Southern California’s Swanky Food Festival, Ojai Valley Food & Wine, Returns This Weekend | Eater LA

"A major regional food festival returns to the luxe resort in Ojai from Thursday, March 13 to Sunday, March 16. Most of the festival’s main packages have been sold out for some time, though tickets remain for grand tastings on Thursday night and Sunday afternoon. Thursday night’s grand tasting (runs $495 plus $111 in fees) features Jeremiah Tower, Claudette Zepeda (who recently opened a big new restaurant in Leucadia/Encinitas just north of San Diego), Nancy Silverton, Deau Arpapornnopparat (Holy Basil), Mary Sue Milliken, Susan Feniger, Jonathan Waxman, and Andrew Zimmern; the Sunday afternoon grand tasting costs the same and showcases Christopher Kostow (Meadowood/Charter Oak), Jon Yao (Kato), Justin Pitchetrungsi (Anajak), Katianna and John Hong (Yangban), and Marcus Jernmark (of the forthcoming Lielle in the former Bicyclette space). The overall lineup includes Nyesha Arrington, Grant Achatz, Mei Lin, Evan Funke, Eunji Lee (NYC’s Lysée Bakery), Alice Waters, and William Bradley (Addison). A chef attending this year’s event described this and similar events like Pebble Beach Food & Wine as “summer camp for chefs,” which explains the relatively high attendance rate of big names." - Matthew Kang