Showing posts with label festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label festival. Show all posts
L.A. Street Food Festival - Favorites
Earlier this month, I attended the 2nd Annual Summer Tasting Event, aka the L.A. Street Food Fest.
Because this year, there were 2 shifts and it took place during 'Carmeggedon' weekend, where many L.A. residents stayed local to avoid traffic jams resulting from a major freeway closure, festival attendees were able to enjoy barely-there lines.
This year, what really drew me there were the Baja Chefs.
Javier Plascencia / Mision 19 - Grilled oyster with short rib chicharron, chili, ponzu butter, lemongrass foam and sea bean.
This elegant oyster dish tasted as wonderful as it looked - my favorite dish and the only one which I immediately asked for seconds (not caring about saving my appetite).
They grilled the oysters fresh in the tent and assembled the dish per order.
The judges voted it Best in Show and it won the People's Choice award as well.
Manzanilla Restaurante called this dish Manzanilla Surprise. The abalone tostada really stood out, as did the two beef tostadas.
It was a pleasure to chat with Chef Javier Plascencia and let him know how much I enjoyed his dishes and asking when L.A. can have some more of his food.
Javier Plascencia / Casa Plascencia - Mini beef cheek tacos. The beef was tender and smokey.
Some of the visitors were turning away upon hearing about beef cheeks and oysters, which left more for those who appreciate it.
Sabina Bandera / La Guerrerense won the judges award for Best Original Showmanship. She lined up these multiple bottles of fresh, hot, salsa on the table and served them according to peoples' preferences.
Sabina Bandera / La Guerrerense - Sea Urchin Tostada with Pismo Clam
The uni (sea urchin) was stewed, prepared in a way I had never tasted.
While in seafood mode, I hit Mariscos Chente for a delicious bite of Nayarit shrimp ceviche.
Streets of Thailand offered very good Thai iced tea in these smart carriers. Even after I finished my drink it seemed to stay on my wrist like a purse!
Tiara Cafe put up this eye catching sign and provided quite a show all in cowgirls and Indian outfits. Their food stood up to the show.
Tiara Cafe - Slow Smoked Short Ribs wrapped with mac and cheese and a seasoned crust, with squirt of BBQ sauce.
Naan Stop served delicious, crispy samosas from a family recipe, accompanied with apple tamarind and spicy coconut chutneys. They also introduced themselves and were very friendly. Judges awarded them 3rd place.
Taste of Tunisia had one of the longest lines. Because their food was good but also because they made each tasting fresh and on the spot. Props to them for that.
The tuna Brik contained runny egg, capers and other complementary ingredients.
They heavily decorated their tent and did their best to entertain people with reading material as they waited.
Maggie's Meat & Bread - choripan, tortilla espanola, chimichurri, carbonada
They offered several dishes, but due getting full, I tried this delicious Argentinian sandwich. More American sandwiches should feature potatoes (the tortilla espanola).
Border Grill Truck - quinoa fritters. Mary Sue Milliken
These coin shaped fritters were so attractive, I really wanted to like them more. Unfortunately they were room temperature when I had them and had stiffened up a bit.
Glowfish's Okonomiyaki, a wheat pancake with cabbage, potato, eggs and tempura flakes sounded so good that I waited 10 minutes to try one. The sauce for me had way too much umami punch and drowned out the other light flavors.
There were a few other bites I tried but didn't photograph due to juggling beverage, plate and camera:
- Mariscos de Jalisco's tacos dorado de cameron (2nd place by Judges and my favorite from last year)
- Mexicali Taco & Co's vampiro
- King's Row Gastropub's lamb merguez corndog
- IOTA's Korean pour over coffee
- Ramen Jinya's shoyu tonkatsu ramen
A couple of places I wanted to try closed shop before I got there, such as the Picca tent, serving Judges' award for Best Nouveau Street Food - Ricardo Zarate - Peruvian Cau Cau .
By that time I was ready for dessert.
Bulgarini Gelato served my favorite dessert hands down, and also the judges' Sweet Tooth award. They brought so many flavors of their gelato, it was almost as if you were in their shop.
I tasted almond, peach and plum. Their gelato tastes as if they somehow crushed the fresh ingredients into cream and froze it. The plum burst with tart and sweet plum flavor, and they happily served me a second helping of it.
Dan Moody / Relate served Banana Bread Pudding a la Pecan Pie, with a delicious bourbon sauce. A great bite.
