Taste of the Eastside

(Attended 05÷31÷15 SU @ 3:00pm): A sampling of tasty treats and liberal libations as you explored a culinary collection of Los Angeles’ Eastside!
My 2^nd year as a proud volunteer at the 5^th annual Taste Of The Eastside event, I previously attended its first three years at the Barnsdall Art Park in East Hollywood. A lovely local event where ALL proceeds benefited L.A.‘s first cooperative nursery school, Rose Scharlin Cooperatve Nursery School, in addition to Pablove Foundation, SEE-​LA, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and the Hollyhock House, this allowed restaurants to showcase themselves for a wonderful cause. Here was an over-​arching synopsis of 2015’s event:
TICKET PRICES
Kids Under 2-​years old: Free
Kids 2 to 12-​years old: $ 8.00
General: $ 50.00 (included unlimited tastings)
Premium: $ 60.00 (included unlimited tastings, 3-​sample bar flight, VIP food & mixology demos access)
VIP: $ 90.00 (included unlimited tastings, 3-​sample bar flight, VIP food & mixology demos access, early entry at 3pm, exclusive gift bag, front row demos seating, priority parking)
Drink tickets: 1/​$ 6.00 or 4/​$ 20.00
VENDORS/​ENTERTAINERS: A collage of selected images (sorry for those excluded) as if you were there!
Diablo Pop/​Taco
El Condor
Feast Catering
The Greyhound Bar & Grill (local beers: Angel City Brewery, Golden Road Brewing)
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Knuckle & Claw
Lemon Poppy Kitchen
Little Dom’s
Maximiliano
Momed
Podunk Punks
Polka Restaurant
Xoia Vietnamese Eats
Service — You were intermittently allowed in as a crowd control measure, but once inside the drink and food lines flowed easily and rapidly. All the vendors appeared happy to be there and were willing to answer any questions. Please note for next year that some vendors started packing up an hour before closing because they ran out of food. The live bands were a nice touch that the crowd enjoyed. The demos were informal, informative and interactive which held the crowd’s attention. Everything seemed to run rather smoothly!
Parking (Free) — Plenty of spots in their private lot or on the surrounding streets; ’nuff said.
Atmosphere, décor, ambience — Held at the Los Angeles River Center and Gardens the past two years, this facility was truly a hidden gem in all places Cypress Park. Spanish style with a lively centerpiece water fountain
, a spacious courtyard, a family-​friendly lawn area
, a small beer garden, and halls filled with folding chairs where the demos were held. Tall tables (no chairs) covered with bright-​white clothes dotted the entire facility for patrons while vendor tables where coordinated end-​to-​end to maximize space. Natural lighting as you’d imagine with some electric lighting brought in for the dusk hours. No TVs and the live bands provided all the music you needed.
Attire — Totally casual, so I would normally be in a t-​shirt, boardshorts, and flip-​flops.
Overall, the Taste Of The Eastside was a wonderful event to introduce oneself to some exciting and inventive cuisine in this corner of Los Angeles. Plus, our hard-​earned money went to support some wonderful local organizations. However, I recommended that the organizers made a concerted effort to slightly change up the vendors from year to year for fear of it getting stale. I found total value based on the prices, service, and experience noted above (total paid experience was around $ 70.00 [$ 50.00 general admission + $ 20.00 drink tickets] BEFORE any comps/​discounts). And, they accepted my credit card of choice… AMEX! 5.0 STARS

This is the best family friendly food festival in all of Los Angeles. I have been to several food festivals with my family and this was the only food festival that my kids loved.
There were tons of activities for them which allowed me to hang out with a plate full of amazing food, while they played. They also offered a Little Foodie Treasure Hunt that encouraged my kids to actually walk through all the food vendor booths looking for treasure. This was awesome because at most of these events I can only get a couple of samples before my kids get bored and want to sit down and start eating. At this event I tried every singe vendor!
Speaking of the food. It was delicious. 30 great restaurants and the samples were a decent size. I definitely left full! The whole family did. Also it is the most affordable food festival of it’s type.
I am counting the days until this year’s Taste of the Eastside.

I have mixed feelings about this food event. I attend quite a few food events in the city — most if not all which are exclusively 21+. This is the first event (where adulterated beverages were being served) and anyone under 21 was allowed in. The range of youth seemed to be somewhere between weeks old and teens and comprised 20% of attendees. Now, I don’t have a problem with kids participating in these events, but what I did notice was a lot of irresponsible parenting.
But for witnessing poor parenting, the event would have been great. There was plenty of and a varied selection of featured «Eastside» eateries.
Two major/​minor hiccups:
1. VIP was allowed in 40 minutes after the scheduled time — so having purchased VIP tickets was not worth it.
2. All drinks were ticketed. Comparable events in terms of price do not ticket drinks. Drink tickets could be purchased for $ 6/​each.
Oh, and then there was the fact that they ran out of beer. So make that three.

