Rare Weekend 5.8.08

It’s an MVP weekend…



What’s the best way to unwind from your flight into LAX? With Champagne, of course! Café del Rey is offering a flute of top-shelf bubbly for $2.008 to recent LAXers (holding boarding passes within the past 48 hours). Promotion runs daily through year end.

Café del Ray, 4451 Admiralty Way, Santa Monica, (310) 823-6395, cafedelreymarina.com

Brangelina, tanorexic, frenemy. We’re so used to these words we don’t even think twice about them. Adding to the ranks is Josef Centeno’s baco (short for global taco). Get these and other out-there dishes – like Bone Marrow Toast and Confit Beet Gazpacho – at Lot 1, Echo Park’s hot, new neighborhood restaurant.

Lot 1, 1533 Sunset Boulevard (at Laveta Terrace), Echo Park, (213) 481-8400

One combo we can’t get enough of is live jazz and the great outdoors. We’ll be getting just that, plus a dose of Latin flair, at the LA Latin Jazz Festival, featuring Eddie Palmieri (holder of 9 Grammies and counting). Sounds like it’s going to be one caliente night.

Los Angeles Latin Jazz Festival at The Greek Theatre, 2700 N. Vermont Avenue, in Griffith Park, greektheatrela.com

This Mothers’ Day, treat mom to a taste of all things Malaysia without having to spend four hours cramped on a plane with her. At the Taste of Malaysia Festival, you can sample a slew of Malaysian delicacies to your heart’s content. Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, (213) 683-2100, thirdstreetpromenade.org

What do you get when you combine five of our fair city’s hottest chefs with five collaborative dinners at each of their respective restaurants? 5×5, of course. For the second consecutive year, top toques of Angelini Osteria, Providence, Melisse, Water Grill, and Bastide are joining culinary forces. Though the first of these dinners doesn’t start until May 19th at Providence, don’t wait… this is one hot reservation.

Providence, 5955 Melrose Avenue, (between Wilcox & Cole Avenues), (323) 460-4170, providencela.com