Inside Beverly Hills Food & Wine Festival

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s foodies at heart, we love submersing ourselves in culinary experiences throughout the year. One of those recent culinary adventures was the Beverly Hills Food & Wine Festival at The Olympic Collection Banquet Center. We had the opportunity to sample and sip to our delight as some of the best restaurants and brands in Beverly Hills showcased some of their amazing delicacies and robust wines. We had so much fun that we want to share our experience, along with an inside look at this amazing food experience with you all!

Upon arrival, we were escorted to the check-in booth where we were given event bands for our wrists, a souvenir wine glass for sampling the different wines and spirits available, and a tote backpack. We were fortunate to get given VIP tickets, which gave us early entry to the event. So with our wristbands and glass at hand, we made our way up the elevators to the last floor to begin the experience.

Right as we excited the doors, we knew we were going to have a great time. Just beyond the elevators was a Beverly Hills Food & Wine Festival backdrop for taking selfies or group photos during the event. Making our way to the first hall, we greeted with the Moreno BHLV booth. There we got to sip on some of their sparkling wines before moving on to explore the large booth where the silent auction was held. For those diehard sports fans, there was amazing sport memorabilia to place silent bets on.

Thoroughly enjoying our first take of this food festival, we headed to try some of the food booths there. First up was the Luxe Sunset Hotel booth where Executive Chef Olivier Rousselle greeted attendees and encouraged them to sample he and his team’s creation. These Chinese takeout mini dishes were a delightful mesh of western-Asian influences.

Coral Tree Café & Comoncy was next as Chef Joseph Gillard presented his wide selection of sliced meats and tapenades for guests to bite into.

Now we would have committed a downright felony if we didn’t at least try a few of the wines on the different booths. So we made a slow circulation around the main wine tables in the center of the hall to see what the entire buzz was about. We are the first to admit that we have just gotten into wines recently, but we didn’t let it shy us away from sampling.

Many of the brands were absolutely new to us (again wine newbies here) but each booth had knowledgeable experts who answered all our questions, voiced recommendations and were more than happy to top our empty glasses with a new wine. Some of the wines and liquor brands present were Skinnygirl Wines, Rodney Strong, Hillhaven Lodge and many more.

The Presidential Culinary Services made quite a splash with their selection of unique and scrumptious mini plates featuring spring vegetables with lemongrass and red curry, rum and pepper-glazed red snapper bruchetta with plantains and a citrus salsa, and mini sliders. It was amazing to see the team put together these delicious red snapper bruchettas. Another crowd favorite was the Paul Martin’s Booth and their samplings of braised short ribs, mashed potatoes, and horseradish cream.

Like any reputable sweet tooth, we couldn’t stop ourselves from biting into something sweet and delicious. Luckily, there were plenty of desserts to satisfy us. First treats we sunk our teeth in were the cake pops from the Sweet Dreamery Desserts. They were too cute that we almost didn’t want to eat one.

Speaking of too cute. We couldn’t get enough of the desserts from Francois Payard. Not only did they have an amazing selection of macarons in flavors like matcha, passion fruit and s’mores, but also delicious chocolates that melted in your mouth. Oh yeah, we were in chocolate heaven.

We were so caught in all the amazing booths and delicacies that we almost forgot to visit the second hall. Thankfully, we didn’t because we would have missed some amazing booths or sample more unique eats like Krave jerkys, caviar, mini tacos and Mexican inspired fare.

Just as we were making our way out the hall, the growing crowd around the Wine Boss booth caught our attention and so we made our way to check it out. Great thing we did because Wine Boss was giving away mini wine bottles to attendees who shared the social media love.

A perfect way to end the night don’t you think! We thought so as we gathered our mini wine bottle and said goodnight to absolutely incredible food and wine festival. Already we can’t wait to attend next year.

For more information on this event, check out www.beverlyhillsfoodandwinefestival.com

Disclaimer: A special thank you to BloggerBabes for the opportunity to experience this amazing event for the first time.