Nobu, Keller, Andres, Puck...and ME!

mood: omg
pandora/ipod: "wanna be startin something"

Living in L.A. is a mix of good and bad.

The Bad: I'll have to sell my first born child in order to afford a house on the Westside, deciphering traffic patterns is more complicated that cracking the enigma code and I'm literally surrounded by millions of people every moment of every day.

The Good: I've met some of the best people I've ever known here, the diversity of culture, experience and cuisine is unparalleled and there's so much awesome crazy here it blows my mind.

And by "crazy" I mean amazingly crazy. Cramazing, so to speak. Saturday night I was lucky enough to experience the cream of the cramazing crop: the American Wine and Food Festival.

AWFF is an annual charity event organized by Wolfgang Puck and his ex-wife to benefit Meals on Wheels. It's held every year on the Universal Studios backlot and basically, it's a collection of celebrity chefs making and serving signature dishes from their restaurants, and a massive selection of wineries pouring out.

Yeah, I know.

I was lucky enough to be invited on a VIP ticket to this event. My mind is still blown.

Let's start with the location, location, location. Hundreds of "stations" were set up throughout the "Downtown U.S.A." portion of the Universal backlot, a mix of paved and cobbled "streets" with fake building facades that are sometimes Middle America, sometimes back alley Europe, and all times lit with a staggering array of studio lighting. You have to tram your way from the parking lot to the event, past a shoot of "Parenthood" and the bungalow offices of some of the hottest production companies on the planet. It's totally surreal.

Once there, you're handed a map of the events and a wine glass. Both would prove invaluable.

Let me give you a breakdown of who was serving us food at this event. Nobu Matuhisa, Frank Ostini, Jimmy Schmidt, Jose Andres, Nancy Silverton and Dahlia Navarez, Lydia Shire, Thomas Keller, Charles Phan, Sam Choy, Mark Peel, Kelly English and of course, Wolfgang Puck. Foodie Fantasy, for realz.

My faves, before I forget. The spicy tuna hand roll at Nobu. The cider-glazed duck breast at Rattlesnake Cafe. The sea salt-crusted whole fish at Milos. The jamon carpaccio with caviar (aka "Jose's Taco") from Jaleo. And some sort of chocolate mousse and graham cracker push-up pop from the dessert pavilion.

They even sent us home with a freaking RECIPE BOOK. Seriously. Dunno about you, but I've always wanted Jose Andres's recipe for Mallorcan style roasted vegetables!

A magical evening. An exhausting evening. An evening that only happens in L.A. and is best when shared with your bestest friend. Sometimes I hate it here, but times like this? I love L.A.