We’re making an announcement. Sort of. May 31, 2011
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Selma Breakfast – told through pictures May 17, 2011
Posted by Eli in : Uncategorized , add a commentSELMA Breakfast through pictures
Homemade biscuits with chorizo gravy and a cilantro radish salad
Cheesy grits with grilled asparagus and homemade bacon with mixed greens
180 meals served
6:30a-10am
thanks to Kate M for expo’ing and running food all morning
thanks to Lynne A for the extra photographs
James Beard Foundation QSR Awards 2011 May 10, 2011
Posted by Eli in : Uncategorized , add a commentSo…I’m not usually granted press credentials.
In the last year I’ve been turned down by the AVN Awards, The US Professional Bull rider Association of American Championships, The Jewish under 30 Advertising Professionals Conference held in Manitoba (I didn’t get it either) and the UFC Media day (for which they granted 16,000 media credentials). So it was a fantastic honor when I was asked to attend the 2011 James Beard Foundation Quick Service Restaurant Awards.
Was I excited when I found out? I’ve only been more excited once in my life and that was when my parents told me I was not going to get gifts for my bar mitzvah (instead I’d be asking for donations to charity) but also that I’d be having a klezmer band at the party which in fact the most popular type of music in 1997. I mean, how could one not be excited for the JBFQSR’s? The Who’s Who of the QSR world would be there with a full load of celebrity award presenting and ass kissing served fresh fast and as efficiently as at a drive through in Wisconsin.
Since it’s all the rage now and I am of course super lazy (note the fact I was at the QSR awards) here is my live journal/live tweet recap from last night:
8:33 Just went and told the Dominos chef I do NOT love his new chx tenders. He was like “it’s just a commercial dude” LOL! #JBFQSR
8:39 Red lobster crab cakes AND Long John Silver fish stick passed apps! Like a dueling piano bar in here! Heaven at #JBFQSR awards!
8.54 Line for Pauley D @miraclewhip photo booth is like 100 people long. So frustrating! He’s my favorite jersey shore character. #JBFQSR awards
9:06 1st big upset of the night! IHOP wins best service. Def thought it would be Chili’s! Quickest water refills in the land #JBFQSR awards
9:14 Who else is at the James Beard Foundation Quick Service Restaurant Awards tonight? Use hashtag #JBFQSR! 2nd course is a double down! Yum.
9:15 Papa John is hitting on Popeye’s chx lady.She’s hot after taste test win over KFC. If u see wings+pizza outside room 401 2nt keep on walkin!
9:27 Harold and Kumar are announcing back2back awards.BEST SUB=Subway,Quiznos,Jimmy Johns front runners….BTW Harold looks high #JBFQSR Awards
9:28 Tubby’s Submarines wins best sub! Room is silent! Ray Kroc IV just got caught on bigscreen mouthing “what the fuck is tubbys” #JBFQSR awards
9:44 best crisis management award goes to Taco Bell for it’s handling of the fake meat situation.36% meat! More Nat. smoke flavor pls! #JBFQSR
9:51 Corey Haim giving out “We still Exist Award” Noms are: Einstein bagels,Sbarro,Boston Market,Hardees. This is anyone’s. JBFQSR awards
10:12 Best Iced coffee drink noms announced by that actress who plays Nancy Botwin. Noms: Tim Horton,McD’s,Wendys,DunkinD’s.Starbucks..winner is:
10:13 Dunkin Donuts wins.Howard Schultz stood up! He thought it was Starbucks! SCHULTZ THOUGHT HE HEARD STARBUCKS!! #JBFQSR awards top 10 moment!
