Thursday, November 17

The Ultimate Food Fight: Whole Foods Market Chefs Fight to “Stuff This!”
Local chefs Ben Ford (Ford’s Filling Station), Jason Bowlin (Catch at Casa Del Mar) and Casey Lane (Tasting Kitchen) are going head to head in this cook-off to create the best holiday stuffing in less than 45 minutes. They’ll each be given the same basic stuffing recipe but have to use a variety of secret nontraditional local and seasonal ingredients. Yum! To attend the event, just bring a couple of Thanksgiving-themed food items which will then be donated to the Venice Housing Corp Food Bank.

• 5-6:30pm. Whole Foods Market Venice, 225 Lincoln Boulevard, Venice (map).

1886′s 1st Anniversary Party
The booziest one-year-old’s birthday party you’ll probably ever attend. This one will have hand-crafted cocktails as well as wines and Craftsman beer! For food Chef Tim Guiltinan and pastry chef Jeff Haines have come up with hors d’oeuvres, small plates and desserts. Ticktets are $55 at the door and proceeds will go Hathaway Sycamores, a non-profit children and families mental health and welfare agency.

• 6:30-10pm. 1886, 1250 S Fair Oaks, Pasadena (map).

Friday, November 18

Short Order Opens, Featuring Cocktails by Julian Cox
The Farmers Market on 3rd couldn’t be a more perfect place for this burger joint by the late Amy Pressman and Mozza’s Nancy Silverton which features only meat from free-range animals and local and artisanal ingredients. Wash all that goodness down with equally fresh cocktails by none other than Playa/Rivera’s Julian Cox (Eater LA’s bartender of the year 2011).

• 5pm. Short Order, 6333 Third Street, Los Angeles (map). (323) 761-7970.

Saturday, November 19

Great Walk LA 2011
With Turkey Day just around the corner, it’s probably a good idea to work off some weight with a lovely walk through the city. 19 miles should do it. This year’s Great Los Angeles Walk route will have you hoofing it from downtown L.A. to Santa Monica. Enjoy your city up close and personal and out of your car for a change. For those who don’t think they can do the entire route (me), just follow @greatwalkla on Twitter to see where everyone is to meet up with them on the route. I’m thinking of joining the gang up in WeHo in the march toward the Pacific.

• 9am. Meeting spot: Triforium sculpture at Fletcher Bowron Square across from City Hall (map).

Sunday, November 20

Filipino Food & Cocktail Event
Mmm, the food of my people paired with cocktails? That’s right up my alley. This annual Filipino food pairing event will feature modern takes on traditional dishes and cocktails like the Manila Mule with bourbon, calamansi nectar and ginger beer. The pairings were created by Six Taste, Nola’s and blogger Abby of Pleasure Palate. Tickets are available now at for $50.

• 6pm. $50. Nola’s, 734 E 3rd Street, Los Angeles (map).

Feel like a beer this weekend? You might wanna check out all the fun LA Beer Week events going on here, including Beer Float Showdown 3. So much good beer to be had, peeps!

Friday, October 14

Los Angeles Food & Wine: Dan Dunn’s Booze, Blues & BBQ
This sold-out event at the Pebble Beach Food & Wine is sure to be quite saucy with the likes of barbecue by Baby Blues BBQ and cocktails by celebrated pro drinker Dan “The Imbiber” Dunn. If you’re not into the high-falutin’ fixings of the other LAFW events, this is the one for you.

• 4:30pm. $50. LA Live, 800 W Olympic Boulevard, Downtown (map).

Saturday, October 15

Shop Lot Fashion Truck Lot
You’ve shopped for food off trucks, so why not fashion? This weekend is L.A.’s first fashion truck lot featuring mobile boutiques Le Fashion Truck, Skulltastic, and T-Ruck. Wonder where they park the changing room? Maybe afterward, hit up the Los Feliz Shop Hop (6-10pm), a mini block shopping party which happens to feature free booze!

• Saturday-Sunday, 1-6pm. Hyperion & Sunset in Silver Lake (map).

Sunday, October 16

Golden Road Brewing Grand Opening
Celebrate the opening of L.A.’s “largest craft beer brewery” by drinking lots of beer, and not just from Golden Road but guest breweries like Firestone Walker, Sierra Nevada, Eagle Rock Brewery and Dogfish Head. Huzzah! Tickets are $20-$25 and include three pour tickets and a 12-ounce logo glass.

• 2-7pm. $20 advance/$25 door. Golden Road Brewing, 5430 W San Fernando Road, Los Angeles (map). (213) 537-4655.

3rd Annual Subway Zombie Walk
OK, I don’t think I could ever participate in a zombie walk. It would creep me out too much. But this sounds like so much fun considering the end point for all the zombie lurching is in Hollywood and Highland. So far the Facebook event page has 530 zombies signed up so it’s going to be a great crowd. After the shambling is done, maybe break off into a zombie bar crawl!

