L.A. Loves Alex’s Lemonade Culinary Cookout is Back Again for an 8th Year on 9/9!

LOS ANGELES, CA —L.A. Loves Alex’s Lemonade, hosted by Chef Suzanne Goin, partner Caroline Styne (LucquesA.O.C.,Tavern) along with Chef David Lentz (The Hungry Cat), returns to UCLA’s Royce Quad on Saturday, September 9, 2017 from 12 – 4pm for its eighth highly-anticipated event. Goin, Styne and Lentz have again enlisted the support and generosity of their culinary friends around the country who will donate their time and services to raise funds and awareness for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) in their quest to find better treatments and cures for all kids with cancer. The Presenting Sponsors for the cookout are Northwestern Mutual and Volvo Cars of North America.

L.A. Loves Alex's Lemonade - 2016 Participants | ©Alex Berliner/ABImages
L.A. Loves Alex’s Lemonade – 2016 Participants | ©Alex Berliner/ABImages

Featuring fantastic food, wine and cocktails prepared by the nation’s best chefs, winemakers and mixologistsL.A. Loves Alex’s Lemonade is an afternoon of fantastic fare, cocktails for a cause, children’s activities, silent and live auctions, and much more. The 2017 event is guaranteed to surpass the aspirations of previous years with returning chefs Chris Bianco, Giada De Laurentiis, Donald Link, Mary Sue Milliken, April Bloomfield, Nancy Silverton, Nancy Oakes, Zach Pollack, Michael Voltaggio, Jonathan Waxman and Marc Vetri coming together to cook for childhood cancer cures (for a current list, see page 3). More chefs will be announced in the coming months, as well as leading vintners and mixologists from around the country.  

Pricing for General Admission tickets is $195, and L.A. Loves Alex’s Lemonade offers a $1,200 premier ticket level that includes early access to the event, a behind the scenes tour of the venue and VIP seating as well as an exclusive invite to the private and intimate Welcome Dinner the evening before, on Friday, September 8. In the spirit of the culinary cookout, children under the age of 12 are free with accompanying adult, and do not need to register for the event.

For complete listings of participants and to purchase tickets for this year’s event visit the ALSF website. All proceeds will benefit the Foundation.

L.A. supporters enthusiastically responded with huge turnouts in the first seven years, sampling signature dishes of world renowned chefs and reaching over $4.2 million in sponsorship, ticket and auction sales to date. In addition to the generous backing of the community, prominent personalities from the entertainment industry – long time attendee Jimmy KimmelLena DunhamLaura DernJoe Mantegna,Timothy Olyphant, Kirsten Vangsness and others – have become champions to the cause.

More than 2,000 people, including more than 100 chefs, mixologists and vintners, attended the 2016 event, which raised over $1 million. Those in attendance heard an inspiring speech by Jay & Liz Scott, Alex’s parents, and co-executive directors of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, and hero family and SuperSibs Dario and Emilio, who lost their brother to cancer and highlighting the importance of how one individual can make a difference.

“What we’ve accomplished in seven years is so gratifying. It’s a tremendous amount of work to produce, but the rewards of knowing that the money we’ve raised truly helps research for better treatments and cures makes it worthwhile,” said Caroline Styne. “There are so many people that come together to make this happen; they work tirelessly to come up with ideas to make this year’s celebration better than the one before. And we do this because Alex Scott’s legacy inspires us to rise to the challenge.”

“The L.A. Loves Alex’s Lemonade event continues to be one of the most inspiring, and not to mention delicious, events of the year benefiting Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation,” said Liz Scott, Alex’s mom and Co-Executive Director of the Foundation. “We have been continually amazed by the dedication of Suzanne, Caroline and David to help achieve our daughter’s mission – a cure for all kids with cancer, as well as the outpouring of support from their friends who travel from all corners of the country to participate in this important fundraising event.”

For information on how to become a sponsor, contact Anita Gates at Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, (610) 649-3034 orA.Gates@alexslemonade.org.

