LA Food Fest

For more >> LAFoodFest.com

LA’s favorite food festival returns this year bigger and better than ever with a new name, new partners, new location and a whole new model–welcome to the all-new LA Food Fest.™

The LA FOOD FEST is the city’s premier food event, showcasing the best of Los Angeles’ vibrant and diverse food scene over three nights and two full days with 100+ food and beverage vendors and multiple award-winning chefs participating in the ultimate celebration of LA food on July 8, 9 and 10 at Exposition Park. In addition to incredible food and beverage, the family-friendly Fest features charity partner Peace4Kids’ Mobile Village Kitchen as the live culinary stage featuring chef demos, live podcasts and more, a “food porn” cinema with sneak peeks at summer hits Sausage Party and Lights Out, an Artisanal LA Farm Shop featuring more than thirty unique made in LA vendors, a Bocce, Beer and Chill Zone, live music, sets from KCRW DJs Anne Litt and PRI’s Betto Arcos, and a Kids Zone presented by Barnsdall Art Park.   

Beyond the content, the big difference this year is that this is an event for all budgets.  Attendees can get in for as little as $15 or go whole hog (literally!) and eat a multi course top chef meal with beer and wine pairings from $95 and up.  All vendor menus in the MRKT include a $5 item, and with the Golden Hour option ($69) attendees receive two hours of all-inclusive sampling before the main action starts.  This unique pricing means that LA finally has a top quality, well produced food festival that caters to all tastes and budgets. This event is by Angelenos for all Angelenos to enjoy.

With chefs, restaurants, carts and stands from all corners of the city, the event showcases the best of the city’s vibrant food scene. Don’t miss Buzzfeed’s #1 “Fries you should eat before you die”; LA Weekly’s Best Coffee Stand, Best Self-Churned Ice Cream, Best Espresso Bar and Best Taco; Orange County’s Best Burger and Best Vietnamese Coffee; Golden Foodie Award winners; James Beard Award Nominees and Winning Chefs; Zagat’s Top 30 Under 30 and many more.

Friday, July 8 kicks off the 2016 LA Food Fest with a chef hosted opening party in the magnificent Rose Garden at Exposition Park. Opening night is a celebration of the Food Fest's past and present with a one-of-a-kind meal created by Los Angeles legends and OG Street Food Fest faves Chris Oh (Seoul Sausage, Hanjip), Johnny Ray Zone (Howlin’ Rays) and Nguyen Tran (Starry Kitchen x Button Mash).

Saturday, July 9 and Sunday, July 10 the main event at Exposition Park launches with offerings ranging from modern American fare to classic Mexican and everything in between. Attendees will find the LA’s best ice cream, gumbo, burgers, waffles, donuts, ramen and much, much, more all in one beautiful location–offering a rare opportunity to enjoy the city’s best all in one place. More than a hundred top chefs, award-winning restaurants, gourmet trucks, old school carts and stands will serve guests from white tented booths and beautiful shaded lounge areas throughout Exposition Park, with trucks spilling onto Expo Park Drive.

The one-of-a-kind exclusive event continues throughout the weekend in the Food Fest’s Rose Garden Pop-Up Restaurant with intimate, ticketed, “long table” style meals created and prepared by chefs Walter and Margarita Manzke (République), Nyesha Arrington (Leona), Teresa Montaño (Racion), Bruce Kalman (Union, Knead & Co), Ted Hopson (The Bellwether), Carlos Enriquez (Superba), Steven Fretz (The Church Key), Jair Tellez (MeroToro, Laja) and other guest chefs.

The event highlights from this year's brand new LA Food Fest include:

·         Food Trucks, Carts & Street Inspired Eats 118 Degrees, Amazebowls, All American Gumbo, All Flavor No Grease, Arroy Food Truck, Atta Boy Sandwiches, Bahn Mizza, BCN, Beaucoup Crawfish, BEP Kitchen, Bigmista's BBQ, BierBeisl, bling bling dumpling, Birdies, Boba ni Taco, Book Brothers, Cali Fresh, Cento Pasta Bar, Ceviche Stop, Chomp Eatery, Comfort LA, Coni' Seafood, Diablo Tacos / Diablo Pops, Eagle Rock Public House, El Coraloense, Forman's, Fred 62, Free Range LA, Fritzi Dog, Gypsy Eats, Grilled Cheese Truck, HACHÉ LA, Hinoki and the Bird, Huitlacoche, India Jones Chow Truck, Kai Kai Dumplings, KNEAD & Co. pasta bar + market, Knuckle & Claw, Little Ethiopia Restaurant, Lobsterdamus, Lola's Mexicana, Loteria Grill, Luckdish Curry, MeSoHungry, Middle Feast Food Truck, Misky Misky, Pierozhski Truck, Poke 2 Go, POPDUP, Ramen Yeah!, Rahel Ethiopia, Ricebar, Richeeze, Salazar, Same Same Thai, Sandwich Slayer, Seoul Waffle Pizza, Shake Shack, SHAKTI, Shawarma Palace, Son of a Bun, Starry Kitchen x Button Mash, StuffNIt Burgers, Taqueria El Severo, The Brooklyn Pig, The Halal Guys, The Lobos Truck, The Rooster, Todo Verde, Tom’s Urban, Top Round, Tsujita Ramen, Waffle Jack, Yuca’s and Zema with more being added daily.

