Local food bloggers, photographers and reporters this week got an early taste of what's to come at next month's second annual Manhattan Beach Food and Wine Festival.
The festival, on Sept. 12 and 13, will welcome nearly 50 world-class chefs from far and wide to Manhattan Village for two nights of food, wine, beer and more.
The preview event on Thursday night, Aug. 21, at the westdrift Manhattan Beach hotel, let guests experience a handful of what will be cooking in September.
Renowned pastry chef Sherry Yard, who was in attendance Thursday and will be a featured chef at the festival, touted Porto's Bakery for being the only desset vendor at the preview night.
"Go pastry!" the Manhattan Beach resident said, rooting on her fellow sweet-makers.
Porto's served its spin on a deconstructed key lime pie, called Mojitos in Manzanillo.
Chef Jayro Martinez offered jamon croquettes from his menu at Top of the V in Anaheim, made with blackfoot ham and topped with a thin slice of Spanish bluefin tuna.
Cathy and Vanda Asapahu, sister chefs at the family-owned Ayara Thai in Westchester, grilled pork ribs on Thai charcoal and served them atop a seasonal vegetable salad of corn, sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes tossed in a traditional Thai papaya salad dressing.
Chef Noah Clark's BOX Chicken ghost kitchen, on Pico and Sepulveda boulevards, is also a full family affair. His aunt, Maggie Antoine, developed the recipe in the late 1970s, a taste that customers who tried it way back then say is still just the same today, Clark said. Both of Clark's parents, and his uncle -- Antoine's husband -- also fried and sauced the Japanese-style tenders, made soba salads and handed out miso cookies on Thursday night.
The Vice winery, meanwhile, only sells to mom-and-pop shops like Manhattan Fine Wines, Southwest regional sales manager Nicholas Cerbone said, because they love actually seeing the community that enjoys their wine on a regular basis.
AWINECO, from Oakville, boasts that it pairs its wines, Compassion Cabernet and Puppy Love Chardonnay, with charities instead of food, said the company's executive vice president, Lawrence Marks. Money from purchases of the former is donated to organizations that provide clean drinking water to places with contaminated water, and the latter donates to no-kill dog shelters.
Adobe Road Winery also had a special message, aligning its wines with drag racing, like with its Redline and Apex varieties.
Empress Gin, Lalo Tequila and Luna Nueva Tequila also poured samples of spirits and mixed drinks.
Mocktails were also being served up by Sip Social South Bay, a mobile bar cart that offers both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks through their traveling service.
Tickets for the event start at $199. For more information, go to manhattanbeachfoodandwine.com/events.