Sunday, September 5, 2010

THE TASTE OF BEVERLY HILLS 2010, SUNDAY


September 5, 2010 – Beverly Hills, CA


Yesterday the Now And Zin Wine Blog was concerned with the Saturday daytime version of the Taste of Beverly Hills.


Taste of Beverly HillsThe Art Of Brunch was the title of Sunday's daytime session at the Taste of Beverly Hills and, as you may have expected, that means the participating restaurants do this sort of thing as a regular part of their serving day.

Brunch in Los Angeles can be a beautiful thing.  It can also be a perplexing thing.  If you've ever gone driving around in L.A. looking for a spot to have a late Sunday breakfast, you may think there are only a handful of places that cater to that need.  You can see lines out the door and down the street for some restaurants, while the waiters in a breakfast joint down the block will be standing with arms crossed waiting for the lunch rush to begin.  Such is the difference between an “in” place and one that's just a place.

There was no such problem at the Taste Of Beverly Hills.  Every place was an “in” place.  While there may have been a slight wait at a table or two, crowds generally moved along pretty quickly, affording everyone the chance to sample the goods from all the restaurants.

Saturday's high level of quality was at least matched by Sunday's small plates.  Everything was delicious and presented in an artful and appealing way.  And, my Sunday brunch started with someone handing me a Bellini.  That's never a bad thing.

How it tasted

Here's a timeline of my tweets from Sunday's Taste of Beverly Hills as presented on my Twitter account (@randyfuller1):


#tobh  Free parking in Beverly Hills structures on Sunday!

#tobh  Taste: #food demos from Scott Conant & Michel Nischan today.  Stella Artois tent: Chef Daniel Joly with Belgian Pouring Ritual.  #beer

#tobh  #Wine event at 2:00.  Belinda Chang talks CdP.  Captain Justin Warner does a wine rap.  Okay, I'll bite!

#tobh  Rats.  Intelligentsia booth too crowded.  It's OK, a little too warm for #coffee already.

#tobh  That's OK.  Start with Bellini.  Peach Vodka, peach purée and Monetto Prosecco.  #wine

#tobh  Circa 55 Restaurant has smoked salmon.  Great start to Taste of Beverly Hills.  #food 

#tobh  St Urbain St. Bagels.  Nice chewy bagel and sun dried tomato cream cheese.  So much else to get to, though.  #food

#tobh  The Farm has French Toast stuffed w/ banana & topped w/ caramel/peanut butter sauce.  Say yeah.

#tobh  Ventura County Wine Trail is pouring fab LH Zin from Rancho Ventavo and Casa Barranca Cab Franc that's nice and light!  #wine

#tobh  Can't get close to Huckleberry yet!  Full table and here comes more

#tobh  Grilled salmon burger from Nine-Thirty.  I need to eat like this all the time!  #food

#tobh  My pals from Summerland Winery have some rockin' good juice.  '07 Trio is very old world (thanks Mourvedre).  '07 Paso Zin is v nice.

#tobh  Would be remiss not to mention Summerland's Grenache rose.  A salmon colored dry delight.  #wine

#tobh  Crossing to other Great Tent, stop at Stella Artois.  Sampled Leffe this time around.  Abbey #beer.  Comes in a gift Chalice glass!

#tobh  Hansen's Cakes did it up right!  They knew we were comin' so they baked a cake.

#tobh  Firefly in Studio City came over the hill with a nice brioche w/ Italian ham and a carmerlized fig on top!  #food

#tobh  Breadbar serving quiche Lorraine and truffle potato.  It's really sinful.  It really is.  #food  Bread, oddly enough, only for show.

#tobh  Angeli presenting Italian bread with Fontina cheese.  Polenta coming soon.

#tobh #wine  Larry Schaffer of Tercero poured a Grenache Blanc with outstanding acidity and a Gewurz going as "The Outsider" - v floral

#tobh #wine  Tercero Grenache & Syrah use whole cluster so a little more herbaceousness  creeps in.

#tobh #wine  Tercero has reds that kill.  Syrah/Petite Sirah, Syrah/Grenache/Mourvedre.  Great structure and depth.  I'm a Larry Schaffer fan.

#tobh #food  Plaisir on Santa Monica Blvd made these unbelievable cream puffs!  Watch out for the squirt.

#tobh #wine  Cambria Chardonnay - just enough oak.  Their '07 Pinot Noir Julia's Vineyard is a fave.

#tobh  Coupa Cafe with Venezuelan food!  Amazing beef empanadas, corn pancakes and Venezuelan cheese sticks.  #food

#tobh #wine  Mateus is here??  With Tempranillo rose?  Hey.  It's not too bad.

#tobh #wine  Demetrius has a white Rhone blend I like a lot.  Pinot is most exp., SGM blend the least exp.  Not that far apart to my palate.

#tobh  Overheard about Taste announcer: "Sunday Sunday Sunday..."

#tobh  On the way out now.  Can't believe how much I ate! & there's another session 2night - BBQ In The Hills - Taste of Beverly Hills.  #food


Congratulations to all who worked to present the Taste of Beverly Hills.  This food and wine event was truly something special, and I'm already looking forward to 2011!

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