There were several Masterchef contestants helping out former attorney Esther Kang with her Batch from Scratch cookie bakery.
We spoke with Adrien and noticed Alejandra and Tracy working hard. It's great to see how they help each other out. I couldn't ask too much about what they are doing now, since the season is still airing.
Esther served us some lemon lavender and Scoops brown bread ice cream sandwiches. It made me wonder why there were 50+ people in line for Coolhaus next door.
Starry Kitchen's Star Wars themed staff brought a lot of energy to the event, as they always do.
Starry Kitchen served 3 dishes, including their infamous tofu balls, but since I've already tried many of their dishes and was full, it was just the pandan donut holes for me. They tied for 3rd place with the judges.
Gleeka - spanakopita, melomakarona (cookies) and baklava.
Delicious Wishes LA - Bananas Foster Cake Ball (and various flavors)
Basically the time flew by, from this 30-40 wait to get in, to me getting to the car 10 minutes after closing and finding the field almost empty!
I definitely was full and got to try several bites, only making a dent in all the offerings.
Taste of the Nation Highlights
Last Sunday I volunteered for the second year in a row at the annual fundraiser, Taste of the Nation in Media Park, Culver City. This annual event supports hare our Strength, a charity devoted to ending childhood hunger with their "No Kid Hungry" campaign. All proceeds of the event are going to L.A. Food BanksThe event contains booths from close to 50 top restaurants, spirits from bars, craft beer garden, wine, a live auction, carnival style games, cooking contest and a VIP tent!
Since I volunteered and had limited space to store or carry belongings, I opted for a no-camera day. However, I broke out my Blackberry to get a few shots whenever it was possible to balance the phone with plates and cups!
Although image quality isn't great, here are a few of my favorite sites and eats from the day.
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| Spare Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel |
Those vintage looking polka dot aprons were right up my mid-century alley, as were the inventive drinks at the Spare Room table.
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| Spare Room, Le Saint Amour |
The ladies at Spare Room made this Plymouth Gin and cantaloupe drink with a scoop of spiced ginger sorbet in place of the ice (and a little wooden spoon). What's not to love?
Le Saint Amour offered a cherry foie gras pate, rabbit terrine with golden raisin compote on a crostini, a merguez sausage sandwich. I love anyone who serves these semi-hard to find North African spicy lamb sausages.
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| Luckhson - Chicken Pops |
Chef/Owner Sang Yoon had both a Father's Office booth serving beer floats and a Lukshon both serving these finger-licking good Chicken Pops. One of the best chicken wings I've ever had in terms of caramelized seasoning, juiciness and presentation. I could have eaten 10 of these plates but settled on 1 1/2.
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| Simon LA |
Simon LA's Kerry Simon and Marius Blin personally served up these Scarlet Scallops and Yellow Beets Napoleon with Green Garlic Goat Cheese. Visually stunning and it contained all my favorite ingredients in one refreshing dish. I've had squid ink pasta/risotto/pastries and now I've eaten a scarlet scallop.
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| Cocktail from VIP tent |
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| The Foundry - Grilled Cheese Sandwich |
Finally tasted the infamous Grilled Cheese Sandwich from Eric Greenspan's The Foundry on Melrose. The chefs at the booth were really fun. Before he handed me this beauty one of the chef's said this was the most beautiful plate of the day. People were asked to ring a large bell before getting their plate and he said my attempt at ringing the bell was the best of the day too!
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| La Descarga |
La Descarga made perfect, classic daiquiris.
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| La Descarga - Bill Esparza performance |
We stopped at La Descarga table at the right time because special guest musician Bill Esparza of one of my favorite blogs, Street Gourmet LA broke into a saxophone solo. Perfect timing.
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| 1886 Bar at the Raymond |
1886 Bar at the Raymond served up Bols Genever gin cocktails both during the event and at the after-party.
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| 1886 Bar |
They were "making" their own smaller straws fro the drinks and for some reason we asked for an encore. They are just fun to watch.
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| 1886 Bar |
There were many other favorites not pictured:
- La Seine served two winners - a coconut crusted jalapeno with a topping of albacore, salmon, yellowtail and aioli. Chef Alex Reznik's braised short rib with crispy chicken skin was my absolute favorite dish of the day. But since I devoured it so fast, I forgot to take the photo. You can see it at My Last Bite's page, who photographed it beautifully and also declared it her favorite bite of the day.
