Masters of Taste – May 6, 2018 – Pasadena Rose Bowl – Pasadena, CA.

This is the 3rd year and I have to say each year keeps getting better and better! This year there were a lot more new restaurants with many different choices of food. I absolutely had some favorites, but all in all everything was simply delicious.

Here’s are all the folks that were there:

Culinary Masters:

Alexander’s Steakhouse, Ayara Luk, Bistro Mon Cheri, Bone Kettle, Bourbon Steak, Celestino Ristorante, Chaya, Chef Michael Hung, Church & State / Spring, Claud Beltran & Co. Bacchus Kitchen, Derive, Eat @ Rollin Joe’s, Fahrenheit LA, Garlic & Chives, Grill ‘Em All, Gus’s Barbecue, Jaffa, Kato Restaurant, LiOrient & Triple 8, Loquita, Lunasia Dim Sum House, M Café, Maestro, Maple, Mercado, Momed, Nerano, Pez Cantina, Poppy + Rose, Prince of Venice, Ramen Tatsunoya, Redbird, Sweet Greek, The Bellwether, The Flats / Montresor, The Raymond 1886, True Food Kitchen, Wax Paper, Wolfgang Puck Catering, and World Empanadas.

I loved the lumpia’s from Bone Kettle, a great rendition of this Filipino staple. The dim sum from Lunasia Dim Sum House was so wonderful; they had a lot of different ones to choose from. A truly delicious pasta from Nerano, with sausage and Orecchiette. Gus’s barbeque had an amazing corn bread that they served with their signature pulled pork BBQ. Another one of my favorites was the beet sauce ravioli from Celestino. The ramen from Ramen Tatsunoya was wonderful; it was served cold without any broth, but really flavorful. Poppy and Rose did a great fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy; super yummy. Kato did buckwheat and smoked ocean trout, with caviar on top of a tortilla style chip, very creative and inventive. Moncheri did a pot sticker that blew my hair back; delicious filling with great flavor. The Flats did a salmon mousse with Meyer lemon gelee and smoked crème fraiche, in a little plastic cup with very colorful layers. Wow. From Triple 8 they delivered a candied, Hong Style BBQ Pork that was out of this world. I really didn’t drink any alcohol, just a lot of water but from what I could tell there were lots of great wines being served and mixed cocktails were in abundance as well.

Beverage Masters:

American Born Whiskey, Angel City Brewery, Ascension Cellars, Bai, Boxed Water, Brewyard Beer Company, Buzzbox, Califia Farms, Chaya + Tequila Herradura Ultra, The Estates Group, DRY Sparkling Soda, Dulce Vida Tequila, Golden Star Vineyards, Groundwork Coffee, Hitching Post Winery, Honeydrop Beverages, Humm Kombucha, IMMORDL, Indie Brewing Company, Iron Triangle Brewing Company, Kieu Hoang Winery, Lincoln Beer Company, Lorimar Winery, MacLeod Ale Brewing, Magnolia House + SelvaRey Rum, Mt. Lowe Brewing Company, Navarro Vineyards, Nektar Juice Bar, Riboli Family Wines, Rutherford Wine, San Fernando Brewing, Smirnoff Spiked Sparkling Seltzer, Sate Brewing Company, Sunset & Vinyl + Ki No Bi Kyoto Gin, The Raymond 1886, Woodford Reserve, Wrath Wines, Zico Coconut Water, and Zyr Vodka.

Sweet Masters:

Butter Cake Shoppe, Chocolate Stars USA, Crème Caramel, Fatamorgana Gelato, Helados Pops, Mignon Chocolate, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Porto’s Bakery, Sidecar Doughnuts & Coffee, The Dolly Llama, and Zooies.

Sponsors:

2018 Gold Sponsors – Home Street Bank, Judith L. Chiara Foundation, Western Asset, and Woodford Reserve.

Silver Sponsors – John & Joy Beaty, Alan & Gail Maltun, Rhodes & Liz Trussell, Bart & Pam Wald, Kaiser Permanente, US Bank, and Capitol Group.

Bronze Sponsors – Thomas & Jodi Cassutt, Charlie & Rene Chiara, Terry & Teresa Krupczak, Hannah & Russel Kully, David & Janet Lazier, Jim & Cary Moore, Cathy Simms & Garrett Bell, Vickie & Alex Taylor, Union Bank, Bank of America, Universal Studios Hollywood, Westport Construction, Kauffman Wealth Management, Norton Rose Fulbrite, the James & Sue Femino Foundation, HKG, and Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

Copper Sponsors – Nancy Gibbs, Margo & Ralph Kidushim, Sally Lash, Wendy Lees & Tom, Boyle, Don & Gloria Pitzer, Marie & John Queen, Goldrich Kest, Goldstar, and the Tsutayo Ichioka & Satsuki Nakoa Foundation.

Brass Sponsors – Congresswoman Judy Chu, William & Laura Olhasso, Shirley Schumacher & Gregory Goeckner, Grace Kim, Janie Steckenrider, The Bukata Family, Vicki & David Thompson, Arroyo, Citizens Business Bank, Edgewood Realty, Hahn & Hahn, Individual Food Service, Lawyer’s Title, Locke Lord LLP, Re/Max Elite Properties, TJ Maxx, and Westmount Asset Management.

Centerpiece Sponsor – ADP Foundation, Linen Sponsor – California Linen Services, Parking Sponsor – Pasadena Tournament of Roses, Gift Bag Sponsor – US Bank, Media Sponsors – Angeleno, Outlook, Pasadena Now, We Like L.A., and Yelp, and Community Partners – Lyft and Laemmle.

This was the menu from the Wolfgang Puck experience, which was a separate area that you had to sign up for to get a reservation. I was too full to even try to do a tasting, but I did walk around inside this area to check out all that was being made. Menu: Snap Peas, Caviar, Sesame Crème Fraiche, Crab, Seaweed, Black Garlic, Rib Cap, Papaya, Kroeung, Pineapple Guava, Chili, and Coconut Curd. WolfgangPuck.com, Rogue-expo.com.

A truly glorious day.  What could be better, under the sun at the iconic Rose Bowl with luscious food and drinks. Get your tickets for next year, you will be very happy you did!

Masters of Taste
https://mastersoftastela.com/
Rose Bowl
https://www.rosebowlstadium.com/
Rose Bowl Stadium
1001 Rose Bowl Drive
Pasadena, California 91103

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