Porky Parts at Artisanal LA

Guest Post By Julie Wolfson

This little piggy went to market (Julie at Artisanal LA)

This little piggy stayed home (Jo was catching up on editing and writing)

This little piggy ate roast beef (Julie sampling Cast Iron Gourmet’s bacon and Villebois Kitchen’s pork rillettes)

This little piggy had none (Jo was at home, but Julie did bring her a jar of Chef Zarate’s Anticucho sauce and a container of All Spice Cafe Ghost Adobo Rub)

And this little piggy went we we we all the way home ( though Julie did stop in the way to check out the new Pal Cabron in Koreatown and eat cemitas and tlayuda with chorizo. Hello more pork!)

On October 23 and 24, Shauna Dawson of Sauce LA launched Artisanal LA. When I walked in purveyors of locally made foods were set up on the top floor of the Cooper Building bathed if gorgeous natural light. The two hours I spent at Artisanal LA included greeting friends, tasting sweets (hello Jonathan from Compartes your raspberry pink peppercorn truffle is haunting my dreams), and searching out some of the best piggy parts for my pork loving from Jo.

What did I find? Chick with Knives were offering their freshly made bacon jam. Jam made from bacon? Now that would be my kind of pj & J sandwich.

Next stop a nibble of Cast Iron Gourmet’s smoky small batch bacon. They were selling bags of their inspired couch mix. Look in that bag there are nuts and pieces of bacon inside, all packaged so that you can sit on your couch and snack on some porky goodness while catching up on an episode of Project Runway, The Soup, Community, or Mad Men ( Ok, so now you know what’s on my TIVO).

Winding my way through more sweets like Ococoa’s Butter Cups and our friend Chef Akasha Richmond beautiful table full of freshly made preserves, I found Villebois Kitchen and their classic version of pork rillettes. Though I am a big fan of Chef Keller’s addicting salmon rillettes at Bouchon, this yummy pork version satisfied my craving for protein.

I asked my friend The Minty to tell us what we missed. In The Minty’s story:
Lindy & Grundy at Artisanal LA or How I won Pork and What I Did with It she writes about meeting the butchers at Test Kitchen,  her grandmother being a pork butcher, how she won a picnic roast, and what she made with it at home.

All in all, Artisanal LA was ton of fun. I even helped my friend Michel Dozois do some demonstrations pouring Tru Organic Gin over his large block Neve Luxury Ice. Then I headed home by way of the new Pal Cabron to get ready to meet Jo at The Yard in Santa Monica. And what did we order that night? Some pork belly and pulled pork sliders to go with our poutine, arancini, and cocktails. The next day I should have planned for a juice cleanse, but who are we kidding there were more parties to go to and yummy food to taste.

All photos above by Julie Wolfson

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Artisanal LA

Chick with Knives

Cast Iron Gourmet

Villebois Kitchen

Shawna aka SauceLA

Check out more photos by Ryan Tanaka (coming soon)

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