10: 32 Best pairing of the night: Meatloaf+Paul Walker giving out “Hollywood integration award” BRING.ON.THE.WITTY.BANTER. #JBFQSR awards
10:33 Meatloaf:I would do anything for a burger,but i wont do that(pointin at Walker)Walker: I dont have a fast enough car to get away LOL #JBFQSR
10:40 3rd course-Sonic foot long coney dogs.Eric Ripert has chili all over his face. His mustache disguise isn’t fooling anyone #JBFQSR awards
10:53 “Most Authentic Taste/Flavor” goes Panda Express.Weird, only Mexicans going on stage to collect the award. #JBFQSR awards
11: 09 4 awards left! Turn to tablemate wearing WWF Tshirt. “This taking longer than tasting menu at Per Se! His response “You’re per gay” #JBFQSR
11:11 Best Mexican food award given by Carlos Mencia.Noms:Del Taco,Taco Bell,Chipotle,El Pollo Loco.Chipotle wins.Hear come the protesters #JBFQSR
11:16 Protesters yell”Chipotle sold out” at Steven Ells w/ “u went corporate signs”escorted out. Ells dont sweat, Obama gets it too #JBFQSR awrds
11:22 Just went to bathroom.Batali (w/crocs) playin dice w/ Guy Fieri+andrew zimmern in bathroom.Disappointed.Felt classy until now #JBFQSR awards
11:28 excitment about who will win outstanding drive-thru at @beardfoundation #JBFQSR awards. my $ is on Wendy’s bc it’s open late (often till 12)
11:31 Audrina Partridge to me “I like, NEVER, EVER eat at Carl’s Jr.” @huffingtonpost @nytimes @CNN @BBC RT! RT! RT! #JBFQSR awards
11:33 YES!YES! Just got invited to the Cracker Barrel afterparty hosted by Paula Deen ft. gravy fountains. LOVE after parties #JBFQSR awards
11:39 Outstanding Restaurateur Award: Dick Malamarman, Arent Chew Glad You didnt Get Food Poisoning Enterprises @beardfoundation #JBFQSR awards
11:44 2 awards left.On glass 13 of terlato pino grig. Is Wendy legal? Just asking. She looks kinda young but she’s gotta be like 60 #JBFQSR awards
11: 47 outstanding chef award being given by Jean-Gorge+Bronson Pinchot. Crowd is chanting Balki! Balki! did not see that one coming #JBFQSR awards
11:48 Steve Jenkins 16 yr old fry chef at KFC Wichita wins outstanding chef @beardfoundation #JBFQSR awards! Table is showerin him in Mountain Dew
11:49 Larry cable guy+Rascal (but not Flatts)just picked up Steve Jenkins+are carrying him to the stage! Everyone is chanting USA @ JBFQSR awards
11:56 Outstanding restaurant of the year award next then Afterparties! Guy Fiere said I could ride shotgun in his 96 Camaro T-top. pinch me.
11:57 outstanding QSR rest. of 2011 is Qdoba! Fiere just whispered to me “It’s about to get all Peterson Automotive museum up in here.let’s roll”
12:04 Exiting parking lot.Kogi truck parked right out front. No line and people are egging it. #JBFQSR award attendees have no food truck love
Being a selfish Son of a Bitch April 9, 2011
Posted by Eli in : Uncategorized , add a commentMaybe this is controversial, but I’m going to say it anyways:
Giving items to Goodwill, volunteering at a soup kitchen, reading books to kids, handing out blankets to homeless people…it’s really all incredibly selfish.
What if I told you that I could recreate the feeling of putting on that brand new outfit you just bought, or the sensation when you bite into your favorite dinner after you’ve been craving it all week. That feeling of pure contentment, of unrelenting satisfaction – that part orgasm/part catch yourself in the mirror in good lighting feeling/part tickle up your spine when you get turned on feeling. I can give that you THAT feeling – for free.
Just take a few hours and go volunteer your time somewhere. Maybe check out the LA Regional Food Bank (http://www.lafightshunger.org/) or The Boys and Girls Club or take a cue from the LA Burrito Project and hand out some burritos on skid row (http://estevaod.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/los-angeles-burrito-project/). I don’t care you selfish son of a bitch. Just go do it for you and only you. Chase that feeling like its a drug. Take a little YOU time and make yourself feel awesome. Turn off your cell phone and become unreachable. This is about YOU doing YOU and no one else matters. Be self serving and say “I am going to do something right now that will make me feel AMAZING.”
What you receive in return for the short amount of time you put in may carry you for the entire day, or even the entire week. Giving just a few hours of your time will force a euphoric glow to wash over your entire body. So go ahead and be selfish. I won’t judge.
This morning, members of the Taste of the Nation LA committee went down to the LA Regional food bank which serves over 1 MILLION individuals each year, and worked for 3 hours. It was easy. I put spinach in bags. Those bags are going to go out to needy people. And that spinach is going to end up in the belly of someone very hungry who needs our help terribly bad. 1 million people each year in LA need our help. Millions more across the US go hungry including nearly 17 million children. But today we weren’t thinking about the 1 million people in LA or the 17 million kids that need our help.
We were thinking about ourselves.
Chasing that euphoric feeling.
Over 300 volunteers today being selfish.
1 Million people in LA in need of our help.
And we all left feeling like a million bucks.
I guess sometimes it pays to be selfish.
