Tickets now on sale for weekend's events, including local farm tours, grand tasting events, beer, cider & wine pairings, and seminars with world-class cheese experts
California’s premier cheese and wine event, California’s Artisan Cheese Festival, is back for its ninth year, March 20-22, 2015, in and around the Sheraton Sonoma County in Petaluma. Celebrating all things cheese, the Festival brings together artisan cheesemakers, cheesemongers, authors, chefs, brewers, winemakers and enthusiastic guests for three days of cheese tasting, education and celebration. Throughout the weekend, guests will have the opportunity to experience new, limited-production and rare artisan cheeses, and learn about the art of making cheese, while supporting California farmers and cheesemakers in their ongoing effort to advance sustainability. The weekend will include seminars, pairings, tastings, farm tours, hands-on cheese-making classes and cheese-focused demonstrations. Tickets are now on sale and available through www.artisancheesefestival.com. Additional details and events will be added in the coming weeks, so check back frequently for updates.
“California’s Artisan Cheese Festival has become a beloved yearly tradition for local foodies and cheese lovers,” said Festival Executive Director Judy Groverman Walker. “Over the course of the last nine years the Festival’s offerings have gotten better and better. From farm tours where guests can interact with the animals and hands-on cheese-making classes, to educational seminars led by world-class cheese experts, there truly is something for everyone.”
New elements this year include a “Cheesemonger’s Duel – The Best Bite” reception on Friday night and an additional off-site seminar at the new Cowgirl Creamery location in Petaluma.
ANTHONY GAMES - BEVERAGE DIRECTOR, ROCK & BREWS
HAIL TO THE ALE! ROCK & BREWS HOSTS FIRST ANNUAL STRONG ALE & CELLAR RESERVE FESTIn Honor of its 4th Anniversary, Rock & Brews El Segundo to Feature 20 Perfectly Aged Craft Brews Throughout the Month of February
El Segundo, CA (January 16, 2014) – Rock & Brews El Segundo, the rock-inspired restaurant co-founded by KISS front men Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, is celebrating its 4th anniversary by breaking open its cellar doors for its first-ever Strong Ale & Cellar Reserve Fest. For the month of February only, the El Segundo Rock & Brews location will offer guests a selection of perfectly-curated and aged craft brews, many of which have been aging for up to four years.
“We are very proud to celebrate our four years of success in the restaurant and craft beer industries,” said Anthony Games, Rock & Brews El Segundo’s Bar Training & Beverage Director. “We can’t think of a better way to thank our guests for their support than by sharing with them some of the best brews that we’ve been aging in our cellar since Rock & Brews El Segundo first opened.”
For the Strong Ale & Cellar Reserve Fest, guests can order from Rock & Brews’ list of over 20 aged brews, including: The Bruery 2011 Cuir, Lagunitas 2011 Gnarlywine, Napa Smith 2011 Grateful Dog, Stone 2011 Belgo Anise Imperial Russian Stout, Avery 2011 Hog Heaven Barleywine, Lost Abbey 2012 Angel's Share, and more.
For more information about Rock & Brews El Segundo’s Strong Ale & Cellar Reserve Fest, visit www.rockandbrews.com/elsegundo or call 310-615-9890. Rock & Brews El Segundo is located at 143 Main St.
About Rock & Brews
Rock & Brews is a one-of-a-kind restaurant and entertainment concept designed to engage people of all ages with quality American comfort food and local favorites, a broad selection of international and craft beers, and an energized, family-friendly rock environment. The brand, founded by KISS front men Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, along with restaurateur/hotelier Michael Zislis, and concert industry veterans Dave and Dell Furano, now has several locations in California (4), Kansas (1), New Mexico (1), on Maui (1), in Cabo (2), and Orlando (1). Rock & Brews is poised for thoughtful expansion, with restaurants opening soon in Buena Park, California and Phoenix, Arizona, among others. For more information visit www.rockandbrews.com
WWW.ROCKANDBREWS.COM
YASSMIN SARMADI – GENERAL PARTNER, CHURCH AND STATE
The cuisine is traditional French Bistro fare, created using only seasonal produce of the highest quality, and products from 100% humanely raised, treated, and naturally fed animals: 100% grass-fed, pasture raised beef and lamb, cage-free poultry, sustainable seafood.
Classics include Steak Frites, Escargot, Roasted Marrow Bone, House-made Charcutterie, Moules Frites, Steak Tartar, Tarte Flambeé, and a selection of French and artisanal American cheeses.
The restaurant has a full bar, serving seasonal, hand-crafted cocktails, and an all-French wine list, containing many organic, and biodynamic selections.
BIO:
In 2008, Yassmin Sarmadi did something many people would call crazy. In the face of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the then 39-year-old restaurateur opened Church & State, a traditional French bistro, on a rundown street in downtown Los Angeles. Housed in the former loading dock of the 1925 National Biscuit Co. building, the revitalized Church & State would instantly become one of the city’s most sought-after dining destinations, inspiring a rare three stars from the Los Angeles Times and establishing Sarmadi as the pioneer of a burgeoning downtown culinary scene.
Sarmadi’s love of restaurants began when she was five years old in her native Iran. While other little girls were playing dolls, Sarmadi would ask her grandfather to take her out to eat. That early passion stayed with her and led her on an epicurean journey across Europe and the United States that helped her develop a clear vision of what a restaurant can be: an anchor of a neighborhood, where communities gather to socialize, restore and cultivate a reverence for finely crafted food.
While refining her concept, Sarmadi set out to master the key elements of a financially profitable establishment. For six years, she worked as a Client Relations Liaison for a private financial lender to the restaurant industry. Her experience analyzing concepts, markets, projections and business models to assess viability and profitability prepared her for the rigors and variances of running her own bistro.
In five years, Sarmadi’s restaurant has become an institution in downtown Los Angeles. “Everybody knows Church & State,” wrote Pulitzer Prize-winning food writer Jonathan Gold in 2011. “It rules its street of luxury lofts, and it is nearly as hard as ever to get a table on a Friday night, even when the tables spill over onto the sidewalk.”
Sarmadi is currently working on her next restaurant, which will speak to the growing sophistication of diners with lighter-style French Mediterranean cuisine that relies on fish and seasonal vegetables to highlight the beauty and refinement of what grows out of the ground. Not surprisingly, the eatery will be located on a still under-appreciated corner of downtown in the historical Douglas Building. Once again, Sarmadi is initiating a new wave of culinary and cultural evolution in Los Angeles, albeit one with personal advantages. “There isn’t enough serious food in L.A.,” she says. “I create restaurants where I want to eat.”
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