LA Wine And Food Festival At Santa Monica Pier Features Top Local Chefs, With A Spotlight On Women (2024)

We may be becoming increasingly screen-obsessed, but there’s also a growing impulse to get out and surround yourself with people. Think music festivals. Taylor Swift parking lot tailgating parties. Costco.

Others are also noticing that itch and creating events to scratch it. Like this weekend’s L.A. Wine and Food Festival, at Santa Monica Pier from Friday, March 1 to Sunday, March 3, where you can gather with fellow humans and consume excellent food and drink. (Friday and Saturday, 7.30 p.m - 10.30 p.m; Sunday, 12.30 p.m. - 3 p.m.)

While there are other celebratory food festivals (L.A. Times Food Bowl, EEEEEATSCON, and Tacos Madness), this one is in conjunction with Frieze Los Angeles, which brings artists and those who love them to Santa Monica airport this weekend. So, expect creative types mixed into the mass of hungry people at the pier waiting to get a bite of the truffle and comté gougere from Camphor.

Chefs from dozens of L.A.’s leading eateries, plus under-the-radar newcomers, will be offering their wares over the three days (check for which days different chefs will be appearing) so there may be time to slow down and munch at peace while staring at the ocean horizon. (Unless you want to gorge yourself senseless, in which case, go ahead, no judgment).

A special section also focuses on women restaurateurs in L.A. in partnership with Regarding Her, a national nonprofit committed to showcasing women entrepreneurs and leaders in the food scene. (We’re particularly looking forward to seeing Uyên Lê from Bé ù and Mercedes Squires of Caribbean Soul Kitchen).

With all that top-notch culinary talent, tickets are fairly pricey; a day pass costs $225, or $325 for VIP, with a weekend pass for $450 and VIP passes for $700.

Some notable chefs include:

Alvin Cailan, owner of Amboy Quality Meats & Delicious Burgers in Chinatown, who also founded the popular breakfast restaurant Eggslu*t, which he started as a food truck before transforming it into an international chain. Cailan co-hosts the YouTube series The Burger Show with burger scholar George Motz, and you can see his burger research on full display at Amboy. Cailan will be serving a kare-kare roast beef sandwich on Friday.

Alex and Elvira Garcia, co-owners of Evil Cooks, are known for their black metal-inspired roving pop-up with some of the most inventive tacos currently coming out of Los Angeles. Despite their hard image, the food from Evil Cooks has lots of heart (even their McSatan, a bacon smash burger taco). On Friday and Saturday Evil Cooks will be serving their poseidon taco, octopus slathered with a black pastor adobo, cooked on a mesquite-fueled trompo, and their bruja taco made with flan.

Rashida Holmes started her pop-up Bridgetown Roti in 2020 when much of the restaurant industry was shutting down. She decided to apply her years of culinary experience to her Caribbean heritage. With the help of her wife, Shanika, Holmes began selling her patties and stuffed rotis outside her home in Boyle Heights before earning a spot at Smorgasburg, L.A. Last summer, Bridgetown Roti announced they'd put a hold on their operations to focus on opening up their brick-and-mortar location in East Hollywood. So attendees on Friday and Saturday are in for a real treat, especially if you’ve missed Holmes's food as much as we have. On Friday, Holmes will serve her oxtail and pepper patties.

Justin Pichetrungsi took over his family restaurant, Anajak Thai, in 2019. Located on a stretch of Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, his Thai Taco Tuesdays have become a source of L.A. legend, with long lines that stretch for blocks and outdoor tables in a back alley. The whole thing feels like a party, and rightly so, given that Pichetrungsi and his team have tapped into a new vein of Los Angeles's fierce love of tacos. On Sunday, Pichetrungsi will serve Peruvian scallops.