Lydia Chain

Vegan Beer Fest

Meat and cheese-lovers were out of luck on the Sunset Strip this Saturday, as 40 animal-free breweries and 30 vegan food vendors took over an empty lot for the 4th annual L.A. Vegan Beer and Food Festival -- an event that is quickly proving itself to be one of the city's biggest and best for craft beer.

Despite a seemingly niche premise of welcoming only animal-free products, the sold-out festival was attended by more than just those who ascribe to the vegan lifestyle. Yes, there was a vegan rapper ("I went vegan, now what you sayin'? Educate yourself you might understand...") and lines of hungry hoards clamoring for Kind Kreme's dairy-free ice cream and Shojin's no-fish sushi, but the event brought out craft beer fans and curious Angelenos alike, who wandered the grounds exploring these two growing culinary trends.

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Butchery demonstration.

Cochon 555 is a feast for the senses. From the piggy small plates to oysters, to cheese cubes, to tartare, to ice cream, there are irresponsibly epic mountains of food. Some of it is really good. And from Anchor Steam bottles to wine tastings to single-barrel Four Roses Manhattans, there's enough drink to cripple an army of Keith Richards clones.

On Sunday, rap bounced around the rafters of the House of Blues on Sunset for the fifth annual installment of the touring food-and-drink festival. Women over 50 bobbed their heads to vintage Lil Wayne. Perfume collided with the smell of stewing meat. Slides depicting the faces of contestants and the logos of sponsors flashed across the projector screen. As you squeezed from table to table, your sustainable cardboard dishes and wooden utensils held aloft to avoid collision with another attendee's head, your body was constantly under assault, pinioned by elbows, brushed by shoulders. You felt not unlike a pig in a pen.

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Farley Elliott

Chego in Chinatown

Although the official opening date isn't until this Saturday, the new Chego digs inside Chinatown's Far East Plaza has been working out their Ooey Gooey Fries, rice bowls and half-pound Chego Burger for a few days. Papi Chulo himself tweeted out a photo of the full Chego spread a few days ago, which can only mean one thing: It's time to eat.

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A. Scattergood

Rye toast with pickled root veg and vinegar dust

If you haven't been checking your Facebook page, Twitter feed, Instagram account, etc., lately, you may be sadly unaware of the latest temporary food-as-art installation, the Amalur Project, which last night debuted at Echo Park's Cortez. I'm sorry. But the happy news is that, as is often the case, there's always dinner tonight.

The Amalur Project is brought to you by Spanish-born chef Sergio Perera, who has, according to the website, cooked in such notable kitchens as Arzak, Jean-Georges, Mugaritz -- and, perhaps most importantly, his grandfather's kitchen. Joining Perera in the project is Burbank-born, Japan-raised Jacob Takehiro Kear, who cooked at Lukshon in Culver City and Tapas Molecular Bar in Tokyo and most recently was chef de cuisine at Eva. Also in the (tiny) kitchen is Steve Monnier, born and trained in France, and who has cooked at many laudable restaurants there and here, including L'Orangerie (which may trump everybody else's fancy credits, if you're an L.A. Francophile foodist).

Yes, the chefs have pilgrimaged to Noma. Yes, they forage. Not only do they trudge out into the surrounding local hills and dales and beautiful forests but they employ professional foragers to do so for them, namely Pascal Baudar and Mia Wasilevich, who have a ton of insanely laudable credits, too.

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Celia Soudry

Bringing attorneys and chefs together (and not because of a lawsuit), the Vintage Bouquet Food and Wine Extravaganza had its 25th run at Greystone Mansion on Sunday, April 28.

The sun beat down on, among other things, hors d'oeuvres from L.A.-area restaurants including Lexington Social House, Lazy Ox Canteen, Palomino, Napa Valley Grille, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Nonna of Italy, just to name a few.

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G. Snyder

Beef Troll Wedding at Beefsteak 2012

By any standard metric, this past Saturday's Beefsteak dinner at Vibiana was a success. There were hors d'oeuvres from chefs Jason Travi, who turned out truffled eggs and bourbon shots topped with veal broth foam, and Neal Fraser, who presented crab cakes, salmon blini and plump little lamb kidneys wrapped in bacon. A large ice sculpture of a steer stood near the side altar. Beer and wine flowed in copious amounts; on some of the long banquet tables sat carafes filled with strong, well-made Manhattans. Dinner brought large bowls of roasted fingerling potatoes, sauteed broccolini with garlic, and long platters of beautifully rare flank steak to be dipped in red wine jus and horseradish sauce. By the end of the night a good deal of money was raised for the L.A. Food Bank.

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Barbara Hansen

Chef Francis Mallmann

A roaring fire lit up the Hollywood Hills the other night, but the fire department didn't respond. Turns out it was a backyard barbecue with Francis Mallmann working the grills, just as he does in South America.

This superstar chef with three restaurants in Argentina, another set to open in March, one in Brazil and one in Uruguay, quietly slipped into Los Angeles for his first cooking demo here.

Renowned for his grilling techniques, which you can read about in his book, Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way, Mallman appeared at a private gathering, and only a select crowd got to meet him.

The party was so low key that Mallmann wasn't introduced but mingled quietly with the guests. Wearing a striped linen apron made in Argentina, white hair streaming below his cap, he checked the grills constantly.

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Anne Fishbein

interior of Spice Table

Last night, under the gorgeous iron bird cages that hang above the back dining room at The Spice Table, chef-owner Bryant Ng held court with Food & Wine editor-in-chief Dana Cowin to mark the release of Cowin's new book, America's Greatest New Cooks. Just published by Food & Wine Books, the cookbook is a celebration of ten of this country's best young chefs -- Ng among them -- with chapters featuring recipes (100 in all) from each chef.

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Gabe Lane

Suzanne Tracht, Alex Reznik, Mollie Pier, Evan Kleiman, Susan Feniger, Kajsa Alger, Eric Greenspan

In 1989, Mollie Pier founded Project Chicken Soup with the intention of delivering wholesome, kosher meals to people living with HIV/AIDS and other serious illnesses. Last weekend, Pier was honored for her decades-long dedication to that cause at a heart-warming awards brunch at Temple Beth Am near Beverly Hills. Many of L.A.'s most prominent chefs with connections to the Jewish community lent their talents to the cause.

The brunch, which was attended by more than 200 people and raised more than $20,000, helped crystallize the idea that food builds community and nourishes us in ways more than the obvious.

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G. Snyder

Lamb heart at Test Kitchen

At last night's Test Kitchen dinner at Bestia, the phrase "vegetarian options are not available during this special meal" printed on top of the menu was something of an understatement. Cooked by some of L.A.'s top "underground" chefs, the focus of the 5-course meal was a selection of offal-centric dishes, which might not have seemed very sweet unless you were swayed by honeycomb tripe, veal nerve, and sweetbreads the size of cat brains.

It was no coincidence that the dinner was scheduled on Halloween's eve. Some people might prefer haunted houses or costume parties this time of year, but for a certain subset of foodies, this dinner could be seen as a grown-up version of being blind-folded and sticking your hands inside bags of cooked spaghetti (witch's hair) and peeled grapes (eyeballs).

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