Why spend my hard earned money at Taste of the Nation: Los Angeles? March 20, 2011
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Taste of the Nation Los Angeles seems like a no-brainer ticket purchase to me. Not because I am so intimately involved (transparency note: I am the marketing chair for the event), but because the money raised benefits ending childhood hunger. So it’s not only a food fest to celebrate the restaurants,chefs,mixologists, bars,wineries and breweries participating, but it’s also for a greater cause.
I was recently forced to sell the event extremely hard to a friend who was contemplating buying a ticket but was on the fence. I was both surprised and a bit offended that she thought the ticket prices seemed high.
This severely bummed me out because it made it apparently clear that it’s quite possible that for many people (even foodies and those with full time jobs) a $85-$150 ticket for a day of entertainment was not the easiest sell.Even if it’s benefited a charity, it wasn’t making swallowing the ticket price that much easier.
So as the marketing chair, I would be remiss to not take this opportunity to share with you why this just may be the best $85-150 you will ever spend.
1) 100% of ticket sales go to feed hungry kids in LA. That’s right, 100%. Also your ticket is 100% tax deductible and since every physical dollar can purchase more than $3 of food, you are doing 3x the damage. Just like Groupon harnessing the power of the many, consolidating $ in charity works wonders especially when purchasing 1,000s of lbs of food.
2) TOTNLA is most upscale food festival with the largest quality restaurants. There is no other food festival in LA that has the same caliber and quantity of restaurants for your sampling on one day in one location. Take all the factors: the quality level of restaurants and the fact many offer 3 items to sample, the sheer volume of wineries (over a dozen), a craft beer garden, full liquor offerings with mixologists, on-stage food demos, an incredible live and silent auction, a photo booth and unparalleled access to your favorite chefs from LA’s top restaurants. Yeah, it’s the best. Everyone else is really playing catch up.
3) The lines…are SUPER short. I’ve been to basically every food fest in LA. Again, feel free to call me biased if you wish, but TOTNLA has the shortest lines of any food fest in the city. I’ve waited 20 minutes for a taco before at a food fest. And it wasn’t even a good taco. I’ve never waited more than a few minutes at TOTNLA and we’re talking about food from Eva, Campanile and Fig level spots. You can actually hit all 40+ restaurants AND get seconds from the ones you want. Last year only two restaurants ran out of food before the end of the fest. So the chef’s come prepared to serve and the TOTNLA staff is prepared to efficiently serve you.
4) TOTNLA is held at a park. Not a parking lot. Not a stadium. Not a sidewalk or the middle of a street. Not inside a building with no windows. It’s in an actual park outdoors. Feel free to bring a blanket. Grab a patch of grass and kick back. Enjoy California in it’s June splendor.
5) All you can drink from dozens of wineries, booze offerings and a craft beer garden. Yep. The ticket price alone should be worth it to sample the liquid offerings TOTNLA 2011 has this year.Get a DD. Come thirsty.
6) Test drive some of the priciest places in LA. So you’re an out of work actor or a assistant or a PA. Or you just don’t have that much cash right now. Well, no one buys a car before taking it for a test drive but all the time we go to restaurants based on friends recommendations and just by scouring Yelp and twitter. TOTNLA let’s you make the decision for yourself by sampling some of the finest restaurants in LA without committing to the hefty price tag a sit down dinner at one of these places might run you. Was the dish tasty or inventive enough at TOTNLA that it’s peaked your interest? Well then fantastic – head back and support our participating restaurants.
You won’t be able to find a better way to spend a beautiful afternoon (that you can write off on your taxes!) where you not only leave the event 100% stuffed and tipsy (or drunk if you aren’t driving), but also leave knowing you’ve done a huge mitzva by contributing to the leading organization working to end childhood hunger in America, Share Our Strength.
TASTE OF THE NATION: LA – 2011 Recipients:
• California Association of Food Banks: Provides a unified voice among food banks to maximize their ability to build a well nourished California. www.cafoodbanks.org
• California Food Policy Advocates: Advocacy organization dedicated to improving the health and well being of low-income Californians. www.cfpa.net
• Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger & Homelessness: Works collectively to end hunger and homelessness in the Los Angeles area. www.lacehh.org
• Los Angeles Regional Foodbank: Mobilizes resources to fight hunger in the Los Angeles area. www.lafoodbank.org
• St. Joseph Center: Provides working families and homeless individuals with the resources they need to support themselves. www.stjosephctr.org
• Center for Community and Family Services: Serves low-income families by providing child development and nutrition and job training. www.ccafs.org
