This year’s The Taste, hosted by the Los Angeles Times, was yet again a sumptuous success. Countless vendors, including restaurants, bars, wineries and distilleries, lined up this past Labor Day Weekend to showcase their best to hundreds of hungry and thirsty attendees.
Saturday night seemed to be the most packed and it didn’t seem to bother anyone because everybody was busy sipping on specialty cocktails from the Don Julio Tequila Airstream trailer and Knob Creek’s custom cocktail bar (drinks made by Cocktail Academy). There was a lot of booze, and of course, the Stella Artois line was always full with anxious patrons excited to grab a full glass of beer and take home their classy glasses. I was stoked to get tthe opportunity to meet with Chef Daniel Joly at the Stella Artois tent and get a behind-the-scenes look at his culinary tricks and beer pairing suggestions.
I definitely enjoyed the interactive photo booth options this year; Hornitos had a fake donkey and fun garb to wear and The Weinstein Company made a custom flipbook of me doing the “robot” while wearing cooky oven mitts.
On Sunday night, The Badmaash line was long as usual but worth the wait for their butter chicken with basmati pilaf and housemade pickles. Free Range also served up a deep fried chicken sandwich with pickled onions that was fantastic. I also must mention that this is the second event I've tried food from Estrella Restaurant, and I'm now becoming a big fan!
Jitlada (Thai) had everyone’s mouths on fire, but they all must have loved the pain, because they kept going in for more bites and then continued to talk about how hot it was. Ocean Prime had a fresh crab teaser with mango that was a perfect bite under the blazing Sunday sun. Seriously, everyone was fighting for a shaded spot.
Otherwise, Public School threw down some rockin’ fall-off-the-bone ribs, Slapfish had a scrumptious Lobster BLT tostada, Taco Maria had a perfectly prepared Scallop in Aquachile and Pizza Prova killed it with their oven-fired. P.S., thanks Pizza Prova boys for that last slice you whipped up for me even when things were shutting down.
Overall, I had a blast! The Taste is really one of the easiest ways to taste some of the best in L.A., and all in one spot. How can you go wrong?