The LA Food & Wine Festival in downtown rolled out the red carpet for its fifth year this August 27th through 30th, a tasting event showcasing Los Angeles' finest culinary offerings. Among the white tents and celebrity chefs, I went in with a clean wine glass in hand, wading through the throng of food and wine seeking gourmands. What to taste first was my only dilemma. Many selfies were taken against the step and repeat areas, ad vinum. Of course, tipsy selfies are quite acceptable here. I'm guilty of that bourgeois indiscretion myself, given a little vino.
Wine, of course, was the first stop. I managed my food smeared Nikon camera with one hand, wine glass and plate with another, and went about gawking at the servings from all over the city.
In this foodporn-obsessed topshot-styled foodie era, we consult our phones and scroll through every Instagram bite, making sure our food snaps are all filtered, posted, tagged and hashtagged before it settles into our bellies. One can glean the celebrity chef prepared tastes via images from the #LAFW social media hashtaggery, however, it doesn't give you an actual forkful of some of the best tastes in town. Instagram can wait. Tastebuds cannot.
Thursday: The opening event, Lexus Presents Ultimate Bites of L.A., was hosted by Chef Curtis Stone of Maude Restaurant, featuring a stellar line up of the best of Los Angeles' chefs, such as Kris Morningstar of Terrine, Nancy Silverton of Mozza, Jessica Koslow of Sqirl, Steven Fretz of The Church Key, Vartan Abgaryan of Cliff's Edge, Pawan Mahendro of Badmaash, and Philip Frankland Lee of The Gadarene Swine, to name but a few. I've been to most of these restaurants yet having them all together was like being a kid in a candy store.
Chef Phillip Frankland Lee and his wife, pastry chef Margarita Lee, held their own culinary fort at The Gadarene Swine booth, offering potent sake shooters. These were pure plant-powered flavor bombs, causing an edible explosion.
Chef Phillip explained how to taste sake shooters in three steps: 1) eat the roasted tomato skewer first 2) take the shot of unfiltered sake, lime juice and tomato syrup 3) chase with the avocado mousse, cucumber and red onion. The sake shooter electrified my senses and was truly good medicine. After arriving late, enduring one very long day at work, taking an Uber ride all the way from the dry golden lawns of Van Nuys to the iconic steel curves of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, another sake shooter was indeed necessary. Tomato skewer eaten, sake knocked back, avocado mousse scooped out. Again, an explosion of flavor.
Chef Manouschka Guerrier dragged me over to dance to the beats of DJ Questlove. Chef Kris Morningstar was wildly rocking out and having a great time. Chef Curtis Stone graciously posed for photos with all of his fans. I asked Curtis Stone if he wouldn't mind taking a photo with me. Being a gentleman, he obliged. (What a guy.)
Starry Kitchen's Nguyen Tran wandered about the crowd in his usual banana suit. Yes, this was a quintessential Los Angeles food event alright.
I had many sips of dry rosé, refreshed my glass a few times with more Sauvignon Blanc, and finished the night with a floral Pinot Noir. Uber was taking me home. Wine was everywhere. Just hold out your glass and smile and someone will pour. It's a challenge not to drink too much, especially with all of those winery sommeliers tempting you. Did I mention the wine?
Friday: I completely missed Night Market hosted by Chef Tyler Florence, which meant missing Chef Viet Pham of Ray's and Stark Bar, and the "Seafood Samurai" Chef Joji Inoue of Chaya restaurant's downtown location. Alas, I only arrived to catch up with Chef Jet Tila and his wife Allison, which made everything worthwhile. Jet and I took a quick selfie, then talked about our kids. Next year I'll try not to be such a hard working busy mom and actually make it to this particular event, because Night Market had a spectacular line up of chefs, such as Tin Vuong (Little Sister), Akasha Richmond (Sambar), Jason Fullilove (Clifton's Cafeteria), Brendan Collins (Birch), Hannah An (The District & Crustacean), Alvin Cailan (Eggslut & Ramen Champ), Chris Oh (Seoul Sausage), and many more.
Saturday: The late August heat was sweltering enough to melt my first scoop of ice cream with strawberry sauce from Chef Tyler Melek of Salt & Straw, so of course, a second order was necessary. I was led about by Jenni Hwang, Chaya's Director of Marketing and food blogger (Hello Jenni) and she showed me first hand how to handle the tasting lines. We swooped in on as many bites as possible, snapped photos and savored. Plated had a display inside an Airstream with outdoor patio seating. My food blogger friends Tara Redfield (The Food Pervert) and June Quan (Stir and Style) found me in the crowd and, yes, we drank more wine.
