Who Makes the Best Picnics of All? Try the Hollywood Bowl

It’s not often that you get handed a kale salad by the farmer who grew the kale, all while dressed to the nines on the stage of one of the most famous concert venues in the world. But that’s what happened at the Hollywood Bowl’s 100th season kick off - a perfect preview of what’s to come this Summer.

Goin and Styne’s offerings for the 2022 Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine season include three restaurants and three marketplaces heavily featuring produce from California farms and farmers markets.

$1 can still get you a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of their jazz and classical performances (a rare price for Wagner at any other venue in the US) - and four-time James Beard Foundation award-winner Suzanne Goin is on point by creating a farm-to-table menu that grounds the Hollywood Bowl experience and connects us to our roots. Literally.

With menu items like seared albacore with Weiser Family Farm potatoes, braised leeks, salsa verde and dijon (yum), to vegan soft serve from Magpies and a classic double-bacon cheeseburger (yum and YUM), the food featured at the Bowl this year promises a Californian experience.

On the actual 100th anniversary itself, I trekked up the notorious hill from the parking lot to the stage and breathed a sigh of relief. It truly is a park, surrounded by rolling hills and chaparral.

This is the first time in three years that the Hollywood Bowl is throwing their season launch party and walking in felt hopeful. The only evidence of the eternal pandemic was a basket of optional masks at the check-in table.

In keeping with the theme, one side of the stage was styled like the 1920s - the decade when the Bowl was built - while the other end reflected the present day. Two living sculptures (yes, that’s exactly what it sounds like) danced and posed across from each other: A pretty flapper girl with an enormous bouquet of flowers adorning her head and a Greek god covered head to toe in sunset-colored glittery body paint.

“With a lot of effort and lots of time” one of the waiters chimed in when I asked how he was going to possibly wash off all that glitter.

But the real star of the event—even in this sparkling setting—was the produce. We got a taste of Goin’s menu for the 2022 season, which included vegetables from Weiser Family Farms, Schaner farms, and a truly fantastic salad made with Tehachapi Grain Project’s farro - all served with sustainable cutlery provided by Leanpath.

“Suzanne actually saved us,” Sherry Mandell shared while I nibbled a second helping of the farro salad. Sherry (who works for the Tehachapi Grain Project), elaborated that when the red fife and Sonora grain got mixed, they thought they were going to go under. “As farmers we thought that was so bad… everyone is so precious about their grain being just that.” They took it to market anyway and when Suzanne started buying it, everyone else of course followed. Now this “field blend” is one of their most popular grains - I certainly loved it.

At the other end of the buffet, Alex White of Weiser Family Farms stuck out in the sea of cocktail attire with his straw hat and casual button-up. “I didn’t say ‘farmer’,” he admitted, explaining that farming wasn’t “cool” back when he first started helping out mom and dad at the family farm. He told his law school bound friends that he was in agriculture - now it’s a different story.

“We were at the forefront of the farmer’s market movement,” Alex said, explaining how he created petitions to start farmer’s markets all over LA county. He excitedly (and with well-earned pride) described his passion for sustainable and superior produce, “taking risks by growing something that most growers don’t grow, like fingerling potatoes and heirloom tomatoes.” The kale salad at his station was remarkable - a testament to the ingredients. I made sure to thank Alex for my local farmers market… and for fingerling potatoes.

Suzanne Goin’s dishes remind me why Californian cuisine is my favorite. I’m definitely going to leave my Trader Joe’s haul and picnic basket at home and try out the restaurants the next time I go to the Bowl.