The Eastside of Food Events: East LA Meets Napa

One Friday evening, Union Station is transformed into a food and wine mecca. In its fourth year, East L.A. Meets Napa event, hosted by Altamed, gathered more than 1000 people on July 10 to taste the food of more than 40 Latino restaurants around town and the wines (and tequila) by Latino wineries or winemakers throughout the state.

Some of the notable participating wineries include Sequoia Grove, J. Lohr, Cobblestone Vineyards, El Centauro del Norte, and many many more.

With plenty of food to sample, I did not manage to try everything. The restaurants everyone seemed to enjoy but I missed included Cook's Tortas, Birrieria Chalio, and Moles La Tia, but here are some of the highlights for me:

Chicken tamale with black mole from Guelaguetza.
Mole from Guelaguetza - a staple of LA. There's a reason they are popular. Here they serve up delicious chicken tamales with their sweet mole and fragrant rice.

Florales Tortillas with shrimp salsa from Rivera
One of Rivera's signatures - housemade nixtamal tortillas that are crispy and gorgeous to look at at the same time.

Chiles en Nogada from La Casita Mexicana
This was better in the larger version you get at the actual restaurant due to the ratio, but still enjoyable with the sweet walnut sauce.

Castillas de Puerco en Chile Negro from Teresita
Very tender and flavorful. This was a find I would not have known were it not for this event! It's really for these lesser-known places that these food events are so great for - an exposure to over 1000 people.

There were some unique desserts to be found also, including this handmade 3-D jello from Attila the Flan.
(That just looks so cool!)

Chocolate dipped jalapenos from D's Delights
I did actually try a bite - spicy! Not for me, not for me. But fun nonetheless.

I unfortunately had to run out of there after an hour to make it to my Andrew Bird concert, but in that one hour I had a lot of great food, great wines, and met many of my foodie friends including Mattatouille, LA&OC Foodie, Food She Thought, Wandering Chopsticks, FoodGPS, and Choisauce.

Upcoming Events! (or, What I'll Miss While in New Mexico)

--UPDATED 7/14/09--

I'm not sure why but I signed up to be in Los Alamos and Santa Fe for about 3 weeks. Before that there is the much anticipated Baja trip(!!). Oui, oui, there will many delicious Southwestern food waiting for me! But alas, I will be away from LA for all that time and apparently I will be missing many many exciting and delicious events.

So don't be like me. Mark your calendars and go!

July 16-19. Kyushu & Okinawa Fair. Tonkotsu ramen from Tatsuno-ya, "Pie Fresh Custard Pudding on Choux" of "Kikuya" in Oita, “Nagasaki Sara Udon” of “Yamachan”. Torrance, Costa Mesa, and San Diego Mitsuwa stores. Check website for full schedule of each store.

July 22. Blogger Prom! Prom, liquor vendors, raffles, goodie bags ... *sob*

Sunday, July 26. L.A. Beer Float Showdown! On this day, Golden State will gang up with Scoops to battle Bottle Rock LA who's teaming up with Milk on the first ever L.A. Beer float showdown. You'll get to judge two beer floats from each contestant. Tickets are $23 if you RSVP to joshua@foodgps.com by July 25 or $28 at the door. Proceeds benefit 826LA, a non-profit writing and tutoring program for kids 6-18. 3:30 PM. Blue Palms Brewhouse, 6124 Hollywood Blvd.

Sunday, July 26. Dessert Decadence. Gelato, cupcakes, chocolates, and more! As the name suggests, this event puts desserts on the spotlight. $40 pp. 5-8 PM. Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, 1755 N Highland Ave.

Saturday, Aug 8. Festival of Indonesia. In celebration of the 64th Indonesian Independence Day, a festival will be held at the Indonesian Consulate featuring traditional music and dance, arts and crafts, and - of course - Indonesian food (why else would I blog about it?). The traditional music includes local genre of dangdut, which I could only file under the category "campy" (i.e. it's so lame it's awesome). 10AM-10 PM. Indonesian Consulate, 3457 Wilshire Blvd.

Sunday, Aug 9. Boutique Beer Tasting & Food Pairing. The last remaining winery in Los Angeles will be holding a boutique beer tasting sampling at least 9 beers and half a dozen wines including Great White, Old Rasputin, West Coast IPA (Green Flash) and more, paired with tamales, gourmet sausages, Santa Maria BBQ tri-tip, taco bar, and pies for dessert. 2-5 PM. $50 pp. San Antonio Winery, 737 Lamar St.

Sushi on Sunset (Press Tasting)

Sushi on Sunset brought a new chef (Tetsuro Ahn) on board just last month and a few of us "media" people were invited to check out his new creations. Since it's on Sunset, I of course expected fusion food, but I was curious to see what they do here.

Sushi on Sunset is a small restaurant with a rather unassuming black on white sign, but the decor inside is a modern, classy wooden look.

Their cocktail list is pretty short and not particularly exciting, so after trying one, I then opted for one of their green tea selection, the Madame Butterfly (green tea with white peaches and something -- sunflowers, IIRC?)
I loved this tea. The scent of the white peaches was very apparent and very pleasant and calming. I wish I can get some of the leaves to take home.

EDAMAME
tossed in sweet soy and sesame sauce
A nice touch to the usual edamame, adding layers of sweet and savory.

ALBACORE TATAKI
served with white & red onion, celery, bell pepper, carrot, garlic chips & gobo chips in an oyster ginger shoyu dressing
This was our first real taste of Sushi on Sunset, and we were very pleasantly surprised. The fish was pretty good quality, and you can tell even among the sauces and garnish.

FIRECRACKER CHICKEN
with chili caramel glaze & peppers
Another pleasant surprise. These were all deep fried white meat chicken, and as you may have noticed I am not a big fan of white meat as they tend to be dry and bland. The firecracker chicken had a pretty impressive moistness to it. The sauce was sweet and slightly spicy. The dish had a pretty nice kick to it and easily enjoyed.

MATSURI (Chef Tetsu's signature dish ). As some of you may know, matsuri means festival and this dish is rightfully called so. From the left:
1. Blue crab, Avocado & eel in oyster shell
2. Salmon,Crab & Shrimp with shiso leaf in a Radish Wrap
3. Spicy Toro with Wonton Chips
4. Tuna, Shrimp, Octopus, Seaweed & green onion with Nuta Sauce

Nice renditions of crab/eel dynamite, tuna tataki, etc. All four items were quite enjoyable, with quality ingredients. The spicy toro with wonton was perhaps my favorite here.

"PINOY STYLE" DOMESTIC KOBE BEEF SATAYS
with lime pepper sauce
The meat was very tender - to be expected from kobe beef (though there are some restaurants who managed to screw up even that) ... The beef was a little stringy but the tenderness and the nice flavors make up for it.

ROXBURY ROLL
topped with an oyster ginger sauce
A step up from most rolls with real crab.

THE TROC
deep fried roll (spicy albacore inside) with fresh vegetables on top in a ginger dressing
All fusion sushi places will have some sort of crunchy roll. Sushi on Sunset has a pretty good one with a nicely done spicy albacore inside.

CHINESE CHURROS
with nutella dipping sauce
Think chinese donuts, but crispy like churros due to the shape.

APPLE PIE
caramelized apples stuffed in a filo dough cup with five spice caramel sauce topped with green tea ice cream
Delicious apples, and nice crispy filo dough for the crust! I'm not sure about the pairing with green tea ice cream, but the apple pie itself was quite good.

SOMETHING CHOCOLATE
our lava cake with vanilla ice cream
Pretty rich dark chocolate lava cake - pretty satisfying.

Chef Ahn has some pretty creative take on these dishes, and uses good quality ingredients. Fusion and sushi rolls have lately been regarded as "food for those who can't take real sushi", but when you encounter a place like Sushi on Sunset that holds its food quality to a high standards, you're reminded it is really a separate category with its own art form that still deserves some attention.

Sushi on Sunset
8264 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(310) 613-2773
www.sushionsunsetla.com