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| La Huasteca: Cochinita pibil sope, at left, nopales and chapulines (grasshoppers!), center, mole tamale, right |
Friday night's
East L.A. Meets Napa tasting event benefit for
AltaMed was mercifully much cooler than last year, stoking more of an appetite for pairing Baja and California wines with all kinds of Mexican tastes. Some of the best of those tastes were: John Sedlar of
Rivera's handmade curry-spiced tortillas with olives and flowers pressed into the masa and a yogurt spread;
Cacao's duck carnitas and wild boar tacos; and
La Huasteca's sampler plate pictured. Pictured below are the beautiful gelatin flowers made with swirled milk from
Attila the Flan.
The lines were a bit long, so we didn't get to sample everything, but the patio of Union Station is always a lovely place to spend an evening, and there many nice surprises among the wines of
Valle de Guadalupe in Baja, which is an easy drive from San Diego. Here's a
full report from Javier Cabral -- we both liked the Miguel Casa Adobe blend quite a bit.
Good seeing you at another great installment of East LA Meets Napa. Those gelatin flowers were certainly startling. I liked the idea of the tostada de nopales y chapulines better than the flavor (or texture), but it's hard to argue with any aspect of duck carnitas. I thought Loteria Grill made a strong showing too. And of course Rivera's tortillas florales are always outstanding.
ReplyDeleteThe swirled flan is gorgeous... if not a bit freaky. :)
ReplyDelete