The Los Angeles Times 2014 “The Taste” rocked the Paramount Lot.
The food and wine festival has such a unique community vibe. If you really want to get to know the chefs and check out up and coming or more established restaurants I would highly recommend attending one of the events at The Taste in 2015. The weekend gives you access to the LA foodie scene and what it has to offer. There was definitely something for everyone.
The weather stayed on the super hot side during most of the daytime events but it didn’t seem to stop anyone from enjoying the food and drinks. We all dripped in sweat together. The Taste crew was passing out Icelandic Glacier water (shout out to them) like the fish mongers throwing fish at the Seattle fish market.
Lets talk about the layout. The magic doesn’t start when you hit your first food booth. It starts when you walk through the enormous pearly gates of the Paramount Lot. You just take all that in and let it sit there for a bit as you walk towards check in. The colorful theme was fun, bright and just made you so happy to be there. There were plenty of high top tables to take a break at and lots and lots of nicely placed garbage cans, which is huge for food festivals when you have one hand to hold your wine, to grab a bite, eat it and discard the wrapping. You can literally spend minutes wandering around looking for a garbage can. I know this may sound weird but it’s one of the first things I noticed once we started eating. There was plenty of living room style seating in shade. I must have said, “I’m so hooooot at least 50 times each day during the daytime events, which I’m sure got real annoying to my foodie friends.
A common theme with all food and wine festivals is the food booths, cocktail tastings, cooking demos, cooking competitions, mixology contests and live music. The Taste LA went above and beyond with activities for kids, a professional kitchen set up for photo shoots, a red carpet with an enormous chalkboard that you could personalize and most importantly, really great organization. Everything had a place and everything was in the right place.
The daytime vibe was more laid back and it was a great opportunity to take in demonstrations and chef panels. The evening vibe was more formal with a party undertone. Doesn’t everything get a bit more hyped up when the sun goes down and sparkling white lights appear? There were spotlights on the red carpet, there were hanging white lights on all the trees and booths giving it an elegant theme and everyone was dressed in more formal attire.
I thoroughly enjoyed the daytime and evening events and I would recommend trying one of each since the vibe is so different from day to night. I’m already looking forward to next year. Heck, I may just sleep at the Paramount Lot.
