A Winning Formula: The 1st Annual LA Craft Beer Crawl

Saturday was the first annual LA Craft Beer Crawl, which was held in seven of 213 Group's bars in Downtown.  Almost 1,400 enthusiasts, press, brewers and friends attended the event curated by Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune, known as the Beer Chicks (pictured below).  On a hot day, the sold out crowd explored the offerings and migrated from bar to bar sampling craft beers and meeting the folks who produce them.

The Beer Chicks said they hope to "convert people to the craft beer lifestyle" and encouraged attendees to try darker beers saying "don't judge a beer by its color."  Over 50 different beers were represented, many from California breweries, with an emphasis on representing as many local quality brews as possible.

There were several treats along the way, including Maui Coconut Porter beer floats at Cana and beer cocktails at the Varnish created by head bartender Chris Bostick (pictured above).  I got the last beer float at Cana, which had a large crowd despite being a long walk on a very hot day from the other 213 bars.

The Varnish offered two cocktails: the Picon Biere (TAPS Belgian White, Amer Picon, lemon juice and sugar) and the Double Black Diamond (Deschutes Black Butte Porter, Goslings Rum, Whole Egg, Sugar & Nutmeg).  Both were refreshing and it was wonderful to be in the chilly Varnish, where LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold was holding court in a booth with colleagues from KCRW's Good Food, including host Evan Kleiman.

Gold curated the food vendors along the route, which included the Ludo Bites Truck, the Grilled Cheese Truck, the Manila Machine truck and Guelaguetza (inside Las Perlas).  All of the food vendors proved popular.  I have enjoyed all four in the past but only had an opportunity to sample the Manila Machine on Saturday, which was serving a mean version of corned beef hash.

The crowd of happy imbibers (Seven Grand is pictured above) included fellow bloggers Josh Lurie of FoodGPS, Pat Saperstein of Eating LA and Yolanda Evans of Eater.  It was great to see so many folks crowding the sidewalks and bars of DTLA all in search of and in support of quality craft beer.  In the past three years there has been a renaissance in quality cocktails in Los Angeles and it if Saturday was any indication, the beer movement here is only poised to grow.  I hadn't realized how many local breweries there are here in Southern California and look forward to trying more of their offerings.

Ricky's Fish Tacos @ Angeli Caffe

Ricky's Fish Taco's did a special one night pop-up at chef/owner Evan Kleiman's Angeli Caffe on Melrose on Monday evening, courtesy of Bill Esparza of StreetGourmetLA, pictured above (center).

The menu was restricted to fish tacos, shrimp tacos or caesar salad, plus beverages and dessert. Angeli Caffe filled up early and stayed busy for the duration of the evening. Harriet Ells, the producer of Kleiman's KCRW radio program Good Food, pitched in to help seat people. Beers and tacos sold briskly.



I had two of the fish tacos, which were fried fish in a taco with greens, salsa and sauce. The fish was very light, not oily at all, which is a mean feat with frying. The home made salsas (red and green) made a good dish even better.



Several of us shared a sundae with Mexican spices, which was a decadent way to end the meal. Ricky's Fish Taco's is usually located on Vermont south of Sunset, and is a stand. Several other diners commented on how much they enjoyed being able to sit down comfortably and eat Ricky's food.

The only component of the meal we didn't enjoy were the Micheladas, which were just poor. Beer is the better option and went perfectly with the fish tacos.

I look forward to seeing who Kleiman and Esparza bring in next in their pop-up series as the dinner was not only good tasting but a lot of fun and involved much table hopping as Angeli Caffe and Ricky's Fish Tacos regulars mixed with the many bloggers and readers of Esparza's website.

Ricky's Fish Tacos: 1400 N Virgil, lunch only but check twitter first twitter.com/rickysfishtacos

Angeli Caffe: 7274 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles. Phone: (323) 936-9086. Website: www.angelicaffe.com

Good Food Sunday @ Dwell on Design 2010

At this year's Dwell on Design, the design show at the LA Convention Center hosted by Dwell Magazine, Lesley Bargar Suter, the Dining Editor for Los Angeles Magazine, and Evan Kleiman, the host of Good Food on KCRW and the chef/owner of Angeli Caffe, curated a series of panels about food, under the rubric of Good Food Sunday.

Chris Nichols, an editor at Los Angeles magazine, moderated a panel on Mid Century Modern restaurant design, with a special focus on the California coffee shops with the Googie look. Designs for Panns, Denny's, Bob's Big Boy and Norm's among others were shown. The panelists included Victor Newlove, an architect who helped design many of the seminal buildings of the genre. Unfortunately most of the original buildings have been torn down. You can see my pictures and read about my dinner at Pann's here.

