Ryan Seacrest, Mayor of Beverly Hills Jimmy Delshad and Larry King

Ugh. Labor Day has come and gone, and with it the reminder that summer is now over. Judging from the gray skies and even a constant drizzle out in the Bu today, the Tuesday after Labor Day, it was as if the Earth was saying, “Time to get back to work!” Because of this, Labor Day is generally as anticlimactic and overhyped as its counterpart Fourth of July, which generally marks the start of summer. On both days, the most popular option among our friends is either Vegas (Lauren) or Malibu (Caroline). As diametrically opposed as they are in terms of climate and sophistication, they do share two common attributes: too much riff-raff and bad traffic.

Despite all this, around this time of year one can find us frolicking at the Palazzo or the Palms, or alternatively playing carnival games at the Kiwanis Club Chili Cook-off in Malibu, undoubtedly the city’s biggest event (despite the Kiwanis Club allegedly having only 8 members).

This year, things were different. For a variety of reasons, we (minus Miss Brokaw, who jetted off to Vegas with her crew) ended up getting stuck in town. We received invites to cover the first annual Taste of Beverly Hills, presented by Food and Wine magazine and produced by Jeffrey Best and Wagstaff Public Relations … the event was being held on top of a parking structure (albeit a valuable one) next to an abandoned Robinson’s May, next door to the Beverly Hilton …

We really love real estate, so let’s first talk about the location of the event, 9900 Wilshire Boulevard, which heads up the “platinum triangle” entering Beverly Hills. This location is arguably the most important and controversial site in Beverly Hills. It’s like the mythical unicorn of Beverly Hills real estate. Why? Because to my knowledge (and those of others in the real estate field), we can’t recall any piece of dirt that sold for $500,000,000. Yes, as in half a billion dollars. This deal catapulted the profiles of David Margulies and his partner Arnold Rosenstein of New Pacific Realty to the level of rock stars, having bought the site only 3 years earlier for about $33 million. FYI – Arnold’s wife Anita May Rosenstein is the great granddaughter of May Company founder David May, just to be complete. Like most things, timing was everything. The buyer, a consortium of investors led by Candy and Candy and Kaupthing Bank of Iceland, ended up defaulting on their $365.5 million loan earlier this year and handing the keys back to Banco Imbursa, owned by none other than Carlos Slim Helu, the wealthiest man in the world. Stay tuned, this story will only get more interesting and we at the Truffle shall keep you informed.

Anyway, back to the event. So thanks to a defunct condo project, Jeffrey Best and Wagstaff were able to give us the inaugural Food and Wine magazine Taste of Beverly Hills, a four day event featuring dozens of LA’s most popular and interesting restaurants situated on the most expensive parking lot in the world. Two massive, state-of-the-art tents housed prime Beverly Hills restaurants including those from five of our seven hotels – Four Seasons, Beverly Wilshire, The Peninsula, the Montage and the Beverly Hilton, as well as representation from some of our most notable and timeless staples - The Beverly Hills Cheese Store, Hansen Cakes, Nate ‘n Al’s, The Regency Club and Mickey Fine Pharmacy and Grill.

Day One: After opening night of Taste of Beverly Hills – our municipality is now on the map for glamour fireworks shows along with Hong Kong, Monaco and Dubai. In true Jeff Best form – the brains and production force behind the four day extravaganza – this event was unparalleled to anything this town has seen since The Rodeo Land and Water Company decided to name the town Beverly Hills in 1906. The first day was a celebration of 9/02/10 hosted by mayor Jimmy Delshad and Larry King who brought along fellow hosting royal Ryan Seacrest pointing even further to the likelihood Larry will tap Ryan when he steps down from the show this month. I arrived just in time to see one of our favorite singers, Natasha Bedingfield, who rocked the house. Just when we thought she was done, the Mayor convinced her to do an encore of 2 songs. In return, she was presented with a Key to the City by Mayor Delshad, who made us feel like we were at a Persian wedding or Bar Mitzvah. Known for his rampant key giving , The Mayor then surprised the crowd bringing Ne-Yo on stage to perform old and new hits, and of course an encore, trading him a few more Keys to the City to do so.

