Art Meets Cocktails: Art Beyond The Glass II on June 30

Last year, many of LA's best bartenders showcased their multiple talents in mixology and art/photography/music at the first Art Beyond the Glass, held at Sadie Kitchen and Lounge in Hollywood. The 2nd Art Beyond the Glass is coming up real soon, next week at the beautiful Invention inside the members-only Los Angeles Athletic Club! This is also your chance to check out the bar without splurging on that membership fee.

Here are the deets:
Sunday, June 30, 2013. 3:30pm – 7:30pm
Los Angeles Athletic Club
431 W 7th St Los Angeles, CA 90014
Tickets are $50 and available on Eventbrite (with part of the proceeds benefiting Art Share LA). You can see next week's bartender lineup here, and you should get excited..

I definitely drank more than $50 worth of cocktails last year. Great cocktails were overflowing, of course, with so many bartenders rotating shifts. New bartenders and new drinks every hour! Plan to stay for most of the event.

Jaymee Mandeville and Cari Hah serving up their sangritas.
Cari will be at next week's event.

But they weren't just there to mix drinks. Eugene Lee from Big Bar exhibited some of his photographs. Some, like Cana Rum Bar's Allan Katz were DJing for the afternoon.

Read more »

Lucky Devils (Hollywood, CA)

Lucky Devils is one of the oldest craft beer bar in Hollywood, though I actually went to taste the wines from their newly installed wine taps. Lucky Devils was opened by former model Lucky Vanous. It was before my time but Wandering Chopsticks who came with me did remember this old Diet Coke commercial. I've never heard much about Lucky's before and wasn't sure what to expect, but to my surprise the food was actually pretty good. On this particular strip of Hollywood Blvd, Lucky's may well be one of the best options.

As I was being seated for my tasting I noticed a menu of "six courses" with multiple items listed under each and 12 wines. Oh, I need to choose, I thought, but I was quickly corrected. I was apparently getting all of them. All 10 dishes+2 fries+2 desserts+12 wines.

We started with some olive tapenade and jalapeno hummus with char-grilled bread.

Wandering Chopsticks loved the charred bread and couldn't stop eating them even though we have 10+ more courses to come.

With this first appetizer we tried three different white wines they had on tap:
 2011 Zocker Gruner Veltliner. Vibrant, crisp. Notes of stone fruit (melon).
2011 Hess Chardonnay. Slightly buttery. From Monterey's coastal valley.
2011 Acrobat Pinot Gris. Nice one. A hint of sweetness, a bit sweeter than the Zocker.

They only have wines on tap here so you may not find many wineries you know and like, but the most expensive 6oz pour is $9.50 and most is $7.50.

Short rib sliders (braised with caramelized vegetables, wild arugula, horseradish cream, Hawaiian sweet rolls) and truffle parmesan chips (it's truffle oil).

Read more »

Sneak Peek of LA Street Food Fest, June 29 2013

LA Street Food Fest is returning to the Rose Bowl on June 29. While I recently did a recap of last year's Food Fest, I previewed some of this year's vendors and there are some new ones you should be excited about!

1. Dante's Fried Chicken: Sock-It-To-Me fried chicken with coconut honey black sesame biscuit

Despite being white meat this was an awesome piece of fried chicken! 

2. Donut Snob.
Donut Snob has no retail store and you can usually only get them by pre-order, so the Food Fest is the perfect time to try these amazing donuts! No, really, they are some of the best in LA.

3. D'elish Sandwich Shop by Tiara Cafe: pastrami smoked short rib on fresh baked potato roll with slaw and jalapeno pickles

4. El Coraloense had all kinds of ceviche tostada during the preview. I tried the crab ceviche 

5. Local distillery Greenbar will be showcasing their new poppy liqueur, but if you shy away from alcohol, La Guelaguetza's horchata is always a good bet!

Some of the old favorites will make a return, but I'm excited about many of the new ones. These are just but a tiny portion of the vendors that will be there, so be sure to get your tickets soon at http://lastreetfoodfest.com 

All inclusive general admission tickets are $50 and VIP early admission is $75 with access to the Luxe Lounge (one time they had special cocktails and free massage!)