Taste of Beverly Hills, The Art of Brunch

The Taste of Beverly Hills took place over the past weekend at the Beverly Hilton and I was in attendance for the Sunday brunch session aptly named “The Art of Brunch”. I was so looking forward to this event after seeing the restaurant line up of Fig, Bazaar, Nickel Diner, Huckleberry, Craft, and about three dozen other fine restaurants. The Art of Brunch did not disappoint. In fact, it completely surpassed my expectations as the food samples were in ample supply, the crowds were minimal, and the overall event was incredibly organized. Joining me for this glutton fest was my wife and her mom. For the mom-in-law, this turned out to be quite an experience for her and she probably ate more food in the span of nearly four hours than she usually eats over two days :).


Yes, only a red carpet entrance will do for a food event in 90210.



Breakfast beignet with fruit sauce from Ammo. They were freshly prepared and fried, and oh so good. I ate two of these in short order.



The spread at Huckleberry's table was worth the admission price alone. I did as best as I could to try everything. We sampled maybe a dozen items, including a massive piece of coffee cake, miniature muffins, various tarts, and some cookies.



Fig restaurant was in attendance and they were serving soft scrambled eggs over Chantrelles on toast. These were absolutely delicious. The creaminess of the eggs with the earthy mushrooms and crusty bread was an incredible combination of flavors and textures.



Stuffed French toast from The Farm of Beverly Hills. A little dry but the caramel sauced helped.



Salmon slider, homemade potato chips from NineThirty at the W Hotel. The salmon was perfectly cooked and the bun was soft, warm, and very tasty. It was a perfect pairing with the salty potato chips.



Potato pancakes from Factor's Deli. These were really good but I had to stop at 1. There was so much food to be had.



The team at Stefan's at LA Farm was serving ice cream pops dipped in liquid nitrogen to go with house-made lollipops. This was a popular booth and a line quickly formed. Stefan Richter (Top Chef finalist) was there and he actually took a few minutes to chat with my wife and I.



Home-made pastas from Terroni.



Marble cake from Hansen Cakes. The cake was very moist with a nice balance of chocolate and vanilla, while the frosting had the perfect amount of sweetness. We were impressed and we eat a lot of cake.



Smoked trout rillete and house-made bacon-plum Pop-Tarts from Mercantile/District. Both were very good and I was surprised by how well the Pop-Tart tasted. There wasn’t an overpowering presence of bacon; rather, the bacon added a slightly salty taste that went well with the overall sweetness.



Soft scrambled eggs and bacon in egg shells, from Firefly. I admired the presentation with the eggs served within it shell. These were good though they could have used more bacon.



Homemade ricotta and granola, lemon honey, from Craft. One my favorite dishes was this simply prepared granola and ricotta. It was so unlike any granola or ricotta that I’ve had from a grocery store.



Quiche Lorraine and a potato from BreadBar. Creaminess and saltiness on one plate. Delicious.



BBQ pork over eggs and polenta, and a bacon donut hole from Nickel Diner. I tried the bacon donut a while ago and wasn’t a fan. I’m still not a fan, but I did enjoy a strawberry doughnut (not pictured). The BBQ pork was very satisfying.



Scott Conant was giving a cooking demonstration of spaghetti with tomato and basil. Chef Conant is the owner and executive chef of the Scarpetta chain of Italian restaurants. He also appears on Food Network's Chopped series as a judge, and is the host of Food Network's 24-hour Restaurant Battle series. He was quite entertaining to watch and the crowd was very much involved with asking questions. At one point chef Conant adds about a half-stick of butter into the sauce and the says "butter is expensive these days--that's why we charge $26 for this dish!" The crowd erupted into laughter.



House-made jams from Valerie Confections. We tried the strawberry over a biscuit, and the jam was indeed very good but the biscuit was too dry, distracting from the taste of the jam.



I believe this was from Auntie Em's Kitchen. It was just OK. Both items became a soupy mess when plated; I'm sure this would be much better in the restaurant.



This small unassuming sliver of cheese focaccia from Angeli Caffe was heavenly. Perfectly crispy on the outside with the cheese oozing out when I took a bite.



Walter Manzke (former executive chef of Church and State) was on hand at the Simple Human booth serving BBQ ribs with an Asian-style sauce. Messy to eat but very good and perfectly seasoned, I went in for seconds. I’m so looking forward to his new restaurant, whenever it opens.



Jason Travi (former execute chef of Fraiche) and Eric Greenspan (execute chef of Foundry on Melrose) exchange pleasantries. The pastrami and turkey monte cristo from Foundry was a bit lacking in meat as all I could taste was fried bread.



Richard Ruskell gave a very lively demo of molecular gastronomy. He showed us how to create coffee "caviar". Chef Ruskell is the pastry chef at the Montage Beverly Hills, and he regularly appears as a contestant on Food Network during pastry competitions.



Blood orange mimosas with blood orange foam from Bazaar. These packed a punch!


I’ll leave you with more pictures of the foods we tried. I apologize as I can’t recall the descriptions of every dish. At one point--about 4 hours into the event--I was becoming uncomfortably full and had to ask my wife to please drag us the hell out of there. Otherwise I just would have kept eating and would have eventually exploded like Andrew did on Man vs. Food during the milkshake episode. Yes the food was THAT good, and NO I cannot stop myself! Enjoy.












Are you getting full yet?













I hope you've enjoyed looking at these pics as much as we did consuming the eats. I'm so looking forward to next year's event.