Some people eat to live, but I certainly am one who eats to live, so when my friend invited me to attend the 1st Annual Eeeeeats Con (yes there are 5 “e’s”) presented by The Infatuation I naturally could not say no.

For my readers who are tilting their heads wondering what “The Infatuation” is don’t worry, I didn’t either. I only learned about the organization AFTER attending the convention. It’s a nut-shell restaurant reviewing app, newsletter, and instagram account that highlights their favorite restaurants and after eight years the business developed their own festival – Eeeeeats Con. But enough history, lets get in on the action!

The festival was a one day Saturday event from 12:00pm to 9:00pm at the Barkar Hangar, a local airport. It was a hot day and after battling some LA traffic from Orange County, we arrived around 4pm. The venue was quite an impressive one as guests walked past private jets before heading to the main building. At the back center of the Hangar, restauranteurs spoke on the stage about their career adventure and gave advice to audience members.

Surrounding the stage were some bright and festive instagram-worthy backdrops for convention-goers to pose and take selfies. I will say that the event planners definitely took their time in designing the layout of the festival and each area had a quirkiness about it that made it fun and lighthearted.

Nested between some of the artwork and backdrops were both high end and hipster Los Angeles restaurants booths. In the lot there were also stands and some trucks that presented their offerings. Afters Ice Cream, The Nomad Truck, Ramen Hood, and Shake Shack were just some of the vendors present. Most items were priced from $8-$20 a plate.

Everything smelled great, and after careful consideration we shared a coffee-rubbed tri tip with cabbage slaw from Chi Spacca, a $$$$ Italian restaurant in Hancock Park. I didn’t want to spread my germs (because I was feeling a bit under the weather), so the vendor was kind enough to split the portion for two people.

I think all in all this festival has a lot of potential. The space, and vendor choices were excellent, and the idea of the convention including active (musicians and panels) and passive entertainment (the cool instagram worthy backdrops) can make it a well-rounded experience. Even the temporary bathrooms were really nice. However, attending was a costly one. Parking was $20, and admission was $40 (Food purchases were additional). I think that if you went in with the expectation that you were attending an upscale food fair and budgeted for the additional costs then you’d be extremely happy.

If you created your own food festival, which restaurants would you want there?

XOXO,

Rockstar