This Sunday: Great Chefs of LA food & wine festival

This Sunday CBS Studio Center in Studio City is the host of the 24th Annual Great Chefs of Los Angeles, benefiting the National Kidney Foundation. The theme this year is Go Green, Go Organic and a slew of some of the top chefs in town will be cooking up dishes for the benefit. Participating chefs include Adam Horton from Saddle Peak Lodge, Celestino Drago of Drago Centro, Josie LeBalch of Josie and over 25 others.

The event will run from 12 Noon to 3:30 PM and includes champagne, wine from over 20 wineries and a beer garden curated by the Beer Chicks (the dynamic duo who organized and curated the 1st Annual Los Angeles Craft Beer Crawl.)  Tickets are $150, although Grub Street has a promotion where you can get 30% off - click here for the details.  Buy your tickets online here at the National Kidney Foundation website.

There are still tickets available and the funds go to a great cause.  Follow Great Chefs of LA on Twitter for last minute updates and details

CBS Studio Center: 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, CA 91604.

Celebrity Chef Dinner at Drago Centro: Foie Gras with a side of Good Deeds

Former Bastide chefs Walter Manzke (below left) and Alan Giraud will join forces with Drago Centro chef/owner Celestino Drago (below right) and chefs Alen Ramos and Carolyn Nugent for a special five course dinner at Drago Centro that not only includes foie gras and truffles both mushroom and chocolate but benefits a good cause.  On October 24, Drago Centro will host the $150 per person Food Celebration dinner, with the proceeds going to Liz Lee's Oneness Foundation, which helps fight childhood hunger.

In addition to the collaborative dinner with the five chefs, the wine pairings will be curated by Paul Wasserman and Drago Centro Beverage Director/Head Sommelier and all around nice guy Michael Shearin.  Three tiers of wine pairings will be available.  A silent auction will also be held, with 100% of the proceeds going to charity.

The luxurious menu will be:

First Course: 
Sautéed Foie Gras with Figs & Banyuls Sauce
Risotto al Salto with Braised Octopus
Thai Influence Sashimi of Hamachi with Basil, Cilantro & Chile

Second Course:
Santa Barbara Prawns & Sea Urchin Custard with Egg Yolk & Udon Noodles in Katsuo-bushi Broth

Third Course:
Duck Ravioli with Truffles

Fourth Course:
Veal Duo Braised & Roasted with Wild Mushrooms

Fifth Course:
Golden Yuzu Consomme with Rasberry Pearls, Mascarpone Sorbet & White Chocolate Croquant

Mignardises:
Exploding Truffle Vanilla, Pistachio & Cherry Financier and Passion Fruit Marshmallow

Don't miss your chance to have the duck ravioli with truffles, let alone the rest of this meal.

Reservations can be made my calling Drago Centro: (213) 228-8998. Additional details available here.

Drago Centro: 525 South Flower St. (Downtown LA). Phone: (213) 228-8998. Website: dragocentro.com

dineLA Cold Soup Quickfire at Petrossian

To help launch this fall's dineLA restaurant weeks (October 3 - 8 and 10-15), dineLA is in the midst of a series of "Quickfire" challenges with some of the top chefs in town facing off in cooking challenges.  The second in the series pitted Celestino Drago of Drago Centro (and other Drago restaurants) against Akira Hirose of Maison Akira in a Cold Soup challenge at Petrossian West Hollywood.  Drago (left) and Akira (right) are pictured below with dineLA director Carrie Kommers (center).

The competition was judged by Petrossian chef Benjamin Bailly, Joshua Lurie of FoodGPS and Esther Tseng of e*star LA.  Each competitor was asked to create a cold soup and include the surprise ingredient of California caviar.  The voting was close but Akira edged out Drago 2 to 1 with his winning dish of French Vichyssoise (below).

You can be part of the action in the third of three preliminary rounds tomorrow from 6 - 8 pm at Starry Kitchen where Chef Octavio Beccera of Palate Food + Wine and Chef Brendan Collins of Waterloo & City will compete in the "Cold Noodle Challenge." If you have always dreamed of being in the audience for an "Iron Chef" style competition, this is your chance as the competitors use one of Starry Kitchen’s signature ingredients: Oyster Sauce, Hoisin Sauce, or Coconut Milk, and offer their interpretation of “Cold Noodles.”

The judging panel will include Starry Kitchen’s Executive Chef Thi Tran, Jeff Miller from Thrillist.com, and Krista Simmons from the Los Angeles Times’ Brand X. Attendees and guests can watch the noodle madness while munching on $5 Happy Hour specials previewing Starry Kitchen’s dineLA menu, including Crispy Tofu Balls and Chicken Wings.