The final surprise of the night from the Mayor was a fireworks show set off from the top level of the adjacent Beverly Hilton parking structure accompanied by some Arabic and Persian music (lol?!). We have the video to prove it.

Harkening back memories of crazy Persian weddings that go on all night, the Mayor invited everyone to come onto the stage (and back to his house later for the after party, not kidding) where people were dancing for the remainder of the evening,  while leading a cheerleader-esque chant, “9…0…210, 9…0…210, 9…0…210….”  It was nice to see a political figure who was so enthusiastic and lively, and not afraid to poke fun at himself. Mayor Delshad with his larger-than-life personality gave us all a night that was most entertaining… and just very … Beverly Hills.

Unfortunately, we were having so much fun at the party that most of the food samplings were gone by the time we made our way to the booths!

Day Two: On the second night, our team focused a lot more on the food than the musical performances. According to our sources, local restaurants paid around $1500 for each session and had to provide food for approximately 1500 people. Having had some experience in the business, we can tell you that this is a significant commitment from your local restaurants, especially the smaller ones that aren’t part of huge corporations. So to the exhibitors of this event, you get our utmost respect and props from us at the Truffle.

If we fail to mention any particular restaurants, it’s only because a) you probably ran out of food or b) the line was too long at your booth or c) you probably ran out of food. Though the event was scheduled to go to 11pm, I would say that half the booths ran out of food by 9-9:30pm and by 10pm, only a handful of booths were still serving food.

Some food notes here:

Fraiche (Culver City): Panna Cotta with Watermelon juice and topped with a blackberry. Simply incredible. The synergy between the creamy panna cotta with the watermelon juice, cut by the acidity of the blackberry. Just brilliant, and probably one of our favorites of the festival.

Fig (Santa Monica): Bacon wrapped bacon. What else do you need to know? And yes, it was as good as it sounds. Actually better. Having sampled their food before, Fig might be one of the most under-rated restaurants in town, but we suspect it won’t be a local secret for very long.

Nickel Diner (Downtown LA): Catfish with corn cakes and pecan sauce and served with hashed bacon brussel sprouts; maple glazed donut with bacon bits. Having seen this place on Dine-Ins, Drive-Ins and Dives, we were glad to see the all-women owned Nickel Diner make an appearance.

Dephine: Grilled swordfish with braised fennel, pequillo peppers, pine nuts, capers; Green Apple Risotto. As usual, the boys at Innovative Dining Group continue to come up with hit after hit.

Katana: Line was too long, and since we eat there once a week or so… IDG section definitely had the most people around its booth, which should come as no surprise

Umami: Signature umami burger. The latest burger craze in LA right now… some swear by it, others just don’t get it. I think we’re in the latter group.

Father’s Office: Burger. You only get this burger one way, and that’s Sang Yoon’s way. What else more can you say about one of the best known burgers in the city?

Day Three (Date Night): Saturday night was probably the most crowded night, from what we could observe. We came on the early side and ate as much as we could, though even then we still couldn’t get through to every booth and we were overwhelmed with great food and wine. In no particular order, our food notes for the day:

District/Mercantile/Delancey: Meatballs in arrabiata sauce. Some sausage thing. Venison relleno with goat cheese. We’ve known George Abou-Daoud for years now, since he opened one of the first gastropubs in Hollywood (The Bowery). And like always, his food is right on the mark. Sunset Bouelvard is a better place because of George, no doubt about it.

Public Kitchen and Bar/ 25 Degrees (Roosevelt Hotel): Pork belly from Public Kitchen served with asparagus and frisee, very tasty. Passed on the burgers from 25 Degrees for this go-around, since it’s already a favorite of ours, especially late at night!

