October 2017 - The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional

SC

The o al

FO

W

W

RM

W

OR

.SO

EP

HO

CA

TO

LF

S&

NB

ST

PR

OR

O.

IES

VI

CO

Issue 10 Volume 17

US $3.95

San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival Returns to San Diego November 12-19

SIT

M

TheSoCal

&

October 2017

FOOD BEVERAGE P

R

O

F

E

12

S

S

I

O

N

A

L

CONTENTS AND COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLISHER MIKE FRYER WELCOME BACK TO OUR OCTOBER ISSUE of The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional and what’s happening in the Southern California Food & Beverage Industry. Now that summer has passed, the expos-shows-events mood is kicking in, starting with the world’s largest gaming expo: Global Gaming Expo (G2E) the beginning of October in Las Vegas, leading into other industry events throughout Southern California and the region. Make plans to visit and attend some of these industry events to broaden your knowledge and increase your industry understanding. I guarantee you won’t regret it!

Cover Our October Cover Feature features the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival, an

annual culinary event you must attend if you enjoy great wines and beers, great food bites from many of San Diego’s top chefs and restaurants, plus a beautiful setting right at the San Diego Bay Marina overlooking Coronado Island and the Navy Pier with its fantastic ships. There are many events and dinners leading up to the Grand Tasting which is held on Saturday afternoon. Check out the additional information inside and buy your tickets early, as they do go quickly! See you there…

7

12

14

16

PAGE 7 welcomes our newest column, the Broads of Bourbon, and believe me, the ladies already had their column named when they joined Food & Beverage Professional. The Power team (no pun intended) of Mary Powers & Delilah Tennyson are a great addition to our tremendous line up of journalists and they add additional coverage of a major beverage segment we all could use more knowledge in.

Welcome on board, Ladies!

PAGE 12 will take you to the Foodie Biz and our very own Restaurant Editor Ben Brown who takes us on culinary journey to Huntington Beach and Lot 579, a location combining a number of food and beverage establishments where you can spend your afternoon just tasting all the goodies they have to offer. After that you have to head for Andrei’s in Irvine to be totally blown away by some of the best food and service you’ll find anywhere. And you’ll be surprised where the proceeds from the sales go…But you’ll have to read on to find out.

PAGE 16 brings us to another new column and journalist on board. We’d like to Welcome Andy Slipher to our ever-growing group of professional journalists and food & beverage lovers! An accomplished business professional with his own marketing company and many years of experience, we are delighted to have Andy contributing his professionalism. Thank you, Andy… CHEERS! CHEERS! MIKE FRYER

Page 4 Hot off the Grill!

Page 11 The Bottom Line Are Faux Food Holidays Worth Making a Fuss Over?

Page 5 COOK•EAT: Asia Alcohol Beverages in Asia

Page 6 Product Review

Page 7 Dining out with the Harrises

Page 8 Broads of Bourbon Is Your Whiskey Relationship on the Rocks?

18 www.socalfnbpro.com

Page 10 Brett’s Vegas View

Page 20 What’s Brewing

Page 22 Product Spotlight Page12 Foodie Biz

Our Picks by Adam Rains

Page 14 COVER FEATURE San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival Returns to San Diego

Page 24 Human Resources Insights HR Is the Heart of Every Organization

Page 16 What Has Changed About Marketing in the Last 100 Years?

Page 25 Allegretto Vineyard Resort Welcomes Justin Picard as Executive Chef

Page 17 Wine Talk Millennials: On the Rise and Influencing the Beverage Market

Page 26 Events Ad Index

Page 18 Made from Scratch STEELCRAFT Long Beach: Where Food Trucks Meet Train Cars

ACF Chefs of SoCal

October 2017 I The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional 3

The Socal Food & Beverage Professional 7442 Grizzly Giant Street Las Vegas, NV 89139

www.socalfnbpro.com

HOT OFF THE GRILL!

October 2017 Mike Fryer

Sr. Editor/Publisher

Restaurant Editor Ben Brown got an epic taste of Huntington Beach at Lot 579. Located right across from the pier, Lot 579 is a modern food hall that brings global, local and creative concepts together in a fun, homey environment.

Check out each stop in Ben’s Foodie Biz column.

Thank you for joining us in this issue of The Las Vegas Food & Beverage Professional.

For any questions or comments please email mike@socalfnbpro.com

Bob Barnes

Editorial Director bob@socalfnbpro.com Last month’s cover feature was devoted to Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Seattle Washington. Sr. Editor Mike Fryer had the opportunity to visit the vineyard and tasting room to personally deliver hard copies of the September issue to Ste. Michelle management.

Juanita Fryer

Ben Brown

Assistant To Sr. Editor ACF Chefs Liasion/Journalist juanita.fryer@socalfnbpro.com

Restaurant Editor ben@socalfnbpro.com

The Annual Sip & Savor fundraising event hosted by Wolfgang Puck at Spago and sponsored by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits was a complete success once again this year. Proceeds from the fundraiser go to the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. Larry and Camille Ruvo present a cowboy hat to Wolfgang for a laugh!

Juanita Aiello

Adam Rains

Creative Director juanita@socalfnbpro.com

Beverage Editor adam.rains@socalfnbpro.com

Advertising sales@socalfnbpro.com

Article Submissions/Suggestions articles@socalfnbpro.com

Calendar Submissions calendar@socalfnbpro.com

Website webmaster@socalfnbpro.com

Press Relase Submissions news@socalfnbpro.com

General Information info@socalfnbpro.com

@socalfnbpro

The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional

CONTRIBUTING STAFF

Legal Editorial Advisor Andrew Matney

Journalist What’s Brewing David Mulvihill

Accounting Manager Michelle San Juan

Journalist Brett’s Vegas View Jackie Brett Journalist

Best of the Best Shelley Stepanek

Journalists Broads of Bourbon Mary Powers & Delilah Tennyson

Journalist Made from Scratch John Rockwell

Journalist Chef Spotlight Leah Schmidt

Journalist Good for Spooning LeAnne Notabartolo

Journalist COOK•EAT: Asia K. Mike Masuyama Ph.D.

Photographer Audrey Dempsey

Journalist Chef Talk Allen Asch

Journalist Linda Duke

Journalist Andy Slipher

Journalist Wine Talk Alice Swift

Journalist The Bottom Line Ben Brown

Photographer Bill Bokelmann

Photographer Joe Urcioli

Journalists Twinkle Toast Erin Cooper & Christine Vanover

Journalist Lisa Matney

Journalist HR Insights Linda Bernstein

4 The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional I October 2017

www.socalfnbpro.com

By K. Mike Masuyama Ph.D.

COOK•EAT: Asia Alcohol Beverages in Asia

A flushed red face, wet eyes and elevated spirit would appear when Asians drink alcohol even a bit. It is due to their low activity of an alcohol breaking-down enzyme in the liver. Very inconvenient personally, when I sipped a cocktail at a business power lunch with Caucasian partners who showed nothing. This Asian character, I confirmed with indigenous or early arrival people from Asia across a frozen ice-mass bridge to Alaska, when I recently visited the Denali National Park in Alaska. Except for medical or religious reasons, Asians love alcohol here and in their homelands.

Alcohol has been our companion since an early stage of human history. It was to warm up the body from the inside in cold climates, to invigorate the soul or morale, or to communicate with something supernatural for advice on a disputed matter or problem hard to solve by themselves. The role of alcohol was inherited in each race or nation or religion relating to the degree of allowance or inhibition. Generally speaking, Asia has been liberal or tolerable to alcohol drinking. When supply was limited, drinking took place only at ceremonies, festivals, family occasions or social functions. Today drinking becomes more common and delightful while its supply becomes readily available.

Beer appears most popular in Asia today. It is an ideal drink for refreshing or replenishing energy from busy daily routines because of its relatively low alcohol content, effervescent bubbles and smooth swallowing. The least hangover (if moderately consumed) the following morning is also significant. Japan, as a predecessor of an economic progress, has gone from the traditional heavy drinking of sake to beer as a proof of this theory. So be it for the rest of Asian countries as well as Asians here. A cold, light Pilsner type is their beer, which is most appreciated in warm climates in Asia. In 1904 Germans started brewing a Pilsner style (present Tsingtao or Qingdao) when colonizing a northern Chinese territory. This Pilsner tradition was inherited by Japanese during its occupation there.

Later American style beers like Budweiser or Coors became almost universal in Asia, and San Miguel in Philippines, Tiger in Singapore, Singha in Thailand, Hite-OB in Korea, Kirin in Japan, and Carlsberg or Heineken at many locations. Some of them, you can enjoy at respective ethnic restaurants like Hite or OB with BBQ beef bulgogi. Orion in Okinawa may be also known among military returnees from there. Craft beer has not been fully blooming yet. It may take a little bit more time for diversifying beer taste, which may come with the economic progress.

Wine is still in a cradle there. But China has grown to be a major importer of expensive wines in Asia. In the case of Japan, wine, mostly imported, is expensive because of import and alcohol taxes, and is only a fraction of the total alcohol beverage sales. Drinking taxes, they joke. Wine, dry www.socalfnbpro.com

Mike Masuyama is a bi-cultural science-technologybusiness consultant. He earned a Ph.D. in Food Science at Cornell University, is involved in teaching, research and business in major-beer, micro-beer, soft drinks, sake, sea salt, rice, white soy sauce and other areas both in Japan and the US., and has published several books and dozens of articles.

“West Eats East” was his last series in this journal.

white wine in particular, must go well with seafood like sushi or sashimi.

With my sake business experience here in our market, though, ethnic beverages tend to be promoted only in respective ethnic markets.

Distillates and spirits, in a Chinese expression “Fire Drink,” are often used for mixed drinks preferred by females, which are gaining power in this macho Asian alcohol market today. Other traditional ones like Shaoxing (Chinese), Machori (Korean), sake (Japanese), or numerous local naturally fermented drinks are still preferred particularly by males who may be losing the ground to rising females. In this globalization and economic progress, Asian alcohol consumption has been swinging more to beer, and then will go further to mixed drinks, and a little bit more to wine down the road.

TRADITIONAL YET NEW Perfect Soy Sauce Flavor without the Color!

A golden color white soy sauce No burnt dark soy sauce flavor No darkening color in cooking Remarkable for sea foods, veggies, pasta, fusion and natural foods

www.whitesoysaucefood.com October 2017 I The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional 5

Product Review

By Bob Barnes

Patrón Extra Añejo The Jalisco, Mexico-based Patrón has introduced its first new addition to its core range of tequilas in 25 years: Patrón Extra Añejo. Crafted from Mexico’s highest-quality 100% Weber Blue Agave, it is distilled in small batches and aged in oak barrels for at least three years, giving the aged tequila notes of dry fruits, banana, honey and vanilla, together with a light distinctive flavor of agave. After sampling this 88 proof spirit, I can assure you this is a tequila worthy of sipping and savoring every last drop, and it would be a sin to pound shots of it or even (in my opinion) to mix it in a cocktail. For more info visit www.patrontequila.com/global-en/products/anejo-7-anos.html.

Also, go to https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-patr%C3%B3n-experience/ id1281347161?ls=1&mt=8 to download a free app allowing you to take a peek inside the Patrón Hacienda.

La Hechicera Solera 21 We all know about how aging whiskey in wood over long periods of time improves its goodness, but aged rum doesn’t always get the same notice. One worth taking note of is the La Hechicera Solera 21, a masterful blend of fine rums matured for 12-21 years in white oak casks that previously aged bourbon.

Owned by the Riascos family, for more than 20 years three generations have been creating fine rums at its Casa Santana (nestled between the longwinding Magdalena River and the Caribbean Sea), the only privately-owned family rum producer in Columbia. I found the taste to be exquisite and without question one of the finest aged rums I have had the pleasure to experience.

This fine sipping rum brings an aroma of prunes, vanilla and orange peel and on the palate notes of bitter sweet chocolate, tobacco and roasted coffee with a crisp and smooth finish. For more info, visit www.lahechicera.co where you can also view its extensive list of awards, including Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Stirrings Simply Better Cocktails If you want to fool your friends into thinking you are a master mixologist, you might want to consider the mixes from Stirrings Simply Better Cocktails. 12 varieties include Apple Martini, Lemon Drop, Peach Belini, Mojito and Bloody Mary; and for those watching calories, there are 5-Calorie Cosmopolitan and 5-Calorie Margarita mixers. Each of the creations is made with real juice and without artificial preservatives, and come with simple directions: just pour in the suggested amount, add the spirit, ice, shake, garnish and you’re all set. I sampled the Margarita and Peach Bellini and was impressed with the simplicity of making the drink as well as the quality, which to me equaled what I would expect at a bar. In addition to the mixers, a line of rimmer garnishes are available in flavors of Bloody Mary, Cosmopolitan, Lemon Drop, Margarita and Pomegranate; and bar ingredients of Blood Orange Bitters, Simple Syrup, Dirty Martini and Authentic Grenadine. Stirrings can be found nationwide at major grocery stores and retailers, including Walmart and Total Wine, as well as online at www.stirrings.com or at Amazon and Jet.com.

Master of Mixes Currently one of the most popular cocktails is the Bloody Mary, and many restaurants are offering Bloody Mary bars where customers can make their own concoctions. To help you do so at home there is the Chef-inspired Classic Gourmet Bloody Mary Mixers, which happens to be the #1 selling cocktail mixer brand in the U.S. Chef Anthony Lamas, three-time James Beard Award nominee hailing from Louisville’s Latin-inspired restaurant Seviche, works in collaboration with the brand to develop its recipes. Each contains 96% juice and varieties include Classic, Loaded, Michelada and 5 Pepper. I sampled all four and found them all to be outstanding, with my favorite being the quite spicy 5 Pepper (chipotle, ancho, red pepper, habanero and jalapeno), in which the heat was definitely turned up. And, being a beer guy, I appreciated the Michelada requiring 3 parts beer to 1 part mixer, which to me tasted just like a Bloody Mary beer. In addition to the Bloody Mary mixers, the company also offers several other mixers, such as Pina Colada, Mojito, Whiskey Sour and Sangria. For the whole lineup, visit www.masterofmixes.com.

6 The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional I October 2017

www.socalfnbpro.com

By Elaine & Scott Harris

Dining out with the Harrises

Sommeliers and Editor-In-Chief of Nationally Recognized Cuisineist.com and Vino Las Vegas LLC. They are the Las Vegas City Editors for TheDailyMeal in New York City.

Cuisinist@Gmail.com • www.Cuisineist.com www.VinoLasVegas.Blogspot.com www.LasVegasDiningTours.com Facebook:ElaineScottHarris Twitter:TheCuisineist.com Twitter: VinoLasVegas • Instagram : Cuisineist

photo by Scott Harris

Isaiah Thomas Scores Big With Cheurlin Champagne in Las Vegas.

Isaiah Thomas, the retired American basketball We have the best soil, water and weather player who played professionally for the Detroit conditions for Champagne. Being in this format Pistons in the National Basketball Association we are very conscious of what we eat and and 12-time NBA All-Star lauded as one of the 50 drink, and sometimes when you do drink other greatest players in the NBA history, has imbibed products you end up with a headache. I used to in many celebratory bottles of Champagne over think the headache came from the alcohol, but his illustrious career. Now he has embarked on now I realize it actually comes from the sugar. his own brand of superb Champagne. Trading The thing that I love is that there is very little the court for the Champagne vineyards, Thomas sugar added to our product. We are very excited has been awarded in another realm: the many to introduce this product to the MGM properties. international wine competitions where his Champagne, Cheurlin, has won numerous awards What motivated you into venturing into the including 2017 Champagne Producer of the Champagne making process and have you Year by the prestigious New York International always had an interest in fine wines?

Wine Competition. Cheurlin Thomas Black No, I was always an athlete first as I did not drink, Label Collection, Blanc de Blanc Celebrite and smoke or anything of that nature; I was as pure the Le Champion Blanc de Noir along with the as the driven snow, so to speak, in some aspects Rose de Saignee and the flagship Cheurlin Brut (laughs). The time I was around Champagne was Speciale are all exquisite in subtle elegance, pure for celebratory reasons usually after a big win. fruit balance and delicate tiny beads of bubbles As time went on and I got involved in this space, that dance and dazzle in the glass and on the I realized that Champagne can be a beverage for palate. We had a few moments to catch up with breakfast, lunch or dinner. The more I got into this remarkable NBA legend and speak with him it the more I understood how Champagne was about his new venture and his surprising success made and the vineyards from which it comes off the court. from. Our Champagne is from one vineyard; all Tell us about your new venture: the grapes come from the same place and the The Champagne is named Cheurlin and the Champagne makers are from one family. That brand comes from a family of growers with 200 makes this product extremely special as it has acres in Champagne near the Seine who have a 90-plus pointed portfolio here in the United States. I believe we are one of two producers been making Champagne since the late 1700s.

They pride themselves on Champagne making. with a 90-plus pointed rating. www.socalfnbpro.com

It appears that your motivation in launching Cheurlin is more about enhancing the intimate setting of meals with friends and family versus the club scene. Am I correct in that observation?

The more I learned about Champagne, the more I realized that it is about the pairing with the meals that you eat. So often we think of a certain red or white wine to go with a meal but Champagne is the perfect beverage, which is why it is such a luxurious drink. I have heard that Champagne is the drink of the Gods, since they can enjoy it anytime of the day or night.

If you look at how we came into the business, we did not go to the nightclubs; instead, we are going into the hotels and the restaurants, and the big sporting arenas, where people sit, gather to talk and enjoy a meal and conversation. The best part of this job is that I can say that I am working doing this.

How are you going to engage the 21 crowd that may want to try Champagne for the first time?

I have found that the younger crowd is no different than we were when we started drinking in that they may start with a sweeter beverage, but then they may want to try something more upscale, or they meet someone who introduces them to a better product. The Millennials are very inquisitive, ask a lot of questions and they do want to know what they are drinking and they do want to know the story behind the beverage.

I was one of those guys when someone asked me what kind of wine I wanted to drink—red or white or even Champagne—I really did not know what I was being poured; I was not educated. Now there is more education out there including more information about food, and now the spirits business is doing the same. People are more conscious of what they are drinking and what they are ordering, and that is why we will have a leg up on the competition.

Are you using social media including Instagram and other modalities to get the word out about your products?

We do use some social media, but we have only been in the U.S. six months with this product and I go back to what my economic teacher told me to invest in things you like and love and the good products sell themselves through word of mouth.

Most of the good stuff that we wear, eat or drink sells itself through word of mouth. I happen to be here today in Las Vegas by word of mouth through the MGM properties. It is the juice in the bottle that speaks for itself, not the bottle or the packaging which I designed myself, but the Champagne.

October 2017 I The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional 7

Broads of

BOURBON

photos by Mary Powers

Is Your Whiskey Relationship on the Rocks?

Mary Powers and Delilah Tennyson are a couple of whiskey enthusiasts from Las Vegas, NV known for their humoristic and unconventional whiskey reviews on YouTube. They are the ladies of Broads of Bourbon. thebroads@broadsofbourbon.com Instagram: @broadsofbourbon Youtube: @broadsofbourbon Facebook: @bourbonbroads

Featured American Stoneware and On the Wrox whiskey stones

For many years, whiskey advocates have sworn by the belief that one should never add ice or water to whiskey when enjoying the spirit.

The idea to let the whiskey breathe and to taste it without cutting the flavor is what many enthusiasts are adamant about. We believe that people should enjoy whiskey the way that they want, but there is a little bit of science that might make you reconsider how you decide to in the future.

