Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure & Buick Regal Event @ SLS Hotel

Buick teamed up with Food & Wine and Travel + Leisure magazine to help promote their new, "sports-injected" Regal and led a nationwide campaign called the Regal Discovery Tour. Due to the size and nature of the event, the attendees were separated into different groups to ensure the highest quality of enjoyment. The event, itself, was also broken into different modules: Mixology, Travel, Artisan and Transportation. 

Upon our arrival, we were greeted with a spread of drinks and small bites. Along with shrimp ceviche, there were chips and guacamole for everyone to enjoy while sipping on their coffee or tea. There were also granola bars and chocolates to satisfy the health-conscious and sweet-tooth. I nibbled on the goods while waiting for my group to be called.

My group was finally called and was taken into a room where Michael Green would demonstrate making a Ginger Green Tea Sour Mocktail. While listening to the humorous host, we made our mocktail which was quite refreshing and delicious. Here is a list of the ingredients as well as the directions:

Ingredients:

6 ounces green tea brewed full strength

1 ounce fresh lime juice

1 ounce ginger simple syrup*

1 lime wedge

Directions:

1. Fill a 12 ounce Collins glass with large ice cubes

2. Build the drink by adding the green tea, fresh lime juice and ginger simple syrup

3. Stir with bar spoon.

4. Garnish with a lime wedge

*Ginger Simple Syrup:

1/2 cup finely sliced ginger

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1. Add all ingredients to sauce pan

2. Stir

3. Cover and bring to simmer for 15 minutes

4. Let cool overnight at room temperature

5. Strain ginger

Next, we were taken into another room for the Travel portion of the event. Here, Michael Stern of Road Food would talk about his culinary adventures around the U.S., specifically regional food. His anecdotes about his road trips filled with great food reminded me of how much I have yet to discover.

After a short break, we were escorted to the Artisan portion where Chef Joe Anguiano would discuss the food at the SLS hotel and molecular gastronomy. He demonstrated a dish on the Bazaar menu, the watermelon and tomato dish, while his sous chef showed us how to make the famous olive spheres.

olive spheres

watermelon and tomato, Pedro Ximenez reduction, lemon dressing

The last module of the event was test driving the new Buick Regal, not shown - obviously. After the test-drive, all the groups met for the final presentation with celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson. We were handed out cocktails or mocktails, whichever you prefer. Chef Marcus Samuelsson would be demonstrating his delicious Shrimp & Red Grits dish. 

Ingredients:
1 red onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon paprika powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup grits
1 bay leaf
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
1 cup corn
1/2 cup white wine
3 cups water
juice from 2 lemons
12 U-12 shrimp, peeled & deveined
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
salt & pepper, to taste
8 cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions:
1. Add onion, garlic, half the dry spices and half the olive oil in a pan. Add the grits and bay leaf, saute for 30 seconds. Add canned tomato. Add corn. Add half the white wine and water. Let simmer for 25 minutes.
2. In a bowl, add half the lemon juice, a tablespoon of the olive oil, remaining spices and shrimp. Let sit for 15 minutes.
3. In a pan, saute the shrimp and remaining garlic on high heat for 3 minutes. Toss in remaining lemon juice, remaining white wine, chopped parsley and chopped cilantro. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add cherry tomatoes and serve.
4. To serve, place 2 table spoons of grits in a bowl. Top with 3 shrimp per bowl.

As a parting gift, everyone was given Chef Marcus Saumelsson's new cookbook, New American Table. Awesome! The event was unique and a great marketing strategy, partnering with a celebrity chef to promote a car will definitely broaden the company's target demographic. I would have never test-driven a Buick Regal if it weren't for this event. The Regal I drove was fully loaded and honestly, pretty damn nice - very smooth. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot. Kudos to whoever made this tour happen!

SLS Hotel

465 South La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048
T: (310) 247-0400
www.slshotels.com