Petrossian: Caviar tasting, blini with craime fraiche and caviar. This booth was insane, with people lining up to have a caviar tasting. Due to overfishing which is leading to the decimation of the sturgeon population in the Caspian and Black Seas combined with worldwide bans on beluga and a trade embargo with Iran, things are now moving towards farmed fish caviar from Northern California. Actually, if you have to eat farmed caviar, Petrossian is definitely the way to go.

Il Pastaio: Involtini di Melenzane con Spaghetti. Baked spaghetti wrapped with eggplant, tomato, mozzarella and house baked dry ricotta cheese. Tasty and reliable is probably why this restaurant is the social epicenter of Beverly Hills. And always a pleasure to see two of our favorite Italian chefs Giacomino and Tanino Drago.

STK: Short rib. Pretty tasty short rib. But what really makes us want to make a visit to STK is to hang out with the lovely Emily Olsen, who was diligently greeting people and working the booth as the face of STK LA.

Angelini Osteria: Ran out of food by the time we got there. But at least we spotted Gino Angelini, one of the best Italian chefs in Los Angeles.

BOA: Goat cheese baklava with pistachios, black truffle and frisee; Smores. The baklava was brilliant, and is a must-have on our next trip to Boa (probably this week). As for the smores, still the best dessert there since the restaurant was named “Balboa.” The closest thing to a campfire experience in WeHo.

Simon LA: Puff pastry filled with Maine lobster and black truffle. This was quite excellent and a nice creative departure from his usual repertoire, reminded me of Michael Mina’s lobster pot pie back when he ran Aqua in San Francisco. It’s always nice to see Kerry Simon do his thing as the city’s Rockstar chef!

Pace: Risotto. Always a neighborhood favorite among the Laurel Canyon peeps.

Porta Via: All we could get to was their excellent chocolate chip biscotti. But how can one NOT stop by and say hello to the Mayor of Canon Drive, aka Peter Garland! Another favorite hangout among the “Truffle set.”

Nate n Al’s: Beef brisket sliders with bbq au jus. Suprisingly, this was arguably our favorite booth of the evening. A sprightly man who looked like J.C. was constantly egging on his servers to give people generous portions of brisket in their sandwiches. He was so energetic and made every person that waited for a sandwich feel like royalty. And those sandwiches were amazing… incidentally, they celebrated their 65th year in business this year… and they’re not going anywhere.

Wine tip: We tasted the Numanthia-TermesToro Termes 2005, which received 2nd Place in the 2009 Wine Spectator Top 100 with a score of 96 points. This red wine comes from Spain’s Toro region and is derived from the low-yielding, old-vine Tinto de Toro (the local variation of Tempranillo) and aging in new French oak barrels. Since 2008, Numanthia-Termes is owned by Louis Vuitton Moët-Hennessy. At $27 per bottle retail, it’s a bargain and an excellent red wine. We second Wine Spectator’s rave reviews.

Day Four: As things were winding down on the final night, the theme was barbeque. Like every other day, people came early and cleaned out most of the exhibitors’ food supply. There were, however, a few standouts, namely in the form of tacos.

Sweet Rose Creamery (Brentwood Country Mart): Bon Bons in vanilla, banana, mint, caramel, coffee, and chocolate. Now we know where to satisfy our sweet tooth anytime we’re in Brentwood or SaMo. A really great ice cream shop.

PopShop: Popsicles in various flavors. We tried the Lime Mint Mojito. It was different, but in a groovy, cool way. I wonder if popsicles will become the new frozen yogurt.

Craft (Century City): Pork Belly. Though our first visits to Craft weren’t so great in their debut months, if this tasting was any indication, it appears the restaurant has gotten a lot better. The pork belly sampler was nicely done, and could make us believe in Colicchio as a chef (and not just a TV host) again. Time for another visit soon.

Vampiros Tacos (Tacos Guanajuato): Beef and pork tacos with cheese. Some of the best tacos I have ever tasted in recent time. What was interesting was how they wrapped the pork around a pineapple core and then rotated the meat around a constant fire just like shawerma. The end result was spectacular. These guys were inundated all night long as one of the most popular exhibits, and we especially commend them for bringing enough food to feed people almost until closing time.

