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5 can't-miss dishes at the L.A. Food & Wine Festival kickoff

Written by
Stephanie Breijo
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For the food-inclined, the Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival can feel a lot like Christmas: the citywide event comes but once a year, gifting guests culinary presents for every palate. Starting Thursday and running through Sunday, a string of tasting events and one-time meals and collaborations can be found Downtown, along the Sunset Strip and on the Westside by celebrity chefs and local favorites alike. (Heck, this year even features a complimentary bus tour of L.A.'s classic neon signage.) It all starts with Thursday night's Ultimate Bites of L.A., a tasting event hosted by Gwen's own Curtis Stone and featuring some of the city's most beloved chefs and restaurants. With more than 20 dishes to sample, it's going to be a downright spree to taste your way through it all. To help get you started, we've got five dishes you have to try tomorrow night—your stomachs can thank us later.

Belcampo's BBQ pork brisket

By now, all of L.A. should be aware that Belcampo Meat Co.'s got a way with muscle. Part restaurant, part butcher shop, all parts delicious, these burger gods with Westside and DTLA outposts will be at the festival's opening event and serving an ode to summer: BBQ pork with bread-and-butter pickles, right up alongside a succotash of sweet corn, black-eyed peas and Sun Gold tomatoes. We're nearing the end of summer but shhhhhhh just don't think about that. And let's face it, this is L.A.; even as the season ends, our weather and produce will still be the finest in the country—but that doesn't mean we can't fall headfirst into the flavors of summer anyway. Full speed ahead, right into a plate of BBQ.

Café Pinot's seafood salad

Downtown's California- and French-inspired darling Café Pinot is offering Ultimate Bites' most ultimate seafood dishes: a cold salad of octopus, prawns, jellyfish, papaya, pickled leeks, Vietnamese coriander, nuoc cham and crispy chicken skin, as well as a plate of charred squid with tomato, squash, a smoked almond purée and some salsa verde. Those loyal to the skilled hand of executive chef Viet Pham already know how artful his plates can be—both in flavor and aesthetic.

Estrella's gnocchi in beef cheek sugo

It was but a few weeks ago that the James Beard-nominated Mirko Paderno took the reigns at Estrella, but the former Culina chef is already making some big changes at the Sunset spot. Tomorrow, you can catch him whipping up one of his own personal classics: potato gnocchi with beef cheek sugo, pecorino and gremolata. If you've ever had a chance to sample his gnocchi, you already know that his take on the pillowy dumplings exercise both the perfect chew and a silken melt-in-your mouth quality. If you haven't, now's the perfect chance to get acquainted.

Girasol's prawns

Girasol's executive chef Justin Abram already wins our award for Best 'Stache of L.A. Food & Wine Festival 2017, but don't let the impressive facial hair distract you—he's also a talented chef who'll be piling, sprinkling and tweezering some of the prettiest plates at the festival. (And in this year's impressive lineup, that's saying something.) Be sure to sample his Santa Barbara ridge back prawns with a prawn-head-and-onion ash, grapes and a stinging-nettle aïoli to (re)acquaint yourself with his whimsical palate, which was honed in the kitchens of José Andrés and Gordon Ramsay, among others.

Love & Salt's brown sugar pudding

Though one of Manhattan Beach's shining stars of savory Italian cuisine, some of Love & Salt's finest creations come oozing, sticky sweet and rich—the desserts of our dreams. Tomorrow, catch executive chef Michael Fiorelli sating our sweet tooth with brown sugar pudding topped with whipped crème fraîche, cocoa nibs and a sprinkle of sea salt. Talk about ending a night on a high note. Or just go for dessert first; no judgment here.

The seventh annual Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival runs from August 24 to 27, kicking off tomorrow night with the Ultimate Bites of L.A. from 7 to 10pm between Grand Avenue and 1st Street. Tickets to Ultimate Bites run $175 per person, or $225 for VIP access, which lets you in 30 minutes before the rest of the crowd. Looking for more ticket information? Step right this way.

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