Taste of Beverly Hills 9.02.10, Beverly Hills
I had the opportunity this past Thursday to attend the Taste of Beverly Hills 9.02.10 extravaganza, which kicked off the first ever food-tasting event of its kind in Beverly Hills.
Day 1 featured all the best culinary cuisine Beverly Hills had to offer and days 2-4 featured hundreds of restaurants in the surrounding LA area. The best in culinary and drink… oh, yes and drink I did. I was amazed at how many beer tents and wineries offered samplings and beverage concoctions. That alone was probably worth the steep $150 ticket price to get in to this thing. The good news was that you didn’t have to pay again for individual items. Unlike the OC Food Truck Festival that rolled in last Saturday (you had to pay $15 cover charge plus the cost of food at various food trucks) once in, everything at this event was free game.
Why it’s not worth the $$:
Now for people like me who aren’t big into buffets, you may be overwhelmed with all the food options. I was full after about 5 or 6 plates. Which isn’t saying that the plates are huge (they’re not), but unless you can really pack it all in, I’m not so sure the price tag is worth it for someone with a small stomach! Still, it was cool to see and taste all the various samplings provided at places around town I hadn’t tried yet. The downside; I found that after about 2 hours of serving many of the booths ran out of food, or only had slim pickins left. Hopefully next year, they’ll bring more.
Here’s a quick video recap of the event:
Why it is worth it:
Giving Angelenos a chance to sample food from amazing chefs, vintage wineries, mingle and hear some really great music, it’s an evening that really sums up all that great food LA has to offer. Famous chefs like Wolfgang Puck were in attendance and other well-known celebrity chefs like Michael Voltaggio (Bravo’s Top Chef Season 6) and Ted Allen (host of the Food Network series “Chopped”) provided daily cooking demonstrations.
Opening night, Thursday featured music from Natasha Bedingfield, Neyo and a fireworks display to kick off the weekends festivities.
Friday had KCRW DJ Jason Bently spinning and interesting beverage concoctions from the city’s top mixologists.
Saturday featured performances by Fitz & The Tantrums and Brent Bolthouse.
Sunday featured Sonos, Quantic, a pie contest hosted by Evan Kleiman of Good Food, the gospel Sunday Brunch, Wine sessions from Master Sommeliers and BBQ in the Hills.
Just to get an idea of some of the restaurants, which partook in the event this past weekend:
Mr. Chow, Rock Sugar, Umami Burger, Wurstkuche, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Mozza, Border Grill, Jar, Boa Steakhouse, 9021Pho, Greenleaf, Cabbage Patch, Spago, The Tasting Kitchen, CHAYA Restaurant, The Little Next Door, The Nickel Diner and Mr. Cecil’s California Ribs.
Now, the best grub I picked up was surprisingly the most low-key. My faves included a delicious marble cake from Hansen’s cakes, some sort of chocolate mousse pudding that was melt-in-your-mouth fantastic from Nate and Al’s, the Antioxidant Orchard from Greenleaf and the Braised Wagyu Short Rib stuffed Piquillo Peppers from McCormick’s and Schmicks.
For a full list of attendees visit http://thetasteofbeverlyhills.com/
