This Weekend and Beyond: Cook-Off, Chef's Night Out, Wine Fest and more

Saturday, July 31st

Celebrity Chef Cook-off at The Grove
Top Chef contestants Betty Fraser and Alex Reznik (Ivan Kane's Cafe Was) will battle it out this weekend at The Park at The Grove from 6-8pm. The event is free and open to the public and there will be tastings from various restaurants. Read: Free cooking demo and free food!

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Sunday, August 1st

Wally's Central Coast Wine + Food Celebration
About 50 Central Coast wineries and top LA restaurants are confirmed for this extravaganza. Indulge in food from Comme Ca, Lucques, Spago, Jar, Osteria Mozza and The Hungry Cat paired with excellent wines to benefit The Michael Bonaccorsi Scholarship Fund at the UC Davis Department of Enology.
Tickets are $95 and can be purchased here.
Wally's Wine. 2107 Westwood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025. 12-4 pm

Angeleno Magazine's Chef's Night Out
This event celebrates Angeleno Magazine's Annual Restaurant Issue, where James Beard Award-winning food critic Brad Johnson will present awards to what he deems LA's best chefs and restaurants in 2010 while guests wine and dine. Expect to see Chef of the Year Michael Cimarusti of Providence and runner-up Ludo Lefebvre from Ludobites, the Hatfields from their namesake Restaurant of the Year, and Best New Chef Michael Voltaggio.
VIP reception starts at 4:30 and the main event starts at 5:30 pm.
Tickets are $95 for general admission, $150 VIP and can be purchased here (use code ANG10 to get $20 off GA tickets).
Proceeds go to the LA's Best after-school enrichment program.
Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows. 101 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica

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Looking Ahead:
On Saturday, August 14, sommelier-turned-wine-maker Joshua Klapper will showcase his 2008 releases of La Fenêtre wines, paired with small dishes by Chef Neal Fraser of Grace/BLD. The $29 ticket (use code 'JOSH' to get $10 off of $39) will allow you to taste 8 wines paired with 8 dishes. While the website says the menu may change based on market availability, it teases with Crab Salad, Bay Scallops, and Squab crostini. Sounds like a great deal to me!
Seatings are available at 5, 6:30, and 8 pm. Tickets can be purchased here.
LearnAboutWine Loft/Loft 218. 530 Molino St, Los Angeles, California 90013

Ice Cream Social at Rosa Mexicano

Rosa Mexicano at the L.A. Live holds "festivals" to introduce the flavors of Mexico from time to time. For the month of July, they are holding an ice cream festival, Festival de Helados, with ten flavors of ice cream and sorbet. Rosa Mexicano developed these ice cream and sorbet in conjuction with MILK on Beverly Blvd and Fosselman's in Alhambra.

Last week I was invited to an "Ice Cream Social" to taste all these flavors. After an 80-degree afternoon, I was ready.

We started with a bottle of Modelo beer and a small scoop of the Pomegranate hibiscus sorbet.
Followed by the Sea salt cajeta (goat's milk caramel). You can really taste the goat's milk here, which I really enjoyed.

Tomatillo lime ice was a favorite of mine and one of the more intriguing flavors.
Not too sweet and very refreshing, this also made a great float with the Modelo beer.

Pomegranate mint chocolate chip fudge swirl was a delicious combination of flavors.
I liked this flavor a lot and lucky for you, according to Caroline on Crack, they're keeping this one on the regular menu.

Cookies and cream + Negra Modelo float.
The Negra Modelo also went well with the Mexican Chocolate.

They also have homemade toppings available. My favorite was the Strawberry Crisp which was made with corn flakes and strawberry puree.

I ended up mostly enjoying the Caramel popcorn and the crack-n-peel peanuts as snacks rather than toppings.

We put the strawberry crisp topping on one of my favorites, blueberry and crema (creme fraiche).
I really liked the tartness that came from the creme fraiche.

Unfortunately you only have until August 1st to try all ten flavors, but some of them will remain on the regular menu if you can't make it by then! Also, you can also ask to see if they have any left. See if they have another of my favorite: the sweet corn caramel.

Rosa Mexicano
800 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, California 90015
(213) 746-000

East LA Meets Napa Returns Big

East LA Meets Napa, the annual fundraiser benefiting AltaMed, is a special event for Los Angeles. Not only does it raise money for free quality healthcare for those who need it the most, it is the only event of its caliber that gathers Latin restaurants around town and Latino-owned or operated wineries of California under the same roof.

Well, technically there's no roof.

East LA Meets Napa is held at the courtyards of Union Station
There are two connected courtyards at Union Station and while last year's event occupied only one of them, this year they expanded to both and even filling up the adjoining hallway.

There's even a mariachi band making its way around the event.
As wine kept flowing, people started to salsa on and in front of the stage.

The evening started with a VIP reception at Traxx, which had more wine tasting - some of which were also available at the main event. This year's event is also special since in accordance with Mexico's bicentennial anniversary, they also had wineries from Baja's Valle de Guadalupe participating, along with guest chef Patricia Quintana from restaurant Izote in Mexico City.

There were plenty of Napa cabs, but at the VIP reception we also got to try a sweet blend of late harvest grapes from Ceja.

I had my first tastes of Cook's Tortas. It's not the full experience but a great teaser, using the same bread they use in their regular tortas. I'll be making it out there soon.

It would be impossible to go through everything, but here are some highlights:

Wild boar & duck carnitas from Cacao Mexicatessen

Chapulines (grasshopper) tostada from La Huasteca

These weren't as good as Guelaguetza's chapulines but it was fun having my friends try them for the first time.

Golden gazpacho with poached shrimp and Israeli couscous from Setá

Various desserts from Porto's Bakery

There were more of course, here's a slideshow of the others: