Thursday, July 8, 2010

Summer Tasting Event on July 24 + LA Street Food Fest Recap

The widely popular LA Street Food Fest will be back with a Summer Tasting Event on July 24th at The Rose Bowl!
This time it's not just street food though, it will also have popular restaurants like Mo Chica, Starry Kitchen, Malo and Pal Cabron participating, along with dozens and dozens of street food vendors.

Instead of a nominal entrance fee and pay-as-you-go format like last time, the upcoming Tasting Event will have a $45 entrance fee ($65 VIP) with unlimited food from over 60 vendors and drinks (yep, beer, cocktails, tequila and mezcal included - I'm talking major tequila/mezcal tasting here with 13 different brands!).

To get you even more interested, the event will also have live performances by two of our best local bans, The Deadly Syndrome and Warpaint (catch some of their music videos). There will also be photo booths for that photogenic you and a cook-off judged by Top Chef Master Susan Feniger and more.

Get the full detail here: http://lastreetfoodfest.com/info/

Now, the last event did meet with a lot of complaints because of the lines and crowd (it was really popular, what can you do?) but the $45 entrance fee and limit on ticket sales this time may mean smaller crowd, and instead of waiting for you to order, the vendors will just crank out the food they're serving that day, which should mean faster lines.

The first Street Food Fest back in February also marked the first appearance of the Ludo Fried Chicken truck, which will soon actually hit the streets.
Ludo's fried chicken, now affectionately known as "Ludo's Balls" probably gathered the longest line of people waiting for both food and photo+signature ops. At $5 per order, it was indeed the best and cheapest opportunity for these piping hot babies.
Will he be back this time? No official word on that yet, one can only hope.
We won't lack celebrity chefs though, as Susan Feniger will be on location leading a panel of judges for the cook-off competition.

Other vendors whose food I enjoyed last time and will be back for more this time around:
mini ice cream sammies from Coolhaus.

Kimchi and foie gras fries from Frysmith.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

The Edison Brings the Deals Back to Downtown

35 cent cocktails are back at The Edison, quite possibly the best happy hour deal in town! Better yet, they're now available on both Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5-7 PM, while you can get a $1 Millenium Cocktail on Fridays at the same times.

The 35¢ cocktail changes all the time, but expect competently prepared classics like this gin martini we had last week.

Five bar snacks are available for $5 each from 5-7 pm also and each comes with either Edison or Tesla (sweet potato) fries.

Kobe Beef Slider

Singapore Wings, with a sweet glaze.
My favorite bite of the night


Beer drinkers should watch out for the "Dog Days of Summer" deal, where you can get (kosher) hot dog, onion rings, and a draft beer for $10. If you get a glass of Chimay cing cent like I did, consider that that usually runs $9 a glass here. That means your hot dog + onion rings come out to $1.

If one cocktail isn't enough (when is it ever?), be happy to know that everything else on the menu is 40% off during happy hour, so you can give my favorite the Brown Derby, a concoction of bourbon, honey, and grapefruit juice, a try.

PS. Radio Room is returning to The Edison on Tuesday July 13. This time they're featuring bartenders from Ward III in New York: Michael Neff, Kenneth McCoy, and Abdul Tabini.
Event starts at 8 PM with a $10 cover. Check out www.edisondowntown.com for pre-sale tickets so you don't have to wait in line!



The Edison
108 W 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 613-0000

www.edisondowntown.com
The Edison in Los Angeles on Fooddigger

Disclaimer: I was hosted by The Edison during this happy hour.

Monday, July 5, 2010

EFFEN Vodka Party at La Vida

EFFEN is a wheat-based vodka from Holland that is targeted for the club scene and "younger drinkers."

EFFEN boasts their focus on "design" as evidenced by the good looking box and bottle its product comes in, along with the rubber grip of the bottle, which will make busy bartenders' lives much easier. Rushing and grabbing bottles in a busy night club? Yep I can see how a gripping a glass bottle will be hard and how that rubber sleeve would really help.

Photo courtesy of EFFEN

It's also evidenced by the EFFEN by Design events they've been putting on around the country. I was invited to one held at La Vida in Hollywood. They had invited Vanessa de Vargas, an interior designer, to speak about interesting architecture in Los Angeles. The four cocktails (created by La Vida's even director) are named after historical and architectural landmarks like The Parker and The Coonley Playhouse.
Two of the four cocktails were made with the plain EFFEN vodka while the other two were made using the black cherry flavored vodka. The regular vodka runs at $25.99 at BevMo - not a bad price - though the Black Cherry flavor seems to run above $30.

La Vida's new executive chef is the former Chef de Cuisine at Rivera, Joseph Panarello. While I didn't get to have a full meal here, the passed hors d'oeuvres did give an idea of what he was doing at his new gig.
We all loved these little lamb chops. I probably ate about four. I'm looking forward to having a full dinner here soon.


Disclosure: The party was hosted by EFFEN vodka and I received a bottle of their regular vodka.

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