For starters, if you leave whiskey out in a glass neat for about 30 minutes, it will taste watered down and flat from alcohol evaporation. Also, if you swirl your glass, it causes the evaporation to occur even faster. The alcohol sits at the top so that when you smell it, you get a nice burn in your lungs. Distilleries commonly cut whiskeys to get more volume out of a barrel, and as long as companies meet the minimum guidelines for their specific genre of whiskey, say more specifically bourbon (which can be no lower than 80 proof at bottling), distilleries can stretch how much bourbon they get per barrel by adding water to it. With some of the higher proofed bourbons, distillers barrel at a lower proof so that when the whiskey is ready to bottle, they can maintain the flavor profile without compromising the integrity by watering it down. Water it down too much, and you get 80 proof Old Grand Dad. Based off of the evaporation and proof information, we set out to determine if bottling should dictate how one should drink whiskey.

Drinking it neat could be a bit harsh, while

drinking it with ice could possibly ruin the flavor. We figured that if some of the bourbon legends enjoyed the spirit differently, we should consider it too. Master distiller Elmer T. Lee drank his bourbon with a cube of ice. Booker Noe (Jim Beam) drank his straight from the barrel with a couple swipes of Kentucky faucet water. Adding a little bit of water or a cube of ice to help open up some new flavors, especially with the higher proofed whiskeys, doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. Basically, bourbon neat at room temperature, chilled, diluted we weren’t sure what to think.

We decided to investigate what method of drinking bourbon tasted best. We first chose a test subject: Wild Turkey 101, because it’s one of the few true bourbons that retains its flavor profile due to minimal cutting at bottling, and is also probably the whiskey you fooled around with one night in college and still can’t make eye contact with. We then decided on testing several different consumption methods: neat, splash of water, over ice, whiskey stones and a whiskey glass carved from stone. Here’s what we concluded: Neat: Nothing added. Just pure whiskey and drawing straws to see who tries this one first.

We really rolled the dice on this method.

Straight from the bottle. You still get a pretty good flavor profile, it just burns a lot going down.

Water: Just a splash. Takes the intensity from a ten down to about an eight, still tastes relatively

8 The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional I October 2017

photo by Ashley Flaig

By Mary Powers & Delilah Tennyson

similar to neat. Eyes aren’t watering as bad this time, but still kind of wondering why drinking at room temperature has such an appeal. Also, pretty sure our voices are deeper now.

Ice: No fancy ice here. We used only the finest Lake Mead water filtered and frozen. Sourced from freezer to cup. Yes, that’s better. Ice seems to mellow out the bourbon to a tolerable state enhancing the nose of spice and vanilla instead of just spice, oak and fire.

Whiskey stones: Non-porous soapstone from On The Wrox. Stones were chilled and added to bourbon. These stones are supposed to allow you to enjoy the spirit chilled without ice. The temperature of the bourbon is brought down slightly, but the boldness and the burn still remain. Basically, we just tricked ourselves into drinking this bourbon neat again. These are a great conversation piece, and can alter the temperature if that’s your thing, but would be better for a more flavorful scotch or a lowerproofed bourbon.

Whiskey stone carved glass: Courtesy of American Stoneware. Very caveman-esque.

Makes this glass super fun to grab and shout random quotes from Encino Man. Add an ounce of water into the glass and freeze. This is actually a pretty neat way of drinking. The small layer of ice helps to subtly break down the whiskey while the glass remains cool long enough for you to “weeze the juice.”

Delilah Tennyson drinking liquid fire

The calm before the storm

www.socalfnbpro.com

Brett’s

By Jackie Brett

Jackie is a freelance public relations specialist and writer specializing in the Las Vegas entertainment and travel scene. Her writings have appeared in magazines and newspapers nationwide and on numerous websites. She is also an instructor covering Special Events at CSN- College of Southern Nevada.

Email: jackiebrett@cox.net

ENTERTAINMENT FLASHES

The Scintas will perform every Friday and Saturday night in October and November at the Plaza and also Dec. 29, 30 and New Year’s Eve. Vegas magician Tommy Wind’s show closed at the Boulevard Theater with plans to move to a new venue in October.

The ghoulish Evil Dead The Musical cult production opened at the Windows Showroom at Bally’s with 10 p.m. performances.

DINING NEWS

OFF THE GRID ITEMS

The Palazzo’s gaming floor is undergoing a multi-million dollar remodel, which will include new carpet and stone walkways, removal of escalators to The Grand Canal Shoppes, reworking the collection of bars and adding The Corner Bar. Marking 25 years, The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace has a new digital, double-faced freestanding 85-foot-tall marquee simulating a classical Roman building façade. photo credit: Las Vegas News Bureau

Shania Twain touring next year in support of her new album “NOW” will headline the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, Aug. 4.

Lionel Richie, a Kennedy Center Honoree in December, added 14 performances to his residency at The AXIS in Planet Hollywood Nov. 29 through March 2018, while Jennifer Lopez added 32 performances February through August 2018.

Guns N’ Roses on their worldwide Not In This Lifetime Tour will stop at T-Mobile Arena Friday, Nov. 17.

Reba McEntire, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn added a Sunday, Dec. 10 show at Caesars Palace during National Finals Rodeo.

Paul Shaffer, David Letterman’s musical sidekick for 33 years, along with his band, The Shāf-Shifters, have an exclusive three-week, nine-date engagement at Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace in December and January.

Bruno Mars added six performance dates for his Park Theater at Monte Carlo residency, Dec. 30-31 and Feb. 14, 16, 17 and 19, 2018.

Cindy Williams of TV series Laverne & Shirley fame extended her run again through Dec. 16 as a guest star in Menopause The Musical at Harrah’s.

Human Nature, Sands Showroom headliners at The Venetian, has extended their contract to perform their Jukebox show through March 2019.

Blending magic, music and comedy, Jarrett & Raja will debut their Magic vs Music show in the Stratosphere Theater Oct. 18.

Matt Goss will return this fall with an extended residency at The Mirage in the 1Oak nightclub currently undergoing renovations for his live show.

Piff the Magic Dragon’s Flamingo residency is extended through 2018 with a new show and his own display case in the hotel lobby.

Wilson Phillips headlines Henderson Pavilion for the first time Friday, Oct. 13 as part of the venue’s 15th anniversary.

Canter’s Deli opened its newest location at Tivoli Village followed by Hamptons, a twolevel restaurant following featuring modern American cuisine with a twist.

Wolfgang Puck’s Spago at the Forum Shops at Caesar Palace since 1992 will close next year because it will open at Bellagio next spring. For this move to happen, Todd English’s Olives at Bellagio will close this winter.

A second Las Vegas Dirt Dog opened at the Grand Bazaar Shops at Bally’s featuring oneof-a-kind dogs and Filthy Fries.

Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas’ 14th annual celebration runs through Oct. 31 with celebrity keg tappers including Australian Bee Gees Oct. 13, Nathan Burton Oct. 14, Fantasy Girls Oct. 27 and Anthony Cools Oct. 28.

Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters launched tours showcasing the Grand Canyon West’s new restaurant Sa’Nyu Wa with glass walls.

Primm Valley Resort & Casino as part of its remodel opened a new 24/7 airy restaurant called Primm & Proper serving American favorites.

The new zombie-themed, walk-through attraction “Fear the Walking Dead Survival,” inspired by AMC’s hit Fear the Walking Dead, opened at Fremont Street Experience.

10 The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional I October 2017

The 63-story Fontainebleau building near SLS unfinished and dormant since 2009 has been sold to a partnership for $600 million.

“Exhibitionism,” the Rolling Stones’ first ever major exhibition with rare artifacts has a limited exclusive U.S. West Coast engagement at The Palazzo Lower Lobby through Jan. 31, 2018.

The Plaza downtown added a new 21-story mural on its north tower by Faile artistic collaboration between Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller.

The 24th Annual Age of Chivalry Renaissance Festival returns to Sunset Park Oct. 13-15 with more than 100 artisans and camping packages.

Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) moves to cooler dates May 18-20 in 2018, and introduces new experiential elements including camping options, and extended festival hours.

Golden Gate unveiled its new casino expansion including a reimagined façade and dramatic entrance on Fremont Street, new 5,000-squarefoot casino floor and a 20-foot extension to the outdoor One Bar at One Fremont Street.

Touring exhibit running through Jan. 31, 2018, at DISCOVERY Children’s Museum is Hello from Japan! showing how modern attitudes and traditional Japanese cultural values coexist.

After a two-year hiatus, Westgate reintroduced its poker room next to the sports book with six Texas hold’em cash game tables.

Integrated into tech-savvy gaming lounge LEVEL UP, the arena, “Virtual Reality Powered by Zero Latency,” opened at MGM Grand immersing up to eight players in a completely interactive digital virtual gaming universe.

Rampart Casino Race & Sports Book is the newest renovation, which opened in space vacated by JC’s Irish Pub with 126 seats and a new 50-person capacity bar and lounge.

The Cromwell opened its brand-new 50-seat sportsbook with boxing champion “Sugar” Shane Mosley.

The Las Vegas Paiute 56-member tribe is opening Nuwu Cannabis Marketplace next to its Mini Mart on Main Street and billed as the nation’s largest stand-alone retail marijuana facility.

After a trial at Harrah’s, a UNLV college student’s new casino game Easy Jack similar to blackjack will remain until the end of the year. www.socalfnbpro.com

The Bottom Line Are Faux Food Holidays Worth Making a Fuss Over?

National Donut Day. National Cheeseburger Day. National Tequila Day. National ChocolateCovered Bacon Day. The list goes on. If you’re in the restaurant business, there’s an overwhelming chance that some of these faux food holidays have made their way onto your plate. Two questions arise: how to leverage these holidays to your advantage, and more importantly, whether the attempt is worth it in the first place.

Do Faux Food Holidays Matter?

The short answer is that faux food holidays can be a fun business booster for both new customers and loyalists, so long as you make a big enough commitment and market your efforts correctly.

Easier said than done, which is why if you’re not prepared to sink a lot of time and resources into a faux holiday menu and/or event, chances are that you won’t see the positive ROI you’re looking for.

If you’re thinking about pulling the trigger for a faux food holiday, consider these points: • Does your restaurant need a boost in traffic on that day? If the holiday falls on a Saturday, you may already have the volume to get you to max capacity. Also, realistically, will your promotion or product be enough to get people to make the trip to your establishment?