·         Gastro Cerveceria a new feature this year celebrating LA and Mexico restaurateurs and chefs with Javier Rodriguez (El Impostor­–Guadlajaraa), Paul Bentley (Magno Brasserie + Saint Michel­–Guadlajara), Tomas Bermudez (La Docena–Guadalajara) and Jair Tellez (Laja, Mero Toro + Amaya­­–Baja and Mexico City) plus the return of the Tequila Tasting Tent

·         Making an LA Debut Mikey Likes It Ice Cream (New York) and The Brooklyn Pig (New York)

·         Artisanal LA Farm Shop forgot your sunglasses and hat? Need that BBQ sauce at home? Farm Shop featuring 4th & Heart, Ag Standard Smoked Almonds, ALL GOOD Sauce, Banzai Jerky, Bunnies in LA, CaliScrubs, Cocktail & Sons, Copa Vida Coffee, Copper Mugs, Crown Bloom Flower Co, Deluxe Screenprinting, Dine and Design, Gardel's Fine Foods, Kahoy Collection, Lahtt Sauce, Hepp's Salt, Inedible Jewelry, Indie Jams, Inhale BBQ, No Tox Life, Pop'd Up, Poprageous, Rockin' Rubs, SALSAOLOGY, Semolina Pasta, Smyrna Collection, The Charity Wrap, Tossware, Woven Bakehouse and more

·         Ice Cream Social is back and better than ever including Bluebird Ice Creamery, Cloud Food Creations, Créme Caramel LA, Hello Sweetie Pies, Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream, Mix.e, Peddler's Creamery, Pies by Dominic, Mikey Likes It Ice Cream, McConnell's Fine Ice Creams, Salt & Straw, Waffles de Liege, Waffling Around and Wanderlust Creamery

·         Donutville another new feature showcasing the city’s best donuts

·         Veg + Vegan faves like Sage Vegan Bistro, 118 Degrees, Bluebird Ice Creamery, Pies by Dominic, All American Gumbo, Califia Farms, Gypsy Eats, Plant Food + Wine, POPDUP, Rahel Ethiopian, SHAKTI, Todo Verde, Wanderlust Creamery and more

·         The Beverage Barn, Iced Coffee Lounge and New Kombucha Bar features Boxed Water is Better, Boba, Brew Dr. Kombucha, Califia Farms, Contra Coffee, Copa Vida, Demitasse, INVO Coconut Water, Longshot Coffee, Revive Kombucha, Tactile Coffee, Verve Coffee Roasters and more

·         Craft Cocktails complete the experience with craft cocktails by Birch’s Gabriella Mlynarczyk, Broken Spanish’s Michael Lay, Adam Carolla's Carolla Drinks, Gracias Madre’s Jason Eisner (weed cocktails!), Melrose Umbrella Co’s David Purcell, The Fiscal Agent’s Chris Amirault, Viviane’s Ryan Wainright

·         Beer & Wine pours include 21st Amendment Brewery, Ballast Point, Eagle Rock Brewery, Endless Rant IPA (Adam Carolla's new beer), Firestone Walker, Four Peaks, Glutenberg Brewery (gluten free), Golden Road, Goose Island, Lagunitas, Pizza Port Brewing Co, TsingTao and the Winc Wine Garden featuring cans of Ruza Rosé, Pacificana Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir kegs, Sauvétage Rosé Kegs, and WKND sparkling wine

The event is accessible to all Angelenos with the main event MRKT tickets starting at just $15, which include access to the entire event, including shaded VIP style lounges, a beer and bocce court, entertainment, live chef demos and more. With each vendor offering at least one dish at $5 and plenty of event only specials.

Guests looking to break out their stretchy pants and enjoy a VIP vibe can take advantage of the exclusive “Golden Hour” tasting event tickets featuring early access to the event, two hours of unlimited sampling, drink tickets for use at the Food Fest MRKT bars, and more. With just a couple thousand tickets offered daily this is the Food Fest #stretchypants special.