33rd Annual Planned Parenthood LA Food Fare 2012

33rd ANNUAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD LOS ANGELES FOOD FARE 2012

WHAT: What began in 1979 with a cooking demonstration by Julia Child, has become the oldest and most celebrated culinary event in Los Angeles. Food Fare 2012 offers guests a unique opportunity to sample the finest food and drink the city has to offer. Food Fare is an opportunity for foodies, Planned Parenthood supporters and the general public to sample the best of L.A., all in one place.

WHO: Some of the participating Food Fare restaurants for 2011 include: Church and State, A.O.C., Ammo, Angelini Osteria, Drago Central, Clementine, Tavern, and Lucques as well as some of the city’s most popular Food Trucks, including The Border Grill Truck and The Grilled Cheese Truck. This year, we are pleased to announce Suzanne Goin,owner of AOC, Lucques,and Tavern, as Planned Parenthood's Chef of The Year.

In addition, designer Velvet by Graham and Spencer has created 3 limited edition tee shirts (available in women’s, men’s, and kid's sizes) that will feature a custom design utilizing the Planned Parenthood slogan, “Love Carefully” and will be sold exclusively at the event. Past celebrity attendees of Food Fare include Cheryl Hines (Curb your Enthusiasm), Evan Handler (Californication), Camryn Manheim, Betsey Brandt (Breaking Bad), Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad), Kate Walsh (Grey's Anatomy) and Blythe Danner.

WHERE: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1855 Main St. Santa Monica, CA

WHEN: Thursday, March 8, 2012. VIP Reception for sponsors is from 5:30 - 6:30
Daytime session is from 10:30 am - 2 pm, Evening session is from 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Advance tickets are $150 for daytime session and $225 for the evening session.

WHY: Food Fare is the largest fund raising event of the year for Planned Parenthood Los Angeles. Food Fare is produced by the Planned Parenthood Guild, a group of 200 women dedicated to providing financial and volunteer support for Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles(PPLA). Planned Parenthood Los Angeles health centers provide care to over 120,000 men, women ,and teens each year. Over 93% of the care Planned Parenthood provides is preventative, including birth control, cancer screenings, annual exams, and STD testing and treatment.

To purchase tickets or for more information, please visit www.pplafoodfare.com

Click here to check out my blog post on the 2009 Planned Parenthood Food Fare!

First Look: The Go Chew Food Truck

With the plethora of food trucks in the Los Angeles area, it's very difficult to keep track of who's coming and going and which truck is new and which truck has said its last good-bye. To be honest, while I used to be an avid food truck follower, these days, I'm back to being a more sit down restaurant kind of gal. So when an email dropped in my in box with the subject header "culinary adventure with a not so ordinary food truck", it didn't interest me at first, but then I actually read it and it did get my attention.

The email was from Food Truck Owner/Chef Charles Slonaker and what I found intriguing was his culinary background.  For the last few years, he's been traveling around the world cooking at different fine dining establishments including stints at Noma in Copenhagen and Commerc 24 in Barcelona as well restaurants in the states like Nobu 57 in NYC, Valentino in Las Vegas, and Joule in Seattle.  That's a pretty impressive resume, but what threw me off a bit was in Charles' email, he included a menu that seemed very Asian and in fact, Korean-influenced.  Considering his cooking background and his last name, I was curious as where this Asian influence came from, so I decided to check Go Chew out.

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Imagine my surprise when I showed up with a friend and it turned out that Charles is actually Korean. He was adopted by non-Korean parents and in fact, his proud mom was there taking pictures.  She's the one who told us that Charles took it upon himself when he got older to live in Korea for a year to learn the language, to learn Korean cooking and just in general, to get in touch with his cultural background. How awesome is that! As for the food truck name, "Go Chew" actually refers to the word, "gochu", which is Korean for chili pepper and Go Chew's food focus is on rice bowls and sides.

Now that you've learned a little more about Charles and Go Chew, let's talk about the food, starting with their Fried Chicken Bowl which had a jidori leg and thigh, green onion salsa, pickled daikon, egg yolk and rice. First, the chicken was fried just right with both a crispy skin and tender, moist chicken meat. I liked the tartness of the daikon and the poached egg was a wonderful touch.  However, I did have an issue with the rice, which was too mushy and when mixed with the egg yolk, it got even mushier.  So that's something that needs to be fixed.

Next we tried the Rice Cake Bowl with rice cakes, chili sauce, egg, pork, bean sprouts and sesame seeds. Hands down, this was my favorite.  I think the rice cakes were slightly fried, so there was a crispness to their surface that I liked.  Also, the chili sauce was so nicely balanced.  It was spicy, but not burn your tastebuds spicy and overall, simply delicious.  Everything just mixed together so well that every bite was a pleasure for my palate.