- Michael Voltaggio's micro cones from the upcoming ink. I tried the blueberry pancake and olive oil vanilla cones.
- Picca, Ricardo Zarate's (Food & Wine's Best New Chef) chicken anticucho, or skewers, with his grilling sauce and rocoto chili peppers
- Ray's & Stark Bar Chef Kris Morningstar served stuffed chile with chorizo, dates and sherry almond sauce
- Street's Susan Feniger & Kajsa Alger served the popular Kaya Toast, toasted bread spread thick with coconut jam, soy butter, drizzled with soy sauce and white pepper
- Tres by Jose Andres' grilled octopus taco with lettuce wrapper and olive spheres
- A-Frame's Roy Choi served Cracked Out Kettle Corn, a buttered furikake kettle corn with Benton's bacon, dried pineapple and fresh shiso. I've devoted another blog post to this soulful popcorn, which was kicked up a bit here.
Even though I was too full to continue eating, I barely made a dent in the nearly 50 choices.
Between noshes, there was plenty of chef sighting - several Top Chef alumni, Top Chef Masters finalist Mary Sue Miliken. My favorite was a brief encounter with Jonathan Gold, who "elbow"-shaked me since both of our hands were full of food.
Overall, a wildly successful event on a perfect summer day.
National Grilled Cheese Month: Eva's Grilled Cheese Night and the 2010 Invitational Retrospective
April is National Grilled Cheese Month. So to celebrate this cheesy month, I engaged in a Pleasure Palate dinner at Eva Restaurant for Grilled Cheese Night. Eva Chef/Owner Mark Gold partnered with Chef/Co-Owner, Dave Danhi, of The Grilled Cheese Truck to offer several courses of grilled cheese sandwiches and side dishes.
Course 1: Danhi's sharp cheddar and gruyere on parmesan crusted sourdough bread with Gold's cream of tomato soup.
Course 2: Danhi's triple creme brie grilled cheese, carmelized onions, prosciutto crust on black peppercorn bread, with Gold's braised artichokes. The artichokes sat in a creamy, lemony sauce that we all loved.
Course 3: Danhi's faux-ly cheesesteak sandwich with provolone, homemade pickles, crispy onions, French bread. Gold's prime beef over charcoal covered with Cheez Whiz sauce.
Course 4: Danhi's truffled fontina mac and cheese melt paired with Gold's butter poached lobster.
Course 5: Danhi's vanilla mascarpone cheese and balsamic strawberries on sweet brioche with Gold's chocolate fondue. The drinks were part of the cocktail pairing, which got rave reviews from my fellow diners. The ones pictured were called "cherry blossom" and contained brandy, kijafa cherry, lemon, cane syrup.
In celebration of this most comforting of comfort foods, and since my plans prevent me from attending the 9th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational (GCI), I am sharing a 'retrospecitve' of last year's fun.
This year's festivities take place on 4/23/11 from 11:00a.m.-6:00p.m. at Los Angeles Center Studios.
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| Tillamook was the sponsor of GCI |
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| Judging Table |
With over 230 competitors, people spared no creativity in order to stand out, along with their creations. It was as much fun watching them than it was tasting the "sammiches".
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| The Cheese Ballers |
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| This one was called the Panty Dropper - oh my! |
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| Cute aprons and Tower Sandwiches |
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| 10 year old Jake was rocking out a delicious self-invented entry |
Sandwiches competed on originality, execution and visual appeal. With over 80 sandwiches, there was more than most people can get to. Here are some of my favorites from judging tastes.
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| The Jakester |
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| L: Duck confit grilled cheese R: Saigon Spice |
The competitive categories broke down into The Missionary Style, The Kama Sutra and The Honey Pot (this year they are adding a Love American Style category. My friend Cecilia Fabulich won Judge's Choice with the delicious entry on the above right. Her Saigon Spice sandwich contained pulled pork, mango, slaw and cheese of course!
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| Peanut Butter Jelly Cheese Sandwich |
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| The Honey Pot category |
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| Creative presentations |
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| Collecting ballots |
The judging instructions consisted of getting a sample from a runner, eating sammy, voting on sammich, putting vote in ballot box.
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| Mayor of Cheese |
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| More competitors in costume |
Overall, the GCI is definitely worth the trip, if at least one time. If these shots piqued your interest, by all means go and enjoy!
