Los Angeles Area Culinary Events

Hungry? Need to fill your culinary calendar? Here is where you will find all the restaurant and culinary happenings in Greater Los Angeles. We feature a calendar of special dinners, tasting menus, prix-fixe meals, food festivals and other LA culinary events, including regularly occurring food events as well as special one-time-only L.A. events featuring top chefs. Keep checking back so you can know all that's going on in the world of restaurant and food events in Los Angeles and the surrounding suburbs.

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February 9, 10 & 11
For three nights, Patina is offering an exclusive black truffle tasting menu from executive chef Tony Esnault. Chef Esnault has created four-, five-, six- and seven-course menus priced at $140, $155, $170, and $185 respectively. Dishes include a peasant black truffle salad with country bread, white mushrooms and Parmesan; foie gras ravioli with celery, sunchoke emulsion and black truffle; veal tenderloin with carrots, turnips, wild mushrooms and black truffle; and Bartlett pear, soft almond cake and black truffle ice cream. Wine pairings are available. For reservations, call 213-972-3331. Patina, Walt Disney Concert Hall, 141 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012, 213-972-3331.
 

February 20
The Renaissance Hollywood Hotel at Hollywood & Highland will host a Cupcake Challenge where the public and a panel of celebrity judges will help decide who makes the best cupcakes in Southern California. Participating bakeries will include Polkadots Cupcakes, Southern Girl Desserts, and Charmed Cupcakes. Admission is $40 and includes samplings of mini-cupcakes. The event will be held from 12 p.m.-3 p.m. For more information, visit www.drinkeatplay.com/cupcakechallenge. Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, Hollywood & Highland, 1755 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90028, 323-856-1200.
 

February 27
RockSugar Pan Asian Kitchen in Century City is hosting a "Foods From Thailand" cooking class with executive chef Mohan Ismail. The menu is inspired by his Southeast Asia travels and includes spicy grapefruit and crab salad; coconut chicken salad; pad thai; and sticky mango rice. Each dish will be paired with a wine. The class will be held from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and costs $100 per person. RockSugar Pan Asian Kitchen, Westfield Century City, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90067, 310-552-9988.
 

February 28
The 2nd Annual LA Weekly Gold Standard Food and Wine Event comes to the Peterson Automotive Museum on Sunday, February 28. Pulitzer prizewinner Jonathan Gold has selected 40 of L.A.'s best restaurants to dish up their top fare, along with wine, beer and spirit samples and a charity raffle event. VIP entry offers admission an hour early and a gift bag. The event for general admission ($60) runs from 1 p.m.-5 p.m., and VIP admission ($80) runs noon-5 p.m. For tickets, visit www.laweekly.com/microsites/goldstandard/ or call 888-878-9651. Peterson Automotive Museum, 6060 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036.
 

June 4-13
During the third annual Palm Springs Desert Resorts Restaurant Week, diners can enjoy special three-course, prix-fixe dinner menus for either $24 or $36 per person (beverages, tax and gratuity not included) at selected restaurants. Palm Springs hotels and attractions will also offer special discounted rates during Restaurant Week. For more information, please visit www.palmspringsrestaurantweek.com.
 

ONGOING EVENTS

Ongoing
From 4 p.m.-8 p.m. every day, Toscanova in the Westfield Century City offers an Italian happy hour. Drinks are half off and free finger food is served at the bar. Toscanova, Westfield Century City, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., Ste. 192, Los Angeles, CA 90067, 310-551-0499.
 

Ongoing
Joe's in Venice has introduced a value priced prix-fixe dinner of three courses for $45. The offerings change nightly, but a sample menu might include almond crusted St. Maure goat cheese with watercress, pomegranate gastrique and apple purée; braised lamb shank with snap peas, baby turnips and fingerling potatoes; and dark chocolate tart with pink peppercorn ice cream and white chocolate curls. In addition, a flight of three wines is priced at $25. Joe's, 1023 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, CA 90291, 310-399-5811.
 

Monday through Friday
In Beverly Hills, the Avalon Hotel's Oliverio offers a weekday happy hour from 5 p.m.-7 p.m., with all items on the cocktail and bar menus half-price. Nosh on pizzetta with goat cheese and black summer truffles, fritto misto, spicy tuna tartare and gazpacho. Cocktails include the blue Avalon, organic Margarita and classics like the Negroni or mojito. Oliverio, Avalon Hotel, 9400 W. Olympic Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212, 310-407-7791.
 

Monday through Friday
For Melrose shoppers, Froma on Melrose, the boutique café, wine bar and gourmet marketplace, now has a weekday happy hour, which takes place Monday through Friday from 4 p.m.-7 p.m. Specials include $4 beers, $5 glasses of wine and a number of "small bites" taken from the main menu ($3-$8) including mini Kobe beef burgers, duck and pork rillette on toasted baguette, burrata cheese and antipasto. Froma on Melrose, 7960 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046, 323-653-3700.
 