Chef Chris Oh (Seoul Sausage) was spotted and waved a friendly hello to us while he swaggered about his way in the crowd. My friend Tara and I made Chef Bruce Kalman (Union) into a sandwich. After the night was over, a slew of sweaty, bedraggled chefs gathered about and went off to the rooftop after party somewhere. I gave my media badge over to a charming Frenchman who held a ticket to the party but did not have a badge to enter.
Next year I'll arrive early, take better photos in daylight, drink more wine, taste more food, and keep my media badge to attend the after party.
My glass of wine at LA Food & Wine
Here's to the best chefs in Los Angeles... à votre santé!
Dropping Flavor Bombs at The Gadarene Swine Booth
Chef Phillip Frankland Lee and his wife,
Pastry Chef Margarita Lee, present their flavor bombs aka "Sake Shooters" filled with roasted tomatoes, unfiltered sake, lime juice, finishing with avocado mousse. Drop Flavor Not Bombs at
The Gadarene Swine booth.
Sake Shooters by Chef Phillip Frankland Lee
How to taste sake shooters in three steps: 1) eat the roasted tomato skewer first 2) take the shot of unfiltered sake, lime juice and tomato syrup 3) chase with the avocado mousse, cucumber and red onion. Flavor bomb explosion.
But first, lemme take a selfie.
Selfies happen all over the LA Food & Wine Festival. This selfie-happy girl had two phones for her surround selfie. Tipsy selfies happen.
More wine please
Wine pours at the LA Food & Wine Festival are one of the best reasons to attend. A dizzying array of vinters pouring tastes will please the snobbiest oenophile as well as the dabbling wine drinker.
Chefs rock!
Chef Kris Morningstar is really Chef Kris Rockstar! I caught a few moments of this supreme rock out moment with his hair down and wildly blown back by his awesome air guitar.
The Maude Booth
Chef Curtis Stone's restaurant,
Maude, is a lovely booth to behold, serving up tastes from the small restaurant with an intimate "chef's table" style service by the chef himself.
Chaya's Japanese Tai Snapper
Chef Joji Inoue of
Chaya downtown served Japanese tai snapper with yuzu jelly, umeboshi salt, mozuku and house pickled radishes, plated with yuzu sake sorbet.
Photo credit: Jenni Hwang/Chaya Starry sightings at the festival
At the festival, standing tables gave ease for eating, drinking and relaxing along the red carpeted Grand Avenue. Nguyen Tran of
Starry Kitchen is spotted in the green tennis shorts, fanny pack and Hello Kitty sunglasses. I call this "Tran Spotting" because he's all over the place, this time sans banana suit.
Everyone wants a photo with Chef Curtis Stone.
Chef Curtis Stone was gracious to take a photo with me at the end of the evening. All the ladies wanted their photo with the handsome chef. Next year perhaps there might be a life-sized cardboard stand up cutout of the chef so he can actually relax and enjoy the events. Maybe he could also take a selfie with his cardboard self? (Thank you for the photo, chef!)
Plated arrived and made us hungry.
Plated, a meal delivery service that makes cooking easy, parked its trailer and seduced us with their magnificent spice rack. One of the many sponsors of the LA Food & Wine Fest.
I'm with the chef!
My friend Chef Jet Tila is awesome. He's the sweetest guy. Don't let Cutthroat Kitchen fool you.
Chef Tyler Malek, Salt & Straw
Chef Tyler Malek made this amazing creation of ice cream with strawberry sauce and shortcake. I'm not sure what it's called exactly, but I ate two of these delicious creations without any regrets and lots of sauce. I could've had three of these at least.
Salt & Straw
Chef Tyler Malek served up platefuls of his ice cream, shortcake and strawberry sauce creations. So good, I ate two of these. He ran out of cake. I didn't care.
Support HuffPost
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Your Loyalty Means The World To Us
At HuffPost, we believe that everyone needs high-quality journalism, but we understand that not everyone can afford to pay for expensive news subscriptions. That is why we are committed to providing deeply reported, carefully fact-checked news that is freely accessible to everyone.
Whether you come to HuffPost for updates on the 2024 presidential race, hard-hitting investigations into critical issues facing our country today, or trending stories that make you laugh, we appreciate you. The truth is, news costs money to produce, and we are proud that we have never put our stories behind an expensive paywall.
Would you join us to help keep our stories free for all? Your contribution of as little as $2 will go a long way.
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
Contribute as little as $2 to keep our news free for all.
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. If circumstances have changed since you last contributed, we hope you’ll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.
Support HuffPostAlready contributed? Log in to hide these messages.