Membership definitely has its privileges. I happen to be a cardholder for Hyatt’s affinity Visa card. A few weeks back I received an email from them regarding an event they were hosting in Los Angeles for cardholders at their Andaz West Hollywood hotel. It was for a limited number of guests, so I did call right away to get on the list, as I was intrigued.
Last night was the event, and I took my friend and co-worker Madeleine (I drag her to the food trucks when they are in Century City during the week) and we were both impressed with the event. They held it on the rooftop lounge and deck, with stunning views of the L.A. skyline from the Hollywood Hills. Being a warm October evening helped as well.
The event was far more than I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a small cocktail party with food being passed around on trays with a central bar. They had definitely stepped their game up for this and exceeded my expectation by far. They had servers walking around offering glasses of champagne to everyone, and in the center of the room was a station set up with cured meats, cheeses, olives that were marinated in oil, garlic and I want to say rosemary and oregano…..I could have eaten the entire container, and breads.
The event planner put much thought into the rest of the set up, and worked with wine blogger and sommelier David Organsiak to create stations around the lounge with small plates paired to very specific wines. My one big regret (and I really need to get better at this) was that I did not write down or photograph each station and what was served and paired. Arrrrgg!
It was set up with one side being white wines, the other reds. So we started out with whites, and I tried the foie gras (no comments please) with a chenin blanc. It was a great pairing! The next station had grilled goat cheese wrapped in grape leaves paired with another white – amazing. I have forgotten the third station unfortunately, but whatever we ate, we did like. The last station on the white side was a salad of greens, pecans, pomegranate seeds and feta cheese with a vinaigrette – absolutely delicious.
On the red side there was one fewer station. It started with a mushroom risotto, which we both passed on (I don’t do fungi). They next station was pork tenderloin with rosemary, paired with a bold red wine – very, very tasty. The last station was beef cheeks, but they had run out by the time we got to it and we never saw more come out (bummer).
There was also a dessert table, also paired with wines. There were various macaroons paired with a white, which I believe was a sauterne. For red they a port paired with various chocolate treats. I behaved myself and only had a few choices from the dessert table (though I wanted to put on a bib and dive in!).
One other pleasant surprise at the event was they had author Amelia Saltsman there signing copies of her book The Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook for all the guests. At first I didn’t quite recognize who she was until she started talking more, then it hit me: she can be heard as a frequent guest on Evan Kleiman’s show “Good Food” on local public radio station KCRW (www.kcrw.com). She has collected some wonderful recipes in this cookbook, which I fully intend to try out soon! (If you read this Amelia, it was such a pleasure to meet and chat with you last night!)
And to finish the night, they had some great LPGs for everyone (lovely parting gifts). We each received a neoprene, insulated, branded wine tote with two bottles of French wine – one white, one red. Looking forward to cracking those open sometime! The tote also included a nice corkscrew. Oh, and they also had a cigar bar next to the deck where they had a Cuban ex-pat cigar roller making handmade cigars for anyone who wanted one. While I don’t smoke, I did avail myself to give as a gift.
I give major kudos to Hyatt and their partner Chase for putting this event together for cardholders, and I hope they do more like this in the future. Heck, I’d even be willing to travel to other destinations for an event such as this! (Hint hint!)
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