Monday through Friday
La Cachette Bistro is offering a $15 prix-fixe lunch menu Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Guests can start with soup or a mixed green salad before selecting a main course from items like a zucchini and herb omelet or baked brioche with béchamel, Swiss cheese and organic ham. Dessert might feature macaroons with chocolate sauce. La Cachette Bistro, 1733 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90401, 310-434-9509.
 

Monday through Friday
BondSt Beverly Hills is offering happy hour in the lounge from 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The selection of $7 drinks and appetizers includes saketinis, a lychee martini, spicy tuna roll and beef teriyaki skewers. In addition, a $46 per person prix-fixe tasting menu is available in the dining room. The menu features spicy tuna on crispy rice; Fuji apple and artichoke salad; choice of miso cod or New York strip steak; a selection of sushi; and Fuji apple sorbet, apple soup and apple chips. BondSt Beverly Hills, Thompson Beverly Hills, 9360 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212, 310-601-2255.
 

Mondays
Experience a more casual, "bistro-style" JiRaffe with its Monday Night Bistro when brown paper tablecloths, carafes of wine and signature dishes at reduced prices rule the evening. The bistro menu is a prix-fixe, three-course dinner for $38 per person and a carafe of wine costs between $8-$12. The regular JiRaffe menu is also available. Reservations are recommended; call 310-917-6671. JiRaffe, 502 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401, 310-917-6671.
 

Mondays
In Los Feliz, Little Dom's is featuring a $15 prix-fixe supper on Monday nights featuring seasonal dishes like fried green tomatoes with sun dried tomato pesto, white corn polenta with wild mushrooms, and Mexican chocolate budino. Bottles of Dago Red or White are $10, and Peroni beer is $2. Little Dom's, 2128 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027, 323-661-0055.
 

Tuesdays
Every Tuesday from 7 p.m.-10 p.m., Palate Food + Wine hosts "Le Cirque du Fromage," a weekly cheese social orchestrated by Todd the Cheese Guy, with rotating cheeses and small plate cheese concoctions hot, warm and cold. A flight with three cheeses plus one wine is $12; additional cheese dishes are around $6, with items like croque madams and Brussels sprouts risotto. No reservations are accepted, first come first served. Palate Food+Wine, 933 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale, CA 91204, 818-662-9463.
 

Wednesdays
Glendale's Palate Food + Wine is offering "Offal Good," a three-course feast of innards and extremities from chef/owner Octavio Becerra every Wednesday evening from 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m. at the restaurant's back wine bar. The weekly event begins on January 13 with dishes such as split pea soup with crispy pig ears, sweetbreads with oro blanco, chicory and pomegranate, and braised oxtail with buttermilk pommes purée. Subsequent weeks will celebrate other rich, delicious parts of animals, including tongues, brains, intestines, hearts and feet. The three-course meal is priced at $25, or $9 à la carte. The Offal Good menu also offers items like "porkfolio" (charcuterie) and potted lamb, chicken or pork for the less adventurous. Palate Food + Wine, 933 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale, CA 91204, 818-662-9463.
 

Wednesdays
A new Certified Farmers' Market is open at Barnsdall Art Park, and takes place Wednesdays from noon-6 p.m. Located at Hollywood and Vermont, the year-round market offers Eastsiders a variety of fresh produce, nuts and dried fruits, as well as seasonal tastings, cooking demonstrations, music and crafts. This market replaces the Hollywood Lemon Grove Farmers' Market and the market formerly located in the Sears parking lot (known as the Hollywood-Sears Farmers' Market). Barnsdall Farmers' Market, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027, 323-461-3171.
 

Wednesdays
Upstairs 2, located above West L.A.’s massive Wine House, offers a four-course dinner prepared by chef Todd Barrie every Wednesday, paired with four wines from around the world selected by sommelier Marilyn Snee. Each week will showcase a different wine region, and there will be a brief discussion of each wine and its pairing. The cost is $55 per person. Upstairs 2, 2311 Cotner Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064, 310-231-0316.
 

Thursdays
Chef Todd Allison is putting a new spark into the kitchen at Checkers Downtown, not least during FOUR, a special happy hour running on Thursdays through spring from 4 p.m.-8 p.m. Choose from a weekly theme of four artisanal cocktails or wines and four haute small plates---think oysters on the half shell with watermelon granite, vichyssoise with purple Peruvian potato chips, or charred salmon belly with cured lemon and ginger salad---for only $4-$6 each. Checkers Downtown, Hilton Checkers Los Angeles, 535 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90071, 213-891-0519.
 

Sundays
To the delight of chocoholics and tea-lovers alike, The Langham, Huntington Hotel & Spa serves Chocolate Afternoon Tea every Sunday. Among the offerings are fruit tarts, mousse torts, crème brûlées, a chocolate fountain, chocolate sculptures, drinking chocolate, Champagne and fine teas. The Chocolate Afternoon Tea is offered in the Lobby Lounge, and costs $59. The Langham's Signature Afternoon Tea is still available Thurs.-Sat. for $39 per person. For more information, or to make reservations, please call 626-568-3900. The Langham, Huntington Hotel & Spa, 1401 S. Oak Knoll Ave., Pasadena, CA 91106, 626-568-3900.
 

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