Another dish that I really enjoyed was Go Chew's Fried Cauliflower with fried garlic and Chinese chives. Cauliflower on its own is quite bland, but this bowl of veggies was a hit.  I have complained about dishes in the past that were supposed to have garlic but didn't taste garlicky enough; however, no complaint here. There was garlic love all the way.

Next to last was the Shorty Bowl with short rib, black bean and oyster glaze, shitake mushroom, kimchi, egg and rice.  I have to admit that I expected a bit more from this bowl.  The overall flavor was good and this rice bowl has potential, but the rice again was a big issue.  In fact, it had gotten even mushier since we had the Fried Chicken Bowl earlier.  As for the short rib, it was nice and tender, but dry.

Last, but not least was the Spicy Soup with a pork and chicken broth, tofu, kimchi, egg and shredded pork. The broth was absolutely wonderful.  It was initially light and clean; yet, it had a nice spicy kick to it.  When the poached egg was broken into and mixed into the soup, then it had an added richness which was really tasty.

Overall, except for a few things that could be fixed very easily, I thought the food coming from the Go Chew truck was really delicious. In fact, it's been awhile since I've enjoyed food from a food truck as much as I did that afternoon.  I only have one minor critique.  Simply, I would have liked to see more variety in terms of the dishes.  Specifically, I'd love to see food with inspiration coming from some of the restaurants that Charles has worked at. Maybe, that's what's coming next.

Go Chew Food Truck
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The Pleasure of Pig Parts and Beer: Filipino Pork and Beer Pairing

 

Last September, I was proud to be part of a delicious Filipino culinary event called "The Pleasure of Pig Parts and Beer", and it was geared towards beer pairings with Filipino pork dishes.  It was hosted by myself and fellow Filipino food bloggers, Karena and Haydee of the Pig Parts and Beer Blog.  What was really cool about this event was that it was a Filipino food trifecta.  In one corner were a trio of Filipino Food bloggers.  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the three of us, but here's a picture of 3 of the 5 beers used in the pairings and the San Miguel is actually a popular Filipino beer.

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In another corner was the delicious food from the Filipino food truck, Neri's Curbside Cravings.

Finally, two of the beers for this event came from Filipino-owned Eagle Rock Brewery.

It all came together for a delicious evening starting with our first pairing which consisted of a Lumpia Shanghai (fried spring roll filled with minced pork, carrot, onion and egg with sweet chili dipping sauce) paired with a San Miguerita (San Miguel beer, tequila, calamansi juice, salt and lime). The crunchy porky goodness of the lumpia was a nice foil for this refreshing beer cocktail.

Next was the Sisig (pork sizzled with chiles, ginger, garlic, vinegar and calamansi) paired with an Anchor Small Beer, which you can see below as well as a photo of the Curbside Cravings Crew. I'm not much of a beer expert, but I think I tasted citrusy notes that went well with the tart-sour-spicy flavors of the Sisig dish. 

Our third pairing was all about the Mini Tocino Burger (house-cured pork in sugar and anise wine with pickled garnishes in a pan de sal roll) paired with Eagle Rock Brewery Revolution XPA.  Given the richness and strong sweetness of the tocino, the slight bitterness of this beer was a good counter balance.

The last savory pairing of the night was the Crispy Pork Adobo (diced pork cooked in vinegar, bay leaf, black pepper, garlic, soy sauce and pineapple juice then deep-fried) paired with Cable Car Small Batch Amber Ale. This was actually my favorite duo of the night. First, who can say "No" to deep-fried pork. I know I can't.  As for the beer, I can't remember anything distinct about it. I just remember that the beer and this pork complemented each other exceptionally well.

The evening ended with the Macapuno Manifesto Beer Float, which was sweetened young coconut ice cream with Eagle Rock Brewery's signature white ale, Manifesto.  As an ice cream lover, this was the perfect way to finish up this evening of pig parts and beer.

Overall, this was definitely a fun time and I really have to give credit where credit is due.  While the Pig Parts and Beer ladies and I came up with the idea for this event, they really did all the heavy duty party planning. I just had to help spread the word and show up.

In the end, the goal of Karena and Haydee is to help showcase Filipino food whether it's through their blog or setting up events highlighting Filipino food and Filipinos who are in the food business.  I'd say that "The Pleasure of Pig Parts and Beer" was definitely a great start and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next.  So if you want to stay in the know, be sure to visit their contact links below and you can also see the pertinent links for Neri's Curbside Cravings and Eagle Rock Brewery.

Pig Parts and Beer
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Neri's Curbside Craving
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Eagle Rock Brewery
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