The LA Beat

Madre’s Beef Enchiladas at The Food Event. Photo by Elise Thompson

The Food Event presented by Los Angeles magazine changed things up this year, and it’s definitely for the better. Once again, the event was held at the Saddlerock Ranch, but it was set up in a different area that I didn’t even know existed. Instead of one big, broad field, the location was made up of several small, connected  clearings. Blankets and chairs were laid out to create little havens where guests could relax and spend time with friends. There were also conveniently placed barrels that you could set your food and drinks on to avoid juggling.

The tents were broken up into groupings of around three to seven restaurants, interspersed with wine merchants, making them easier to manage and much less overwhelming than the endless wall of tents guests faced in the meadow in years past. The only recommendation I might make is to provide the chefs with chalkboards so they don’t have to repeat the ingredients so many times. There were also a lot more new restaurants to discover this year, but still enough old favorites to guarantee a fantastic day.

Longtime LA Beat favorite, Chef Kris Tominaga, had the winning dish of the day at the Manuela tent. Chicken fried lobster mushrooms with celery aioli, bread and butter pickles and jalapeno on a potato bun attracted one of the longest lines of the day. Calabra also served a vegetable forward dish, plating a Japanese Sweet Potato with jalapeno dill aioli, harissa, pomegranate, molasses and burnt onion soil. It was full of flavor and had a nice, comforting texture. Its unusual look caused some picky eaters to balk, and I was like “Just eat it! It’s the best vegetable you will ever eat!”

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