Turning Japanese (and Chinese, Thai, Etc.) at the LUCKYRICE Festival Los Angeles

Hungry for some tasty Asian tidbits? If you are lucky enough to live in San Francisco, Las Vegas or Miami, then mark your calendar for the next LUCKYRICE Festival, coming soon to your city. It's happening September 6 in San Francisco (hosted by Chef Morimoto), October 5 in Las Vegas and later in the year in Miami. Offering (as LUCKYRICE founder Danielle Chang says) "flavors from Taiwan to Thailand," the food orgy allows you to "eat your way around Asia" without buying the plane ticket.

This crazy balloon animal was the centerpiece in the main room of the LUCKYRICE Festival.

We got to experience the second annual LUCKYRICE Los Angeles Night Market Festival on July 27, 2013, which was actually held in Culver City (which we locals know is actually not Los Angeles) at the Bookbindery. Chef Sang Yoon of Lukshon and Father's Office fame served as the night's host for the event featuring over 20 restaurants that celebrates the Asian culinary experience. He led the charge serving up three dishes from Lukshon, including Pig Ear Terrine (a bit too out there for me); the vegetarian Green on Green (English Peas, Romano Beans, Fava Beans, Haricot Verts, Spring Onions); and Modern Lomi Lomi Salmon served with pickled Maui onions and a tomato gelee.

Chef Jet Tila.

Chef Jet Tila, an L.A. native who is best known for his "Iron Chef America" appearance up against Morimoto, recently opened the Charleston Restaurant and Supper Club in Santa Monica. He offered up a Northern Thai Curry Noodle Soup with Braised Beef Tendon, and while I'm not a big fan of eating tendon (or internal organs, unless I am starving on a desert island), the flavors of the soup were a Thai lover's dream. Kris Yenbamroong of the uber-hotspot Night + Market served a wonderful Tuna Ceviche, but it was no surprise that Katsuya, those amazing Japanese restaurants in Brentwood, Hollywood and Glendale, had my favorite tasty tidbits of the evening. I kept pouncing on their Hamachi Hand Roll and Tuna Hand Roll, both so fresh and delicately spiced that I found myself wandering back over to their Dragon Lounge for more.

I did the same with the Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Rosé NV; that bright bubbly paired perfectly with most of the Asian flavors. Others went for the cocktails cooked up with presenting sponsor Bombay Sapphire Gin – the Hinoki & the Bird Matcha Rickey and the No Vacancy China Doll were big hits.

And the biggest hit of the night didn't have anything to do with food or drink! It was the balloon animal hats (and other permutations, like swords, vests, etc.) that wowed the crowd. The lines at that booth went almost out the door!

Some of the goofy balloon designs everyone was sporting at the LUCKYRICE Festival in Los Angeles.

Learning to Cook with Chef Eric, L.A.'s Top Culinary Educator

Most people who know me know that cooking is not my strong suit. It's probably the reason I love dining out so much, especially at places (think the French Laundry in Yountville, CA) who serve complicated dishes that there is no way I would ever even consider tackling. One look at Thomas Keller's "The French Laundry Cookbook" was enough to send me running – most of those dishes are incredibly complicated and take hours and hours to prepare!

Chef Eric Crowley

So when I was invited to try out Chef Eric's Culinary Classroom here in Los Angeles, I entered his Westside school (located just off Pico near Overland, at 2366 Pelham Avenue) with a bit of trepidation. I mean, I can chop up just about anything, making ceviche or salads like a pro (or so I thought), but beyond that, I am a bit shaky. Our evening session was Chef Eric Crowley's Wine and Food Pairing Class ($90 per person), with the group making this menu:

Eggplant Fritters and Zucchini Fritters

Fennel-Dusted Pan-Seared Scallops with Grilled Mushrooms and Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

Homemade Pasta with Tomato and Kalamata Olive Tapenade Sauce

Sauteed Chicken Breast with Sunchokes, Garlic, Capers, Sundried Tomatoes and White Wine

Braised Lamb Stew with Wild Mushrooms, Garlic, Thyme, Parsley and Red Wine Vinegar

Homemade Tiramisu

The company also offers a Master Chef 18-week course; a Master Baker 10-week course; a Culinary Basics 4-week course; and numerous single classes that cover all sorts of culinary topics, ranging from Chicken Connoisseur to Sushi Making.

As we strapped on our aprons (which we got to keep), draped a kitchen towel over a shoulder and entered the kitchen, we found a number of food-preparation stations set up. Chef Eric explained all the elements of the menu and what order we would prepare everything, so that we'd learn one of the key things about cooking – how to bring all the dishes to the table at the same time!

The seared scallops we made were delicious!

And it was here, early on in the 2.5-hour class, that I learned that I am actually not a good chopper. My one claim to cooking fame was dashed in an instant, as Chef Eric demonstrated the correct way to use a knife. "Keep the point of the knife on the cutting board," he explained, "then always slice away from your body."

Well, duh! Makes perfect sense, doesn't it? But that's not the way I have spent my whole life chopping things up; it's a miracle that I haven't sliced myself open in the process at least once. It takes a bit of practice to change something you've done your whole life, but that's the key thing I took away from this particular culinary adventure.

Along the way, we also learned how to make a perfectly fried fritter; the art of delicately searing scallops; and how to use a machine to create delicious homemade pasta. Who knew you just mixed up flour, salt and eggs, kneaded it for a while to create a dough, then ran it through a pasta machine? It's easy to feel like an Italian capo when Chef Eric is there to give lessons! It actually made me want to hit a Williams-Sonoma for a machine of my own.

Look, Mom, I am making pasta!!

All along, Chef Eric and his partner (and wife) Jennie Crowley kept the class interested and engaged, with each person choosing what level of involvement he/she wanted to experience. Some (like me) stuck with the prepping, while others (like my brother Jeff Peters) stepped right up to the massive industrial gas stove and did the actual cooking. And best of all, the class culminated in all the dishes arriving at the table at exactly the right moment, so we could all enjoy a feast of our own making.

The feast we created with the help of Chef Eric (right), all ready for the table at the same time.

Did Chef Eric make me into a fanatic cook? Not quite. I'm still a restaurant maven, preferring to let others do the serious cooking for me. But ever since, as I chop up all the veggies for my work-at-home regular lunch of a big salad, I know better than to cut toward my body. Worth the price of admission, that.

Culinary Adventures in Los Angeles: A Taste of Summer, Serious Barbecue, East LA Meets Napa

There’s always something happening in the culinary scene in Los Angeles, from sublime fine dining to food truck fun. Southern California is a cornucopia of different cultures, which means carnitas one day and bulgogi the next. Join me as I roam the landscape of L.A. and beyond -- all over California, in fact -- to follow the trends, tastes and topics that are lighting up the culinary scene in the Golden State.

July’s culinary adventures started for me with three very different events. First, on July 13, I headed up the beach to Santa Monica, where the 2^nd Annual Taste of Summer was unfolding at the Annenberg Community Beach House. That’s the public beachfront spot that used to be a posh private beachfront estate, where William Randolph Hearst once frolicked with his mistress, actress Marion Davies. Nowadays it is a pretty spot where parties like the Taste of Summer are held.

 Chef Eric Greenspan jumped into the fray at the Taste of Summer.

The Taste was all about food, wine and giving back – it is a fundraiser for the Fulfillment Fund (www.fufillment.org), that great organization that helps kids in need get a college education. Honorary Chair and Chef Eric Greenspan of the Foundry and the Roof on Wilshire fame joined some of his favorite food and drink purveyors, including Wolfgang Puck Catering, Whole Foods, Locanda Positano, Stella Artois and Silverado Vineyards for the celebration.

Silverado Vineyards poured their excellent red blend called SOLO.

As the sun set over the Pacific, more than 500 guests roamed and grazed between two buildings, with the outdoor dessert section drawing a big crowd. And despite the chill brought on when night fell, everyone partied well into the night, bidding on silent auction items to help the fund keep up the good work.

Some of the delicious fare served up at the Taste of Summer 2013.

On July 16, it was off to Hollywood for some “Serious Barbecue.” That’s grillmaster Adam Perry Lang’s (www.adamperrylang.com) just re-released cookbook all about the Q; he’s currently set up in the parking lot just behind Jimmy Kimmel Live’s studio on Hollywood Boulevard (enter through the alley between the boulevard and Hawthorn Avenue, off Orange), serving up lunch to those in-the-know all summer long. 

The pulled pork and tri-tip combo plate: now that is some "Serious Barbecue"!

Perry proudly stoked up the smoker and served us massive plates of tri tip and pulled pork, washed down with concoctions created with Dickel Tennessee Whisky. It felt like we had been transported into the Deep South all of a sudden! His tangy and spicy sauces added to the heat given off by the smoker, making it one summer night in Los Angeles where we really didn’t need a sweater. 

Dickel's Tennessee Whisky got the party going in the parking lot.

Lang will be barbecuing and serving lunch in that spot every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. until September 5.

Grills were working overtime on July 19, at the 8^th Annual East LA Meets Napa party at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, as Latino chefs and winemakers joined forces to raise funds for AltaMed (www.altamed.org), the group dedicated to helping “underserved communities” get decent health care in SoCal. As usual, it was the foodie lover’s party of the summer, with meltingly delicious dishes paired with top-notch wines and tequilas.

Lines formed early and lasted all night for El Cholo’s (www.elcholo.com) legendary green corn tamale, that sweet-spicy dollop of corn heaven, smothered in a mole that combines so many flavors it makes you woozy with delight. Chichen Itza’s (www.chichenitzarestaurant.com) fiery grilled camarones also caused a stir – especially among those who didn’t realize that habañeros are a key ingredient in the salsa that enrobes each perfectly made shrimp tidbit.

There was melt-in-your-mouth Cochinita Pibil from Don Chente (www.donchentebarandgrill.com) and an array of little tangy bites from La Huasteca (www.lahuasteca.com), including a delicious fish and shrimp ceviche.

Rivera chef John Sedlar eschewed cooking for pouring tequila instead, offering up shots of a special house-made libation. Meanwhile, 30 Latin winemakers descended on the outdoor garden spaces at the station, everyone from acclaimed Napa winemaker Michael Trujillo of Sequoia Grove fame, who was pouring his newest creation, Trujillo Cellars Merlot to a group of Mexican producers from the Baja California’s Valle de Guadalupe, the rapidly rising district near Ensenada, who poured some surprisingly tasty reds.