The Taste of Mexico Returns Oct 11, Presale Ends July 31
Last year, the Guelagetza siblings even got these sweet outfits for mixologists Steve Livigni and Pablo Moix.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 9:43 AM 0 comments
Labels: food event, food festival, la guelaguetza, mexican food, pablo moix, steve livigni, taste of mexico
Plate by Plate is the annual fundraiser for Project by Project, which chooses a different nonprofit cause in the Asian American community each year. This year's event, which benefits East West Players, promises to be quite amazing with restaurants such as Bestia, Allumette, Alma, Petty Cash, Stella Barra, Park's Finest BBQ, Rivera, and so many more participating (and Drunken Udder for dessert)! For a complete list of the restaurants and beverage sponsors, check out this page.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 4:00 PM 21 comments
Labels: contest, food event, giveaway, plate by plate, project by project, ticket giveaway
Los Angeles is not the only one with food festivals, South Bay has their own, too. Hosted by
American Honda at its Torrance campus, Evening Under the Stars gathers some of the best in South Bay restaurants while raising funds for Torrance
Memorial Medical Center. Disneyland Resort Sommeliers will be serving 80 different wines while educating the guests and saxophonist Kenny G will be the entertainment of the night.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 10:44 AM 1 comments
Labels: evening under the stars, food event, fundraiser, kenny g, south bay, torrance, weekend event
Posted by gourmetpigs at 8:25 AM 0 comments
Labels: beni imo, costa mesa, food event, kyushu, mitsuwa, okinawa fair, pudding choux pastry, ramen, sweet potato ice cream, tatsunoya, torrance
Live and Dine LA is Angeleno Magazine's celebration of their Restaurant Issue, and it's always one of my favorite events, featuring LA's best restaurants at the beautiful Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows. This year's event will start at 4:30 pm on Sunday, July 21. Tickets are $95 and can be purchased on http://2013liveanddinela.eventbrite.com/. This year, the VIP ticket gets you two nights of extravaganza. The $250 VIP ticket (can be purchased here) gets you a four-course dinner made by Chefs Ray Garcia, Michael Voltaggio, and Ricardo Zarate with wine and cocktail pairing, and also admission to the main tasting event on July 21.
Live and Dine LA is more about quality rather than quantity, but there are still way more than enough food. Here are some my favorite bites from last year:
Blue Cow Kitchen and Bar served Mendocino's pork belly banh mi atop a banh xeo (Vietnamese "crepes")
Posted by gourmetpigs at 8:33 AM 0 comments
Labels: angeleno magazine, fairmont miramar, food event, food festival, live and dine la, restaurant issue, santa monica, summer event
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!
Posted by gourmetpigs at 1:44 AM 1 comments
Labels: Dante fried chicken, donut snob, events, food event, food festival, la street food fest, pasadena, rose bowl, street food, taco
Posted by gourmetpigs at 10:35 PM 13 comments
Labels: beer event, blue palms, food event, giveaway, hollywood, outdoor movie screening, Stella Barra, sunset boulevard, sunset dine
If there's one guy who knows his tacos in LA that would be Bill Esparza, also known as Street Gourmet LA. While you and I whine about how hard it is to get from the east to westside, he's been known to scour the county for new gems, trying out places in Sun Valley and beyond.
Lucky for you, though, he's bringing them to Hollywood in June. That's 30 restaurants from all over LA, OC, and even Baja. And thanks to tacos being cheap, this all you can eat dealio is only $20! It's not just cheap taco stands participating though, even famed Chef Laurent Quenioux is set to participate. And if you want all you can drink tequila on top of that, then it's $40.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 6:37 PM 0 comments
Labels: bill esparza, event, food event, hollywood, la weekly, streetgourmetla, taco, Tacolandia
Cooking station, a truffle tasting station (the awesome, aromatic kind), an al fresco bar, wine tasting, learn to make pasta from scratch, sample Italian spirits and dishes from their new Osteria. All this for $55 when you buy pre-sale tickets to Sorprendente at Oliverio, the Italian restaurant inside Avalon Hotel.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 9:10 AM 0 comments
Labels: avalon hotel, event, food event, oliverio, sorprendente, upcoming event
There are plenty of food charity events in LA, but LA Loves Alex's Lemonade is still one of the best out there with famous chefs arriving from all over the US to raise funds to fight childhood cancer.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 9:08 AM 0 comments
Labels: charity event, childhood cancer, culver city, food event, food festival, fundraising, la loves alexs lemonade
The Taste events, put on by LA Times, take place over labor day weekend. Last year's was pretty spectacular with them taking over Rodeo Drive and other locations. My favorite, though, was Food Noir which took place at downtown's Orpheum Theatre and the street in front.
