Friday Quickies #58: Beer, Coffee, Wine and More ... Oh My!

Ooo... another opp for free Wurstkuche sausage sandwiches?! It's my dream downtown day all over again.

Again, one of those marvelous self-writing Friday Quickies; so many fun and worthwhile going-ons I wish there were eight days in a week!

Tonight from 8p.m. to 1a.m., to comemmorate the (finally!) opening of Intelligentsia Venice, they are teaming up downtown's Wurstkuche and Silver Lake Wine for a party full of freebies. That's right, free premo coffees, free eclectically tasty wines, free kegs of beer from Stone Brewing Co., AND free sausage sandwiches. So much for a quiet Abbot Kinney night. A word of warning, this event is already well-publicized (already wound up on Urbandaddy, CarolineOnCrack and DailyCandy's weekend guides) so plan appropriately (e.g. get there early, be ready for long lines and/or have a Plan B in place.)

And for the SF Valley folks, TastingTableLA got the scoop that the Valley Greek Festival is taking place this Sat. to Mon. from 1 to 9 p.m. Free admission, but you pay your way for assorted greek delights, including moussaka, loukoumathes, galactoboureko and pastitso. Sounds Opa-worthy!

For the active foodies out there, join my blogging pals FoodGPS and EatingLA on May 30 in their Bike Bender tour, where you'll be bicycling 10 miles of Glassell and Highland Park while exploring the local eateries along the way. It's $15/person and that covers the fantastic craft beers you'll enjoy at Verdugo Bar the end of your bike ride (what better way to celebrate!) ~ but you gotta bring cash to pay-as-you-go for the stops along the way. Reserve and pay soon if not now, according to FoodGPS it's already 60% full.

In the soon-to-come future is the LA Winefest, and goldstar came through and is offering discounted tickets for them (a one-day pass is $33, plus $5.75 service fee, instead of the regular $55). There'll be opportunities to taste hundreds of wines, beers and spirits at the event, not to mention plenty of free informative tasting sessions with winemakers and sommeliers, and I can attest from last year's event how much fun it was! (for the spendy, there's also the Riedel tasting event at night with Georg Riedel himself - it's $99, no goldstar discount for that, but you get to keep the fancy Riedel stemware.)

And last but certainly not least, one of few highly anticipated annual food events, Taste of the Nation, will be descending upon LA on June 14. Held again at Culver City's Media Park, a sweet $125 (or $175 for VIP) will earn you three hours of wonderful tastings from L.A.'s coolest restaurants, including BLD, Riva, FIG, Craft, Nobu and the Bazaar. Add some cool cocktail and wine samplings and tasty chef demos (including the Mozzas' Nancy Silverton, Too Hot Tamales Mary Sue & Susan and XIV's Michael Mina) and you're in for some gastronomical goodness. And of course, you'll not only eat well, but also feel greatthat 100% of ticket sales benefit the very worthwhile non-profit Share Our Strength's fight to end childhood hunger.

A year ago, I overloaded on dairy products and tequila, then ran a half-marathon
Two years ago, I got mooned at eat. on Sunset