11 great things we ate at The Taste

This past weekend, many of us — many thousands of us — spent three days eating and drinking ourselves silly at The Taste, the L.A. Times’ annual food festival. Many capable people turned Paramount Studios into a Disneyland for foodies, with demonstration stages and booths and even a blue car. Thanks to all the chefs, cooks and bartenders who came out and spent their holiday weekend working. To mark the occasion, and for those of you who couldn’t come — and somehow missed the zillion tweets we sent out — here are a few highlights. See you (we hope) next year.

Mazesoba noodles from Tsujita LA Artisan Noodle

The lines at Tsujita were among the longest at the last night of the festival. And with good reason. The Sawtelle ramen specialist brought little bowls of mazesoba: ramen noodles, seaweed, ground pork, garlic, onions.  

Scallop aquachile from Taco Maria

Tender sweet scallops in a tart and spicy juice-broth from Carlos Salgado. Jenn Harris went back for thirds.

Lamb barbacoa from Aqui es Texcoco

Francisco Perez brought his lamb barbacoa the first night, and served it all three days. Bless you, chef. 

Yogurt-salt gelato with olive oil from Bulgarini Gelato

Leo Bulgarini brought his gelato cart to the festival, for which we'd be grateful anytime but particularly in this heat. Our favorite? His salted yogurt gelato, which was drizzled with excellent olive oil.

Uni ceviche from Ricardo Zarate

Bright and colorful, with vivid flavors of yellowtail, squid ink aioli and sea urchin. 

Speck onion croissants from BierBeisl Imbiss

Chef Bernard Mairinger's savory treats looked like cinnamon rolls at first — it was just such a fun idea.

Salbutes from Chichen Itza

Made with beef short rib and pork shoulder in a puffy corn tortilla with avocado and pickled onion. The line was so long that we scored only one of these after the fryer broke. 

Grilled prawns from Little Sister

Malaysian cashew curry, rice, crushed peanuts and herbs — and prawns on a stick. Enough said. 

Liquid nitrogen meringues from Superba Food + Bread

You pop them in your mouth (they're crazy cold; they taste like Fruity Pebbles), eat them and then blow. Very Harry Potter. Very fun. 

Jar's pot roast croissant with horseradish cream

Suzanne Tracht's rich pot roast in a flaky pastry shell with a dollop of creamy horseradish cream on top with some real zing.

Seaweed-tofu beignets from Alma

Because Ari Taymor is a genius/chemist. Using ingredients that would prompt doubts from 96% of the population.

MORE: See what L.A.'s best chefs were up to at The Taste

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