Produce from Crows Pass Farm

I spent yesterday afternoon on the CBS lot in Studio City, eating and drinking my way through more than 30 of Los Angeles’ chefs’ food at the 23rd annual Great Chefs of Los Angeles event, which benefited the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California. OK, I didn’t taste everything — I’m not a black hole of food — but I did taste a lot of good stuff.

BLVD 16‘s Simon Dolinky made butternut squash dumplings with mustard greens, pomegranate and brown butter. I like the food at BLVD 16 at the Hotel Palomar, so it’s no wonder that I enjoyed this dish, too. Topped with bacon bits, the crunchiness contrasted well with the doughy dumplings, and the greens were flavorful without being overpowering.

Akasha‘s short rib on pretzel bread with a side of cole slaw and pickle. The pretzel bread (I love pretzel bread!) soaked up the short rib’s tasty juices, making it all even better. The slaw had a spicy kick to it, and wasn’t creamy, which I prefer.

Bonadea, a Los Angeles-based company that makes bottled aguas frescas. I tried the jamaica flavor, which has nothing to do with the island country and everything to do with hibiscus. Its flavor was light, and a little sweet and a little tart. There was also a tamarind flavor, which I initially passed on because I don’t like tamarind, but after tasting a sip, I found it more peachy than tamarindy. Yeah, that’s not a word.

Neal Fraser of Grace and BLD fame made braised veal short rib with polenta that tasted just like a Chinese dish my mom makes. That’s because the polenta was cooked with chestnuts — yum!

Bottega Louie‘s panini with brie, blood orange and watercress, and a salad with roasted grape tomatoes, burata and pesto were light and refreshing, which was welcome since a lot of what was being offered at the event was heavy as this is technically fall.

Celestino Drago’s duck sandwich and butternut squash soup were also good, though I liked the sandwich more than the soup, which I didn’t find all that impressive.

Ford’s Filling Station‘s Ben Ford made a persimmon salad with goat cheese, candied pecans and a sherry vinaigrette. Beautiful and tasty. I’m obsessed with persimmons, and I wanted to ask Ford for a plate of just fruit, but that probably wouldn’t have gone over well.

Chef Ben Ford mixing up some salad

Yes, the Bazaar of the SLS Hotel was there, and yes, it served some pretty and fun stuff, including the liquid nitrogen-frozen caipirinha. It was really, really strong, but eating it with that sage on top was pretty amazing.

Keven Alan Lee’s East served up a scallop on the half shell with lemongrass sambal, wasabi creme fraiche, shiso dust and micro cilantro, as well as Hawaiian walu fish with miso mustard cream, micro wasabi, chive essence and smoked chardonnay sea salt. Many people liked this, especially the scallop, and I did too, but probably not as much as everyone else.

Scallops on the half shell

Hawaiian walu

Michael Fiorelli of Mar’Sel at Terranea Resort made braised wagyu beef cheek and creamed chard tortellini with ricotta and tiny autumn vegetables. The tortellini I could take or leave, but the beef was wonderfully tender, and the mini veggies were so cute — perfectly cooked, too.

And now for something completely different…I give you Sushi Popper! Is it sushi? Is it a push-up? Is it a sushi push-up? It is! I tried the seared albacore with smoked banana and a mild habanero sauce. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t good.

Esther of e*starLA popping a Sushi Popper

All in all, this was a really enjoyable event, despite the hot sun. I do have a gripe, though: The event’s theme was “Go Green, Go Organic,” yet there were all kinds of green violations. Sure, everyone used eco-friendly plates and utensils, but what’s with the bottled water? And the plastic cups? And the unnecessary packaging of the Sushi Poppers? Something to think about for next year…

I’ve heard a lot of hype about Bottega Louie, mostly that it’s fabulous. So when I finally made it over to the restaurant/market/deli/patisserie in downtown L.A. over the weekend, I was expecting a lot. Having those high expectations may have been the wrong way to start the visit, but that’s what happens when there’s a lot of hype!

The good: The restaurant space is gorgeous with its clean, mostly white decor that’s reminiscent of an East Coast eatery and market (kind of like Dean & Deluca). It’s huge, too. As for the food, I went during brunch on a Saturday. Most brunch items cost less than $10, with the most expensive dish being the $22 steak and eggs. I ordered a $7 roasted vegetable and aged fontina frittata, which was really large considering the price. I also had a blueberry mint lemonade ($4, kind of pricey) that had just right balance between sweetness and tartness for me, though my friend thought it was too sweet for her. To each her own, right? Anyway, I also checked out the market, deli and patisserie sections before settling on an apple cinnamon muffin, which was really nice with whole slices of apple baked into it. The nice woman ringing us up at the register even gave us a few macaroons for free (after it was obvious I wasn’t pleased with the $20+ price for a box of macaroons).

Frittata and blueberry mint lemonade

The bad: My frittata, though there was a lot of it, wasn’t as tasty as I had hoped. It was actually kind of bland. There weren’t enough roasted vegetables, and I could only really find mushrooms and red bell peppers in it. The fontina was nice, though. My fellow diner had the ham and gruyere frittata, which I think she liked. But the biggest problem we had with our visit was the table service. I’m not sure if it was our server’s first day or what, but we ordered a latte that took about 45 minutes to arrive at our table. Whenever we looked for our server, we couldn’t find him (though again, the place is huge) so we flagged down another server to check on the status of the latte. After another 5 to 10 minutes, the latte arrives with profuse apologies from someone who isn’t our server. Then our actual server comes and asks if we need anything else, at which point we asked for the pastry menu, which was part of the brunch menu we had seen earlier. Our server looked confused, then proceeded to tell us that there isn’t a pastry menu but that he would check with the patisserie. And then he comes back, ostensibly after speaking with someone in the pastry section, to tell us the same thing again. Just confusion all around.

Macaroons

Apple cinnamon muffin

Even with the slow and confused service, I would come back and give Bottega Louie another shot. No one was rude, and like I mentioned earlier, we had great service at the pastry counter. Though next time I’ll try it for lunch or dinner and avoid the bland eggs.