• Will any promotion or special menu items you have planned offset their costs? Giving away donuts on National Donut Day should bring in more revenue from increased sales than you’re spending on free product.

• How far away is the faux food holiday in question? If it’s less than 3–6 months out, you’re at risk for not getting the word out well enough in advance and/or preparing your staff accordingly.

Getting Started If you are dedicated to ‘celebrating’ a faux food holiday, target one that at least has broader appeal. A gastropub will have a much better time making the most of National Burger Day than they would National Shrimp n Grits Day. Bars can do a lot more with National Rum Day than National Daiquiri Day. Second, paint a clear picture of what you want your ‘celebration’ to look like. Here’s some pointers on that end: • Are you going to create new menu items?

This approach works for testing new products or driving up the average check.

• Are you going to discount or give away already-existing items? This approach works for attracting new customers.

• Are you going to pair discounts with fullprice purchases, such as free fries with a burger purchase on National French Fry Day? This approach works for minimizing revenue www.socalfnbpro.com

By Ben Brown Benjamin Brown, MBA is Restaurant Editor of The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional. A seasoned

writer and consultant, Ben works with Fortune 500

companies and mom & pop shops alike in Marketing, Analytics, Consumer Insights, PR and Business

Development. Contact Ben at Ben@lvfnb.com or follow him @Foodie_Biz.

r

National Pumpkin Spice Day National World Soft Taco Day Vegetarian w Day National Taco Day

v

National Apple Betty Day

k National Noodle Day

d

National National Frappe Day Fluffernutter

b

Day

m e

National Moldy-Cheese Day National Pizza and Beer Day

loss while cross-promoting products, though it may not attract as many new customers.

From there, getting the word out is imperative, otherwise you’ve gone through all that effort just to have people who would otherwise pay full price stumble through your front door and take advantage of the discount.

How to Run Marketing for Faux Food Holidays Your marketing plan is entirely dependent on the type of promotion you’ve decided to create.

In any case, be sure to have that plan set 3–6 months in advance and communicate with all your stakeholders—chefs and front-of-house staff, managers, investors, etc.—to both fill them in on your plans and leverage their own networks for additional reach. From there, consider a few options: • For new items and significant discounts, invite local media to preview your special menu or the items you’re slashing. Positive press beforehand [also called pre-press] will help encourage the volume you’re looking for. It does help to have media present for

the event itself, but you will see much higher ROI for pre-press rather than live-posting on social media or post-press articles.

• For all promotions, of course post to all of your social media outlets, email lists and other communication channels. If your goal is to attract new customers, you will either need to pay for sponsored posts or incentivize your follower to re-post.

• Continue sending these messages several times leading up to the faux food holiday to keep the idea fresh in your guests’ minds.

• Create collateral in your restaurant to advertise your faux food holiday promotion to current guests. No better person to market to than someone who’s already enjoying your product!

These tactics should provide valuable assistance should you decide to embark on a faux food holiday endeavor. At their core, however, these tactics only work if the holiday and promotion are relevant to your brand and can actually generate value for your business.

October 2017 I The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional 11

| Foodie Biz |

By Ben Brown Benjamin Brown, MBA is Restaurant Editor of The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional. A seasoned writer and consultant, Ben works with Fortune 500 companies and mom & pop shops alike in Marketing, Analytics, Consumer Insights, PR and Business Development.

Contact Ben at Ben@socalfnbpro.com or follow him @Foodie_Biz.

An Epic Tour Through Huntington Beach’s Lot 579 Within Huntington Beach’s Pacific City shopping mall lives Lot 579, a chic food hall that houses a slew of delectable eateries and drinkeries. These fast-casual concepts range from sandwiches to sushi, beer to root beer floats, but all share the common motif of fresh, creative, tasty and—wait for it— affordable.

Should you desire, a self-guided food tour is both welcomed and encouraged. From savory onto sweet with several drinks in between, the path below marks a foodie paradise, conveniently located right off the Huntington Beach Pier. Just be sure to bring your appetite.

Stop 1: Pie Not

photos courtesy Pie Not

For those unfamiliar with meat pies, they are to Australia as cheeseburgers are to the US, namely indulgent and delicious. Pie Not takes you straight down under with its array of meat and veggie combinations baked into flaky, buttery pastry. The Mary, made with lamb, cheese and bacon, and the spring a leek, with creamy chicken, stand out for being especially rich.

Pie Not bakes their pies fresh on a rolling basis, a process proudly displayed from their fishbowl-like kitchen visible from the Lot 579 thoroughfare. The place is run by an Aussie, so you know the recipes are authentic. Best to make the experience complete with a bottle of Bundaberg’s.

For more information, visit PieNot.com.

Stop 2: The Dudes’ Brewing Company

12 The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional I October 2017

photos courtesy The Dudes’ Brewing Company

More exotic beer flavors than you can imagine are made in-house and poured at The Dudes’.

If you’re a traditionalist who favors a good lager, IPA or hefeweizen, Dudes’ has got you covered. If you’re looking for something new and different, however, Dudes’ is a novelty beer Mecca.

The ‘juicebox series’ presents particular appeal, with flavors such as blood orange, boysenberry and pumpkin. You’ve also got grandma’s pecan, cream soda and malt liquor. Perhaps the most outlandish, however, is mint. Yes, mint beer, green like you’d see on St. Patrick’s Day. Essentially every one of their labels tastes exactly as it sounds.

At Lot 579, The Dudes’ welcomes patrons to bring food from any other eatery to their communal tables. They simply ask that you don’t bring in any outside alcohol. On your food tour, take advantage of The Dudes’ as a home base; you’ll want to order at least two flights to wash everything down anyway.

For more information, visit TheDudesBrew.com.

www.socalfnbpro.com

photos courtesy Burnt Crumbs

Stop 3: Burnt Crumbs

photo courtesy Hans’ Homemade Ice Cream

Burnt Crumbs does sandwiches, and does them well. Their small menu strays away from your typical cold cuts and instead focuses on select hot sandwiches that stretch across American favorites. Their Reuben is one for the books, with juicy, thick cut meat and heavenly Russian dressing. The fried chicken sandwich is another highlight, served atop a buttery biscuit with country gravy, garlic mashed potatoes and Sriracha honey.

Burnt crumbs also makes a darn good burger. The sandwich they’re best known for, though, is easily their most off-the-cuff: spaghetti grilled cheese. If the thought of a spaghetti sandwich sounds good to you, you’ll love it. Otherwise, the choice is yours. In any case, everything Burnt Crumbs puts between bread is masterfully crafted.

For more information, visit BurntCrumbs.com.

Stop 4: Hans’ Homemade Ice Cream Making your way through amazing meat pies, sandwiches and beers is an enjoyable challenge, but you must save room for dessert at Hans’ Homemade. Each store churns its own ice cream on-premise, using some pretty interesting ingredients. Who would’ve thought that Twinkies and powdered donuts would make for prime ice cream flavors?

The brownie sundae is a great way to step up your dessert game, with chewy, chocolaty brownie chunks. It pairs well with cookie dough, for a baked/not-baked dynamic, as well as crunchy pecan praline. Nut and sprinkle-covered drumsticks, shakes, floats, cookie sandwiches and just good ol’ fashioned scoops are sure to please as well.

For more information, visit hanshomemade.com.

Each of these establishments embodies California comfort in its own distinct way. For most, touring all four at once is a stretch, but the flavor depth, creativity and execution at each establishment necessitate repeat visits to enjoy each establishment over and over. These are not just fast-casual eateries; these are just as much of a cultural experience as their full-service counterparts.

Andrei’s Serves Conscious Cuisine in Irvine

photos courtesy Andrei’s

Andrei’s embodies all the elements you’d look for in traditional fine dining, with a fully modern splash at every touchpoint. Lavish, intimate atmosphere with tasteful, contemporary décor and just the right lighting. Cuisine based on the classic steak, seafood and salad, prepared with California flare and Mediterranean influence, and finished with remarkable presentation.

Andrei’s seeks to serve ‘conscious cuisine’ through and through, which means sustainable seafood, naturally raised meats and organic, local produce. Health and nutrition resonate throughout the menu, though most classic comforts are readily available. The restaurant itself is a nonprofit—a rarity in the industry—whereby all profits go to the Andrei Foundation, dedicated to the owner’s late brother, for eye research and blindness support.

Highlighting the dinner menu is the filet mignon, a tender cut finished with a peppery spike. Sweet corn and cherry tomatoes alongside complement the dish with exceptional sweetness. The salmon and Israeli couscous makes for a lovely seafood option. Add on a side of pesto risotto…you’ll be glad you did. Save room at the end for their peach cheesecake beignets, just as rich as they sound with a marvelous cinnamon whipped cream.

For more information, visit AndreisRestaurant.com.

www.socalfnbpro.com

October 2017 I The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional 13

San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival Returns to San Diego

November 12-19 Photos courtesy San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival

14 The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional I October 2017

www.socalfnbpro.com

Highlights of the San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival include: Southern California’s largest culinary classic, the San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival returns to San Diego from November 12-19, 2017. The Festival features over 40 citywide tasting experiences, and is set to welcome thousands of eager epicurean enthusiasts to America’s finest city.

An international showcase of the world’s premier wines and spirits, chefs and culinary personalities, and gourmet foods, the annual wine and food festival showcases San Diego’s vibrant culinary community through cooking classes, chef dinners, expeditions and multiple tasting events. The Festival’s legendary Grand Tasting on Saturday, November 18 features over 200 wineries, breweries and sprits from around the world, and 70 of San Diego’s best restaurants.

The weeklong food and wine festival raises funds for Fast Forward Futures and awards culinary, enology, and hospitality scholarships to San Diego County students and professionals seeking to further their careers in these disciplines. To date, the San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival has raised over $350,000 in scholarship funds.

