Food & Wine magazine recently presented L.A. foodies with a spectacular celebration: The Taste of Beverly Hills.
The festival, which took place on Labor Day weekend, was jam-packed with demos and discussions by James Beard Award winners (Art Smith, Scott Conant, Michel Nischan, etc.), celebutantes (the entire Kardashian/Jenner clan), expert sommeliers, mixologists and an abundance of food, pastry, and wine enthusiasts. Many of the masters from the city’s most coveted eateries–like CUT, Osteria Mozza, and Crustacean–were also present.
Initially, I was invited to view LG’s Taste of Something Better cook-off, where three amateur chefs prepared their winning entree recipes for a panel of judges. Before I made it to the competition tent, however, I wandered into the wrong tent. Sometimes, being wrong feels so right! I found myself surrounded by wineries, restaurants, and frommageries dishing out their very best in small bites and sips.
FIG, a Santa Monica restaurant I’ve been wanting to visit, was my first stop. To my disappointment, the food offered was not what I expected. I’m down with sampling non-traditional dishes, but the restaurant’s FIG Dog seemed more gimmicky than good. The FIG Dog is an all-beef wiener topped with goopy fondu cheese, bacon-habanero marmalade and, um, Fritos. This is a dish I file in my “gastro-not” category, right next to deep-fried butter.
I was also unimpressed with Rustic Canyon. I want to love them because I’m a fan of their sister restaurant Huckleberry Cafe and their new ice cream shop, Sweet Rose Creamery (their summer corn ice cream is surprisingly delish). But the white beans with pork skewer did not do the restaurant much justice. The white beans weren’t particularly memorable in flavor or texture, and the pork skewers were unapologetically fatty. Sometimes, wrong is just, well, wrong.
The one table I found myself sneaking back to–stalker-style, actually–was Napa Valley Grille. Oh my God, what they did to purple artichoke was beyond addictive. Though I didn’t get to test every restaurant’s offerings, from what I did try, Napa Valley Grille served up the best lite bite with their homemade purple artichoke ravioli with parmesan gremolata. It was creamy, crunchy, rich and savory. I’m normally not a fan of ravioli–or any pasta–but this was as exquisite as it was light. Yum.
Thanks to my delicious detour, I was ready to let the LG cook-off begin. The judging panel was a diverse mix: Delightful Texan and “Iron Chef,” Tim Love; Top Chef and Iron Chef America judge, Ted Allen; Top Chef Masters alum and highly respected French chef Ludo Lefebvre; Top Chef season six winner Michael Voltaggio.
The three contestants were amateur chefs who proudly presented their favorite recipes to the panel of pros. To my surprise, Ted Allen was not like his TV persona–he was very kind and complimentary to each of the contestants. He was a welcomed contrast to Ludo, who kicked off the competition by pummeling the first finalist with harsh criticisms. In case you didn’t see Ludo on Top Chef Masters he is as intense as he is talented. Eventually, he warmed up to the fun spirit of LG’s competition, when he realized he was not awarding Michelin stars. But Chef Ludo gets major kudos for his salty humor and adding a bit of flare to his wardrobe with fiery red sneaks.
The contest winner was Brett Youmans from Pennsylvania, who prepared orange scented lamb skewers atop watercress and roasted fig salad with baked goat cheese crisps. The lucky foodie nabbed the title of America’s Best Amateur Chef, by LG. He also took home a plethora of prizes like a suite of LG appliances and a trip to Seoul, South Korea to represent the USA in LG’s global cooking competition, “Life Tastes Good.” Not bad for an amateur.
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