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alex's lemonade, beer events, Bruce Kalman, charity dinners, christina perozzi, coleman farms, cooking with friends, DeathbedFood, Diane Wagner, dtla restaurants, gavin mills, hallie beaune, la charity dinners, LA Times Daily Dish, la times food, los angeles food events, mary macvean, news, pig & beer, reride ranch, the beer chicks, urbano pizza bar, weiser farms
Four City Girls Hunt Down Pig in Downtown LA
So the question was: What should a group of girls do on an April Fools Day Sunday afternoon? Well, for this group, we decided that the Pig & Beer Dinner at Urbano Pizza Bar was the ticket. Well, really, I decided and talked them into it, though it wasn’t a hard sell. This, the inaugural event for a new dinner series called “Cooking with Friends” by Chefs Bruce Kalman (Urbano Pizza Bar) and Gavin Mills (Wood + Vine), benefited Alex’s Lemonade, a foundation fighting childhood cancer. Plus, they were all aware of how much I love Urbano and Chef Bruce’s food. So, we set off for the 4pm event in DTLA.
4:00pm. The festivities began with PIG-Tail Hour.
4:15pm. The first stop was the Charcuterie Board where freshly made fare awaited and even the mustard impressed.
Several pork-based hors d’oeuvres were served. The “Sou Vide Roulade” above was our favorite. I’m suspecting the mole may have made the difference (good mole is a DeathbedFood ingredient for me at least).
The Tartlet with Roasted Pork was also divine … we especially loved the flower garnish.
As with any food event (or, sadly, almost any meal for me), I was live-tweeting the action. Soon, I discovered #PORKAPALOOZA and started running with it. How perfect for the evening!
Meantime, The Beer Chicks (Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune) were there to pair craft beer with the pig-filled fare. After all, as Hallie pointed out, “What’s better with pig than beer?”
And throughout, it was fun to watch the two chefs – and team – create their magic. With about 75 attendees, the challenge would be serving 75 dishes at once – for 7 courses. They made it look easy, at least from our dining perspective.
5:00pm. So, with the PIG-Tail Hour done, we were ready for the dinner to begin. Before rolling out the 7 courses, Chef Bruce thanked everyone for attending and supporting such a great cause and also introduced some key people at the event, including:
- Alex Weiser of Weiser Farms (who provided much of the produce, including his famous potatoes);
- Lefty Ayers of ReRide Ranch (who donated the pig); and
- Larry Vincent, father of Jordan Vincent, who is 13 and has had cancer for the last 9 years (Alex’s Lemonade has been a hugely helpful support for their entire family).
So, with the introductions out of the way, the 7 Courses began …
Course 1: Salad & Beer … Crispy Pig’s Ear Shaved Vegetable Salad made with fresh Coleman Farms produce and Meyer lemon (courses 1 and 2 were both paired with Eagle Rock Manifesto Wit made right here in LA at Eagle Rock Brewery).
Course 2: Shellfish & Beer … the andouille sausage really made this dish pop.
Course 3: Pizza & Pasta & Beer … pig blood ravioli pasta with braised pork cheek and wild mushroom ragou (paired with Stone Smoked Porter, a rich chocolate and coffee flavored brew).
… and Urbano’s famous Potato Pizza with Weiser Farms potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and house-smoked bacon. The good news here is that this is a staple at Urbano so anyone can order this anytime there.
Course 4: Pork Belly Confit & Beer (paired with Wandering Aengus Bloom Cider … the combination reminded me of “pork chops & apple sauce!”). Making this to-die-for was the fact that they slow-roasted the pork belly for 12 hours and then caramelized it in the wood oven.
Charity Auction Interlude – After the Pork Belly, another whole pig from ReRide Ranch was auctioned off for Alex’s Lemonade (with Chef Bruce offering to cook it for someone). The winner bid $500 … sounds like a great deal (and fun future party) to me!
Course 5: Palate Cleanser & Beer … Coleman Farms Cherimoya Popsicle, topped with crispy pancetta (paired with Prima Pils, a light crisp Pilsner). DeathbedFood Fruit Discovery here! Lisa informed our group about how lovely Cherimoya was and Gosia insisted I tweet about it, deeming it newsworthy. So, I did and got this response from a follower:
Cherimoya (aka “custard apple”) is one of my favorite fruits. Put a very ripe one in the refrigerator for a tasty dessert! 🙂
Anything custard is a star in my Foodie book and, based on this first Cherimoya experience, I’m in.
Course 6: Porchetta & Beer (paired with Belgian Pale Ale with a tropical fruit flavor). Served with Weiser roasted potatoes and escarole. Again, making this dish special was the slow-roasting (7 hours).
Course 7: Dessert & Beer … And, finally, dessert. Apple, Brown Butter and Bacon Upside Down Cake (paired with “Lost & Found” beer – a Belgian-style Abbey ale made with a raisin puree). I thought its light texture was a perfect end to the hearty dinner.
7:30pm. So, with hors d’oeuvres and 7 courses under our belts, we happily bid Urbano adieu. A good time was definitely had by all in our girl group. And I feel pretty safe to saying everyone there enjoyed, including Mary MacVean of the LA Times. Can’t wait for the second installment of Chef Bruce and Gavin’s “Cooking With Friends” series. Might I suggest #POTATOPALOOZA? #MOLEPALOOZA? #GARLICPALOOZA? #OLIVEOILPALOOZA? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.