• 4-7pm. Meeting point: North Hollywood Red Line Station (map).

Thursday, September 29

Buffalo Trace Distillery Tasting at Wood & Vine Restaurant
K&L Wines is hosting a Buffalo Trace tasting of delicious proportions at Wood & Vine. For $45 at the door you get to partake of Buffalo Trace White Dog & Straight Bourbon, Elmer T Lee Bourbon, Old Rip Van Winkle Bourbon..deep breath…Blanton’s Bourbon, Weller 12 Year Bourbon, E.H. Taylor Bonded 100 Proof, William Larue Weller Cask Strength Bourbon, Sazerac 18 Straight Rye! Pfew! This definitely calls for a designated driver.

• 7-8:30pm. $45 at the door. Wood & Vine, 6280 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood (map). (323) 334-3360.

Friday, September 30

Macallan Open Bar at Exchange LA
For only $5 donation fee, which goes to charity:water, you get to taste one of the best Scotches out there all night at a downtown nightclub. Try some flights or have it in a cocktail. But may I suggest neat or with just a smidge of water? You’ll dance, you’ll drink, you’ll have fun.

• 10pm-1am. $5. Exchange LA, 618 S. Spring Street, Downtown (map).

Saturday, October 1

Food Truck Festival at Santa Anita Park
All your favorite food trucks in one place is always a good thing. Here at the Santa Anita Food Truck Festival, the mobile food court will spread itself out in the middle of the racetrack on the entire Santa Anita infield — 70 gourmet food trucks like the popular Grilled Cheese Truck, Lobsta Truck, Ludo Truck, and Lardon Truck. There will also be carnival games and live music as well as pony rides for the kiddies.

• 11am-5pm. $5. Santa Anita Park, 285 West Huntington Drive, Arcadia (map).

LA Burning Man Decompression
Didn’t get to hit up Burning Man this year? Here’s a baby Burning Man, er Burning Baby (?), event for you as well as BM attendees who are still flying high from the event. But this one, you don’t have to trek all the way to the desert, spend a fortune and worry about where to go to the bathroom. The Official Burning Man LA Decompression event showcases art, music and Burning Man culture all in a span of 12 hours. There will be live music, DJs, art, theme camps, puppets, circus and, yes, fire.

• 1pm-2am. $20. Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 N Spring Street, Los Angeles (map).

Sunday, October 2

Octoberfest Beer Pairing Dinners at LA Market
This Sunday is the launch of LA Market’s beer pairing dinners in celebration of Octoberfest. Each week, Chef Kerry Simon will create a special three-course dinner to complement the beers from featured craft brewers. Starting things off is a dinner with Allagash Brewing Company from Portland, Maine. Upcoming brewers include North Coast, Affligem, Unibroue and more! Three-course menu including beer pairings is just $35.

• 5-10pm. $35. LA Market, 900 W Olympic Boulevard, Downtown (map). (213) 765-8600.

You’re not going to let a little Carmaggedon interfere with your weekend plans, are ya? Especially when there’s a bunch of food festivals like LA Food Fest (which I’m giving away tickets to) going on! Plus all this other fun stuff.

Thursday, July 14

Paella and Spanish Wine Tasting at 55 Degree
If you’re all Frenched out from Bastille Day activities today, 55 Degrees in Atwater Village has got a Spanish solution: paella from chef Adriana Morera of the Paella Project and Spanish wines like Tempranillos and Malbecs. The tasting will feature the country’s beloved dish with mussels, clams, chicken and chorizo, or there’s a veg option. Cost is $5 to $13.

• 6-10pm. 55 Degree, 3111 Glendale Boulevard, Atwater Village (map). (323) 662-5556

Bastille Day With Cointreau at Spare Room
The Spare Room really knows how to throw a shindig (I was just there last night for tiki night and had a hoot). So it’s no shocker that they’ll be doing up Bastille Day in style with Adele Jacques of ParisLovesLA performing Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot songs. Francophiles will tipple on specialty cocktails created by bartender Naomi Schimek. There’s the cognac, lavender, lemon cocktail Duke for a Day or do it up chic with the Champagne Flip (champs, cognac, Cointreau, egg yolk, cream and sugar).

• 8pm. The Spare Room at Hollywood Roosevelt, 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood (map). (323) 466-7000.

Bastille Day at The Bar at Cliff’s Edge
The Silver Lake bar is taking Bastille celebrations to another level inviting guests to show up in French costumes (I’m thinking Marie Antoinette or maybe a la hep cat Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face) for a chance to win a prize. The party will naturally have free cake as well as free rose wine and swinging French music! Vive la France!

• 8pm-12am. The Bar at Cliff’s Edge, 3626 Sunset Boulevard, Silver Lake (map).

