Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival 2019 Features Ethnic Superstars

Gerry Furth-Sides)  Greater Los Angeles Area is the most culinary and culturally diverse place in the world. This year’s ninth  Los Angeles Food & Wine, August 22-25, sets out to display this ethnic diversity, plus showcase international culinary superstars, headed by 25 chefs “showing off their most crave-worthy dishes that have proven their worth to the locals” hosted by Jet Tila.

 Chef Jet Tila and “his boss,” Mrs. Ali Tila

Jet Tila signing one of his new books on Thai cooking

Although there was a time, Virgina, where there actually was one food festival a summer, in this era of one (or two) major events a week, you know need a playing card to sort out the best of ethnic and California Coastal cuisine experiences.  This year’s ninth  Los Angeles Food & Wine, August 22-25, is one of the best, having developed open-open festival events and smaller, more exclusive ones across the city. To see the schedule, please see:  lafw.com.  The festival will also showcase wines from across California and the world.  Heading up the list of superstar chefs:  Jet Tila, Antonia Lofaso, Alvin Cailan, and Nancy Silverton, Australian Curtis Stone, Tim Hollingsworth.

TV star and neighborhood favorite, Antonia Lofaso,

Los Angeles Food & Wine launches their event on Thursday evening with a series of dinners at restaurants across the city. The action then movess to the historic Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport, one of LA’s premier event spaces, for the rest of the weekend. Among the 14 culinary star-studded events:

LA’s Faves & Craves: In one short stroll, festival-goers can take in the breathtaking diversity of L.A.’s culinary landscape in one convenient (shaded!) place in Santa Monica at the Barker Hanger.   LA’s own Jet Tila, whose family owned the first major Thai market and restaurant,  hosts a showcase of the most crave-worthy dishes of 25 local chefs. The city’s tacos, pizza, hot dogs, donuts, fried chicken and a wealth of Asian-inspired specialties share one location for one glorious afternoon. Crave worthy drinks to complete the food include  75+ wineries, cocktails from House of Suntory, Bulleit, Aperol, & Diane Mina’s Garden Grown Cocktail Blends and British Guinness beer.

A plate of Jet’s satisfying food: Kung Pao Shrimp, Szechuan-Style Green Beans, Chinese chicken Salad, Mongolian Beef- all in Jet’s cookbook!

The city’s own Chef, Nancy Silverton, hosts San Francisco legend,  Jeremiah Tower (“The Last Magnificent”) at her own restaurant.  The event,  The Legends Dinner at Chi SPACCA: The widely credited father of California cuisine Jeremiah Tower joins Chef  Nancy for a one-night-only wine and food pairing meal for 40 festival-goers fortunate enough to snag a ticket.

Another more intimate event is Dinner at Otium:  Winner of Netflix’s “The Final Table”,  2018 season winner, Chef Tim Hollingsworth of Otium, one of all all-city favorites.  The chef shares the spotlight with rising star chef Travis Swikard at Hollingsworth’s downtown masterpiece, The Broad museum-adjacent Otium.

The Epic Burger Throwdown with Alvin Cailan: In a city known for great burgers, the best are going bun to bun to win the coveted LAFW Golden Burger Show Trophy. Host Alvin Cailan, star of YouTube’s “The Burger Show,” will join celebrity judges Seth Rogen, Tiffani Thiessen and Adam Richman in this juicy battle of the beef.

Meat Me at LAFW’s Great Steak-out & BBQ: Meat master Curtis Stone of Gwen Butcher Shop & Restaurant and 25 other great tamers of the flame collaborate to turn out a memorable feast complemented by surf, sides, caviar and Big Cabs to bring guests the essence the nation’s greatest steakhouses and BBQ joints.

Sunday Brunch with the legendary Jeremiah Tower matches LAFW’s grand finale.  Please see our coverage on our old friend: //localfoodeater.com/jeremiah-tower-the-last-magnificent-downplays-a-deserving-star/

Find a full event listing of the festival, please check the website  here.

Event Sponsors

The 9th annual Los Angeles Food & Wine welcomes best in class partners like Chase Private Client, Food & Wine magazine, Guinness, Suntory Whiskey and Bulleit Whiskey, among others.

Prodigal Events, LLC (Prodigal), creates unique experiential opportunities in the hospitality, entertainment, and experiential world. Prodigal produces two of the world’s most loved and recognized culinary events, Pebble Beach Food & Wine and the Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival, both recognized for the curation of the highest caliber of culinary and wine talents to create once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

 For tickets and more information, visit lafw.com.