Last week, I helped my friend Jane work the Canelé stand at the Taste of the Eastside event at Barnsdall Art Park (home to the Hollyhock House). There were about 2-1/2 dozen vendors - all coming from the Los Feliz, Atwater Village, Silverlake, Glendale, Echo Park, Highland Park and Eagle Rock neighborhoods.
Jane, my first roommate in New York, is co-owner of Canelé, a farmers’ market-driven and Mediterranean-inspired restaurant. And if I may, it’s THE restaurant that put Atwater Village on the LA restaurant map. We served a farro salad with apples, almonds, spring onions and French feta cheese. Delish! The event was pretty much as she described it: busy. It wasn’t until half an hour before the event was over that I thought it would be safe to leave her for five minutes. Although many of the stands were already sold out and packed up by the time I wandered around, I did get to sample a few things and take some business cards. I'm looking forward to trying some of these restaurants sitting down!
(Images, from the top! Our table; only a handful of the plates we served; event goers; cauliflower cake from The Park; pea shoot and barley salad from Mohawk Bend; chicken curry tostada from Xoia)