After a weekend filled with many bottles of rosé and short rib sliders, the second annual Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival wrapped up Sunday afternoon at L.A. Live after four days of chef-driven tastings, demos, samplings and other events that featured some of the top culinary talents in the country. The most memorable event of the weekend was Friday night's Asian Market, hosted by Andrew Zimmern and Eater L.A., which took place on a red carpet-lined section of street just outside Staples Center. Chefs including WP24's Sally Camacho, Nobu's Jorge Mijangos and television host Ming Tsai offered up spicy, sweet and savory Asian bites. Roy Choi stopped by with the Kogi truck, slinging short-rib tacos to eager fans, while David Myers of Comme Ca served up chili crab wontons filled with a fiery red sauce. The bite of the night, though, was probably David LeFevre's cold green tea soba with house-made dashi broth and pickled lotus root -- the perfect respite from the sweltering heat that lingered into the evening. The rest of the weekend brought two Lexus-sponsored Grand Tastings, housed in large white tents downtown, which -- thanks to intermittent air conditioning -- became miniature greenhouses in the summer sun. We even spied one chef trying to cool off in front of a massive fan with his kitchen whites puffing out like the Michelin man. The roster played out like a Top Chef reunion: Brian Malarkey served lobster rolls, The Gorbals chef Ilan Hall whipped up a bizarre, bacon-infused snow cone and Antonia Lofaso signed cookbooks. Celestino Drago and Wolfgang Puck both busted out the truffles (the former summer white truffles, the latter black winter truffles) for some decadent pastas
CANDICE DELONG - "DEADLY WOMEN"CANDICE HOSTS "DEADLY WOMEN" A REAL CRIME SHOW ON
The Sixth Season of "Deadly Women" Premieres Friday, August 17th at 10PM (ET/PT) on Investigation Discovery.
JIM FIOLEK - SANTA BARBARA COUNTY VINTNERS
The Santa Barbara Vintners' Foundation is the charitable umbrella under which the Santa Barbara County Vintners' Association conducts its philanthropic work. Proceeds from the Silent Auctions at April's Santa Barbara County Vintners' Festival and October's Celebration of Harvest benefit a number of community organizations. Since 1986, the Vintners' have provided scholarships to local students, and today provide scholarships to a graduating senior in each of the six public schools in our viticultural areas. The Foundation has been a strong supporter of the Santa Ynez Valley's Arts Outreach and People Helping People, most recently being a major sponsor of their Vino de Sueños program. The Silent Auctions have also provided funding to Santa Barbara's Unity Shoppe as well as consistent support of San Marcos High School's Kids Helping Kids program benefitting the Unity Shoppe. They also benefit the Food Bank of Santa Barbara, a non-profit organization working to eliminate hunger by providing food, education and other resources to a network of hunger-relief charities and their communities.