It was my first time visiting the beautiful Orpheum Theatre, and I fell in love:
Posted by gourmetpigs at 9:17 AM 2 comments
Labels: 2011, cocktail, food event, food festival, la times, labor day weekend, los angeles event, orpheum theatre, the taste, the taste la
The LA Food and Wine Festival is a four-day extravaganza with various lunches and dinners around town featuring celebrity chefs, with two days of a grand tasting event on Saturday and Sunday. This year's events include an Italian fiesta with Giada, an Asian Night Market with Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern, a champagne and caviar night, and dinners with Graham Elliott, Ming Tsai, the Voltaggio brothers, Michael Chiarello, etc.The full event listing can be seen here, and you can buy tickets for each event separately.
Oh, let's not forget the most important part. These events benefit St. Vincent's Meals on Wheels. They provide about 3000 meals a day for seniors!
Last year, thanks to Lexus, I was lucky enough to attend a lunch featuring the Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto at WP24, and one of the Lexus Grand Tasting Event. While most of the food festivals in LA features LA's best chefs and restaurants, the Lexus Grand Tasting Event brings some from out of town, so we get to try food from some of the best in the country. This year's out-of-town list includes Gale Gand from Tru (Chicago), Francois Payard, and Stephan Pyles.
Here are some photos from last year's Lexus Grand Tasting:
Duroc Pork Tenderloin, corn pudding, gremolata or bacon and corn, blackberry cipollini by Bradley Ogden's root 246.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 11:03 AM 0 comments
Labels: 2012, food event, food festival, La food and wine, la live, lexus grand tasting, st vincent's meals on wheels
Saturday, October 1
Taste of Italy
This annual Italian feast benefits the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles and rightly features all things Italian, including restaurant sponsors such as Il Pastaio, Locanda del Lago, Paciugo Gelato while the beverage sponsors include Fernet-Branca (!) and San Antonio Winery.
$45 pre-sale, $50 at the door (includes 6 food tickets and 6 drink tickets)
424 N Main St., Historic Little Italy, Los Angeles 90012
Saturday, October 8
Baja Culinary Fest
Posted by gourmetpigs at 8:35 AM 1 comments
Labels: calendar, food event, food festivals, mexico, savor the season, upcoming event
On October 21, Dionicess returns with craft beer cocktails to Steingarten LA. Public health professor Gev Kazanchyan is teaming up with Dave Watrous from Beachwood BBQ Steingarten LA for a one night fundraising event. This time, they have recruited bartender Matt Biancaniello to craft some beer cocktails.
Each of the 5 cocktails will come with 5 vegetarian dishes served by Randy Clemens (author of The Sriracha Cookbook).
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is celebrating their 14th year with a Top Chef extravaganza this Sunday, July 24.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 12:12 AM 20 comments
Labels: bravo, food event, giveaway, glaad, hancock park, top chef
There are A LOT of food events going on in July. Are you ready?
Friday, July 8
East LA Meets Napa
This annual event is the marriage between Mexican food in LA and Latino-owned wineries in California. Set in the beautiful courtyard of downtown's Union Station, the event benefits AltaMed, which provides quality healthcare to underserved communities.
6pm, Union Station. Admission: $200.
Saturday, July 9
ColLAboration Craft Beer Garden
12-9 pm, 8950 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood. Admission: $10 (includes membership glass, good for future events. Beers are $5-6 each)
July 16 and 17 may be Carmageddon, but with events in every neighborhood, you can still party it up while avoiding the freeway!
Saturday, July 16
LA Street Food Fest
For the eastsiders, head to the Rose Bowl for the 2nd Annual LA Street Food Fest Summer Tasting Event. This year they're splitting it into three events with different themes, to minimize crowd, but each event will feature the same great line up of LA's street food and restaurants, and some guest chefs from Mexico! Each event will feature Ice Cream Social, tequila, gin, beer, and all that good stuff. The evening event is 21+ only.
Time varies by event. Rose Bowl, Pasadena. Admission: $60
Extravaganza for the Senses
If you're in Hollywood, head to the Extravaganza for the Senses. This annual event benefits the Saban Free Clinic and features over 40 restaurants including Chaya, Public Kitchen and Bar, Oliverio, and more. There will be silent auction going on too, if you feel like "shopping."
6pm (VIP), 7-10pm (general). Sunset Gower Studios, Hollywood. Admission: $225 VIP, $100 general.
