The first weekend in November saw the inaugural Los Angeles edition of the Taste Talks conference, consisting of a kick-off party on Friday, all-day sessions at on Saturday followed by a limited seating dinner, and an afternoon BBQ on Sunday, with an after party immediately following. Unforunately, I could not attend the opening night party or the Saturday night dinner, but I did attend the conference sessions on Saturday and the BBQ on Sunday.
The conference took place at The Line Hotel and consisted of various discussions, panels, and cooking demonstrations. Many were overlapping, so I wasn’t able to attend them all, but the ones I enjoyed were a live recording of the Snacky Tunes podcast with chef Wes Avila of Guerrilla Tacos, a panel of Los Angeles food writers and journalists, and a Kellogg’s sponsored cereal bar throwdown, where chef Nyesha Arrington of Leona took first place.
Sunday’s All-Star BBQ featured pairings of artists and musicians with restaurants, who ostensibly collaborated to come up with the dishes served. One collaboration, between restaurants Baroo and Simbal served my favorite bite of the event, followed by a delicious grilled yellowtail taco by Chichen Itza, and some scallop poke from Mainland Poke.
The after party had more grub by Delicious Pizza and Badmaash. I didn’t get to have the pizza as I had to take off early, but Badmaash’s dishes were very much welcome by the chefs and crew who worked the BBQ, and even some of the media attendees like myself, who, despite not being very hungry, still devoured the delicious Indian offerings. That pumpkin toast though!
For more images from the event–and all of them food even–check out hashtag #offalotastetalks2016 on Instagram! Thank you to Taste Talks and Baltz & Co. for inviting me to attend this inaugural Los Angeles conference, and I hope you’ll be back next year! Sorry this report is a little short. If you have any questions about the talks, feel free to hit me up in the comments.
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