WHY To support the good works of the local Rotary Club while tasting wine in a beautiful place. WHAT The words ‘unpretentiousness’ and ‘wine’ don’t often go together, but they do just that, and beautifully so, at this neighborly afternoon festival that supports Ojai’s Rotary-West. Tickets range from $25 to $35, depending on when you [...]
WHY A Maine lobster meal for less than $10 (many people eat two), with all the attendant summertime-festival stands and bands. WHAT The lobsters don’t come from this port, which is a good thing—13 tons of them are flown in from Maine and served on paper plates with a ‘buttery topping’ to hordes of festival [...]
WHY Really good, really homemade tamales from church groups, home-based tamale businesses and larger regional tamale makers. WHAT This free 18-year-old festival is devoted to the humble but heavenly tamale, held during the traditional tamale month, December, which also happens to be the most pleasant time of year in the desert. Tamale booths galore, a [...]
WHY To see the world’s largest vat of guacamole, of course. WHAT Now one of the state’s largest food-focused events, the Avocado Festival is free and fun. Contests include largest avocado, best guacamole recipe and best-dressed avocado; music comes from lots of good local bands; and the kids’ area includes an avocado rock-climbing wall. Early [...]
WHY To support Meals on Wheels. Oh, and to network. Oh yeah, and to wallow in great food and wine. WHAT L.A.’s foodie event of the year takes over the backlot at Universal Studios on a Saturday in the fall and is typically a sellout, despite the high price of admission. Thanks to the clout [...]
WHY Tastings of some 50 salsas, amateur and professional recipe contests, great Latin music and salsa dancing—and all the chips you could ever hope to eat. WHAT You can dance the salsa and eat the salsas at this fun, free and friendly summertime fest in ocean-cooled Oxnard. The heart of the event is the huge [...]
WHY To wallow in the glory of bread, butter and cheese. WHAT Bread – Butter – Cheese – Victory! is the slogan of this fast-growing underground cheese-off that’s typically held in April (the 2009 one was chaos, but 2010 was better organized and much more fun). The location changes and is sometimes not announced until [...]
WHY Ordering the Dianne salad marks you as a true Pasadenan. WHAT This institution does a brisk business in Cal-American cuisine. There’s a popular outdoor patio and a modern-coffee-shop interior, but wherever you choose to sit, the go-to dish is the Dianne salad, its ginormous take on Chinese chicken salad (for a more reasonable serving, [...]
WHY A chance to hang out with the local hipsters in a laid-back neighborhood café. WHAT This funky-cute cottage across the street from Virginia Park is emblematic of the gentrification of Santa Monica’s Pico neighborhood. Pull up a chair at one of the adorable little tiled tables on the ivy-shaded patio and enjoy one of [...]
WHY Great chicken curry and egg salad open-face sandwiches; good lemon tarts; a communal table with loaves of bread serving as idiosyncratic napkin holders; excellent vegan and vegetarian options. WHAT These Belgian-based cafés offer a level of quality that’s almost never seen in chains. Fresh, flavorful, often organic ingredients go into the delicious open-face sandwiches, [...]
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