ColLAboration Craft Beer Garden
12-9 pm, 8950 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood. Admission: $10 (includes membership glass, good for future events. Beers are $5-6 each)
Saturday-Sunday, July 16-17
Eat Real Fest
Westsiders, fear not, you can also avoid the 405 closure at Eat Real Fest. This festival features all manners of food things that are local and sustainable. Street food vendors, marketplace, local small-batch brews, hands-on workshop for making bitters and sauerkraut, jamming and pickling contests, demos. Entrance is free and you pay as you go, so there should be no reason not to drop by.
Saturday 10:30am-9pm, Sunday 10:30am-5pm. Helms Bakery, Culver City. Admission: FREE.
Saturday, July 23
ColLAboration Craft Beer Garden - Belgian Independence Day Celebration
12-9 pm, 8950 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood. Admission: $15 (includes collector's goblets. Beers are $6 each)
Sunday, July 24
Angeleno Magazine's Live and Dine LA
Join Angeleno Magazine as they announce and honor the best in Los Angeles dining, partake in food created by LA's best chefs and restaurants including Ray Garcia (FIG), Roy Choi (A-Frame), David Feau (The Royce), and many more.
4:30pm (VIP reception), 5:30-9pm (grand tasting). Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows, 101 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica. Admission: $150 VIP, $95 grand tasting
Galco's Soda Pop Stop's first ever Summer Soda Tasting Event
Yep, Galco's first ever soda tasting is coming to benefit The Southwest Museum. There will be soda pops (obviously), "poptails", live music and auction.
5-8pm. Galco's Soda Pop Stop, 5702 York Blvd, Los Angeles. Admission: $15 ($12 advance)
Wednesday, July 27
Farm-to-Table Dinner at The Terrace at The Langham
5 course menu featuring fresh, seasonal produce from local farms, with "perfectly paired" wines.
6:30pm cocktail reception, 7pm dinner. The Langham, Huntington Hotel, Pasadena. $95pp (wine pairing included)
Call (626) 585-6218 for reservations.
Thursday, July 28
An Evening On The Beach
This stylish event benefits St. Vincent's Meals on Wheels, which helps feed seniors around the city. Ten great LA chefs including Celestino Drago (Drago, Drago Centro), Mark Gold (Eva), Tim Guiltinan (The Raymond), and Sherry Yard (Spago) will prepare your meals, while you eat them on the sands of Santa Monica beach. There will be cocktails crafted by the 1886 Bar at The Raymond (my favorite bar in Pasadena), and they promise oysters on the half shell all night long.
6-10 pm. Jonathan Beach Club, 850 Palisades Beach Rd, Santa Monica. Admission: $150 (VIP is sold out)
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Posted by gourmetpigs at 9:19 AM 2 comments
Labels: 2011, angeleno magazine, events, food event, july, la food fest
October is going to be a pretty crazy month filled with not only Restaurant Week but all kinds of food and wine events. That's not even counting all the Oktoberfest goings-on. Hope you're ready!
Saturday, Oct 2. Santa Monica Food and Wine Festival
Sample food from various Santa Monica restaurants all in one place accompanied by some wine. The website is not too clear on how the "food vouchers" work but if it's anything like Taste of Santa Monica I visited 2 years ago, it is technically all you can eat but you have to get stamps from all the restaurants before you can go back for more from a particular vendor.
11:30 AM-7 PM. Barker Hangar. 3021 Airport Avenue #203, Santa Monica, CA.
Tickets are $40 or $65 for VIP.
Sunday, Oct 3 marks the start of DineLA Restaurant Week, which goes on from Oct3-8, and Oct 10-15. The restaurants are divided into three tiers where three course lunches will run $16/$22/$28 and dinners run for $26/$34/$44.
Check out their site for a list of restaurants and don't forget to register your American Express card so you can get $20 cashback when you dine out 3x.
Wednesday, Oct 6. Choctoberfest
LearnAboutWine bring together chocolates from Valrhona and Marche Noir Foods with wines from Spain, Paso Robles to Malibu and beer from The Bruery and more.
7-9 PM. The Grove.
Tickets are $80 at the door or $39 advance purchase (or get it for $35 from Goldstar).
Thursday, Oct 7. Macy's Culinary Council with Takashi Yagihashi
Watch a cooking demo by Chef Takashi Yagihashi, who won the James Beard Award for Best Chef in 2003. Chef Yagihashi opened Okada at the Wynn Las Vegas and now has his namesake restaurant, Takashi, in Chicago.
6:30 PM. Macy's Pasadena (Furniture Dept). 401 S Lake Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101.
Suggested $5 donation to benefit the LA Regional Food Bank. Seating limited to first 200.
Saturday, Oct 9.