Lesley Bargar Suter moderated the next panel, "The Changing Shape of the Modern Restaurant." This panel focused on the rise of food trucks and pop-up restaurants in Los Angeles. Michele Grant and Dave Dahni from the Grilled Cheese Truck, Josh Hiller from RoadStoves, Nick Bognar from the Border Grill Truck, and Ludo Lefebvre from LudoBites and the soon to launch Ludo Fried Chicken Truck were the participants.


LeFebvre spoke about launching his first iteration of LudoBites, his pop-up restaurant, "It happened almost by accident. I was consulting with BreadBar and the restaurant was closed in the evenings. It was low cost. I didn’t need investors. It was an easy and quick way for me to open a restaurant, as I was looking to open a restaurant at that time.”
He enjoys being an entrepreneur and not having to run his business to meet investors’ expectations or to charge more in order to pay for an expensive restaurant buildout. “I am my own boss. Nobody can tell me what to do. With this concept [LudoBites] I am full every night. It is new all the time. The more money I spent to open a restaurant, the more I will have to charge my customers. A restaurant is about eating and not about chi chi. Maybe one day I’ll go back to that, but not now.”

One of LeFebvre’s signature items, fried chicken, has spawned its own food truck which will launch next month. LeFebvre said, “I really want to bring gastronomic food to the street, to everyone. When I created LudoBites it was accessible to everyone. Food is about how to meet people and to put people together. All my menu items on the truck are exactly the same food I am doing in a restaurant. Good food; fresh.”
The panel felt that food trucks are more than a fad; that they will continue to be a significant part of the food landscape. LeFebvre said, “Food trucks are here to stay. The good trucks are going to stay around, just like with restaurants. People don’t have the time [to eat leisurely] now. It is a great way to eat good food quickly.” Other panelists agreed, noting that the weeding out process of trucks without good food or good business plans has already begun, but that the most successful trucks have already expanded through additional vehicles.

Danhi and Grant from the Grilled Cheese Truck said that their idea to launch came from the Grilled Cheese Invitational and they love the flexibility of the truck. “It is liberating. You get to reach different demographics. We have way more direct contact with the people who love our food than we would in a restaurant. Social media is a huge component of our success. The interactive input from customers affects how and where we move our truck. The truck provides an interactive aspect to dining out. When you go to eat at a truck, you are not looking for the same experience as at a restaurant. Trucks are a little more social.”

The gourmet food truck concept is not as easy as it has appeared to some. As Hiller noted, ““You still have to be the chef and the cook and run your own business.” The Grilled Cheese Truck duo said, “You are dealing with a kitchen on wheels, with all of the issues of a kitchen and all of the issues of a vehicle. The limited space on a truck and the prepping are some of our key challenges.”

LeFebvre has found working on a gourmet food truck to be difficult, “To work on the truck is not easy, it is a nightmare” he said. The Grilled Cheese Truck team responded, “It may not be a nightmare but more of an adventure.” LeFebvre replied, “Maybe for you.”

The next panel was a demonstration of Molecular Gastronomy with Evan Kleiman and Fany Setiyo of Le Sanctuaire. Le Sanctuaire is based in San Francisco and is the premiere source for the ingredients required for molecular gastronomy cooking techniques. Setiyo’s demonstration used both peanut butter powder and nutella sand. At the conclusion the attendees were able to sample the two products. I felt the nutella sand tasted much more strongly of its product than the peanut butter powder did.

The final panel of the day was a discussion about “What’s New in Cheese” between Bargar Suter and Alex Brown, the General Manager of Gourmet Imports.

Food Fight Screening & Discussion Panel

Last night there was a screening of the documentary Food Fight, at the Crest Theater in Westwood, followed by a discussion panel. Panelists included Chris Taylor, the director, Suzanne Goin, chef/owner of Lucques/AOC/Tavern, Evan Kleiman, chef/owner of Angeli Caffe and host of Good Food on KCRW, and Russ Parsons, author and editor of the Los Angeles Times food section.

The 2008 film is about the shift to mass produced industrial foods which deliver cheap calories and the movement which began as the fight of a few passionate people to look for a better alternative. The rise of the green markets / farmers markets, the role of Alice Waters and Chez Panisse in both educating the public and building a supply chain of local producers where none had existed before and the incentives of government subsidies in pushing packaged calorie dense and nutritionally questionable foods.

Goin and Parsons both appeared in the film. The theater auditorium was mostly full and the audience applauded at several points. The panel discussion was somewhat interesting although few of the questions were actually questions. Most questioners wanted to make a statement or talk about an organization that they were involved with. Rather than end with a question mark, most audience questions ended with the statement, go to yadayadayada.ORG to learn more.

Homegirl Cafe provided mini tastes of their food in the lobby for free and the theater sells both organic and regular popcorn. I did my part for sustainability by choosing the organic popcorn and by walking to the movie theater.