The Los Angeles Wine & Food Festival is served—with art and culture on the side
IMG, the global events’ leader behind Taste of London, Taste of Paris, Frieze, and New York Fashion Week brought culinary sunshine to the inaugural Los Angeles Wine & Food Festival on the weekend of March 1–3, 2024 at the Santa Monica Pier. The event was staged in conjunction with the Frieze Week Los Angeles, with events staged at the Santa Monica Airport and other locales around town. Depending on your perspective, this event could be described as a food and arts theme park or a Coachella-zation of the traditional food festival. Regardless, the inaugural event added spice to an already zesty stew of food events Los Angeles is known for.
Serious foodies braved rain and unpredictable weather to appreciate the creations of Los Angeles-associated culinary superstars Andrew Zimmerman, Ben Ford, Alvin Cailan, Justin Pichetrungsi, and Natalia Vallejo under a colourful “big top” tent complete with interesting sideshows in the form of themed tasting rooms (Punk Rock Room! Santa Monica and Skate Park Room!), an Artist Plate Project fundraiser, the presence of non-profit Regarding Her (Re:Her, a national non-profit dedicated to accelerating the growth of women entrepreneurs and leaders in the food and beverage industries), and a line-up of all-female local DJs: DJ Millie, DJ Orange Calderon, and DJs Mango & Ginger.
There was no shortage of savoury, satisfying bites, but we wanted to give a shout-out to our favourite dishes: Jamaican curry oxtail taco by Melba Wilson of Melba’s; cacio e pepe Neapolitan pizza slices from Pizzana from master pizzaiolo Daniele Uditi; a generous poke-style appetizer from chef Andrea Cuellar, culinary director at Sweetfin; line-generating and crowd-pleasing tropical delights from Hana Dreiling’s Holey Grail Donuts, tuna tacos from Robert Liberato, regional executive chef at STK Los Angeles; mini-lobster rolls from Santa Monica institution, the Lobster (anchored by Govind Armstrong), and huge Chicago Italian beef sandwiches from chefs Alex Williams and Jordan Snyder that were a meal in themselves. Yaamava Resort & Casino chef Everton Clark’s filling-yet-addictive birria nachos and the way he handed heaping servings of his crave-worthy creations to festival-goers delivered a stand-out moment.
During the same weekend, Frieze LA provided substance for the other senses, through a showcase for artists, designers, and other talents to display their innovative, multicultural, and colourful creations. Larissa de Jesús Negrón collaborated with Paris Laundry Creative Director and Founder Guy Samuel to introduce a line of statement-making menswear at the Webster.
‘I have always wanted to work with artists to collaborate on bigger projects, Larissa being at the top of that list,’ said Samuel. ‘Both Larissa and I are from Forest Hills, NY, so it was cool to connect both our different cultures, from the same hometown, and mix my street style with her style of art to create one artistic vision.’
‘The Frieze Los Angeles Art Fair was really fun,’ said artist De Jesús Negrón on travel to the west coast to expand awareness of her artwork. ‘What I enjoyed the most apart from presenting my work at the Webster’s beautiful LA location was being able to meet so many of the people that support my practice and collect my work from California. They made my partner and I feel very welcomed and appreciated. [Furthermore,] as a fine artist venturing into design, it’s exciting to see a collection reflect snippets of the iconography I’ve developed in painting throughout the years. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to create something beautifully unique next to Guy Samuel.’
To learn more about the festival, its international sister festival and its founders, visit lawineandfood.com.
