It’s all happening at The Times’ Taste over Labor Day weekend

Great food from restaurants such as Girasol, Plan Check Kitchen + Bar, Fishing with Dynamite, Border Grill, and Chichén Itzá, cooking demonstrations from famous chefs including James Beard Chef of the Year Nancy Silverton, esteemed pastry chef Karen Hatfield from Hatfield’s, and rising star Bruce Kalman from Union Pasadena – all this and more are on tap at the 2014 Los Angeles Times Taste festival of food scheduled for Labor Day weekend.

Five events are set for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 29-31.

Taste kicks off Friday night with a VIP opening night party that will include featured chefs and guests as well as food from Girasol, Guelaguetza, Sotto, Hamasaku, Plan Check, Phorage, Sushi Roku, and Waterloo & City as well as many others.

Saturday, Silverton and Times food editor Russ Parsons will host Field to Fork, a celebration of farmers market cooking, with cooking demos from Silverton, Tal Ronnen of Crossroads, C.J. Jacobson of Girasol and Kalman.

There will also be a panel discussion on cooking with farmers market finds featuring Roxana Jullapat from Cooks County, Josiah Citrin from Mélisse, Jessica Koslow from Sqirl and mixologist Vincenzo Marianella from Copa d’Oro. Featured restaurants include Eveleigh, Lotería Grill, Lum-Ka-Naad Thai, Michaels on Naples and Pono Burger.

That evening, John Sedlar and Julian Cox from Rivera restaurant will join deputy food editor Betty Hallock and restaurant critic Jonathan Gold in hosting Dinner With a Twist featuring creative drink-and-dine combinations from Sedlar and Cox, Ricardo Zarate and Deysi Alvarez from Mo-Chica, Picca and Paiché and Michael Hung and Michael Lay from Faith & Flower.

There will be demonstrations by Alex Day and David Kaplan from Proprietors LLC, Max Deaman and Mikki Kristola from The Varnish and Naomi Schimek from The Spare Room. Restaurants include BierBeisl, Carnitas El Momo, RivaBella, The Churchill and the Raymond.

On Sunday, French Laundry chef Thomas Keller and Times Test Kitchen director Noelle Carter will host a Sunday brunch program with demos by Carter, Hatfield and Casey Lane from the Tasting Kitchen. Parsons will moderate a panel on 20 years of the French Laundry featuring Keller, Bouchon Beverly Hills chef David Hands and alumni Jeff Cerciello from Farmhouse and Timothy Hollingsworth from the upcoming Broad Museum restaurant.

Also, Melissa Nicola of Nic’s Beverly Hills will join Times columnist Steve Lopez to share treats from the students at CAKE (Culinary Arts Kids Eat). Restaurants include Del Rey Deli Co., Muddy Leek, My Two Cents, Blvd. Restaurant and Wilshire Restaurant.

Sunday evening Michael Cimarusti, chef at Providence and Connie & Ted’s will join Gold in closing out the festivities with Flavors of LA, featuring the diversity of Southern California’s dining scene. Demos will feature Cimarusti, Evan Kleiman from KCRW’s “Good Food,” Jimmy Shaw from Lotería Grill and Amelia Posada from Lindy & Grundy.

Featured restaurants will include Acabar, Ayara Thai Cuisine, Border Grill, Fishing with Dynamite, Horse Thief BBQ, Manhattan Beach Post, Meals by Genet, Mr. Chow, Osteria and Pizzeria Mozza, Pine & Crane and Urban Garden.

Tickets for the Friday night VIP party are $150; tickets for the other events range from $100 to $125, with a $25 discount for Times subscribers. For more information, visit the website.