Santa Monica: Recap of CRUSH

 

Art, music, food and wine came together at CRUSH, an event held at the 18th Street Arts Center as organized by Tap and Cheer. I attended the event as part of my Eventbrite Blogger Tour.

Although the event organizers had my name at the door, I do recommend downloading the Eventbrite app to make check-in quicker. Once inside, I explored the artists’ galleries that were open to the public that day. Find the normal gallery hours here.

 

 

Then it was time to eat! First I went over to Maestro Sausage Company to try their offerings. I thought it was pretty cute the sausage and peppers was billed as “East LA” and the twist was having them folded in a taco. How very East LA! The sausages were a bit spicy but nothing a glass of sauvignon blanc didn’t fix.

 

I also tried the Maestro Italian sausage with wine and cheese. Yep that’s right, the sauce had a bit of Barolo in it. Quite delicious.

 

We were entertained by a number of acts including the Orlando Napier Band. When I first heard the band, I was a little confused by the hipster-looking dude playing some fine jazz and blues. Orlando has a great voice. A quick search reveals he was on the Voice in 2011 and just released a record.

 

Wilshire Restaurant was represented by sommelier Kirk Sides who kept us in stitches and wine. We were very entertained. I tried the Khroma Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles (2010). I wasn’t quite ready to move onto reds yet but this was surprisingly a lighter body wine that went well with the meaty dishes I was trying.

 

Most of the vendors seemed to be based on the Westside but Spring St. BBQ made the trek from Chinatown to bring their fantastic BBQ. I tried their sausage, chicken and ribs. I’ve been to the shop before and it’s quite the experience— you can definitely get more than Chinese food in Chinatown.

 

I tend to drink my desserts so I compared the two Rieslings offered- a dry and sweeter one. I liked both but would probably drink the dry regularly. Now to look for this Weingut riesling.

 

 

It took this jaunt to CRUSH to remember how much I used to like Library Alehouse. I used to eat there at least once a month while on the Westside. This little short ribs slider reminded me how much I love short ribs. They were tender and juicy.

 

 

CRUSH also featured a few seminars including one on how to make the perfect cup of coffee. Fellow Eventbrite “eventure” blogger Amy from Backyard Bite makes the attempt.

While I knew I one shouldn’t put coffee in the freezer or fridge, did you know French press is bad? Wise Coffee has more tips here.

This Tap and Cheer event was great and I hope they do another soon on the Eastside!

 

18th St. Arts Center – Eventbrite Profile

18th St. Arts Center 

1639 18th St., Santa Monica, CA 90404  —  (310) 453-3711

For more pics, click here

 

Other Blogger Tour Posts

Cheese 101 at Andrew’s Cheese Shop

Earth Day Hootenanny

Singles Wine Tasting

This post is part of an ongoing partnership with Eventbrite LA. Eventbrite enables people all over the world to plan, promote, and sell out any event. It’s also a destination for people to discover awesome events going on in THEIR city! Whatever your desires, hobbies, or interests – from photography workshops and wine classes to food festivals and industry conferences, there’s an event on Eventbrite waiting for you to attend! Keep up on the goings-on in LA by following Eventbrite LA on Twitter, liking them on Facebook, or signing up for their monthly newsletter! Planning an event? Go ahead and create an account to get started.

© The Minty 2013