Samplings galore: Foodies get their fill at Taste of Laguna
The masses lined up toward the canyon in anticipation of a savory showcase in Laguna Beach.
Before too long, they were inside the Festival of Arts grounds, where more than 50 tables featuring a variety of light bites welcomed guests to the Taste of Laguna food and music festival.
The Mighty Untouchables provided the entertainment for the evening, some of the early selections including Huey Lewis and the News’ “The Power of Love” and Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets.”
While the patrons made the rounds to the various restaurant stands, once sated, they filled in the dance floor nicely to shake off the calories.
The offerings ranged from seafood to tacos, from pasta to dessert. Rum Social gave guests a look at an item that appeared on the cover of Laguna Beach Magazine in its tuna poke, prepared by chef Victor Manel.
“What’s interesting about Chef’s recipe is he marinates the fish for about 10 minutes in soy sauce, so one of the first flavors that you get is salt, from the soy, of course,” said Steven Reed, general manager of Rum Social. “Then the aji amarillo kicks in, and you start to get some heat.
“With the rest of the sauces that are in the mix, it starts to get all of the different poke flavors. What Chef has done different is he’s added a little bit of oranges, and then he’s got a pineapple pico de gallo.”
Booth location made for an interesting variable for presenting eateries, who were unsure of how much food to supply. Reed said they prepared 1-to-2-ounce portions for between 800 and 900 guests. The general flow of foot traffic took the crowd to the booths near the entrance first.
“It’s very difficult to pace yourself and to get a plan of attack when there’s so many offerings to try,” Reed added.
Glenda Curran, a resident but first-time attendee to the Taste of Laguna, lamented not attending the festival sooner. She was surprised by the amount of food consumed at the event, calling specialist equipment in the form of stretchy pants “advisable.”
“I was excited to see Tango, which has been trying to open now for quite some time in town,” Curran added. “Obviously, their dessert was amazing, and their al pastor, incredible. Then I have to say Broadway, the pork belly meatballs were out of this world.”
Tango, which is led by Chef Leandro Bongarra, made its second appearance at the Taste of Laguna. Tango’s owner, Drew Howitt, said he hopes the restaurant’s physical location on Forest Avenue will be open by Christmas.
Howitt added that Tango has put out a call for artists in search of a creative to design signage for the storefront.
“The sign that we decided would be a really smart thing to do and actually interacted with our community, which is an art community, is to allow people, any artist to form a proposal [of] what their concept might be to paint our logo onto the rotunda facade where the sign would normally go,” Howitt said.
“The city does not have any problem with us illuminating the sign from external lighting, so that opened up the idea that we could literally have somebody paint a beautiful mural sign of our business, and then just illuminate it with some spotlights at night. That would be a simple and easy way to support the local community and do something unique and beautiful, as opposed to just a rudimentary pedestrian sign.”
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