The San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival offers several ways for epicurean enthusiasts to indulge in the most decadent culinary experience of the year, including ticket packages that offer overall savings, and admission to a selection of the food and wine festival’s premier events.

Discounted accommodations are available at the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina.

Hotel reservations and ticket packages can be reserved by calling 877-385-9595.

For members of the trade, register for reduced price admission to the Grand Tasting at www.sandiegowineclassic.com. Admission to the Trade Tasting at SommCon is free for qualified members at www.sommconusa.com For exhibitor or sponsorship opportunities, email metter@fastforwardevents.com.

To view the schedule of events and featured celebrities, or to register, visit the San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival at www.sandiegowineclassic.com. www.socalfnbpro.com

Golf Classic – Perhaps the most delicious golf tournament around, this 18-hole course features six culinary tasting holes, six wine, brewery and spirit experiences, and six hole challenges complete with over-the-top prizes. Monday, November 13 | Maderas Golf Club Fish Taco TKO – The Fish Taco TKO is back for its sixth annual competition to settle the score on who is serving the best fish taco in San Diego. The mouthwatering battle features the city’s top chefs competing headto-head in a showdown that sets your taste buds on fire. Participating restaurants include: Beerfish, The Blind Burro, The Lot Liberty Station, Hello Betty Fish House, Pacific Beach Fish Shop, Tallis Tacos, and more. Tuesday, November 14 | Broadway Pier The Tasting at SommCon – Get up close to over 100 wineries and winemakers from around the world in this exclusive wine tasting; hob nob with the superstars of the wine industry and see if you can grab a chat with one of the many Master Sommeliers and Masters of Wine in attendance. Friday, November 17 | Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina Grand Tasting – At the star-studded Grand Tasting, take in the beautiful San Diego Bay and enjoy the ocean breeze as you partake in the largest, most talked about wine and food festival in Southern California. Saturday, November 18 | Embarcadero Marina Park North

October 2017 I The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional 15

By Andy Slipher

What Has Changed About Marketing in the Last 100 Years?

In 1975, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a largely overlooked ruling that allowed earth-orbiting antennas— satellites—to be used for broadcasting television over large areas. Around that same time, a littleknown regional broadcasting network called Home Box Office (HBO) took notice, and decided to use the FCC’s landmark decision to begin distributing its own programming via satellite.

HBO’s innovative move would have a ripple effect that would spill over onto the landscape of marketing. Soon, satellite networks proliferated, and with them, marketers’ ability to target in ways that were never previously possible.

Since that time, there has been so much technological innovation that marketers are faced with choices beyond measure. It can be blinding and bewildering for anyone charged with allocating marketing dollars on behalf of a business. And, this very issue is what has caused marketers to go awry. This is an age of unprecedented communications, and yet many still struggle to connect with one another. But this problem is not the real problem.

The true problem is that too many marketers have failed to recognize that only one thing has changed in marketing in the past 100 years— technology. That’s it. Yes, you now have social media and tweets and followers and apps and branding and re-marketing and analytics and focus groups and ROI and CRM and customer personas and digital and so on. It’s all certainly true. But, what has enabled nearly every bit of it is technology.

So prolific is the role of technology in marketing that it has become for some an alluring distraction. Panic and peer pressure set in, and organizations pursue the latest and the greatest technology-based marketing tactics without taking the time to thoughtfully consider a

Andy Slipher is founder of Slipher Marketing, a consultancy where strategy comes first, followed by tangible marketing results. He is an accomplished strategist, interim CMO, speaker and writer on marketing strategy. He is marketing segment lecturer for SMU’s accredited Bank Operations Institute for professional bankers, and for the Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT). Andy’s forthcoming book is The Big How: Where Strategy Meets Success.

For more information, visit www.Slipher.com

strategic approach. As legendary philosopher and strategist, Sun Tzu once put it, “Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

Marketing must ultimately get the product or service into the hands of the customer—a real person. Marketers need to realize that it is way too easy to distract ourselves (via technology) away from what is centrally important in marketing—generating a sale to a real person and, hopefully, repeating that process again and again to her or his delight. Marketing strategy is not so much about a plan, but a system. Build your marketing (including the sale) around a strategically-based, customer-centric system, then technology becomes a true and valuable tool, and not a distraction.

If you want to plan your marketing communications on a more strategic level and with a more integrated and seamless approach, consider the following methods and means to do so:

Strategic Marketing Plan

Full-on marketing guidance–someone asking the right questions and enabling you to think critically about your industry, business, customers, competition, brand and marketing activities. A strategic marketing plan answers both, “What are we trying to do?” and “How are we going to achieve it?” in a thorough, resolute way that doesn’t miss a lick (broad-to-specific).

It facilitates a systematic way of measurably and methodically moving your business’s overall marketing activities from point A to point B.

Strategic Brand Plan

Marketers love to talk branding these days, but few truly understand what a brand is. At its core, a brand is simply a (strong) promise. Everything after that is embodying the promise or not. A brand plan helps an organization answer the why’s and how’s of their brand in a way that actively demonstrates its value.

16 The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional I October 2017

Brand Landscape A collaborative document and process that combines visual (graphic, photographic) and distilled conceptual elements (written) to succinctly express what a particular brand is, and what it is not, to a broader internal audience. At its core, it’s a reference and training document.

It serves to familiarize an organization’s management on the concept of their own brand, so that they themselves can more consistently demonstrate and articulate it to others.

Vision

Your organization needs to aspire to something greater in order for its marketing to become something that inspires others. Sometimes there is no unifying or inspiring vision—an expression of what an organization aspires to reach or become in the next five to ten years.

Other times, a vision reads as flat, academic or long-winded. A good vision statement isn’t fluff. Rather, it helps all stakeholders reach to something higher.

Public Outreach Strategy

Address and formalize a communications approach for the public-at-large. This does not necessarily mean customers. Rather, it’s about respecting and interfacing with the general public as influencers, opinion holders, social activists and supporters of personal, political or economic interests. This type of strategy addresses a need for responding to criticism, opposing or competing points of view. Its purpose is to build and demonstrate credibility and to authentically communicate it.

In conclusion, plan your marketing. Don’t be led by technology, or allow it to distract and overwhelm you. Know who you are, what you want from your marketing and how you’re going to achieve it. Only then will technology become a navigable means to achieve your goals. www.socalfnbpro.com

Wine Talk

with Alice Swift

By Alice Swift Alice Swift has been writing Wine Talk since 2011, and has a passion for education and hospitality/ F&B. In 2016, she obtained her Ph.D. in Hospitality Administration from UNLV and moved from the “ninth island” to the island of Oʻahu. She now works for Kamehameha Schools as an instructional designer/project manager, and teaches part-time for UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hospitality.

See more at www.aliceswift.com.

Millennials: On the Rise and Influencing the Beverage Market

www.socalfnbpro.com

4310 W Tompkins Ave Las Vegas, NV 89103

702-645-0049

www.jayssharpening.com • customerservice@jayssharpening.com

Mobile Service Our mobile service vans provide sharpening services on-site to even the largest resort properties, without disrupting workflow.

Commercial Knife Exchange Program We furnish sharp knives to your kitchen on a weekly or biweekly rotation schedule.

Equipment Sales We offer top-of-the-line knives, culinary tools, kitchen supplies and replacement parts.

W Harmon Ave Jay’s Sharpening Service

Cutting Board Resurfacing & Replacements

Arville St

Baby Boomers, Gen. X, Gen. Y, Millennials, Gen. Z, … what else is next?

According to the U.S. Census, Millennials (defined as being born between 1982 and 2000) have overtaken the Baby Boomer population and have now reached over 83.1 million, and represent over 25% of the American population.

So, what does this have to do with the beverage market, you might ask?

According to Wine Spectator, in 2015, Millennials consumed 42% of all the wine consumed in the U.S. (159.6 million cases of wine), more than any of the other generations. Therefore, those who are in the wine industry should be paying attention to the Millennial population, as they are maturing in their beverage consumption preferences, and are now more stabilized in their lives.

Being an older Millennial myself, I have found through personal experience and those of my friends and colleagues that more money is being spent on experiences, much of which include food and beverage.

The Wine Market Council has observed through their research that as Millennials have gotten older, they are more willing and financially able to afford better wine. With the trend continuing to be the unique experiences, this group of consumers is less attracted to the large suppliers, instead preferring the craftsman, small-batch alcohols. Interestingly enough, the alcohol preference has trended away from beer consumption, and more towards wine and spirits.

In the past decade, unique beverage experiences have been popping up everywhere, such as the mixology movement, the resurgence of speakeasies, and even the alcohol crossovers and infusions. Just in Las Vegas alone, the Las Vegas Strip and Downtown Fremont bar scene has exploded with a unique array of beverage menus using the latest trends in mixology. For some unique experiences in Downtown Las Vegas (if you can find it and/or get in), check out the Downtown Cocktail Room and The Laundry Room speakeasy at the Commonwealth.

Unfortunately, as the Millennial population trends towards experimentation, hand-crafted drinks, artisanal producers and other types of one-of-akind sensory experiences, the classic domestic labels are beginning to suffer. Brands like Budweiser, Coors and Miller beers have anticipated declines in sales this year. Recently, in July of this year, Goldman Sachs downgraded its stock ratings of Constellation Brands and Boston Beer Co. due to the decreasing demand for beer and a trend towards wine instead.

Despite the decrease in overall consumption, craft beer sales have still been rising, though at a much slower rate than in previous years.

With the majority of the Millennial population now being over 21 years old, I am eager to see what the up and coming consumption trends in the beverage industry will be and how much this generation will continue to influence the market. Regardless of the trend, I personally think that technology will play a big role in its growth and will likely align with the social media trends. Currently, social media tools like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Twitter, etc. are used as major communications of their food and beverage explorations. What do you think the next “big thing” in the beverage world will be?

Until next month, Cheers~!

Alice

Steak & Table Knife Re-Serration / Sharpening

W Tropicana Ave

October 2017 I The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional 17

Made from

By John Rockwell

SCRATCH STEELCRAFT Long Beach:

Where Food Trucks Meet Train Cars

John Rockwell is a native Southern Californian and career English teacher working in the Riverside area.

In his spare time, he rides his bicycle to breweries, restaurants, and cheese shops, and is always looking for culinary delights within riding distance of the vast network of SoCal bicycle trails.

He is an ardent fan of the waiver theater culture in Los Angeles. He is new to cheesemaking, but has been a homebrewer for over twenty years.

often quality “fast gourmet” gastro-style food.

The choices are overwhelming, the destinations are in or around major urban centers and the parking can be horrifying. But the spirit of small business in these mini-malls of food has caught on. Long lines abound because people flock to quality. Or maybe they just flock to what everyone else sees on his or her Instagram feed.

But a concept like Anaheim’s Packing House must take a long time to plan. After its initial opening, I wondered if it was going to make it because of the large number of empty vendor spaces. Enter SteelCraft, a concept that merges the brewery/gastro symbiosis into a slightly smaller, neighborhood-sized, environmentally conscious package: used cargo shipping containers. Yes, the kind you see stacked up in

the Port of Los Angeles. It turns out these units are only slightly larger than a food truck, and a few of them arranged in a square provides an ideal SoCal outdoor setting for good beer and food.

SteelCraft sits between the Cal Heights and Bixby Knolls neighborhoods in Long Beach, just a couple miles east of the river and a few miles from the overly-busy and ever-popular Shoreline Drive. SteelCraft has a small parking lot which fills easily in the evenings, so at that time, you’re better off parking in the neighborhoods surrounding the units (just pay attention to the posted parking restrictions) and after 5 p.m. the parking in the business complex across the street opens up as well (again, look for the signs).

Want a waffle? With the exception of a chicken-and-waffle dinner offering, think of these delights as open-faced fruit pies with a dollop of ice cream and a waffle crust.

Tajima Ramen has some excellent pork belly ramen along with a vegan option that includes fried tofu. If you’d like appetizers, small sides are available.

Since my daughter became a vegetarian, I try vegan options to make sure the restaurant isn’t repackaging salad. The generous chunks of tofu in this dish proved to be filling!

photos by John Rockwell

If you’re a lover of craft brewing in SoCal, you understand the symbiosis that exists between craft breweries and food trucks. Whenever I host my Las Vegas friends, I almost always forget that I have to clarify that we’re going to a “production brewery,” which means it will not include food—inside the brewery, that is.

But as most natives know, as long as you’re not in Riverside or San Bernardino Counties, a weekend experience at a production brewery in San Diego, Orange or Los Angeles County will usually include a food truck.

These are not the food trucks of our parents’ generation—the “roach coach” that preyed upon hungry workers with subpar grub during the weekday noon break. These are rolling restaurants that offer ostentatious, often gastroquality foods for hungry craft beer people.

Lobster rolls? Corn dogs made from gigantic smoked bratwurst? A menu with bacon in every recipe, from peanut butter sandwiches to desserts? A grilled cheese sandwich with the grilled cheese encasing the grilled cheese sandwich itself? Every variation of barbecue, artisanal pizza, Kobe-beef burgers, wood-fired pizza, sushi and pierogi? These main dishes, along with an incomprehensible volume of truffle oil-covered fries and Sriracha-drenched tater tots are the staples of SoCal food trucks.

In SoCal, there’s even a cheese shop— appropriately called Vagabond Cheese—that offers tastings and high-level cheese offerings in their rolling store.

But while the upside is better food on wheels, finding your favorite food truck can be a bit of a chore sometimes. SoCal has an answer for that too: redesigned industrial “food malls” like The Packing House in old town Anaheim, Grand Central Market in Downtown L.A. (historic district), and Liberty Station in San Diego.

Housed in behemoth permanent structures, these are wildly popular epicenters of bakeries, beer, cheese mongers, organic produce markets and

SteelCraft is a concept where low-footprint shipping containers, good food and good beer come together.

18 The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional I October 2017

www.socalfnbpro.com

The atmosphere inside of SteelCraft is reminiscent of a German beer hall: seat yourself at long tables, and share a table with some new friends. There is also “bar” seating along the outer perimeter of the two inside eating areas.

Additional tables can be found adjacent to Bixby Road. The indoor-outdoor atmosphere would provide little protection from rain if we ever had it in SoCal, and it does get a bit chilly in the evenings despite the attempt to fix that problem with large hanging space heaters.

As for the food and beer, here are your choices: pizza from Desano Pizza, burgers (including a burger with fried mac’n’cheese as buns) brought to you by Pig Pen Delicacy, ramen from Tajima Ramen and tasting-room style Smog City Brewing for a full lineup of their taps.

For dessert, there is Waffle Love, Lovesome Chocolates and The Fresh Shave, a shaved ice stand. The food offerings are what you’d expect from high-quality rolling trucks: good food presented humbly, a-la-carte, in minimalist-style (get your own condiments, forks and napkins at the condiment stands). When our family visits, everyone orders from a different “restaurant” and receives a pager so we can stake out a place to sit while we wait for the food to be prepared.

Is the food mind-blowing? No, it’s not, and if that’s why you came to SteelCraft, you might be disappointed. What you’re getting at SteelCraft is the California experience: above average food, excellent craft beer from a fantastic SoCal craft brewery, independent ownership and a great social setting that is away from the bustle of the downtown and tourist centers. It

is the elation of “aha, we found a good place!” experience that drives much of the word-ofmouth beer and food scene in SoCal. Is SteelCraft a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist? I don’t think so. Grand Central Market-style places are wonderful, but they’re a destination and require planning to visit (unless you live close to them). It’s nice to see a concept like this, sized-down in a non-downtown area.

Also consider the fact that poor fast food options in or around SoCal neighborhoods are definitely a problem. A place like SteelCraft offers other options—even healthy ones if you’re eating ramen or looking for vegan ramen. I really like that it is in a neighborhood (or between a neighborhood and a small business building area), that the businesses in SteelCraft are small and independent and that it seems to leave a small footprint (although it’d be interesting to hear what surrounding homeowners think about parking issues). Like most good—food—fast joints, you’re going to see an $8-12 price tag on entree items (and no, that doesn’t include fries), but when you see where the extra cash is going—to local labor and local products—it feels even better to spend some time there. The good news: more SteelCraft concepts are being planned.

Tajima Ramen’s eponymous dish has generous amounts of pork and in true hipster fashion, comes with an egg over it if you’re the kind who likes that sort of thing.

Desano Pizza proves that quality is what makes pizza delicious. If a cheese pizza can be this perfectly fired and tasty, the other choices I saw at other tables looked even better.

Pig Pen Delicacy is here for the burger lovers.

Hipster choices abound: custom jam, truffle tots, and of course, a fried mac and cheese bun for the adventurous types.

The logos painted on the sides of the containers tell you which restaurant you’re at. Of course, the small square footage of SteelCraft makes it very unlikely you’d get lost.

This is Pig Pen’s Maple Jammin’ Burger: just as delicious as gastro burgers. So show your love: there is a tipping option at all the points-of-sale in SteelCraft.

Smog City “beer tenders” are always busier than a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest. Get in line: you’ll have plenty of time to choose that perfect beer.

www.socalfnbpro.com

SteelCraft

3768 Long Beach Blvd.

Long Beach, CA 90807 Hours: 6 a.m.-9 p.m.; open until 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

The local award-winning beer company from Torrance has a full lineup to accompany your meal.

October 2017 I The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional 19

what’s

By David Mulvihill David Mulvihill strives to experience and write about the ever-evolving face of SoCal craft beer. He also covers Orange County for Celebrator Beer News as well as Southern California for Southwest Brewing News. Contact him at dbrewhill@gmail.com.

photos by David Mulvihill

BREWING

Chef Mark McDonald introduces his staff at the conclusion of the Old Vine Cafe Community Beer & Wine Dinner.

Old Vine Cafe Beer & Wine Dinner.

Old Vine with Beer & Wine Historically, we’ve seen stand-alone wine dinners as well as beer dinners.

We’ve also witnessed an increase in wine vs. beer dinners, patterned after sommelier Marnie Old and Dogfish Head Brewery’s Sam Calagione’s “She Said Wine, He Said Beer” series, where wine goes up against beer in the same meal pairing. They released a book by the same name.

Chef Mark McDonald and his Old Vine Café crew in Costa Mesa got together for a different approach, creating a special Community Dinner featuring global beer & wine. Held in mid-September, the dinner featured three courses paired with wine intermingled with three others paired with beer. Instead of a battle of the two, it brought them together to complete a six-course feast.

A 2016 ZOE white wine from Peloponnese, Greece was served with the first course. The wine, a 70/30 blend of Roditis and Moschofilero grapes, was served with a dish that combined orzo, cuttlefish, shrimp, kalamata olive, cucumber, mint yogurt and feta crème fraiche. Its dry and acidic notes served to cleanse the palate while floral/fruit notes heightened the flavors of the sea and region.

Beef tenderloin tartare two ways was paired with a delicate but bold red wine (made from Sangratino grapes) from Umbria, Italy. A crusted tartare with a balsamic aioli was flash-fried, resulting in a light crusting. Its moretraditional plate-mate was prepared with balsamic and green olive and accompanied by a Parmigiano Reggiano crostino and a smattering of 20 The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional I October 2017

petite arugula. The wine, 2007 Paolo Bea Sagratino di Montefalco Secco Pagliaro, had been aging quite a few years in Chef Mark’s cellar. At its peak of perfection, the wine presented aged dried-fruit essences, substantial tannins, and an herbaceousness that complemented without overpowering the tartare. Current tasting notes on many sites are consistently rating this wine in the 90s.

Next in the progression, the first beer course featured a butternut squash and leek bisque, with an addition of smoked butternut squash, 5-year aged gouda crema and fried leek. BABA Black Lager from Salt Lake City’s Uinta Brewing Co proved an enhancing accessory. With a smokiness and chocolate-coffee aspects derived in-part from organic CARAFA malts, organic chocolate also plays a role in the packed profile (at a very approachable 4% ABV) that played very well with the sweet smoked and savory flavors in the dish.

The fourth dish was a twice-baked sausage stuffed corn bread with queso fundido, seared mushrooms, charred corn and a sprinkling of toasted corn bread crumbs, sweet Spanish paprika and chives. Its sweet accompaniment was Gulden Draak 9000, a Belgian Quadruple Ale. Each tiny sip of the rich and hearty 10% ABV quad assisted in opening up and heightening the components in the corn bread compilation.

Staying with beer, the espresso melt-in-your-mouth stout-braised beef short ribs with espresso creamed polenta, candied cacao nibs and espresso beans was served with Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout from Japan’s Kiuchi Brewery. Kiuchi, a sake brewery since 1823, began brewing beer after 173 www.socalfnbpro.com

Beer Zen meets OC at Unsung Brewing Company in Anaheim.

years, in 1996. The stout, brewed with roasted espresso beans, morphed from what initially began as a Russian Imperial Stout recipe. While the traditional alcohol profile was lightened to 7%, the coffee shines through with the flavor punch. Like profiles positively complimented each other in this pairing.

Wine returned, a Riesling trocken from Nahe, Germany, with the savory dessert course. Key lime curd with goat cheese ice cream, pate brisee and fried goat cheese was paired with the 91+ rated 2009 Emrich-Schonleber Monzinger Halenberg Riesling. Its floral-fruit notes and mineral finish typical to the Nahe river region worked well to contrast with the dessert and cleanse the buds.

At the end of the meal this reporter crashed the party with an uninvited hybrid wine-beer guest. Having enjoyed three beer courses and three wine courses, it felt fitting to finish with something that brought both realms together in one bottle. TURO, from Bruery Terreaux in Anaheim, accomplished just that. Terreaux’s Jeremy Grinkey definitely thought outside of the box with this one-of-a-kind creation. Stomped whole cluster Grenache grapes from the Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyard were combined with sour blonde wort and added to house puncheons to ferment with the microflora from the grapes and Terreux’s house cultures. The fermented grapes were later removed and pressed by hand. That resulting liquid and the remaining puncheon volume were transferred to oak barrels for aging. After an entire process that took well over a year, the beer-wine was bottled still. It was recommended to serve at room temp.

Exuding initial upfront red wine character with fine oak and dried fruit notes, it finished other-dimensional. Hints of farmhouse blonde shone through to round out the experience with tastes that complemented its wine side. TURO saw an extremely limited release earlier this year.

Old Vine Café is located at The Camp in Costa Mesa. Mark’s daily menu always contains a number of mouthwatering selections along with seven separate 4-course tasting menus, six with wine pairings (two of these vegan) and the newest addition, four courses paired with beer.

Japan meets OC Mike Crea and his Unsung Brewing Co team, along with the Culinary Underground’s Andrea Machuca-Kirkland, hosted the folks from Beer Zen recently at Unsung Anaheim. Crea provided the beer while MachucaKirkland arranged an assortment of amazing cheeses, charcuterie and www.socalfnbpro.com

spent-grain pretzels for this meet-and-greet to welcome Beer Zen founder Maek Post. Beer Zen is an Osaka-based craft beer-focused journal, released quarterly. In addition to articles that discuss the craft beer scene in Japan, it regularly features wide reaching craft-related stories from around the world. Machuca-Kirkland is a contributing writer. Beer Zen’s goal is to introduce folks in Japan to craft beer from Japan and abroad.

Maek has lived and worked in Japan since the mid-1990s. https://issuu. com/beerzen.

If you haven’t been to Unsung lately, it’s time to return. In addition to selection, the tried and true styles coming out of Unsung’s production brewery in Tustin, its Incubator Series of beers brewed on the pilot system in Anaheim has really taken flight. On this visit nine Incubator beers were available, including four IPAs, a Saison, an Apricot Sour and a Wit.

Wet Hops San Diego-style While there may still be some San Diego-grown wet hop beers to be had, most of the wet hop brews utilizing Pacific Northwest hops are just beginning to show. For the past three years, O’Brien’s Pub in San Diego has celebrated both. Since San Diego County’s hop harvest matures a month or two earlier than the Pacific NW, owner Tom Nickel and his team at O’Brien’s now celebrate two separate Wet Hop Weekends.

September 15th marked the beginning of San Diego Wet Hop Weekend this year. More than 25 beers brewed with fresh San Diego-grown hops debuted. All the fresh hops used in these beers had been utilized within 24 hours of being picked. Fresh and local were the focus as beers were progressively tapped throughout the weekend. They included beers crafted by Burning Beard, Chuck Alec, South Park, North Park, Monkey Paw, Craft, Thunderhawk, San Diego Brewing, Amplified, Pure Project, Fall, Prodigy, Mikkeller and Nickel. Tom’s own Nickel Beer Company had nine separate wet hop brews.

Check O’Brien’s website and social media to find out when its other wet hop weekend (15th Annual Wet Hop Festival) will be held. It historically takes place on one of the latter weekends in October. These wet-hopped festivities give patrons the opportunity to enjoy these unique short-term beers by the taste, half glass or full.

In San Clemente, also look forward to Pizza Port’s hoppy take on Oktoberfest happening on October 28. Hoptoberfest’s hoppy selection of over 75 beers typically includes a number of fresh hop beers.

October 2017 I The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional 21

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT | Stay on track with the latest trends in carrier and filling: “With the boom of Mexican fusion in 2016, wraps in their many forms, both hot and cold, are now more popular than ever and have earned their rightful place alongside sandwiches and paninis on daily menus. There is a distinct call for more adventurous flavors. From Piri Piri-infused Short Rib Tacos to Moroccan Chicken Burritos and Vegetarian/Flextarian options, Fra Diavolo Roasted Halloumi Wraps and Tandoori Potato Chapatti, caterers should look to incorporate the latest flavor trends and serve them with confidence alongside staples such as ham and cheese. Just simply mix into mayo; it’s simply amazing,” says Fergus Martin, Major Development Chef.

“Major Mari Bases are used in a multitude of different ways to enhance condiments and fillings for your cold and hot sandwiches and wraps offerings, but is gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan, thus a perfect product to use across the board. Alongside our Moroccan Mari Base, this is set to be one of our top sellers in the year to come.”

“Smoky flavors are a bang on trend for 2017 and are being incorporated into a whole variety of different dishes from dairy products, right through to snacks and desserts,” says Bob McDonald, Major’s Consultant Development Chef. “By using a readymade products such as Major’s, caterers can wrap up the lingering flavor of Major’s Hickory Applewood and Smoke simply by stirring this liquid seasoning through condiments and fillings.”

“Customization is becoming an increasingly more important deciding buying factor for customers. Not only do they know what they want but know exactly how they want to eat it. Using Major’s readymade Stock Bases and Mari Bases can help busy caterers factor this into menus with minimal effort for maximum gain. Simply stir a marinade into your condiment or filling of choice, use to pimp up your pickles and chutneys or to infuse the dressing on your salad. Quick, versatile, delicious and cost effective,” says Fergus Martin, Major’s Development Chef. www.majorproducts.com

Our Picks by Adam Rains Ocean Trout Sashimi with Pop Rocks The strip mall on Jones and Warm Springs is like many in Vegas: There is a gas station, dry cleaner, gaming bar and a place to get sushi. But unlike most, this corner has a place to get PHENOMENAL sushi! This is no ordinary joint; Soho Japanese Restaurant pairs impeccable quality ingredients with the chops of a world-class chef. Chef/Owner John Chien Lee was the former executive chef of Social House at CityCenter, but decided to live his dream and open his own restaurant. Out of many memorable Japanese-fusion dishes, one standout is the Ocean Trout Sashimi. The clean tasting trout is accented with chives, dried miso and the brightness of a ponzu sauce. All of these would make for a delectable plate, but what really brings it to the next level is a childhood favorite, POPROCKS. In addition to a popping liveliness, they bring sweetness and a citric punch that is perfectly at home with the other components in the dish. Due to popularity, reservations are definitely suggested.

SOHO Japanese Restaurant, 7337 South Jones Boulevard

J.W. Lees HARVEST ALE Aged in Lagavulin Cask 2012 This J.W. Lees Harvest Ale is a limited edition and most special barleywine. This once-a-year phenom uses early season hops and British malt to great effect. For the 2012 vintage, they chose to age it in Lagavulin casks. This rich style beer is perfectly at home with accents of smoke that the Scotch barrel brings. Flavor-wise, there are loads of stewed dark fruit & toffee on the nose and palate with the peaty Scotch mingling through at the finish.

Staying true to style, this is a big boy at 11.5% ABV but still manages to be medium bodied and keep a small but pleasant amount of carbonation. Due to its limited quantity and superior quality, this beer has a cult following, but can still be found in our city at select locations.

Go to Pub 365, Total Wine and Top Shelf to join the legend.

photos by Adam Rains

It’s Michelada Time Mexican food and hangover relief go together like “cheese & quesadillas.” One beverage that has become synonymous with both is the Michelada. This savory & refreshing iced beer-cocktail can be made a number of different ways. One of the better versions that you will find anywhere is in Henderson at Chile Caliente. Theirs starts in the kitchen with a spiced and nuanced shrimp stock that is combined with Clamato. Fresh garlic, dried chile and citrus enliven the richness and accelerate the flavor. The magic and synergy truly happen when you add the Mexican lager, a salty, spicy, Tajin rim and a sweet Tamarindo candy straw. They also garnish it with poached shrimp; it’s all so good that it might make you yell, “sabrosa!”

Chile Caliente, 1017 Whitney Ranch Dr, Henderson

22 The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional I October 2017

www.socalfnbpro.com

By Linda Westcott-Bernstein

Human Resources Insights

Linda Westcott-Bernstein has provided sound human resources advice and guidance to Fortune 500 companies and others for over 25 years. Linda has recently re-published her self-help book entitled It All Comes Down to WE! This book offers guidelines for building a solid and enduring personal work ethic. You can find her book on Amazon or Google Books.

