Surprisingly enough, I’ve never been outside of LAX during my trips to/through Los Angeles. Unsurprisingly, while sprinting between airport terminals in a vicious attempt to catch my connecting flights, I saw very little of the city. So when the Taste of Beverly Hills was announced, another fantastic Food & Wine-sponsored production, I took it as an opportunity to make plans for a proper visit to the City of Angels.
Starting next Friday, September 2 – 9.02.10, in case you didn’t know – the Taste of Beverly Hills will kick off its inaugural weekend with a star-filled bash celebrating the famous zip code. Hosted by talk show host Larry King, the opening event will feature bites from chefs and restaurants around the luxurious city, including chef Jose Andres’ Bazaar at the SLS Hotel, chef Kerry Simon’s Simon LA, and chef Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, as well as a performance from singer Natasha Bedingfield.
With events like The Art of Mixing, Secrets from the Kitchen and Cellar, The Art of Brunch, and the final evening’s BBQ in the Hills, a whole host of great restaurants, chefs, and mixologists will be present throughout the weekend. Chefs Tim Love, Michael Voltaggio, Ludo Lefebvre, Scott Conant, and Art Smith will all be showing off their kitchen skills during individual cooking demonstrations, while top-notch restaurants, including Church & State, Craft, Osteria Mozza, RockSugar, STK, Cut, XIV, and many others, will offer up their best bites for the culinary crowd. A number of wineries and spirits producers from around the country – and the world – will also be in attendance, pouring their free-flowing, ambrosial beverages.
A few tickets are still available for the weekend events, but if you have to miss the Labor Day celebration, stay tuned to Daily Blender for coverage of this fantastic Southern California weekend. While I’m in town, I’ll also drop by to cover a bit of the LA Times Celebration of Food & Wine happening at Paramount Pictures Studio – a day-long event featuring a number of culinary names, including Aarti Sequeira, recent winner of The Next Food Network Star, the boys of Animal restaurant, and a handful of Top Chef competitors.
Am I ready for an epic food-and-wine-filled weekend in LA? Indeed.
~Jennifer Heigl