Entertainment

Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival

Come join the fun on Aug. 9 to Aug. 12 in Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Downtown/L.A. Live and Santa Monica. National culinary talents, top notch winemakers and the pop-music icons, Third Eye Blind, will perform. Tonight, celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis is having a Festa Italiana at Nokia Plaza L.A. LIVE. Go to www.lafw.com to see all the events scheduled.

Catch ‘Idol’ Casey Abrams

Come to the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites on Aug. 12 before 6 p.m. to join WAVE’s Morning Show Pat Prescott for the 94.7 WAVE’s Summer Sunday concert. California native and American Idol 2011 contestant, Casey Abrams, will perform. Enjoy a great buffet dinner and drink specials. 404 S. Figueroa St. (213)612-4897.

Julia Child’s 100th Birthday

Comme Ca is joining over 100 restaurants across the nation to participate in Julia Child Restaurant Week, now until Aug. 15. Chef David Myers is honoring Julia Childs 100th birthday by recreating several of her classic recipes in a special menu that includes lobster thermidor and beef bourguignon. 8479 Melrose Ave. (323)782-1104.

Vegetarian Summer Delight

Chef Ian Gresik is offering a five-course all-veggie feast at Drago Centro. The light and playful courses begin with an heirloom tomato salad with Bocconcini mozzarella and olive oil powder. It ends with summer cherries with a Prosecco mousse, pistachios and basil gelato. The price is $70 per person. 525 S. Flower St. Suite 120 (213)228-8998.

Playa’s Cielo Verde

Urban Latin cuisine Chef John Sedlar and partner Bill Chait created an aeroponic garden on Playa’s rooftop, “Cielo Verde”. Some of the unique and rare edibles served from the garden are wild arugula, pac choi, Tuscan black kale, great white tomatoes, black cherry tomatoes, peaches and cream corn, Manar cucumbers, fresh black garbanzos and Swiss chard. Chef de Cuisine Kevin Luzande and the entire kitchen staff join Chef Sedlar in tending to this garden. 7360 Beverly Blvd. (323)533-5300.

Brunch at Tom Bergin’s Tavern

The oldest Irish establishment in Los Angeles announced it is serving weekend brunch. Some of the classic dishes include Corned beef hash, oatmeal skillet pancakes and an Irish breakfast with two fried eggs, chicken sausage, rashers, roasted tomato and sautéed mushrooms with black pudding and grilled soda bread. Enjoy with a famous Irish coffee made with Bushmill’s Irish whiskey, coffee, demerara sugar and cream. 840 S. Fairfax Ave. (323)936-7151.

Cooking Class

Come join Chef Megan Logan at Nick + Stef’s for her second “Girl and a Grill” Meat 101 class on August 10. The class starts at 7:30 p.m. It costs $35 to learn how to make your own dry-rub and marinades that will add an extra sizzle to your next BBQ. If you are throwing a summer party, this class is a must to impress all of your guests. 330 S. Hope St. (213)680-0330.

Fleming’s Summer Specials

From August 13-26 order the summer menu that includes a beefsteak tomato and mozzarella salad with arugula and a red onion balsamic vinaigrette. Pair it with a Sailors Sunset Sangria with Red Diamond Merlot, Sailor Jerry Spiced rum and peach Schnapps and cubes of fresh peaches, oranges and lemons. The entrée is Prime New York Strip topped with crispy gorgonzola. It’s served with grilled asparagus, pickled fennel and baby golden beets. Dessert is lemon-poppy seed butter cookies with vanilla ice cream and a warm apple-ginger sauce. 800 W. Olympic Blvd. (213)745-9911 and 2301 Rosencrans Ave (310)643-6911.

Pairing Cheese & Wine

Meet award-winning cookbook author and authority on cheese, Laura Werlin at the Los Angeles Food and Wine Festival on Sat. Aug. 11 at 10:30 a.m. in the Diamond Ballroom Salon 3, at the JW Marriott. She will teach participants how to pair cheese and wine. Of course you get to taste both. Tickets for each seminar are $75 per person. 900 W. Olympic Blvd. www.lafw.com.

French Moroccan Sunday

Executive Chef T. Nicolas Peters is serving a three-course menu every Sunday. Start with a Mezze appetizer and choice of three entrées lamb stew, chicken Tajine with green olives and zucchini or monkfish with dried apricots, honey and almonds. Save room for Moroccan cookies with oranges and dates. A glass of their fabulous green mint hot tea finishes the meal. Two Moroccan wines are featured on Sunday. The three-course meal is $40. A vegetarian option is $30. The Little Door, 8164 W. Third St. (323)951-1210.

Caviar Class at Petrossian

Join Caviar 301 on Aug. 16 at 7:30 p.m. Learn about the most spectacular caviar sold at Petrossian while enjoying a 7-course dinner prepared by Giselle Wellman. The evening includes two choices of wine, champagne or a caviar martini for $125. 321 N. Robertson Blvd. (310)271-0576.

Cecconi’s Supper

On Sunday, August 12 at 2 p.m.,  Chef Andrea Cavaliere will serve a 200-pound  roasted pig for the Italian holiday, Ferragosto. Plates of roasted pig with apple sauce, wood oven roasted potatoes and pork crackling are $26. Cavaliere says the supper is over when the last piece of pork is served. 8764 Melrose Ave. 8764 Melrose Ave. (310)432-2000.

Tags | Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival, Restaurant News, Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites