The LA Food Bowl is the city’s largest celebration of food, chefs, farmers, wine-makers, bartenders, baristas, and, of course, eaters. It is currently taking place in locations across LA. My wife and I attended one of their events, a Glendale Walking Food Tour featuring cuisine from the Middle East.
The company Six Taste led our food tour and we met up with our local guide at the Alex Theater on Brand Blvd in Glendale. Our tour leader’s name was Khurram and because he lived nearby, he was quite knowledgeable of the area. We gathered around in a circle, did quick introductions and headed off to our first stop.
We were warmly greeted at Carousel, a Lebanese restaurant. Our server explained that many restaurants prepare kebab, but they are best known for their Lebanese mezze dishes. A few minutes later, several servers provided large plates of assorted mezze. The baba ghanoush was the best that I’ve had and the fatayer (cheese boreg) was puffy and tasty.
Our second stop was a short two block walk to Broadway at Raffi’s Place. Each customer is served fresh herbs with onions and flatbread. Khurram explained that many Persians wrap the flatbread around the herbs and onion and enjoy it as an appetizer.
Fresh herb appetizer 
Creamy eggplant dip 
Tadig topped with a Persian stew 
Flatbread topped with gheimeh and onions 
Grilled meat with flatbread, peppers and tomato 
Koobideh, borg, charred tomato, blacked green pepper
Tadig is a Persian rice dish with a burnt bottom.topped with a vegetarian gheimeh. This Persian stew included tomatoes, split peas, onions and dried lime. The rice has flavors of saffron and turmeric and the burnt element adds both texture and taste. The word tadig means “bottom of the pot”.
We also received ikra, a grilled eggplant purée that served as a nice dipping sauce for the flatbread. I’ve never experienced eggplant that had a creamy texture. It was quite tasty.
Boiled khinkali filled with chopped mushrooms and broth 
Inside the khinkali dumpling
Fried khinkali dumpling filled with ground beef and cilantro 
Inside the fried khinkali dumpling
Since this was a middle east food tour, Georgian did not refer to southern cuisine, but to the European country just north of Armenia. We stopped at Khinkali House and ate khinkali, which is a Georgian dumpling. The boiled khinkali was filled with chopped mushrooms and broth whereas the fried dumpling was filled with ground beef and cilantro.
For dessert, we stopped at nearby Bacari on Brand. The place was packed for weekend brunch. Once we were seated, we got to sample 3 of their desserts. Their signature malabi, an Israeli milk pudding was one of the samples we received. In addition, we received small portions of their cardamom chocolate ganache and their bread pudding. Most favored the bread pudding, but my favorite was the malabi.
I’ve been on many food tours and I appreciated this Six Taste Glendale Walking Food Tour because we spent more time at each stop and experienced much more than a sample given on a cocktail napkin. Each restaurant expected us and delivered their dishes on time and we were given opportunities to order extra dishes to take home. Our tour leader Khurram did a great job ensuring that everyone’s needs were met.
Six Taste phone: 213.798.4749
sixtaste.com
LA FOOD BOWL
The remaining Six Taste walking tours in the L.A. Food Bowl are unfortunately sold out. Other noteworthy LA Food Bowl events that caught my eye include:
Friday May 24
7 – 10:00 p.m.
A Progressive Pasta Experience at the Authentic Italian Table
The event will take place poolside at Mr. C Beverly Hills, where guests will taste dishes from different regions of Italy. You’ll get a Bellini upon arrival, passed hor d’oeuvres, unlimited freshly made pasta samples from each chef and bottomless beverages, including craft beers by Peroni and specialty wines from Antinori. Ticket price $95 ea.
Sunday May 26
10:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
An Exploration of Fish Sauce with Padek, Patis, and Nuoc Mam
Join chefs Diep Tran (Good Girl Dinette), pastry chef Isa Fabro and Saengthong Douangdara (Saeng’s Kitchen) at the Hollywood Farmers Market as they explore the vital role of fish sauce. This savory and umami sauce is a staple in Vietnamese, Filipino, Pan-Asian and Lao cuisines. Red Boat fish sauce will be used exclusively at this free event.
Monday, May 27
All Day
Do You Want That on Rye?
Celebrated pastry and bread master Shannon Swindle will make his famous rye bread for Maple Block Meat Co.’s smoked corned beef, which will be used to make pastrami and Reuben sandwiches every Monday in May. No reservation is needed. I can vouch that this sandwich is amazing. $14 ea.
More information about the LA Food Bowl may be found here.