Angeleno Magazine's Chefs Night Out

On Sunday night, Angeleno Magazine hosted their 8th Annual Chef's Night Out at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica. The setting was the beautiful outdoor courtyard, the centerpiece of which is a large fig tree that is more than a century old. The event was sold out and hundreds of foodies and Angeleno subscribers mingled in the warm afternoon and evening, munching on food from many of the city's best chefs.

Pictured above are Michael Voltaggio, formerly of the Langham, and Ludo Lefebvre of LudoBites. Voltaggio served a market peach and burrata dish that involved dehydrated? peach on top of the creamy burrata. Lefebvre served a gazpacho which was described as an heirloom tomato smoothie, squid ink vodka gelee, seaweed tartar. Voltaggio's dish was the most interesting and unique preparation of the evening.

Below are four of the most talked about dishes of the evening. First is the Loup de Mer "En Ecailles" with heirloom tomatoes and cucumber-basil from chef Josiah Citrin of Melisse restaurant in Santa Monica. This was the best dish I tasted all evening. The skin of the loup de mer was crunchy and the whole dish was bursting with flavor.



The Cauliflower panna cotta with Transmontanus caviar from Chef Ben Bailly of Petrossian was another highlight of the evening. The panna cotta was so light and creamy and the salty roe atop provided a literal pop to the dish. Serving it in the caviar tins was also a visually arresting touch.



The beef tartare crostino from Angelini Osteria had black truffles shaved on it in front of the attendees. There was a large audience in front of the chef generously shaving the black truffles onto the crostini.



Voltaggio's dish was served in tulip shaped glasses that had to be held once picked up because they did not have a base. The "peach" had a nice crunch to it, in contrast to the smoothness of the cheese.



Below is a scene of the party in full force:



Ben Bailly (below left) and Josiah Citrin (below right) both made some of the signature dishes of the evening. Aside from the food provided by restaurants such as Josie, Wilshire, Street, 9:30 at the W Westwood, Fig, Comme Ca, Hatfields and many more, there were signature cocktails from Oxley Gin and a variety of wineries represented. The evening benefited LA's Best, an organization which provides supervised after-school enrichment programs for the youth of Los Angeles.



Don't forget to buy your tickets early next year as this year the tickets sold out!