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Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Off the Hook Seafood Festival

Summer may be over but that is no reason not to head to the beach. After all, the sun is still shining and it is still warm out here in Southern California. So last weekend, the first weekend of October, I headed to the Santa Monica Pier for the 4th Annual Off the Hook Seafood Festival. Kicking off National Seafood Month, Off the Hook Seafood Festival is helping raise awareness for the sustainable seafood movement as well as raising funds for Heal the Bay who is working hard to protect our Santa Monica Bay. An important cause centered around good food makes Off The Hook Seafood Festival the Please The Palate pick of the week.

The seafood festival, with the mission to offer a "fun, foodie fundraising event that celebrates our beloved sea creatures, chefs, fishermen and ecosystems, and preserve our world’s oceans", took place on the Santa Monica Pier with the Ferris wheel and roller coaster in the background.

13 October, 2018

Italian Tapas and Wine at Bacari PDR

Bacaro is the Italian term for a simple simple restaurant or wine bar, typically found in Venice. And, in Italian, when you want to pluralize a singular word, you change the -o to an -i, for example bacaro becomes bacari. And in a way, that is what Bacaro LA, a wine bar in downtown LA, has done. They have multiplied and gone from the single Bacaro LA to multiple locations with Bacari PDR, Bacari GDL and Bacari W3rd. Bacaro LA is an energetic, casual space with an international selection of wines and Italian-style tapas. It has been a favorite spot of USC students. And across the city Bacari PDR in Playa del Rey, is a popular neighborhood restaurant near the beach. In between the two, there is Bacari GDL in Glendale and Bacari W3rd, opening soon on West 3rd.

Standing alone on the corner of Vista del Mar and Culver Blvd, Bacari PDR is a wooden structure that looks like it was pieced together board by board. There is a small patio for outdoor dining and inside there is a bar and the main dining room, with a smaller dining area tucked behind the bar. All in all, it is not a big space and a bit tight, but there is a casual, comfortable charm to it.

11 October, 2018

José Lovaglio Balbo Follows in his Mother’s Footsteps to Make Argentine Wine Shine

One of the most well-known names of Argentine wine is Susana Balbo. She has made a significant impact in the wine industry and now her son, Jose Lovaglio Balbo is following in her footsteps. I had the pleasure to meet him recently on a visit to Los Angeles where he shard his story, and his family's story, as well as his wines, as I wrote in my column in the Napa Valley Register and share here. If you have ever had a Torrontes from Argentina, there is a good chance that you drank Crios from Susana Balbo, one of the foremost winemakers in Argentina.

“Crios” means “offspring” and Susana Balbo created the wine in honor of her children José and Ana.

An entry level wine, the Torrontes is fresh and crisp with aromas of white peach, grapefruit and white flowers on the nose and bright acidity and minerality on the palate.

09 October, 2018