One of L.A.’s hottest food festivals, Los Angeles Food & Wine, is returning for another year August 25-28, and with it, a slew of exciting new additions to the already primo roster of celebrity chefs, tastings and demonstrations. Now in its fifth year, the Lexus-presented event, is a four-day epicurean extravaganza showcasing the finest in food and drink culture throughout Los Angeles, and culinary personalities from throughout the nation. Downtown L.A. and landmarks like Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Colburn School of Music, The Music Center, Grand Park, MOCA, and The Broad Museum provides a pretty spectacular backdrop to the gourmet goods you’ll be sampling all weekend long. The team at Coastal Luxury Management has procured, yet again, an A-list roster of talent including Alex Guarnascehlli, Tyler Florence, Curtis Stone, Michael Chiarello, Michelle Bernstein, Thomas Keller, Elizabeth Falkner and local favorites such as Ray Garcia, Michael Fiorelli, Neal Fraser and David Lefevre as well as some new surprises. Here are five new additions to this year’s Los Angeles Food & Wine festival that you simply can’t miss.
- Power Lunch series returns with…a little help from The Broad. On August 26, Otium Chef Timothy Hollingsworth and Jon Shook of Animal are joining forces to create a lunch event that will include a guided tour of The Broad museum before the meal, an experience of which has never been offered in the past.
- A new venue. The Lexus Grand Tasting is moving to a new location—Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar. This is the big daddy of tastings—you’ll sample 200 wines from some of the world’s most prestigious wineries and fare from 25 celebrity chefs—in addition to book signings and photo sessions with some of the weekend’s biggest names. Don’t miss it.
- Amazon’s Eat the World with Emeril Lagasse premiere. On August 25, master chef Emeril Lagasse hosts an evening that brings chefs from all over the country to celebrate the food they are most passionate about. The walk-around tasting features exciting culinary creations from all over the map. The inspiration for the global take on cuisine comes from the upcoming Amazon Original Series, Eat The World which follows world-famous Lagasse as his award-winning friends and colleagues José Andrés, Mario Batali, Danny Bowien, Marcus Samuelsson, Aarón Sánchez and Nancy Silverton introduce him to the history, techniques and cooking traditions of their favorite locales across the globe.Guests will sample food from some of the best chefs in the country as they highlight the dishes that inspire them all while enjoying a plethora of beer, wine and cocktails. BAM!
- Modern Diners unite. Chefs rarely eat ‘fancy foods’ plated with tweezers, foam and shmears when they have the rare opportunity to eat out. What they generally seek out is comforting, satisfying and hearty fare similar to what you’d find at an old school diner…but better. The chefs creating the menu for this fun updated throw-back dinner are all buddies who wanted to share their passion for the classics. Celebrity Chefs Bruce Kalman, Nick Shipp, Monica May and Duff Goldman are offering their favorite foods at Nickel DIner downtown. Come hungry…and wear comfortable clothes.
- The Grilling Event at Sunset. Grilling is going beyond beyond the norm thanks to host Rick Bayless and a crew of top chefs from around the nation, who will go beyond the normal burgers and hot dogs fare to create mouthwatering meaty treats, to be washed down by wines from Copper Cane. This event moves from downtown to Santa Monica, where guests will experience comfort food, great drinks a DJ and a low-key, beachy vibe at the Fairmont Miramar.
