THE TASTE'S "Secrets from the Kitchen & Cellars"

THE TASTE continued today with  "Secrets from the Kitchen & Cellars", an afternoon filled with fabulous food, insightful and informative cooking demos and wine and spirit tastings.

We started the morning by visiting the dozens of restaurants and exhibitors of wines and spirits participating in the event. Among the restaurants that we stopped by were La Seine, Mr. Chow, Black Market, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Sam's by the Beah, my personal favorite, Scarpetta @ The Montage, and many others.

We chatted with Chef Scott Conant about the fabulous Scarpetta Restaurant's Sunday brunch! The brunch is to die for and it's where I celebrated my 60th birthday with 10 of my closest friends and family.

Chef Drago

Our next stop was at the cooking demos at the tents. First up was chef Celestino Drago of the Drago Ristorante in Santa Monica as well as Pastaio, Drago Centro. Chef demonstrated for us to beautiful rissotto with organic beets. The dish was both beautiful and delightfully flavorful ( yes, we all got to taste it)!

Chef Scott Conant

Our next stop was to be with chef Scott Conant at the second tent. Chef shared with us to dishes from his childhood, simple pasta with garlic and a warm pasta salad with buffalo mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes. Remember the pasta water should taste like "BROTH"!

Our next presenter was Claire Robinson, the Food Network's host "5 Ingredient Fix" as well as Food Network's Challenge. There is nothing that Claire cannot do you five simple ingredients and her imagination.while creating dishes, Claire regaled us with behind the scenes stories about both of her shows. Claire is a talented chef and his delightful to get to know and talk.

Next stop for us the Paramount Studios backlot and Tacos and Tequila Tryst.