Become a fan of L.A. Loves Alex’s Lemonade on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ALSFCulinaryEvents Follow on Twitter and Instagram: @LALovesAlexs

About Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) emerged from the front yard lemonade stand of cancer patient Alexandra “Alex” Scott (1996-2004). In 2000, 4-year-old Alex announced that she wanted to hold a lemonade stand to raise money to help find a cure for all children with cancer. Since Alex held that first stand, the Foundation bearing her name has evolved into a national fundraising movement, complete with thousands of volunteers across the country carrying on her legacy of hope. To date, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a registered 501(c)3 charity, has raised more than $140 million toward fulfilling Alex’s dream of finding a cure, funding over 690 pediatric cancer research projects nationally.

Partial List of Participating Chefs
Nick Anderer (New York, NY) – Maialino
Chris Bianco (Phoenix, AZ) – Pizzeria Bianco
April Bloomfield (New York, NY) – The Spotted Pig, The Breslin
Michael Cimarusti (Los Angeles, CA) – Providence
Josiah Citrin (Los Angeles, CA) – Melisse
Derek Dammann (Montreal, QC, Canada) – Maison Publique
Sue Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken (Los Angeles, CA) – Border Grill
Michael Fiorelli (Los Angeles, CA) – Love & Salt
Neal Fraser (Los Angeles, CA) – Redbird
Evan Funke (Venice, CA) – Felix Trattoria
Ray Garcia (Los Angeles, CA) – Broken Spanish
Suzanne Goin, Javier Espinoza, Amy Deaderick, Adam Cherney(Los Angeles, CA) – Lucques, a.o.c., Tavern
Hedy Goldsmith (Los Angeles, CA) – Sweet Hedy
Valerie Gordon (Los Angeles, CA) – Valerie Confections
Cosmo Goss (Chicago, IL) – The Publican
Timothy Hollingsworth (Los Angeles, CA) – Otium, Barrel & Ashes
Bruce Kalman (Los Angeles, CA) – Union, Knead Pasta + Co.
Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymenson (Los Angeles, CA) – Madcapra, Kismet
Giada De Laurentiis (Las Vegas, NV) – Giada
David LeFevre (Manhattan Beach, CA) – Manhattan Beach Post,

Fishing with Dynamite
David Lentz (Los Angeles, CA) – The Hungry Cat
Donald Link (New Orleans, LA) – Pêche, Herbsaint, Cochon, Cochon Butcher
Jenn Louis (Portland, OR) – Ray
Walter and Margarita Manzke (Los Angeles, CA) – Republique
Ori Menashe (Los Angeles, CA) – Bestia
Matt Molina (Los Angeles, CA) – Everson Royce Bar
Dahlia Narvaez (Los Angeles, CA) – Mozza Restaurant Group
Zoe Nathan (Los Angeles, CA) – Huckleberry
Nancy Oakes (San Francisco, CA) – Boulevard
Eva Ein (Santa Barbara, CA) – McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams
Chris Phelps and Zak Walters (Los Angeles, CA) – Salt’s Cure
Zachary Pollack (Los Angeles, CA) – Alimento
Steve Samson (Los Angeles, CA) – Sotto, Rossoblu
Michael Schwartz (Miami, FL) – The Genuine Hospitality Group, Fi’Lia
Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo (Los Angeles, CA) – Animal Restaurant Group
Nancy Silverton (Los Angeles, CA) – Mozza Restaurant Group
Frank Stitt (Birmingham, AL) – Highlands Bar & Grill, Bottega, Chez Fonfon
John Sundstrom (Seattle, WA) – Lark, Bitter/Raw, Slab Sandwiches & Pie
Shannon Swindle (Los Angeles, CA) – Craft
Marc Vetri and Jeff Michaud (Philadelphia, PA) – Pizzeria Vetri
Michael Voltaggio (Los Angeles, CA) – ink.
Jonathan Waxman (New York, NY) – Barbuto
Rocco Whalen (Cleveland, OH) – Fahrenheit
Jason Winters (Los Angeles, CA) – Urban Pie

***All chefs and vintners have graciously donated their time, food and talent to the cause for this event***