60 restaurants confirmed for our 8th annual food and wine festival
L.A. Weekly is excited to confirm the final restaurant line up for The Essentials at the California Market Center in DTLA. Curated by our award-winning food critic Besha Rodell and acclaimed staff of food editors and writers, the event, taking place on Saturday, February 20th, from 6pm-10pm, will showcase signature bites from 60 restaurants featured in our 99 Essentials restaurant issue that hits stands the same week.
Confirmed restaurants include: Aqui es Texcoco, Animal, a.o.c, Baroo, Belcampo Meat Co., Bestia, Beverly Soon Tofu, Bludso’s BBQ, Broken Spanish, Burritos La Palma, Button Mash, Cacao Mexicatessen, Cassia, Chengdu Taste, Chichen Itza, Colonia Publica, Coni’Seafood, Connie & Ted’s, Corazon y Miel, Crossroads, Dune, El Huarache Azteca, Guelaguetza, Guerrilla Tacos, Guisados, ink., Jitlada Southern Thai, Jon & Vinny’s, Kiriko Sushi, Kogi BBQ, La Casita Mexicana, Le Comptoir, Little Sister, Lucques, Lukshon, Luv2eat Thai Bistro, Mariscos Jalisco, Maude, Mélisse, Night + Market, Osteria Mozza, Papilles Bistro, Park’s BBQ, Philippe the Original, Pine & Crane, POT, Providence , Racion, RedBird, République, RiceBar, Rustic Canyon Wine Bar and Seasonal Kitchen, Sotto, Spago, Sqirl, Szechuan Impression, Terrine, The Hungry Cat, Trois Mec, Union and Wexler’s Deli.
Guests will also enjoy sips and curated pairings in our wine village courtesy of Wine Exchange, samples of beer and cocktail tasters, while taking in 360 degree views of downtown Los Angeles and shopping for artisanal handmade crafts and wares from our homegrown LA vendors.
Event sponsors including: Hustler Hollywood, UCLA Extension, Socal Etsy Guild, Wine Exchange, X Lanes, Geffen Playhouse, Mount Saint Mary’s University, DIABOLO Beverages, Caviar, Prime, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, DRY Sparkling, First Aid Shot Therapy, Zico, Melissa’s Produce, Beautiful Things LA, and Califia Farms will be on site sampling and selling essential food and wine products.
GA tickets are on sale now at https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1005075
A portion of this year’s event proceeds will benefit Food Forward. Food Forward rescues fresh local produce that would otherwise go to waste, connecting this abundance with people in need, and inspiring others to do the same.
Follow L.A. Weekly on Facebook facebook.com/LAWeekly, Twitter @laweeklystreet, Instagram @laweekly and Foursquare for updates as they unfold.
We hope to see you there!
About L.A. Weekly:
L.A. Weekly, and more recently LAWeekly.com, has Los Angeles covered, with investigative reporting, comprehensive calendar listings and forward-thinking cultural coverage, including daily blogs like the highly regarded Squid Ink, which covers the city’s food scene. We keep our readers loyal with stories by some of the country’s finest writers—now accessible through our mobile platforms. In 2007 L.A. Weekly was the first newspaper to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for its food criticism. This year, restaurant critic Besha Rodell was honored with a James Beard Award, widely considered food writing’s top prize.