Taste of the Americas at San Antonio Winery: Celebrate Independence with Food and Wine

Seven Latin American countries celebrate their independence day in September. That makes it the perfect month for San Antonio Winery's "Taste of the Americas" food and wine festival. The festival, held September 20 in downtown Los Angeles, will feature dishes from five of those countries--Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile and Brazil--along with food from two recent celebrants Argentina (May) and Jamaica (August). San Antonio Winery, established in 1917 and the only producing winery in L.A., is a Los Angeles Historical Landmark.

Here's a sampling of what you'll taste. South American specialties will include machas a la Parmesana (clams in Parmesan cream sauce) from Chile; Bahia style feijoada (meat and black bean stew) from Brazil and empanadas and matambre (stuffed beef roll) from Argentina.

San Antonio Winery in downtown Los Angeles

El Salvador will offer peanut soup, arepas con queso (corn cakes with cheese) and alfajores de maicena (cookies). Nicaragua's table will display pork and plantain fritters, arroz a la Valenciana (rice with chicken) and torrejas, a bread pudding with wine sauce. Ceviche and goat stew will represent Jamaica, and Mexico will have menudo, chicken enchiladas and chiles rellenos.

And that's just a short list. There will be more to taste, along with wines from Argentina, Chile, Baja California's Guadalupe Valley and San Antonio's Maddalena line. If by any chance you don't like your wine straight, you can have Nonna's red and white wine sangria or El Salvador's sweet red wine punch with sago pearls.

Taste of the Americas: September 20 from 2 to 5 p.m. at San Antonio Winery, 737 Lamar Street, Los Angeles; (323) 223-1401.Tickets are $50.