“The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association’s Summer Season at the Hollywood Bowl kicked off Sunday, June 23rd.
Now into the ninth year with award-winning chef Suzanne Goin and restaurateur Caroline Styne, Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine promises exceptional dining for visitors to the iconic venue. Goin and Styne’s culinary history has defined Los Angeles tastes since 1998 when they opened Lucques, their legendary first restaurant.”
“At the Hollywood Bowl, their California-inspired offerings include three restaurants and three marketplaces. Additionally, menus for the Terrace and Garden Boxes, which can be ordered a day in advance, are created by four-time James Beard Foundation award-winner Suzanne Goin. Goin’s vibrant new summer dishes pair beautifully with the exceptional wine and beer programs curated by Caroline Styne, the James Beard Foundation’s 2018 Outstanding Restaurateur of the Year award recipient. Overseeing the broad range of dining options serving Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine’s thousands of nightly guests is Executive Chef Jeff Rogers.”
“This year Caroline Styne has curated a diverse retail wine selection in the three marketplaces offering a broad selection of varieties and options for wine lovers visiting the Bowl. The markets feature a number of canned wines as well as a wide selection of vegan, organic and biodynamic bottles, including a collection of natural wines from producers including Broc Cellars, Wavy Wines, Nat Cool by Neipoort and Hollywood Bowl wine sponsor WINC wines.”
“Returning for the 2024 season are the Wednesdays and Sunday Market Tastings – a 14-week program of complimentary wine tastings at the Plaza Marketplace with guest winemakers, importers and sommeliers hand-selected by Caroline to give the venue’s visitors an immersive and personal experience with her favorite people in the wine world.”
“Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine’s many dining options include three sit-down restaurants, street-food kiosks, pre-ordered picnic boxes and a full-service dinner delivered to your box seat. For private events, Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine provides catering at several locations for groups both large and small.”
Here’s a lagniappe from the Hollywood Bowl : Ticket holders that use the Hollywood Bowl Park & Ride or shuttle bus can show their ticket to receive 20% off purchases at the Hollywood Bowl Plaza Marketplace, including wine purchases.
Joining us to uncork all that is Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine 2024 is restaurateur and Wine Director Caroline Styne
This is Anne-Marie Panerinkin, Culture OC's food columnist. You can follow me online at cultureoc.org. When I want the best in food and dining news outside of Orange County, of course, I tune in to the SoCal Restaurant Show on AMA30KLAA. - And welcome back. It is the SoCal Restaurant Show, and we're here with you every Saturday morning from 10 a.m. until 12 noon, right here on AMA30KLAA, the home of Angels Baseball 2024. And you can also catch us on the AMA30 Angels app. I'm Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show. And remember, the Angels are in town this weekend, not here in Anaheim, but at Dodger Stadium. Tonight is the second game in a two-game set of the Freeway series. And happy to say the Angels Rain Supreme last night, which broke a streak of 10 appearances with the Dodgers where the Angels did not win a game. So the streak, a new streak is on, and won it in the 10th last night, pretty exciting game, even with Otani for the Dodgers hitting a home run, two run, home run. So never a dull moment there. And we're enthusiastically presented each and every week by Melissa's World Variety Produce and West Coast Prime Eats. Every year as we go into the summer season, I am always proud to highlight the Hollywood Bowl, which is an institution we have in the greater Southern California area, which is really special, because unlike the big arenas and venues around town that are corporately owned and very large businesses and ticket prices and parking and all of that, you wanna see the performance, but it's a very expensive evening. Hollywood Bowl is nonprofit. There are seats that are available at reasonable prices. It is an unrivaled outdoor setting. And as I said, a real institution. And what was really wonderful is not too many years ago. Unfortunately, the food service at the Hollywood Bowl got a little tired, and the powers that be decided to bring in the James Beard Award-winning team of a chef and restaurateur, that being Chef Suzanne Goan and restaurateur Salmaier, Carolyn Stein, to reinvigorate the food service at the Hollywood Bowl, which really deserved better attention. And it's been a wonderful combination, and it is a pleasure representing Hollywood Bowl, Food and Wine, to represent restaurateur Carolyn Stein back to the show to talk us about the great eats at the Bowl for this summer season. Carolyn, good morning, and welcome back to the show. - Good morning, thanks for having me. - But of course, so the summer season kicks off tomorrow. It is here. Can you share what the performance is tomorrow for us? - Oh yeah, tomorrow is a, first of all, summer's kicking in immediately with the weather too. So it's gonna be a nice warm day out there, honestly. But it's having Anthony's 100th celebration. So it's gonna be a really, really fantastic musical performance. And just, he's got these opening nights, you're just so fun. There's so much energy, so much food, so much everything happening. It's just, I look forward to it every year. - Of course, Carolyn's we've discussed before, and you have a great perspective on it, and you know, I'm a native Angelino. Why is the Hollywood Bowl such a special place? - Oh, you know, back eight years ago, when we were approached to do this, you can, and I got so excited because it is