Phone: 702-326-4040 Email: Vegaslinda89129@yahoo.com

HR Is the Heart of Every Organization

Why would I say this? Because I believe it is true! As I’ve always said—HR’s primary role is to be there as the heart of the organization and for the benefit of the employees. Those “benefits of heart” include being a confidential ear, sounding board, rule maker and equal enforcer, benefits caretaker, safety proponent and Company communicator, to name just a few areas of influence.

HR is the one department in your Company that should be viewed as the “neutral ear” for hearing and helping to resolve problems. They should function as a consistently unbiased entity and as a resource for information and assistance, and to provide specific and general guidance to your employees—especially when their own managers won’t listen, give them a moment to speak or attempt to understand and address their challenges.

Human Resources (HR) should be the Company “mom.” Their most important role is to look out for the well-being, welfare and best interests of your most valuable resource—your guest service ambassadors. How can any Company expect to excel at superior guest service if they don’t first emulate those characteristics of respectful treatment that they expect in their employees?

So what do I mean by company MOM? The first “M” refers to the maternal or benevolent

side of humanity. It means that in HR we listen first and pass judgment later (maybe). It also means that it is important for us to show caring, compassion and genuine sincerity for the welfare of others. Most importantly, it also means to find the good in others and to help management to see that good exists as well.

complete wage and benefits programs, sincere recognition and reward activities, and that the Company cares about whether or not a loyal employees stays, flourishes and contributes to the overall success of the organization, as well as achieves some of their own personal goals and aspirations along the way.

The “O” stands for open and available, openminded and an open heart. It means that in HR we try to not pre-judge a situation, assume guilt and categorize individuals or situations. It also means that we are available, receptive and compassionate to the needs of others.

Let it not become too easy for us to toss aside an employee who may be under-performing, by passing judgment before we take a closer look. You may find that people just need to be listened to, treated with respect and given the chance to succeed. When people face serious challenges in their life or with family, it can be distracting. It takes a much bigger person to find compassion and take a moment to listen to, find solutions, and then to save a person and their career, rather than just label them as a “problem” and throw them away. My advice: Always remember your humanity (and maybe even a little humility), and look for a solution that solves the problem and maybe even saves a person worth saving.

The final “M” means that we need to motivate.

I believe it is the role of HR to get out the message and build a culture that reinforces that your organization is considerate and compassionate to the challenges faced by your employees, and to teach others that a human life, individual self-esteem and genuine caring for another is not an old, antiquated idea from the long past but the most valuable attribute that a person can possess.

HR is also there for many other purposes, such as to manage the hiring process, benefits, recognition, rewards and retention. I like to refer to these as the soft skills, or the support services, that HR provides. These soft skills mean that your employees get off to a good start due to focused training, mentoring staff,

“Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”

HR Question of the month:

Please send your HR questions and concerns, or share your thoughts on your human resources challenges via email to the following address. Send input to vegaslinda89129@yahoo.com. Your comments, questions or concerns will help determine the direction for my next month’s column and earn you a copy of my book. Include your mailing address when sending your responses.

24 The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional I October 2017

www.socalfnbpro.com

Allegretto Vineyard Resort Welcomes Justin Picard as Executive Chef Chef Picard brings his extensive culinary experience to the Allegretto’s farm-to-table Mediterranean restaurant in Paso Robles, CA September 7, 2017 (Paso Robles, Calif.) – The Allegretto Vineyard Resort, the first luxury resort in Paso Robles, is pleased to welcome esteemed culinarian Justin Picard as the new Executive Chef of the resort’s farm-totable Mediterranean-inspired Cello Ristorante & Bar. A graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York, Chef Picard has worked in some of the most renowned kitchens in San Francisco and Aspen, earning accolades for his well-versed palate and creativity in the kitchen. His extensive career has led to opportunities overseas, two guest appearances at the James Beard House in New York, and participation in some of the nation’s most celebrated food and wine events. As Executive Chef, Picard brings his dynamic, global experience to Cello Ristorante & Bar, continuing his quest for excellence in the kitchen while enhancing the overall guest experience at the Allegretto.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to be working for such a positive and professional company,” says Picard, who was drawn to the Allegretto’s commitment to fine food, luxury, and hospitality. “The Allegretto Vineyard Resort is a perfect example of pushing the level of excellence,” he continues, “it’s a chef’s dream to have an opportunity to step into a successful kitchen and be given carte-blanche to take it to the next level.”

Committed to offering a world-class epicurean experience on the Central Coast, Cello Ristorante & Bar is dedicated to crafting elevated Mediterranean cuisine using local and foraged ingredients, many of which are grown on-site. Inspired by the local produce, meat, and wine of the Central Coast – his home for the past seven years – Picard shares, “Paso Robles is truly the food and wine epicenter of the entire Central Coast,” adding, “I’m very much looking forward to showcasing all that the Central Coast has to offer while stepping up to exceed the expectations of our burgeoning culinary community.”

“The culinary arts are a never ending journey of accumulating knowledge and learning while creatively experimenting – and having a blast through the entire process. This is why I am excited to be the Executive Chef at the Allegretto. I am free to do all the above and share the journey with our guests and staff,” said Picard.”

ABOUT THE ALLEGRETTO VINEYARD RESORT The Allegretto Vineyard Resort offers guests exceptional spaces, experiences, services and amenities along the path of life’s journey.

The Allegretto is inspired by wine country and European hospitality, set amongst 20 acres of vineyards and fruit-bearing orchards on Paso Robles’ serene east side. The resort is a world unto itself with 171 guest rooms and suites, locally farmed and foraged cuisine at Cello Ristorante & Bar, a tasting room featuring the resort’s own private wine label, ballroom, intimate meeting spaces, over 40,000 square feet of event space, fullservice boutique spa, pool and cabanas, manicured gardens, walking paths, 12,000-square-foot piazza, French-inspired Abbey, curated art and artifacts along with inspired vignettes that evoke that luxury, warmth, and the beauty of the good life. The Allegretto Vineyard Resort is located at 2700 Buena Vista Drive in Paso Robles, California, 93446. For more information, please visit AllegrettoResort.com, or call 805.369.2500.

CONTACT: Linda Sanpei Parker Sanpei Linda@ParkerSanpei.com 805.543.2288 www.socalfnbpro.com

photo courtesy Chef Justin Picard

October 2017 I The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional 25

EVENTS

AD INDEX

We have several major food & beverage events coming up in the next few months. Here is a sampling of some of the happenings we highly recommend, and if planning to attend you should start booking now.

Deep Eddy Vodka www.deepeddyvodka.com

page 27

Jay’s Sharpening Service www.jayssharpening.com 702-645-0049

page 17

September 30 & October 1 brings us to the annual Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival featuring local and regional foods prepared by professional chefs and paired with wines from California’s coast and wine regions. Additionally, there will be celebrity chefs offering culinary demonstrations and mixologists showing you the latest concoctions in spirits and liquor. Weather in Southern California and Orange County should be excellent for this outdoor event. www.newportwineandfood.com October 2-5 finds G2E (Global Gaming Expo) back in Las Vegas hosted at the Sands Convention Center. The largest gaming show in the world, it includes several exhibitors of F&B related food & beverage products and services to the casino gaming industry. For you Food & Beverage Professionals, especially those involved in gaming facilities, it’s a must. www.globalgamingexpo.com

Keep Memory Alive Event Center 702-263-9797 kmaeventcenterlasvegas.com Major Foods www.majorproducts.com 702-838-4698

page 2

Rodney Strong Estate Vinyards www.rodneystrong.com San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival www.sandiegowineclassic.com White Soy Sauce www.whitesoysaucefood.com

page 9

page 28

page 5

page 23

October 8-11 the 80th annual National Beer Wholesalers Association Convention & Trade Show will convene at Caesars Palace as it does every two years. Be sure to check out the trade show on Oct. 9 and 10, where you’ll find the latest and most popular beer products on the market, along with business innovations related to the industry. www.nbwa.org/events/annual-convention October 13-15 Coffee Fest Portland will be hosted at the Oregon Convention Center where you will experience everything coffee and more! The Northwest Pacific is the leader in coffee and coffee shop development, so you will see and experience every aspect of the coffee experience under one roof. www.coffeefest.com

To advertise email sales@socalfnbpro.com

American Culinary Federation Chefs of SoCal

The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional is proud to be associated with these fine organizations: ACF-American Culinary Federation Chef de Cuisine Association of California Chapter Culinarians of San Diego Chapter Chefs de Cuisine Association of San Diego Chapter 26 The SoCal Food & Beverage Professional I October 2017

www.socalfnbpro.com

Ocean-to-Table Luncheon at the San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival Photo Credit: Steve Grosch

Tickets + Schedule: sandiegowineclassic.com NOVEMBER 12-19, 2017

®

Festival Sponsors:

CLIENTE: BARILLA US PROGETTO: BLUE BOX NEW DESIGN - LOGO BARILLA NEW ® outline DATA: 20/01/2016 N° COLOUR FOR PRINTING:

3

WHITE

Milano - Via Dell’Aprica 2/A - 20158 Italia Tel. +39 02 2909831 ra - Fax +39 02 29098338 E-mail info@futurebrand.com

BARILLA RED

BARILLA BLUE

The enclosed colour print is the final reference for matching colour, only for 4 colour process. It must always be used along with the artwork cd, otherwise we shall not take any responsibility for the result obtained in the final proof. For the Pantone colour reference, please use the original Pantone Guide. The artworks contained in the CD are made in Illustrator CC 2015 and Photoshop CC 2015. All the pictures or images are in 4 colour process and, if it is neccessary use Pantone colour, the reprohouse must modify the images to obtain the correct final result by referencing the enclosed colour print. The artworks do not include allowance for over printing and bleed between colours that must be considered along with the finalised technical drawing. FutureBrand require a final colour print or cromalin to give the final approval. For any questions, please call: +39 02 2909831 and ask the production manager.

Beneficiaries

#SDBayFest

SanDiegoBayWineFoodFestival

Production

SDBayWineFest

SDBayFest