Food Rendezvous off to a solid start with Silver Lake salsa, Eagle Rock coffee and more

pop-up coffee stand Cognoscenti Coffee

The first Food Rendezvous got off to a good start Saturday at Sparc in Venice, with just enough interesting tastes and demonstrations to enjoy a few tasty hours and meet some interesting food artisans.

I liked seeing products from tiny ultra-local operations like Mark Stambler's backyard bread and Mi Hijo's Salsa from a Silver Lake family to more established ones like Homegirl Cafe's breads and salsas. Bulgarini gelato is always a treat, particularly the divinely funky goat's milk with cocoa nibs and the insanely creamy coffee.

Mi Hijo's Silver Lake salsa

I hadn't yet tried the cute pop-up coffee stand Cognoscenti Coffee that's currently in residence at Eagle Rock's Blu Dot Yogurt, but they made me a fine velvety cup of Ethiopian coffee from San Francisco's Four Barrel. It was fun to watch the crew from Street handing tastes of Indian stuffed puris to a friendly labradoodle, seeing some cute little girls make gnocchi with chef Gino, and talking to the vendors about their jams and hot sauces, pastries and candy.

Homegirl Bakery's bread and granola

 The Food Rendezvous plans another event in about a month, so I hope they price the next one under $10, since once you're inside, you'll want to start buying bread, jam, ice cream and coffee from all the vendors.
More food you can eat right at the event would also be good, since it works up an appetite tasting all those little samples. I know founders Laurie Dill and Dominique Leveuf are talking to lots more vendors for the next one, so don't miss the next chance to sample the best local foods.