Monday, July 12, 2010

East L.A. meets Napa, from grasshoppers to duck carnitas


nopales,chapulines
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.
milk flower gelatin
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.

2 comments:

Food GPS said...

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.

Christie Bishop said...

The swirled flan is gorgeous... if not a bit freaky. :)