Last Saturday was LA Weekly’s presentation of Foodie Heaven, also known as The Essentials. 58 of LA’s top restaurants gathered, along with 41 pairing stations, under one roof to deliver taste-sized portions of their best sellers to the patrons who paid to get in. Animal, Ink, Kogi, Maude…the list continues. You better believe we were there at 6pm on the DOT. No fashionably late to this one! This event was housed in LA’s fashion district. Even more reason to be excited!

The top contenders

Osteria Mozza’s stuffed eggplant:

A delicately grilled eggplant stuffed with olive oil and herbed garbanzo beans over smoked hummus. MMMMM. Lord have mercy on us, this little piece of nirvana is incomparable. Paired with a light white wine perfectly enhanced this quietly flavored treat. Magnifique!

 

Guerrilla Taco’s Beet Mini Taco:

Bite sized bits of yellow beets marinated in a well balanced consume of olive oil and herbs served over a soft corn tortilla, this treat makes a perfect appetizer. Not too filling and just the right spices to waken the palette.

Grapefruit Beer?

Yes! I can’t stand beer, but this stuff is dangerously AMAZING. If you ever get a chance to try this Schoffenhofer grapefruit weizen, don’t pass up the opportunity.

 

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream : Sweet Cream Ice Cream with raspberry sauce

I’m not usually one for ice cream, but seeing how my diet was out the window on this occasion I figured “why not induldge”? Hormone and RBT free, this ice cream was delicious. It was definitely rich but had a good balance of creamy to sweet. The tiny two tablespoon serving with a dollop of berry sauce on top was a perfect ending to a wonderful sampling of foods.

The Beneficiary

The proceeds from this event went to Food Forward, a group of Southern Californians that rescue fresh local produce that would otherwise go to waste and connect the abundance with people in need. For more information on this amazing non-profit, click here: Food Forward

What to heck to wear to a night of food tasting

Alternative to what you may think, I decided to wear something rather tight on the bottom. This way I knew to take small samples, pace myself, and not actually over-eat. It worked!

Unfortunately I didn’t get any great photos of my outfit, but above is a photo showing the gist of it. Honestly I styled this myself and I hate it. I look like a frumpy old maid. Sending a photo to Danielle for a critique- I’m not sure what I did wrong. Either the tops don’t look good on me or they just aren’t good together. And the bottom looked like a solid chunk of black. The skirt is SO pretty, but who can tell? The details were all hidden. FAIL on the outfit 😦

Overall this was a really fun night. I look forward to attending next years event. Though next year I may get VIP tickets so we can start early. A lot of places we wanted to try ran out of food before we could get there!!

xoxo

QJ