The popular Hester St. Fair is expanding from New York City to Hollywood, where they’ll be taking over the streets for a few events this summer. First up is an indie craft festival (yikes). Don’t worry though, they’ll also have plenty of bite-sized ‘best of’ menus floating around from vendors like the Dosa Truck and Lomo Origato, plus a beer garden pouring some of the region’s best craft brews. Not a bad way to kick off your summer.
Lather on some lotion and don the hats, this weekend’s all about getting out and hitting the wide array of street fests happening in L.A.
Starting this Friday and going through next week, if you happen to find yourself heading east, the fifth installment of the Palm Springs Restaurant Week will be taking over the desert. Restaurants in Palm Springs, Indio, and every small town in between will be offering a fixed-price three-course meal for either $24 or $36 per person, depending on the place. There will also be all sorts of events and deals from non-food establishments during the event.
On Saturday, the popular Hester St. Fair is taking a trip from New York all the way toHollywood for the Bite Size Food and Craft Festival. Small portions will be all the rage, as chefs from L.A.’s favorite restaurants offer up “bite-sized” selections so people can sample as wide a range of dishes as their stomachs will allow. The normal assortment of food trucks and vendors will be parked and showcasing their wares as well.
Sunday morning, way up in Goleta, Goodland Kitchen and Market is offering a five-hour course on how to create your own jams and jellies. The class will be taught by master food preserver Cindy Shipp, and each participant will get to take home their own jar of jam and jelly. The whole thing isn’t cheap, at $50 per student. Still, if you’re on a five-bottles-of-jam-a-week habit like us, that will quickly add up to all sorts of savings.
And Sunday afternoon, the 5900 block of Franklin Avenue will be shut down (bad for traffic!) for the 11th annual Franklin Village Street Festival (good for live festival’ing!). Live music will be playing inside the block’s restaurants, while the streets will be littered with local vendors and craft makers will be selling their items. The fest also promises plenty of activities for children to do throughout the day, which, you know, it’s always good to keep them occupied.
For more food events visit kcet.org/events/food.
L.A.’s Best Dozen (Photos of) Donuts
According to the powers that be, National Donut Day is the first Friday of every June. Which is … checking the calendar here for a moment … oh, wow. It’s tomorrow! What joy! But that “national holiday” stuff is more for everyone else. Here in L.A., as evidenced by the abundance of donut shops on every street corner from Hollywood to Echo Park to Santa Monica — and yet, sigh, still no Dunkin’ Donuts — we love our sugar-infused fried dough. So to celebrate our national day of donut reckoning, here’s the best-looking dozen we can find.
See more donuts here!
We Need to Talk About the Sunset Strip Farmer’s Market
“Well, there goes the farmer’s market.”
That was the thought ringing through my mind when a news-blast announcing the June 14th debut of the upcoming “Thursday Night Farmer’s Market on The Sunset Strip” hit my inbox.
This ain’t your grandma’s farmer’s market, that’s for sure. Rows of produce sold in the morning haze of the sun, the only aural accompaniment coming from fellow passersby, local farmers, and perhaps the odd accordion or acoustic guitar playing softly in the distance? Forget it. This one’s from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. (making it a bit more like, a farmer’s market happy hour?) and takes place in the parking lot of the old Tower Records. Oh yeah, and it’s going to rock and/or roll!
“The new Sunset Strip Market is not your typical farmer’s market,” West Hollywood Mayor Jeffrey Prang is quoted in the press release. And that’s certainly true. In fact, the question is: Can this even be considered a real farmer’s market?
Read more here.
The ultra popular Delaware-based breweryDogfish Head is taking over the taps at West Hollywood drink spot The Surly Goat. It’s a one night only sort of thing, with some of the brewery’s favorite beers. Highlights include the 90 minute and 120 minute IPA series, their Immort Ale and the salaciously named Bitches Brew. Come early and stay late for a few surprises as well.
Midnight Snack: Pattaya Bay Thai with Sunken Ships
Rebecca: Do you hang out together often or is it strictly business?
Rose: We used to and then we got girlfriends and boyfriends and stuff. We all sort of have lives and day jobs but I guess Joe and Ray hang a lot.
Joe: We’re like the married couple of the band apparently.
Rose: They bicker but they really love each other.
Rebecca: OK, Joe, if you and Ray really are the married couple, what would you order for him tonight? When he gets here we’ll see what he says.
Joe: Hmmm… I’d order him a beer. I’d just get him booze.
Rose: Really?
Joe: Wait, no, in all honestly I would order him fried rice because my pad Thai doesn’t come with fried rice, and I want fried rice.
Read more here.
Closed on Mondays’ Saucy Meatballs on Garlic Toast
When a beloved neighborhood restaurant is full and humming at top volume by 5:30 p.m., chances are it’s on a weekend, or maybe a Thursday. On the occasional Monday, however, not only is Canelé in Atwater Village doing business on the day when the restaurant is usually shuttered, but it’s jam-packed with customers. And everyone — including many young families at that hour — is there because of Closed on Mondays, a dinner series organized by three women who resourcefully harness goodwill, strong appetites and available resources to help aid local grassroots food organizations.
Chef Aliza Miner has provided the following recipe for all-beef meatballs, which was among the entrée options at the last Closed on Mondays dinner. “I like the all beef flavor,” Miner explains. “Stock makes the sauce a little rounder, not so sharp.” It’s enough for a crowd of your own and ideally suited for relaxed weekend cooking. And you can enjoy the leftovers any day of the week, including Monday.
Closed on Mondays’ Saucy Meatballs on Garlic Toast
Serves: 10-12
For the meatballs:
4 pounds beef chuck or ground beef
3 cups fresh bread crumbs (see instructions below)
1/2 cup cream
4 egg yolks
4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup minced yellow onion
1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan
Chef’s note: Meatballs are best made by grinding fresh meat and the cream-soaked crumbs together. Otherwise it can be hard to evenly distribute the crumbs without over-mixing the meat. If you use ground meat, be careful not to overwork the mixture.
See the rest here!