Friday, July 15

District 13 Gastropub Opens in Hollywood
That’s right, slotted in the strip mall between Big Wang’s and Stout in the old Soi 56 spot is a new brewpub with food by  Executive Chef Aoi Ratanamanee (Rambutan). The brew food — sausages, burgers, fish and chips — is meant to complement the quality beer the restaurant will be serving up like The Bruery Rugbrod and DogFish Head Palo Santo Marron. There’s even a Danger Dog! Yummy on all counts!

• Opens 11:30am. 1556 North Cahuenga Boulevard, Hollywood (map). (323) 957-1313.

Saturday, July 16

Munchathon: 5K Fun Run/Food Truck Festival in Orange County
If you want to just get out of Dodge altogether, hit up this fun food festival in the OC where you can nullify any weight gained from good food truck eats by running an obstacle course (with food and drink stops for obstacles) at the same time. It’s so crazy it might just work. OK, maybe not but still sounds fun. There will be over 50 food trucks, like Ahn Joo, Lobsta Truck and Ludo Bites Truck, plus a rec area where you can play ring toss, basketball or Frisbee.

• 9am-5pm. Oak Canyon Park, 5305 Santiago Canyon Road, Silverado (map).

Eat Real Festival
This food festival doesn’t just feed you, it teaches you everything about our favorite subject, from where food comes from to how it’s made. Learn how to make your own tomato sauce from KCRW Good Food’s Evan Kleiman, watch a panel on “The Future of Food Writing” featuring LA Times‘ Russ Parsons and LA Weekly Squid Ink’s Amy Scattergood. Nosh on food from Nom Nom and Flying Pig food trucks and browse the marketplace with goods by Creme Caramel LA and butchers Lindy & Grundy. The festival is free to attend, you just pay for your own Marketplace goods and food purchases.

• Saturday 10:30am-9pm, Sunday 10:30am-5pm. 8800 Venice Boulevard, Los Angeles (map).

Finally, it really feels like summer what with this warmer weather. And what better way to enjoy it than with outdoor events that involve grilling and craft beer? Funnn!

Thursday, July 7

Havaianas Pop-Up Store in Hollywood
Show off your cute pedicure while sporting your special brand of Havaianas that you custom-made yourself! The flip-flop pop-up store at Space 15Twenty on Cahuenga will blanket the 1,000-square-foot space with men’s and women’s collections as well as offer a fruit stand where you can customize your own sandal with soles, straps and embellishments of your choice.

• Through July 24. Monday-Friday 11am-8pm, Saturday & Sunday, 11am-9pm. 1520 Cahuenga Boulevard, Hollywood (map).

Nick & Stef’s Girl and A Grill Event + indie tribute band Black Crystal Wolf Kids Perform
Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse celebrates the summer with a new grilling event where Executive Chef Megan Logan grills up food, taking them from the flames to your plate. Take your pick of ribs, tri tip, BBQ shrimp, etc. for $8-$14. Sides like spicy coleslaw and corn on the cob are also available for $5 each. AND there’s also a sausage and beer pairing menu! Launching the party is none other than kickass indie-rock tribute band Black Crystal Wolf Kids at 7pm! Shout-out to frontman Jeff Miller!

• Thursdays 5-9pm. Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse, 330 S Hope Street, Downtown (map). (213) 680-0330.

Saturday, July 9

ColLAboration #3 Craft Beer Garden
Traveling beer garden ColLAboration takes over Sunset Strip this month, kicking things off with Craft Beer Garden #1. 24 taps of crafted goodness curated by the guys behind 38 Degrees, Blue Palms Brewhouse, Tony’s Darts Away and Verdugo Bar, plus food and games. Cost is only $10.69 (includes membership fee + tasting glass). Each pour is $5-$6. Save yourself the hassle and buy your membership glass in advance (online or at the above bars) since they might sell out at the beer garden.

• 12-9pm. 8950 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood (map).

Beer & Cheese Tasting With Sunset Beer Co’s Alex Macy
To get a tasty preview of the Echo Park beer store that’s opening “soon-ish” swing by Eagle Rock’s Colorado Wine Company for the beer and cheese tasting of your dreams. Alex Macy, Sunset Beer Co’s manager, will go over a flight of five beers, each paired with cheeses from Alex Brown of Gourmet Imports. I’m looking forward to Liefmans Cuvee Brut with a Bavarian Limberger and the Port Brewing Old Viscosity with Caveman Oregon Blue.

• 3-5pm. $18. Colorado Wine Company, 2114 Colorado Boulevard, Eagle Rock (map). RSVP: info@cowineco.com or (323) 478-1985.

Sunday, July 10

Free Yogaworks Yoga at SLS Hotel Beverly Hills
You don’t have to be a hotel guest at SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills to partake of this free YogaWorks yoga class! The new series starts this Sunday to promote the hotel’s Ciel Spa. Sign up by calling (310) 246-5560 and just dress up in your exercise gear and bring your own yoga mat.

• 9-10am. Free. SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills, 465 S La Cienega Boulevard, Beverly Hills (map). Reservation: (310) 246-5560.