The seventh annual Masters of Taste returns to the Iconic Pasadena Rose Bowl on Sunday, April 7th, 2024. The event is expected to bring over 3,000 food and beverage enthusiasts to sample signature dishes and handcrafted drinks, wines, craft brews, and non-alcoholic drinks from over 100 Culinary and Beverage Masters. Live entertainment will add to the festivities.
Participating Culinary Masters and Restaurants include Pez Cantina Village and Pez Coastal Kitchen Seafood Village, 1212, Arth Bar + Kitchen, Agnes Restaurant and Cheesery, Alexander’s Steakhouse, Ayara Thai, BAAR BAAR, Beachy’s Food Truck, BOX Chicken, Casa Cordoba, Celestino Ristorante, Cerda Vega Tacos, Champion’s CURRY, Chaaste Family Market, City Club, Armando Quiroz, Emporium Thai, Fat Boys, Gabi James, Georgia’s Restaurant, Granville, Gus’s World-Famous Fried Chicken, Harold & Belle’s, Italia Pasta e Pizza, La Bohéme, LAVO Ristorante, Lunasia, MAMA M SUSHI, Marina, Mercado, Panda Inn, Poppy + Rose, Rice Balls of Fire, Room Service Neighborhood, Santa Monica Seafood, Soulmate, StopBye Café, Taishi Hainan Chicken, The Peppered Goat, UCHI, YAKIYA, Yardbird, and Yuca’s Restaurant.
Sweet Masters showcasing desserts include Bachan’s Shave Ice, warm chocolate chip cookies from Bake Some Noise, Beard Papa’s, Bertha Mae’s Brownies, Faith Café, Gooey Center Bakery, Happy Ice LA, Läderach, custom cakes from Cakes By Chanté, cupcakes from Lark Cake Shop, Magpies Softserve, Marsatta Chocolate, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Pops Artisanal Creamery, Pazzo Gelato, and Porto’s Bakery & Café.
Participating Beverage Masters offering fine spirits include Dead of Night Distillery, Dulce Vida Tequila, Empress 1908 Gin, Knox & Dobson, La Bay Gin, Laurel Canyon Spirits, Lunetta, Mario’s Hard Espresso, Mezcal 33, Neft Vodka, Nosotros Tequila & Mezcal, Old Hillside Bourbon Company, Smoke Lab Vodka, The Raymond 1886, Ventura Spirits and Angeleno Spritz, Vintage Distilling, and Xoloitzcuintle Tequila.
Brew Masters presenting ales, lagers, pilsners include All Season Brewing, Arrow Lodge Brewing, Arts District Brewing Company, Big Noise Beer, Boomtown Brewery, Pasadena’s Cerveceria Del Pueblo, Kanazawa Hyakumangoku Beer, Arcadia’s first Microbrewery Mt. Lowe Brewing Co., Nova Brewing Co., Over Town Brewing Co., San Fernando Brewing Co., and Tarantula Hill Brewing Co.
Wine and Sake Masters showcasing t varietals include Ascension Cellars, Bodegas de Santo Tomas, BONDLE Wines, CRŪ Winery, Golden Star Vineyards, Hitching Post Wines, LMA Wines, Moraga Canyon Vineyards, Anderson Valley’s Navarro Vineyards, NON (Non-alcoholic Wine Alternatives), Sake Akagisan, Sake High!, San Simeon Wines, Stephen Hemmert Wines, Warson Wine Company, and Wiens Cellars.
Beverage Masters Premium providing non-alcoholic drinks to hydrate, caffeinate and regenerate include Perfect Hydration Alkaline Water, Yerba Mate from Erva Brew Co., Koe Kombucha, boba milk tea from Sunright Tea Studio and Bearology, and Unincorporated Coffee Roasters.
This year’s event is hosted by husband and wife team of Chef Bret Thompson and Lucy Thompson-Ramirez, who have made a significant impact on LA’s culinary scene. In 2015, they opened Pez Cantina, a seasonal, modern, coastal-inspired Mexican restaurant and bar in downtown Los Angeles, and in 2021 expanding with LA Burrito in Montebello. This year they will open Pez Coastal Kitchen in Pasadena featuring seasonal sea-to-table and farm-to-table California cuisine, and specializing in cured, smoked and dry-aged meats and seafood.
The annual culinary extravaganza benefits Union Station Homeless Services, whose mission is to create lasting solutions for homelessness through housing, support services, and community connections in 38 cities from Eagle Rock to Pomona. Its Housing First model has achieved a 97% success rate. Masters of Taste has raised approximately $3 Million over the last six years.
Masters of Taste 2024 is a 21+ and completely outdoors; all guests will receive their own utensils and hand sanitizer. A VIP Power Hour from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm precedes General Admission from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
For more information and tickets, please visit www.MastersofTasteLA.com.