History of the Green Fairy, Absinthe
Culinary Historians of SoCal will present Ted Breaux speaking about the history of absinthe. Ted Breaux is Founder and President of Jade Liqueurs, LLC.
10:30 AM. Mark Taper Auditorium, Downtown Central Library. 630 W 5th St.
Free. Reception with themed refreshments will follow at 11:30 AM.
Pasadena Wine Festival
General admission tickets get you inside the Arboretum plus a tram tour where you can sample food from food trucks or buy food from purchase, taste wine for $1, and listen to music. A Deluxe Pass includes tastings of all the wines in the main tasting area.
2-10 PM. Los Angeles County Arboretum. 301 N Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007.
General admission tickets are $28 and Deluxe Passes are $55.
Riboli Family's Winemaker Dinner
This four-course wine-paired dinner is offered once a year and hosted by Anthony Riboli. The menu lists marinated albacore salad with avocado and ginger, grilled five spice marinated quail and bacon fried rice with orange hoi sin sauce, and herb roasted veal strip loin with sautéed porcini mushrooms and baby turnips. Eight wines from the Riboli Family Library will be tasted throughout dinner.
6-9 PM. San Antonio Winery. 737 Lamar St., Los Angeles, CA.
$78 per person. Call (323) 330- 8771 or reserve online.
L. A. Beer Float Showdown
This year the LA Beer Float Showdown returns twice as big. Four teams (Boneyard Bistro, Simmzy's, Tony's Darts Away, and Ladyface Alehouse) will battle their beer floats to benefit Share Our Strength. The Manila Machine and Mandoline Grill trucks will be in attendance to serve your savories.
5:30 PM. Verdugo Bar. 3408 Verdugo Road, Los Angeles 90065.
$25 in advance or $30 at the door.
L. A. Chocolate Salon
This is the event that would put your love of chocolate to the test, with over 35 chocolatiers, confectioners, wineries. How much chocolate can you eat in a few hours? Even when it leaves you feeling chocolated out by the end, you'd want to come back year after year for Amano Artisan Chocolate, Essential Chocolate Desserts, Ococoa Chocoveda, Moonstruck Chocolate and much much more. Here's last year's report.
11am-5pm. The Pasadena Center. 300 Green St, Pasadena, CA
$20 advance purchase, $25 at the door.
Dionicess VII
Gev Kavanchyan and Randy Clemens bring you the 7th Dionicess where food and beer come together. This time, beer from Dogfish Head will be paired with food from Chef Eric Greenspand at The Foundry.
1 PM. The Foundry on Melrose. 7465 Melrose Ave Los Angeles CA 90046
$79 all inclusive.
Savor the Season
This annual event benefits Break the Cycle, a national organization to end teen dating violence. With food and wine to sample all around, the event will feature NINETHIRTY, RH Restaurant+Bar, Reservoir, STREET, Jer-ne, Saltistry, VeeV, DRY Soda. Here's a post from the 2008 event.
6:30-9:30 PM. Global Cuisine by Gary Arabia at The Lot Studios. 1041 N Formosa Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90046.
Tickets are $100 and can be purchased online or by calling (310) 286-3383.
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:
Posted by gourmetpigs at 8:54 AM 1 comments
Labels: charity, east LA meets Napa, food event, union station
Plate by Plate is an annual "tasting benefit" by Project by Project (such clever names). The 8th annual event is coming up on Saturday, August 14, 2010, partnering with Health Justice Network.
I'm pretty excited about the lineup because some of these I rarely see at these types of events, including Mo Chica, Bistro LQ, The Foundry, and include restaurants from celebrated names like Nobu, Craft, all the way to San Gabriel's Hot Stuff Cafe and blogger-celebrated downtown luncheonette Starry Kitchen.
Wines, limoncello, sake and beer from Stone Brewing Co. will flow freely along with POM, DRY soda, Naja tea and more. Finish with Yogurtland, desserts from Susina Bakery and Valerie Confections.
Since Health Justice Network acts as a collaborative voice for the API community for the right to quality health services, Plate by Plate will also have special API celeb attendees, Aziz Ansari included.
Advance purchase tickets are $125 or $200 for VIP and can be purchased here.
But act fast and get the regular tickets here on Goldstar for just $68!
Plate by Plate
Saturday, August 14, 2010
6:00PM–7:00PM · VIP Reception
7:00PM–10:00PM · Main Event
700 State Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90037
Posted by gourmetpigs at 8:23 AM 4 comments
Labels: charity, food event, fundraising, plate by plate, project by project, upcoming events
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.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 9:00 AM 3 comments
Labels: food event, pasadena, rose bowl, street food fest, summer tasting event, upcoming events
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