I Went "ChamOverBord" at the Chambord Pool Party at the London Hotel in West Hollywood.

Where the pool kids hang out!

It was Chambord all ways, every way, eight ways 'til Sunday. The Chambord-o-rama held on the rooftop swimming pool lounge at the ritzy London hotel in WeHo was the fabu setting for this party to debut the updated, modern and sleeker Chambord bottles as well as the black raspberry Chambord Flavored Vodka. The look of the new bottle was oh so eau de booze. I liked it.


Pick your Chambord poison.

The 2 specialty cocktails heavily doused with Chambord Liqueur and/or the new Chambord Flavored Vodka were the Chambord Fleur De Lis and the Chambord Vodka & Perrier.

The Chambord Vodka & Perrier drink was finished with a nice fluffy pinch of a pink cotton candy garnishing that quickly disintegrated and bled into the booze like the Easter Bunny dipped into an acid bath.

I went a little Chambord overboard with both of these drinks and drank about two liver transplant's worth of the black raspberry flavored booze duo.

However, the London's kitchen went a little ChamOverBord with infusing Chambord in every handy snack that was passed around by the lovely London staff. Some of the items worked, some Chambombed!


No spring in this roll.

The lackluster spring roll wasn't helped much by the Chambord infused soy sauce.


Booze + dessert = win/win.

A fun Chambord cupcake topped with a Chambord flavored icing was nice.


33 proof snow cones.

Chambord snow cones on the London rooftop lounge during a very cold summer night wasn't very inviting, we jokingly mentioned to one of the staff that, perhaps, a Chambord hot chocolate would be more fitting of the chilly night.


It's gettin' hot in here!

Ask and ye shall receive! The next thing we knew, our amazing server brought out a Chambord hot chocolate and it was Chamtastic!

None of the offerings, though, could stand a chance at outshining the subtly sweet and intoxicating flavors of the two excellent Chambord cocktails.

Nothing, that is, except for a team of sexy synchronized swimmers with a Busby Berkeley flair hitting the pool with a great Moulin Rouge inspired show. Wow! You should have seen it! Wait a minute, you can see it, in stupendous HD, no less!!

I know, I know, you love me. Just enjoy the viddy.

Chambord Party from Eddie Lin on Vimeo.

Popping my Pop-Up Restaurant Cherry with A Razor, A Shiny Knife & Room Forty. The Variety Building on the Miracle Mile.

Pop-up dinners are popping up in a Variety of places.

The first thing that intrigued me about this educational/theatrical pop-up dinner presented by A Razor, A Shiny Knife and Room Forty was the location. It was to be held in the main lobby of the Variety Building situated on Wilshire Blvd across from the LACMA and the famous La Brea Tar Pits—The Miracle Mile.

I didn’t really know what to expect since I’ve never attended a pop-up dinner. I was still skeptical of the concept, not clear whether it was a culinary game-changer or a temporary fad supported by fickle foodies. All I knew was that I was told to dress formally. And in LA, that’s asking a lot.


Dressed up for pop-up!

This dinner event had started hours before I had arrived and as I sauntered in, flashing my credentials like a 1970s t.v. detective, I noticed well-dressed men in jackets and women in clingy cocktail dresses hovering around one of the chefs, Daniel Castaña.

Chef Castaña was busy bonding strips of duck meat together with transglutaminase before vacuum sealing the glued meat in a bag for sous vide cooking.


Duck, duck, goose: duck egg, duck leg, goose liver.

Because the temporary kitchen is also set up in the building’s main lobby, guests were not only free but encouraged to interact with the cooks, ask questions, and even help out, which explained why beautiful women in slinky skirts were chopping and seasoning food.

Thank god, cocktail hour was finally announced. This precious time was to be enjoyed on the top of the Variety Building overlooking the grand cityscapes of Downtown LA, Century City and Hollywood.


(Pop) Up on the roof.

The specially designed cocktail called the White Elephant was served to us by the most dapper of young men I’ve seen in decades. His name: Jonny Cigar. He wore a jacket that didn’t seem currently in fashion. However, it was smartened up with a silk pocket square and a patterned ascot around his neck. In his coat pocket was a tattered copy of The Great Gatsby. Jonny would reach for this classic American novel about high society excesses and indulgences as the night progressed and as we indulged in our own excesses of food and drink.

In anticipation of the dinner service, the guests returned to the lobby and gathered around the extra long communal dining table.

Michael Cirino, one of the event’s hosts, was impeccably dressed and accessorized his vest pocket with an antique silver teaspoon. “It’s my grandmother’s,” he said, “I use it for tasting.”

Michael Cirino was the Bing Crosby to Jonny Cigar’s Bob Hope. He explained each course when service commenced. His profanity sprinkled descriptions seemed a good match for his young Al Pacino resemblance and added additional flavor to the remarkable first course of Caviar, Duck Fat, Potatoes and Crème Fraîche.


Best tater tot ever!

This appetizer was essentially a potato croquet fried in duck fat along side caviar intermingled with liquid nitrogen frozen blackberries that were then shattered into tiny cold berry pellets. The ultimate result was a sweet and salty caviar and the best tasting tater tots ever.


