Artisanal LA

I shared the late morning and early afternoon with friends at the Artisanal LA event on the 11th floor of the Cooper Building downtown. Very cool, man. Local LA farmers and small-outfit food and craft producers come together to showcase and sell their wares to hipsters, foodies, bloggers, and winos.

Though there were foods, drinks, crafts, workshops, and lots of free samples, there seemed to be a foodie fashion trend going on: sweet and spicey. It seems that every sauce booth and jelly stand had something with kick and sweet. Not even caramel corn was spared from the heat - habanero and caramel popcorn anyone?

Things I bought:

• Red wine and cranberry rolls (large bag) from Homeboy Bakery
• Cupcakes from Sweet Dreamery Desserts
• Avocado honey from Fat Uncle Farms
• Spicy Balsamic BBQ Sauce from David's Unforgettables
• Coconut brittle (no nuts!) from Butterfly Brittle
• "Hell Fire Pepper Jelly" from Jenkins Jellies
  

Things I sampled, besides all of the above:

• Fruit and herb infused vodka cocktail (in a jar!)
• Microbrew beer from Los Angeles
• Many, many sauces
• More things I can't recall at the moment...

We were all well-fed and had many business cards in-hand for future local patronage in Los Angeles.