L..A. Loves Alex's Lemonade Stand - this Sunday

The culmination of the the food festival season that began in June with Taste of the Nation concludes this Sunday at Culver Studios for the 2nd annual L.A. Loves Alex's Lemonade Stand.  The event, a fundraiser to fight pediatric cancer, is spearheaded by the Lucques / AOC team of Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne, and Goin's husband David Lentz of The Hungry Cat troika.  The event will be held Sunday November 6th from 1 p 4 pm; tickets are $175 or $400 for VIP.  No tickets will be sold at the door.

In addition to Styne, Goin & Lentz, participating chefs include a who's who of Los Angeles chefs as well as several high profile friends who are flying in, including Jonathan Waxman of Barbuto in New York.  Other chefs flying in for the fundraiser include some of the best regarded female chefs in the country including April Bloomfield of the Spotted Pig in New York, Maria Hines of Tilth in Seattle, Gabrielle Hamilton of Pruhttp://www.prunerestaurant.com/ne in New York and Susan Spicer of Bayona in New Orleans.

The LA contingent is no less star studded and includes Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook from Animal, Michael Cimarusti of Providence, Nancy Silverton and Matt Molina of Mozza, Neal Fraser of Grace, and Zoe Nathan of Huckleberry, among many others.  Click here for a full list of participating chefs.  The talent is pretty incredible for one event, particularly one in only its second year of operation.

For the cocktail contingent, there is also plenty to delight including Neal Bodenheimer from CURE in New Orleans, Greg Lindgren from Rye in San Francisco and Eric Alperin of The Varnish in Downtown Los Angeles.  If the fruit of the vine is more your style, over 30 wineries and importers will be represented, so it will be impossible not to drink well at Alex's Lemonade Stand.

The festivities will be emcee'd by Jimmy Kimmel and honorary co-hosts Neil Patrick Harris and his partner David Burtka will be in attendance.  Don't forget to bring your checkbook for the silent auction.

If you want to get the most out of this event, I recommend that you purchase the Thrillest VIP pass, which entitles you to enter an hour early (11 AM instead of 12 Noon) and includes a special mixology session with Eric Alperin of the Varnish.  Alperin is one of the modern masters of cocktails, so this is a unique opportunity as well as a great deal.  The Thrillest VIP option is only $225, vs $400 for a standard VIP admission ticket, so support a good cause and eat and drink to your heart's content all at the same time.

Giving back to the community was never so delicious.

L.A. Loves Alex's Lemonade Stand: Website
Thrillest VIP Tickets

Culver Studios: 9336 Washington Blvd, Culver City

Eat Real Festival is Coming to Culver City

Next weekend, on July 16 and 17 the Eat Real Festival comes to the Helms Bakery Complex in Culver City.  Yes, that is the weekend of Carmageddon, but this event is too good to miss, so if you live far away, arrange to stay with friends as you will be kicking yourself if you don’t make it there.

Anya Fernald who founded the festival (and went to college with me) discussed the many demonstrations and workshops on offer, “from making jam, sauerkraut or bread, raising backyard chickens and bees, to seeing the artistry involved in butchering a steer or pig.”  All of the demonstrations are free as is attendance at the festival; that is a price I can get excited about.  The only cost of attending is buying food to eat, beverages to drink or shopping from the local vendors, and all prepared food will be $5 or less and incorporate regionally sourced and sustainably produced ingredients. 

I am particularly looking forward to the tomato sauce making workshop with Evan Kleiman, the host of Good Food on KCRW, and to the butchery competition with Amelia Posada and Erika Nakamura of local butcher shop Lindy & Grundy. The Beer and Wine gardens featuring local crafted brews such as the Bruery and Stone, and regionally grown wines should also be particularly fun.  If you think you will be sipping the suds, Thrillest is offering an unlimited beer and wagyu hotdogs deal for $29, which is a good value.

The LA Eat Real Festival is building off previous events in the Bay Area and should be a fun showcase for local producers of sustainable and tasty foodstuffs.  The opportunity to have a whole day of entertainment for free is reason enough to check out the fest.

To learn more, go to their website at http://eatrealfest.com/event/Los%20Angeles/California/2011

Two Food Truck Fests for Charity

Today brings word of two different food truck charity events in the next week:

The first one, a "Secret Pop Up Party for LA Street Food Fest fans" from the organizers of the first Street Food Festival downtown and a subsequent one in the Rose Bowl, will be held tomorrow (Friday November 12th) evening from 6 - 9 pm at the Heritage Square Museum, east of Dodger Stadium and just East of the 110 Freeway.  The event is free but limited to only 300 ticketholders who sign up for tickets here.  The required password is foodfestlove.    The event is a benefit for Toys for Tots so all attendees will need to bring a new unwrapped toy to gain admission and as the organizers note, if you bring a plus one, two people equals two toys.  Both the Hungry Nomad and the Manila Machine will be there selling food.  Its for the children!  Remember you need to get a free ticket online to go, you need toy(s) and the food isn't free so come prepared.

The second upcoming event is Trucking Through the Holidays, a food truck festival next Thursday evening November 18th from 6 - 9 pm at Jaxon Home in the Helms Bakery Complex (where the Culver City Father's Office is located).  This event is also free and requires no tickets to attend.  Each of the participating food trucks will be donating a portion of their proceeds to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.  They will also be accepting canned food and cash donations directly to the Foodbank, which is facing unprecedented demand for its food from unemployed and underemployed families.

Both of these events provide opportunities for fans of food trucks to help those in need while enjoying some of the best food on four wheels.  Please consider attending these events and helping those in need.

Grilled Cheese Invitational - 2010

This is the last cheese related post of the day. This past weekend about 8,000 Angelenos lined up to attend the 1st 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational. Unlike at the innagural LA Street Food Fest, the lines to get in moved very quickly. Admission was $10 and entitled attendees to a sample of a Tillamook grilled cheese sandwich and the opportunity to purchase mini grilled cheese sandwiches from a variety of vendors.

The lines for purchasing sandwiches/food was frequently very long, a consequence of less than 10 vendors selling grilled cheese sandwiches and the capacity crowd of 8,000 excited fans and judges.
The best of the sandwiches I ate was the fresh burrata with cherry tomatoes and salsa verde from the Campanile/Point booth. It was $4, double the price of the other sandwiches. Spendy but tasty. Chef Mark Peel was there in person working the grill.

Chef Eric Greenspan of the Foundry on Melrose and the upcoming Grilled Cheesery was also there grilling up with his staff. His line blended in with the Hot Knives folks, making it confusing.

It was fun and a good vibe but it was too hard to actually get some of the product. Waaaay better than the LA Street Food Fest, but there was still room for improvement if your goal was to sample several grilled cheeses that you couldn't normally get. I skipped the Grilled Cheese truck as their product is available all the time - why wait an hour in line in the heat for something that I can get another day without the wait?

Also sampled the Greenspan sandwich and one called "band Camp" from the Hot Knives folks which included cheddar and apple butter. I found it way too sweet - the apple overpowered everything else. The lines at Hot Knives were also the worst and most confusing as there was one line to pay and another to get your sandwich. As the lines were so long and the Hot Knives folks changed their offering each hour, when you got in the ordering line there was no way to know what sandwich you were likely to get when you finally made it to the front of the food line.


The photos to the left are of Mark Peel at the griddle and Eric Greenspan at his tent.