FREEZE!


Freeze your blackberries off!

Jonny Cigar did double duty as the sommelier and solo thespian. He read from his well-worn copy of The Great Gatsby while neatly pouring precise levels of a 2009 Kinero Grenache Blanc. Jonny would ask, “Who is this Gatsby anyhow?” And we were enraptured. They don’t make ‘em like Jonny anymore.

“Modern meets Traditional” was the theme of the night. A good example of that theme was the meat-glued shortrib that was sous vided. But before this course could come out, there was an announcement for additional help plating the shortrib. This was also part of the experience, and if I were to gain the most out of this night, I’d have to get my hands a little dirty. My job was to sprinkle a pinch of salt onto the meat. I could do that I thought. But because of the large number of plates and the other helpers trying to do their part, it turned out to be the most hectic salt sprinkling I’ve ever done.

For dessert the daring team whipped up a sous vide chocolate cake, which according to Thomas Keller, would be impossible. The cake was dressed with a methyl cellulose dehydrated mint crisp and strawberry foam made with Ultratex, a special thickening agent.

By night’s end, the magic of the event was evident. Strangers became friends. They also exchanged email addresses, business cards or lingering looks. As Michael Cirino explained, it’s not really about the food. It’s about the entire experience. And what you get out of it is what you put into it. Even though my role in the night, other than eating and drinking, was dashing on a little salt, somehow my evening still turned out really, really sweet.

Listen to my dramatic reading of my first pop-up dinner experience on KCRW's Good Food this Saturday, August 28 at 11AM on 89.9FM KCRW or anytime at KCRW.COM!

A Razor, A Shiny Knife Website

Room Forty Website

Watch my video of Michael Cirino of A Razor, A Shiny Knife make "blackberry caviar" with liquid nitrogen in uncanny HD!!

A Razor, A Shiny Knife from Eddie Lin on Vimeo.

Chinatown Summer Nights: A Deep End Dining Homecoming. A Night of Harmony & Funky Food!

The Shake Weight for Men really works!!

Last Saturday was one of the best nights I've had in a long time. The unforgettable night was Chinatown Summer Nights which run every Saturday evening during August in Los Angeles' very own Chinatown, with the final night happening this Saturday night, August 28th, starting at 5pm.

I was asked to emcee cooking demos at the West Plaza. The theme of the night was harmony. And what began at the onset of the evening as a belly full of fluttering butterflies turned out to be a harmonious feeling between me and the huge audience. Not to sound overly Eastern and mystical, but I simply inhaled a deep breath and went zen with everyone and everything around me. The entire night ran smoother than I ever dreamed, in complete harmony.


Dim sum cart on the road! Watch out Dim Sum Truck!!

For my grand entrance, I rolled a dim sum cart into the demo area preceded by a guy banging a gong. It worked like a charm, a culinary Pied Piper leading the throng of hungry and curious to the cooking demo area.


Feelin' the Phoenix Talon aka Chicken Feet.

The delicious dim sum supplied by one of the oldest restaurants in Chinatown, Golden Dragon, was portioned into sample sizes and handed out to the salivating attendees.


Welcome to Chinatown Summer Nights!

The size of the crowd grew instantly from a couple of dozen to over a hundred in no time. Its energy fed me better than any all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. People were extremely positive and participated like I hoped they would. Everyone had a great sense of humor, laughing at my jokes, lame ones and good ones. They laughed at themselves too because nobody was safe as I singled out audience members and made fun of them. You know, like jokes about white people really, really loving Kung Pao Chicken and Sweet & Sour Pork.


Chef Sito of Golden Dragon gets fish ready for a nice steam bath.

For the cooking demos, I got to choose many of the demonstrated dishes which I selected from the restaurants' menus. For Golden Dragon, I requested a live fish cooking demo when Chef Sito would dispatch a live fish in front of the crowd, steam it, and then finish off by ladling on hot oil over the fish. I wanted to focus on the popular notion of knowing from where one's food originates (not a can with a cartoon fish on it) and also that eating the entire animal is not wasteful and even tastier.


Chef Lupe Liang of Hop Woo prepping jellyfish.

Chef Lupe Liang of the famous Hop Woo restaurant wowed the crowd with his exotic delights like jellyfish with 1000 year-old eggs and candied walnuts, fried pig intestines, spicy, salted squid and rice congee with pig offals.


A flotilla of marinated jellyfish with an army of 1000 year-old eggs.

What really delighted this MC Eddie Ed was that people who have never tried stuff like jellyfish and 1000 year-old eggs, actually tried food unfamiliar and, maybe, scary to them. This Deep End Diner couldn't be happier recruiting regular eaters over to the Deep End.


Oooh, me so hungry!

I was surrounded by heady aromas and tasty morsels but couldn't really partake because I was so busy talking. I was barely making it by with my supper earlier at Hoan Kiem where I had their famous Pho Ga, chicken rice noodle soup. They are the In N' Out Burger of Vietnamese restaurants with only three items on their entire menu: Pho Ga, Banh Cuon (rice roll with ground pork and wood ear) and Hainan Chicken with Chicken Rice.


