This is my second year to get my fill of fine food via LA Weekly’s annual The Essentials grand foodie event. (See the event in less than two minutes in this YouTube slideshow if you can’t stand the wait to see what we discovered last Saturday night.)
To be honest, as we didn’t pay the VIP price to get in an hour earlier, and the lines were long for some of the more popular vendors, we utilized our time by only having food and drink where the lines were the shortest. Our other trick is to go straight to the rear of a venue and work forward, opposite of traffic so to speak, and by doing that we had some major scores.
Below you will find, in italics, all of the info on the vendors, how they were selected and what LA Weekly issue to look for to get more information:
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.
Now here’s a sneak peek of some of the dishes in store – dishes subject to change. (I have bolded the items I loved – those I was told to try by foodie friends and some I already knew I wanted.)
- Pine & Crane’s spicy wontons
- Le Comptoir’s winter squash velouté
- Kiriko’s smoked salmon sashimi with mango
- Aqui Es Texcoco’s barbacoa tacos and lamb broth
- Dune’s falafel sandwich
- Hungry Cat’s scallop and clam ceviche
- Jitlada’s spicy BBQ red pork noodles
- Sqirl’s cured sturgeon with kumquat and anise hyss
- Bludso’s barbecue smoked brisket
- Luv2Eat Thai Bistro’s crab curry with kanomjean
- Cacao Mexicatessen’s bacon slab taco
- Philippe’s French dip sandwich
- Coni’Seafood’s ceviche marinero
- Chengdu Taste’s Sichuan beef noodle soup
- Wexler’s Deli’s egg with lox and everything spice
- Chichén Itzá’s tacos de cochinita
- La Casita Mexicana’s chicken with green mole and roasted poblanos
- Spago’s duck leg confit with tangerine pureé
- Park’s BBQ’s beef short ribs
- Szechuan Impressions’ “countryside tofu”
- POT’s “Beep Beep: dynamite bowl”
- Kogi BBQ’s short rib taco
- A.O.C.’s albacore salad with lemongrass sambal
- Cassia’s crab and oyster pan roast
- Beverly Soon Tofu’s soon tofu with pickled cucumbers and kimchi
- Connie and Ted’s raw oyster bar
- Crossroads’ mini tortelloni with almond ricotta
- Guelaguetza’s mole negro
- El Huarache Azteca’s huaraches, sopes and quesadillas
- République’s grass-fed beef tartare
- Rustic Canyon’s green peas with white chocolate and macadamia nuts
And these I added in myself after finding them at the event:
- Cocktail & Sons homemade cocktail syrups
- Larceny Bourbon
- Deep Eddy Vodkas
- Shacksbury Hard Ciders
- Cape Seafood – 4 different fresh oysters
- Terrine Restaurant
- Chef Josiah Citrin at Melisse Restaurant
- Rice Bar
- Tortillas La Palma
- Redbird
- Lucques
- The Hungry Cat
- Republique
- Mariscos Jalisco
Event sponsors included: 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.
A portion of the event proceeds benefits 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.
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.
Eve Bushman has been reading, writing, taking coursework and tasting wine for over 20 years. She has obtained a Level Two Intermediate Certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, has been the subject of a 60-minute Wine Immersion video, authored “Wine Etiquette for Everyone” and recently served as a judge for the Long Beach Grand Cru. You can email Eve@EveWine101.com to ask a question about wine or spirits that may be answered in a future column. You can also seek her marketing advice via Eve@EveBushmanConsulting.com
