Drago Centro's celery root panna cotta

The 24th Annual Great Chefs of Los Angeles event at CBS Studio Center in Studio City was good times. The “Go Green, Go Organic” event benefited the National Kidney Foundation through a fancy-schmancy auction that was too rich for my blood. Good thing I had tasty food to keep me occupied. While there were some repeat participants from last year’s event, I managed to find some new favorites this time ’round.

Drago Centro‘s Sommelier and Beverage Director Michael Shearin served up mini Smitten With Britain cocktails of Tanqueray gin, fever tree tonic, and fresh chives and lime. The drink was nice and light yet had a nice kick. Chef de Cuisine Ian Gresik served up an interesting celery root panna cotta topped with pancetta and a basil crouton. I’ve never had a savory panna cotta before, so this was definitely intriguing.

Drago Centro's Smitten With Britain cocktail

Locando del Lago in Santa Monica brought all kinds of deliciousness to the Valley that day. Braised beef bone marrow with a saffron risotto cake and mustard greens? Yes, please. How about burrata with housemade pink lady apple gelato and prosciutto? Yes, yes and yes.

Lago's braised bone marrow

Lago's burrata, apple gelato and prosciutto

Harry’s Oklahoma Style Smokehouse BBQ served up some comforting peach cobbler, which was perfect on that cloudy day. So perfect, in fact, that a complete stranger bullied me into giving him some of my portion, which happened to be the last. Who does that? Someone who recognizes the peachy goodness of soul food, that’s who. (It was weird, no doubt.)

Harry’s Oklahoma Style Smokehouse BBQ's peach cobbler

Stefan’s at L.A. Farm probably offered up the most complicated bite of the day — ice cream lollipops made by alternately dipping pineapple chunks in passion fruit puree and vanilla ice cream, with a dip in liquid nitrogen in between. I only got a quick taste of someone else’s pop because the man in this photo gave mine away to couple of girls he apparently thought were cuter than me, even though I was clearly waiting for one. Boo! Oh well, the lollipops were a cool idea anyway. Next year, I plan to shame him into giving me more than one of whatever he’s making to make up for this offense!

Stefan's at L.A. Farm's liquid nitrogen lollipops

Mozzarella amuse bouche

I’ve been to downtown Los Angeles’ Drago Centro many times before, but I had only partaken of the bar menu, which is one of the best deals in town (everything is less than $10 all the time — no need to wait for happy hour!). But I hadn’t had a real meal at the restaurant until last month, when my friends very generously took me for my birthday. And it was one of my favorite meals of the last month.

We let the chef choose our food, and choose well he did. We started with the baby octopus with blood orange and wild greens. While it didn’t look like much, it tasted great — a perfectly light and flavorful way to start a meal.

Baby octopus salad

We also had the burrata with endive, basil pesto and crostini. The portion of cheese was very generous and went nicely with the basil.

Burrata

Course No. 3 was my favorite dish of the night — potato gnocchi with lobster and English peas and tendrils. I’m normally not a big fan of gnocchi, but this version was incredibly light. And who doesn’t love lobster?

Potato gnocchi

For our main course we had the crispy jidori chicken breast served over tomato panzanella, or bread salad. This dish was wonderfully light — perfect for a summer day. The chicken breast was surprisingly juicy, too.

Jidori chicken

For dessert, pastry chef Jashmine Corpuz sent out three — yes, one for each of us! — portions of bomboloni, or Italian doughnuts dusted in sugar. Each serving came with chocolate sauce, pistachio gelato and cherries. The gelato and other accoutrements change periodically, so there’s always something new to try. Delicious.

Doughnuts

Special thanks to sommelier and beverage director Michael Shearin, who helped out with service and even sat us at our table!

The event is taking place this Saturday, June 19, at the West Hollywood Tender Greens from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Look out for noms such as Nutella blondies, carrot cake cookie sandwiches, browned butter brown sugar cookies, matcha mocha bundts with red bean filling, ube cupcakes and much more (complete menu here). There will also be The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf beverages to help wash it all down. The best part? Every is priced between $1 and $4 and all proceeds go to charity.

Drago Centro charcuterie plate. From Dig Lounge.

Whether you plan on celebrating Valentine’s Day or not — or just haven’t made up your mind yet — here are some special meals that will be happening around Los Angeles.

To Celebrate

Drago Centro: From Feb. 12 to 14, Drago Centro is offering a four-course dinner for $55, with wine pairings for an additional $35. (Limited à la carte menu items will be available, too.) Here are the menu choices:

First course — beef carpaccio, hearts of palm and candied almonds, or antipasto plate

Second course — butternut squash ravioli with lemon brown butter, or shrimp and scallop agnolotti with cioppino foam

Third course — roasted lamb with artichoke hearts, brown butter pomme purée and rapini, or Dover sole, baby vegetable ragoût and lemon beurre blanc

Fourth course — strawberry semifreddo with basil and white chocolate, or chocolate cake, candied Marcona almonds and raspberries

Also, on Feb. 14 the restaurant will be hosting a masquerade carnival with live music, and guests are encouraged to dress up, too.

Cecconi’s: The West Hollywood eatery is offering its full à la carte menu, a tasting menu for $85, and an optional wine pairing for an additional $45. The tasting menu includes wild mushroom cappuccino; dungeness crab, ahi tuna and avocado; winter black truffle and ricotta ravioli; chateaubriand for two, winter root vegetables and a peppercorn sauce; and a layered chocolate cake, kirsh cherries and whipped cream.

Pourtal: The Santa Monica wine bar is offering two-for-one glasses of bubbly on Feb. 14 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Choose from the featured selection of Marquis de Perlade Blanc de Blanc or a Kir Royale. Cupid will be there to pass out secret Valentines to guests who purchase bubbly or a tasting card; they will receive a free pour ranging from on Pourtal’s Enomatic machines.

Cube: Head over to Cube Marketplace’s cafe on Feb. 13 for a fondue party. Ok, not really, but you can get the fondue special and make it your own party! For $35, you can get prosecco, cheese fondue, roasted farmers market vegetables and fresh fruit, house-baked bread, Meyer lemon coeur a la crème, farmers market berries, citrus cookies — and house-made dark chocolate truffles and confections to take home.

Not To Celebrate

Charlie’s Malibu: On Feb. 13, Charlie’s will host “Bitter, Party of 1” for singles (or as its press release says, “couples welcome, but we may mock them”) with tunes from DJ Kid Wycked from 9:00 p.m. to close. And on both Feb. 13 and 14, the restaurant will offer a four-course chef’s tasting menu for $75, with a $20 wine pairing, along with the regular à la carte and lounge menus. The tasting menu includes dishes such as poached pear with herbed goat cheese and candied walnuts, filet mignon, and lobster tail. You don’t have to eat with a Valentine, you know.

Rush Street: On Feb. 13, the Culver City bar and restaurant will host a Meet Your Valentine party with specialty cocktails and artisanal chocolates. There will be no prix fixe menu. On Feb. 14, diners can enjoy half-off featured wine and champagne all day long.

Akasha: Take home a box of 12 mini cupcakes for $20 from the Culver City restaurant’s bakery to serve at your anti-Vday party — or eat them yourself, I don’t judge. Flavors include chocolate and vanilla cakes with different frosting and icing. The chocolate with Gianduja (that’s a chocolate/hazelnut combo) filling, chocolate glaze and fleur de sel sounds awesome!