such an iconic venue in Los Angeles. There is no other concert venue that I've ever been that is quite like it, especially when you consider the location in the middle of the Hollywood Hills, completely outdoors, just a magical setting. The music with, you know, a life feels harmonic, and all the other concerts that happen there, it's a very, very full schedule that goes on for many months. And then also, also being able to have the food and wine experience that you can have there. I've never seen anything like what we do at another concert venue, and it just makes the whole package so special. And I think it's been a part of families in Los Angeles, part of their summer life for decades. Just getting box seats or just getting seats up in the bleachers and coming and picnicking and having an evening there. It's just really, really, really special. - Well, you know, you mentioned the box seats, Carolyn. There's some families in terms of succession that there's really a fight over who gets access to those Hollywood bowl tickets as they're passed to the next generation. And it's serious business. - That was so true. I've talked to a lot of people about it. And it's definitely, you know, people have to will those seats down to their kids and families fight over them in pretty hilarious. - It is, but again, I think that just speaks to, you know, we have so few institutions here in Los Angeles, and the bowl is definitely one of them. And again, what I really appreciate is, is that it's open to everyone. You know, on the high end, you do have the opportunity to buy those box seats and enjoy the pool area there. But there are many other levels of tickets that are very accessible. And honestly, there's not a bad seat in the house. I mean, I've sat over the years at the top of the bowl. And in terms of the sight lines and the acoustics, and you know, now have video screens everywhere, you're not missing anything. And I don't think there's a other concert venue in the greater LA area that can really say that. They're definitely when it comes to the seating, Carolyn, they're the haves and the have-nots. - Yeah, that's been important to the show for a long time is that they provide very affordable seats for everybody so that it's so that everybody can come and enjoy everything no matter what your income level and you're totally right. At the very, very top, the acoustics are incredible and the view is amazing. And so I think every seat in the house is a really special experience for sure. - Now, let's talk about some of the food specifically. A couple of years ago, you introduced Suzanne's fried chicken. You can actually get it by the bucket. Tell us a little bit about the fried chicken and what outlets you can find that in because you're talking about summer, you're talking about picnics. Of course, fried chicken goes with that. - Yes, we introduced her fried chicken last year and it was a huge hit. You can get various sides buckets with freshly made cornbread and slaw. We love serving it with a little piece of echo, always a fun combination. But you can get it up at this Suzanne's fried chicken stand up at the top of the hill and then you can also sometimes get it down in the separate in your seat too. Try to make it accessible to people if they don't want to walk all the way up there. - Well, no, all ranges. Now, talking about on the high end, the catering that you can do in your seats, in the boxes, in the pool area, tell us about that aspect of things and then we'll cover the whole spectrum. But I know that's definitely in terms of the highest of the high end. That's certainly something that's available at the bowl and definitely can be done in pretty spectacular style. - The separate in your seats. - Yes. - So fun. You can order that up to 6 p.m. the day before online at HollywoodBowl.com, just go to the visit and then go to the food and wine tab and you can see how to order online. And we have a variety of different menus to choose from. You can order all a cart and they're beautiful starters and main courses and desserts. I mean, again, of course, brings her coating acumen and her produce sourcing and everything that she does at our own restaurants to the bowl. So the food is made exactly the same way that we make it at our individual restaurants and food is made, all a minute for everybody in the box seats as well. So they're beautiful salads, like, you know, of course, it's summer, so heirloom tomato and watermelon salad with feta. Beautiful Moroccan carrot salad, there's seafood ceviche. Those are just starters, all sorts of entrees. Really beautiful short rib. A little hard-hitting back to our luke days but in a more little sort of Latin expression and then, you know, pasta's and also vegetarian dishes. And you can either get that all a cart or you can do them in three-course menus so that they're paired together sort of in a comprehensive meal. And they're also these fantastic feasts. There's a Moroccan feasts for two with a Moroccan chicken and also just as meds, they have a start or you can get a vegetarian version. We do a spectacular barbecue in your box with ribs and brisket and then we also have a seafood extravaganza. So sort of like a seafood tower with crab cakes and lots of rolls and spice shrimp and it's just, it's really fun to dine your seats. We have servers out there, we do full wine service. It's just a really great way to spend your evening before the show starts. - Absolutely. Carolyn, we're gonna take a short pause here and pick this up on the other side. The summer season at the Hollywood Bowl kicks off tomorrow. We're talking with Hollywood Bowl food and wine. We are talking with award-winning restaurateur Carolyn Stein, always a fun time, a year for her and chef Suzanne. You are listening to the SoCal restaurant show. We're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Produce and West Coast Prime Meats. Give us a minute, we'll be back.
