L.A. Times Food Bowl Night Market Was Lit
BY TAMARA PALMER
The L.A. Times Food Bowl, an annual monthlong festival of events, just concluded. I was fortunate enough to attend one of three Night Market events held on the storied Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood, which has been making TV and movie magic for 110 years. As we roamed a portion of the lot fashioned to look like New York City streets with apartments, I couldn’t help but think of all of the creative people who imbued the space with so much imagination. I’d later find out that we were probably traversing the same faux pavement as Lucille Ball, Mae West, Alfred Hitchcock and — going way, way back — Rudolph Valentino (and the groupies who broke onto the lot to see him).
The famous Paramount tower
The first area of the Night Market
I don’t even think we saw all of the food and drink options available, because the party covered a lot of ground and we were focused on the special Dumpling Crawl that L.A. Times writer Jenn Harris assembled with little dough delights from around the world.
The Dumpling Crawl alley
Armenian monta dumplings from Monta Factory
Dim sum by Lunasia
Lunasia closeup
Outside of the Dumpling Crawl, two bites really stood out to me: a luxuriously crispy and rich short rib burger slider by the food truck caterer Heavy Handed and a vegan sunflower nduja by Koreatown vegetarian restaurant Olivia that somehow captured the meatiness of the usually-carnivorous spread.
Short rib sliders by Heavy Handed
Olivia’s vegan sunflower nduja
Thank you to Innovative PR and to the L.A. Times food section for hosting me at the event. I’ve attended many food tastings in Southern and Northern California over the years, and this had a wonderful mix of food and drink offerings, fast-moving lines (no “fighting for sliders,” as I like to say when I go to events that are unorganized) and a phenomenal DJ who deftly connected the sonic dots between Jane’s Addiction and Bell Biv DeVoe and kept me bouncing with my dumplings. Hope to return next year!
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