LA Weekly’s biggest food event of the year is here. The Essentials will return to the California Market Center on Sunday, March 26, at 2 p.m., featuring the city’s best chefs and restaurants. The Essentials event is thrown each year to celebrate LA Weekl’s 99 Essential Restaurants in L.A. issue, and it’s one of the most comprehensive food events in the city. We go less for high ticket prices, glam locations and splashy entertainment, and instead focus on the food. LAArtParty.com is a proud sponsor of this event. Win tickets HERE – I WANT IN ON LA WEEKLY’S THE ESSENTIALS! Email us the Code Phrase and you will automatically be entered into our contest to win 2 tickets (general admission) for this fabulous food event.
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This year, more than 50 restaurants are participating, including Animal, A.O.C., Baroo, Bestia, Burritos La Palma, Chengdu Taste, Guisados, Maude, Mélisse, Night + Market, Providence, République, Sotto, Spago, Szechuan Impression, Trois Mec, Union and Wexler’s Deli. You can see a full list of participating restaurants on the event site.

This year also brings a big change to the VIP hour portion of the Essentials event, and to the 99 Essential Restaurants issue. Because the list is not a “best” list but rather an “essentials” list, we’ve decided that restaurants must have been open for a year in order to qualify for that essential restaurant designation. But we didn’t want to leave out all the new restaurants we love, so we’ve added another component to the issue: The Freshmen 15. These are 15 places that have opened in the past year, and they represent the exciting new flavors L.A. has to offer. The Freshmen 15 will be the main component of the VIP hour this year. As always, VIP ticket holders will get in an hour ahead of general admission ticket holders, but the majority of that hour will be dedicated to a special VIP reception featuring restaurants that have opened in the past year.

General admission tickets are $60, and VIP tickets are $100 each. CLiCK Here to purchase tickets.

What: The Essentials
Where: California Market Center, 110 East Ninth Street, Los Angeles, CA
When: Sunday, March 26, 2 pm
Website: http://essentials.laweekly.com/