Antojitos Carmen: Shrimp tacos in a fried corn shell tortilla. Amazing tacos also. Between this and the other Vampire taco stand, we must have stood in line and returned to get more about 3 more times.

Overall Review: This was in fact a very well-executed event. One thing we really liked was the fact that the ticket prices were all-inclusive, with unlimited food and drinks. It’s nice to be able to pay a flat fee and not have to carry around cash to pay for beverages. In typical Jeffrey Best fashion, the tables were plenty and nicely set-up and the utilization of the space and the set up of the tents made the event easy to navigate, while spreading out the crowd sufficiently enough for claustrophobic types like us to move around with relative ease. It was a comfortable event, and it was clear that much thought was put into logistics and planning. Bravo, Mr. Best, bravo.

As for things we would suggest for next year. We didn’t understand why the organizers didn’t include complimentary parking, and simply incorporate a parking fee into the cost of the ticket, considering the all-inclusive nature of the event. The shuttle services from the various satellite locations were very efficient and well-run, we never had to wait more than ten minutes for one, and they had multiple shuttles going to and from each parking location so there was no real crowding either.

Another inconvenience was having attendees and media check in at the Beverly Hilton where the executive meeting rooms were. With the sheer size of 9900 Wilshire, it wouldn’t seem difficult to have people check in at the entrance area, or designate an area within the parking structure below. I’m sure the meticulous Mr. Best will resolve these minor issues next year.

We hope that more restaurants will participate in this great event, and we hope that it will help to revitalize our hospitality industry as it attempts to lift itself from the doldrums of this Great Recession. It certainly opened up our eyes and palates to restaurants and businesses where we often drive-by, but never think of stopping in. We certainly hope other people feel the same way.

We are certainly looking forward to returning next year! Congratulations to Wagstaff and Jeffrey Best for a job well done. This is exactly what Beverly Hills needed, and we believe it has the potential to be one of the most important food festivals in the nation.

The three highest rated restaurants that we missed (food ran out): Ortolan (owned by one of the best French chefs in the city, Christophe Eme, and actress Jeri Ryan), Bastide (since we haven’t been to Mr. Pytka’s latest iteration), Melisse (always interesting to see what Josiah Citrin is doing)

Restaurants that we hope to see next year: Urasawa, Asanebo, Providence, Matsuhisa, Vincenti, Bistro LQ, Gjelina, La Cachette Bistro, Hatfield’s, (Are you guys reading this???)

Sponsors: AMEX had an exclusive lounge area for its cardholders, LG sponsored a kitchen stadium to host demonstrations and competitions using its state-of-the-art equipment, Infiniti peppered the lot with its latest offering such as the G37S and the QX 56 SUV. Stella Artois had a beautiful tent with beer on tap and a constant line every night. San Pellegrino was the official water, providing Acqua Panna and Pellegrino bubbly. Two Rodeo sponsored some of the shuttles. Other sponsors included Yelp, Tiffany and Co., Jim Beam, Intelligentsia coffee, Mionetto, the Beverly Hilton, Angeleno magazine, The Beverly Hills Courier, and Brad Metzger Restaurant Solutions.

People spotted: Larry King, Ryan Seacrest, Buzz & Lois Aldrin, Leeza Gibbons, Ted Allen, Lori Loughlin, Wolfgang Puck, Bruce Jenner, Kris Jenner, Kourtney Kardashian and siblings, RJ Williams, Josh Richman, Brent Bolthouse, Zen Freeman, Barbara Lazaroff, Seth Rodsky & wife Eve, Sabrina and Jessica Yadegar, Tyson Park, Steve Takowsky, Daniel Seidner, new Real Housewives of Beverly Hills couple Taylor Ford and Russell Armstrong and “90210″ starlets Shenae Grimes, AnnaLynne McCord, and Jessica Stroup.

Videos from Daniel Seidner!!

Ne-Yo surprise performance – So Sick of Love Songs

Jimmy gives Neyo a key to the City

Natasha Bedingfield performs