Hop Woo's fried pig intestines aka chitlins.

Hop Woo's Chef Lupe Liang really set off the stink bomb with his fried pig intestines, but with my encouragement, the crowd gave it a try and there was no trace of this "business end" of the intestine after the sampling.


Step up in 3D!

It wasn't all food. I pulled a couple of b-boys out of the crowd for an impromptu breakdancing exhibition. Of course, I had to call 'em out with some old school moves of my own (emphasis on the old). My back is still sore.


I am old school, emphasis on the old.

After the So You Think You Can Dance interlude, Chinatown Summer Nights got a surprise visit from royalty.


Miss Chinatown 2010, Jani Wang, & the Ho family of Hoan Kiem.

Miss Chinatown 2010, Jani Wang, made an appearance and lit up the night with her grace, poise and hotness. I volunteered to put her to work and help Hoan Kiem wrap some rice rolls. It's all in the wrist, and she was a natural, making it look like she was born to wave to crowds with that special princess panache and whip up rice rolls effortlessly.


Chinatown Prom Queen & King!

Miss Chinatown was more than gracious putting up with my jokes aimed at her incredibly tall and sparkly crown which I erroneously called a "tiara" until she pointed out my smart-alecky error. One day, I'll wear a tiara, um, I mean, crown like Miss Chinatown's. One day.


Actually, this guy is the Chinatown Prom Emperor.

Oh, what a night. It was a night of Chinese culinary creations and characters. A night that demonstrated how delicious life truly can be when you're surrounded by family, friends, culture, food and Chinatown.

Although I moved from Chinatown at the age of 5, I never really left Chinatown. That's the distinction I promised myself I'd make. I always held Chinatown close to my heart no matter where I was, coming back to visit every chance I got.

You can come home again. I did and I will...over and over again.


It'll leave you glowing!

CHINATOWN SUMMER NIGHTS
Final Saturday
August 28, 2010 starting at 5pm
Click for more details at official website

Watch the video of Chinatown Summer Nights by Valentino Herrera of Trippy Food.
Thanks also to Valentino for the great photos!

Chinatown Summer Nights, Los Angeles CA 08/21/2010 from Trippy Food on Vimeo.

Oh! Those Chinatown Summer Nights! Tell Me More! Tell Me More! Saturday, August 21st, 8pm - Midnight! With MC Eddie Lin!

Just follow the balloon to Chinatown Summer Nights.

Before the San Gabriel Valley was the San Gabriel Valley of today with all the great destination Chinese restaurants that attract gourmands of all stripes, there was Chinatown.


The Great Dance Hall of Chinatown.

Before Panda Expresses dotted the culinary landscape as the Mickey Dees of Chinese food, there was Chinatown.

Before Yan could cook, there was Chinatown.

I lived one year of my childhood in Los Angeles' great Chinatown. I was 5 years-old and still in awe of my Chinatown. On weekends my newly immigrated family joined the crowds that packed the dim sum restaurants like Golden Dragon. Other weekends my parents brought us to Peking Poultry to pick out a live chicken which would be killed, plucked and processed right before our eyes.


He's the DJ, I'm the MC.

I remember my fascination with the grand Chinese facade on the Cathay Bank building. My first comic book, Captain America and the Falcon, was purchased at a local liquor store where I saw my first homeless man inebriated and passed out under the midday sun.

I remember the glorious sights of the bright red lanterns hanging across the plaza, inspiring a sense of eternal festivity and the tempting scents of garlic and ginger frying in peanut oil wafting from any number of superb restaurants. My stomach was in a constant growl with hunger pangs even when I wasn't hungry.

I remember seeing my first Santa Claus at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and, upon close-up inspection, realizing that Old Saint Nick was Chinese.

I remember moving away from Chinatown before completing kindergarten at Castelar Street Elementary School and wondering why my teacher cried as she held me tightly.

When I left Chinatown, life seemed less magical. Nothing was ever quite as special. Throughout my life I'd visit Chinatown and bask in the fond memories that effortlessly flooded my reverie while I sat on a park bench, watching the kids play in the sand.


Left my head and heart on the dance floor!

Tomorrow night, Saturday, August 21st at 5pm, I return to Chinatown to give back a little. Along with Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles (CRA/LA), Community Arts Resources (CARS) and KCRW 89.9 FM, I'll be doing my small part in promoting our own local gem that is LA's Chinatown.


Chef Lupe Liang of Hop Woo.

I'll be at the West Plaza doing the play-by-play and color commentary on our local Chinatown chefs from Hop Woo, Golden Dragon, Plum Tree Inn and Hoan Kiem.


Cooking is awesome!

The night's theme will be Harmony. So I invite you to come out for a great, warm, Chinatown Summer Night under the stars and discover Chinatown for the first time or all over again.

I've come back home to Chinatown. Hope you do the same!

Cooking Demos at West Plaza & Chung King Road
5pm – 6pm & 8pm – 9pm (More to be added.)

For more details, visit the Chinatown Summer Nights website.