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

10th Annual Lucques Rib Fest

Last Sunday Lucques hosted its 10th annual All-American Rib Fest. This was a variation of their legendary Sunday suppers, with a rib theme, and the ability to have more of whatever you want. Sunday was also the day of the fun but filling Taste of the Nation in Culver City, so I debated whether I could find the room to partake of a rib feast following the very extensive grazing that I had done all afternoon at the fundraiser. I got my second wind and decided that this rib fest was not to be missed and headed north to Suzanne Goin & Caroline Styne's classic restaurant to see how the 10th anniversary edition of Rib Fest stacked up.



The meal included saint-louis style pork ribs, braised beef back ribs, spiced lamb spare ribs, too-hot-to-handle chicken wings, an assortment of traditional sides, and dessert, all for $55. I asked for no pork ribs, and the server proactively made sure that I didn't have the baked beans, as there was pork in that dish as well. This is typical of the outstanding and thoughtful service I had throughout the meal.

Pretty soon my table was covered with dishes (above) including corn on the cob, grilled corned bread and wonder bread, watermelon and lime salad, and all the meats. The grilled corn on the cob was ok, not too sweet, as it is probably too early in the season for the sweetest ears. The table was literally groaning with the amount of food it was bearing. No small portions here.

The braised beef back ribs (below, top left) were tender and the meat was falling off of the bone. The single beef rib was very large and could have been a meal unto itself. Rich deep flavor. The sauce that came with the ribs (in a bowl) was a little too sweet for my taste, so I didn't use it but it wasn't necessary as the beef ribs were so flavorful already.

The lamb ribs (below, top right) were obviously smaller and were served several to a plate. The meat was dryer and less rich than the beef. The chicken wings (below, middle left) lived up to their "too hot to handle" moniker. The wings were served one at a time (seconds were available) and had a soft breading/coating. They were tangy and legitimately spicy. A real kick that crept up on you.

It was fortunate that Lucques served the watermelon and lime salad, which was very refreshing and put out the fire in my mouth from the wing. The watermelon salad included lime, onion, watercress, mint, olive oil, watermelon juice, in addition to watermelon itself. This salad was one of my favorite dishes in the meal and one I'd be happy to order again.

The grilled cornbread was dry for my taste and had grillmarks on it. The cole slaw was good, not tasting of mayonnaise, and the cabbage was crunchy.

Before dessert, I had seconds of the lamb ribs, the chicken wings and the watermelon salad. If you are going to have two huge meals in a row, you might as well go all in. This was a meal that required the use of several napkins.

I did not do justice to the strawberry rhubarb crumble with buttermilk ice cream (below, middle right) as I could only manage one serving. The ice cream was not too sweet, which was a nice way to end the meal.

The full menu is posted below, click to enlarge.

Alas there are no plans yet for a Lucques chicken wing and watermelon salad truck. But anything is possible.

Lucques Restaurant. 8474 Melrose Avenue (E of La Cienega). Phone: (323) 655-6277. Website: www.lucques.com

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.