Came as a volunteer for the first half of the event and stayed for the food. The volunteer portion was super laid back and they probably don’t need as many next year because there was a lot of down time. Things were a bit confusing with the VIP portion at the beginning of the event but it ended up working out. Unilocal table was right in front with stickers, tote bags, and cardboard fans when you check in. As for the event, it was pretty cool. The space is really pretty with fountains and fauna and grass for resting. Not too much shade at the beginning but it cooled down as the sun went down. They have a small parking lot but I just ended up parking on a residential street across the way. So much food to try. I think they had about 40 vendors. And I calculated that I probably tried something from about 30 of them which is pretty good. Next time, gotto learn to pace myself. I didn’t stay till the end and got a late start so I might’ve been able to sample everything if I used the whole allotted time. But I did go back to L&E Oyster booth multiple times (diff types of oysters!) and the Pazzo gelato booth twice. Mmmm, yeah those would be my fav. Also I think there was a place called Bön Vivant that had a really good pork chop. Alcohol was extra but they had a bar as well as a brewing company there with beers. Also random demos were going on throughout the event. If you didn’t know, the event also benefits a nursery school and this was the fourth year I think they had it. I would definitely come back next year.

This was a great event. Thank you for all the great vendors that came and provided such delicious food. I would have to say the best part was all the oysters we got and the company that provided us with filtered clean delicious water! The only thing that I was sad about is that we had to buy tickets to buy alcohol :(

Great event! Lots of food to choose from, and live DJ providing entertainment. The venue was pretty nice too. My favorite vendor would definitely be the oyster one. I went back in line multiple times for it. And I was surprised that they never ran out of them for the straight 5 hours that the event was open for.
Alcohol was not free. I thought it would be, but it’s not. You had to buy tickets for it. But they had free, clean, filtered water so that was cool.

Such a fun festival! Plenty of food to fill yourself up, great tunes, refreshing drinks. Awesome space.
Would definitely return next year. Highly recommend this laid back festival.
Parents be ware — don’t bring your kids and let them run amuck and crazy with all the food. Saw plenty of kids getting sick and throwing up all over the place b/​c they were eating ice cream, then burgers, then pasta, then some more ice cream. No bueno. Manage your kids, parents, so you don’t ruin the festival for yourself, your kids, and all the other patrons.

What a fun event. Standouts were LuckyDuck and Square One! The venue was comfortable — even if seating was limited. My only complaint is that the tasting portions were too large, so that there was lots of waste. Kudos to all who organized this amazing time. I especially loved Kidding Around the Kitchen, which provided a space for kids to play with healthy food. LOVE playing with food!

Unlike most other taste events, the food vendors here do not skimp on the portions at all. We came here around 3pm to check out the festivities before our assigned volunteer shift (5pm-​7pm). I’m so glad we got the later shift as the line was short and the food was plentiful earlier in the day.
There were 31 restaurants represented and with a large number of vendors, there are hits and misses but I have to say, the majority of the restaurants here did bring their A dish. The highlight had to be the oyster bar from L&E. Together we ended up eating about a dozen oysters throughout the day.
The gelato was also pretty good and helped to combat a warm sunday afternoon. Mexican food was well represented as there were a number of food vendors serving anything from fried stuff tacos, to spicy chili topped nachos and shrimp and lamb bite-​size tostadas. Vegetarians were not to be left out as there was a vietnamese fusion vendor serving tofu tostadas and a salads from a few vendors for the weight watchers.
In all it was a fun event and there was enough people to make it festive but not too much where you felt it was crowded.
We came back in later in the evening (7pm-​ish), and many of the vendors had run out of food or were serving smaller portions. But it was moot point for us as we were still full after stuffing our faces a couple of hours earlier.
Definitely an event to check out and I can’t wait to volunteer/​attend the event again next year.

What a fun event at a great space. I would never have thought that there was this little oasis of Spanish influenced archtecture in the middle of the Boyle Heights area. The staff was extremely friendly and as a volunteer I got to see both sides as both helping with the event and participating.
There were over 31 different restaurants showcasing their wares. I was a little sad for Allumette as they just recently announced that they were closing. But they sure are going out with a bang. The fairy squid with cilantro flower was fantastic. My favorites included Lucky Duck (that tuna tartare and snap pea salad!), Gigi’s Bakery (Guava and cheese pastry), and L & E Oyster Bar.
There was plenty libations going to and a fun children’s scavenger hunt. Very much a family event. I plan to come back next year!

Perfect day. Great food, great area, great time. Not crowded and plenty if room to sit/​stand and enjoy the amazing food & beer. Highly suggest getting tickets for this event the next time it rolls around. Great for families and a group of your average 20 something east side kids.

Horrible. 30 minutes after VIP started and no one has been let in. Volunteers don’t know what’s going on. Richard a volunteer is a dick. People are baking in the sun. Don’t go

Fantastic event benefitting Rose Scharlin Cooperative Nursery School. The thirty participating restaurants are a who’s who of the Eastside.
Your entry ticket gets you all the food samples you can get your hands on. Drink tickets are available near the bar.
My favorite items include:
Little Dom’s — buttermilk ice cream with coconut brittle
Greyhound Bar and Grill — rueben sandwich
L&E Oyster Bar — oysters on the half shell
G&B Coffee — cold coffee, espresso, mixed drinks
Silverlake Cheese — cheese demo
Greenbar Distillery — the only distillery in LA. Keep an eye on them. They are the next big thing.
I’m already excited about next year’s event.

Great samples with lots of cuisines represented! If you got here later, it ran much smoother. Booze is well represented and the iced coffee is bomb.
Don’t forget… Unilocal booth there, so check in for free schwag!