimps poached in butter, kaffir limes etc, with candied pumpkin, which I didn't get to taste because they ran out (personally I'd deduct points for not preparing enough *sob*). The judges all seemed to love it though and said that the shrimp was "perfectly cooked".

Chef Okuwa served up some shrimp-pork-beef Baos with black truffles! Excellent bao, freshly made so the dough is still moist and chewy. The thickness was also just right for me. And let's not forget truffles, which you guys know I love ...

So who do you guys think won? Make a guess and I will let you know later!