The Buick Regal Discovery Tour

We knew very well that this event was just a fancy sales pitch, but we didn't care — we went for the food, of course!

The event was at the SLS, where we were greeted with light refreshments. 

Our first session was a demo with Executive Chef Jorge Chicas from the Bazaar, where he and a sous chef showed us how they make their watermelon tomato skewers and infamous olive bubbles. It was really insightful and fun to get the inside scoop on how the food is made and their experiences with Jose Andres, but those samples were almost cruel. We wanted buckets more. 



Then we had a session mixologist Michael Greene (who has the best job EVER), where we made virgin green tea sours.

The ones we made seemed to be missing something...GIN!

Then Michael Stern from roadfood.com shared some tips on finding good local eats.

The best part of this session was when he solicited the audience for their upcoming travel destinations so that he could make recommendations. From Oklahoma City to northern Idaho to the best pizza in NYC, his tips seemed pretty legit.

When a certain someone quizzed him about Orange County, he recommended El Campeon in San Juan Capistrano, which we'd never even heard of, for good Mexican food. Sure enough, though, it has 4.5 stars on yelp. Anyone ever been?

The highlight of the day was a cooking demo with Top Chef Master Marcus Samuelsson (prefaced by "complete" versions of the cocktails we'd made earlier).

We didn't watch this season of Top Chef Masters, but we wish we had.

He's got loads of charm and a killer shrimp and grits that we polished off in no time...

...But, thankfully, can make at home, thanks to this awesome party favor.

RH Restaurant

A little bit ago, the former Riot Hyatt was completely transformed into the trendy and posh Hotel Andaz, and the name of the restaurant that opened inside — RH — seems like the only remnant of its storied past.

We had no idea what to expect. Most of the restaurants on this part of Sunset are all style, no substance and ridiculously overpriced. But since it was a short walk away, and we had a coupon (that's right, no shame), we figured we had nothing to lose.

The restaurant itself is sleek and modern, with an open kitchen that keeps things casual, but the service is meticulously attentive.

We started with some crudite and two kinds of bread (the Italian one was a special for that night)...

...And some DELICIOUS cocktails that went down wayyyyy too easily.

The first course was escargot with heirloom potatoes, and foie gras terrine. They say that escargot is all about the sauce, not the snails...and this sauce was fantastic...but the escargot themselves were really tender, too. The terrine was smooth and buttery and accompanied by a dense, biscuit-like brioche that pushed it over the top.

Then came a duck confit with crispy, melt-in-your-mouth skin, and seared diver scallops on a bed of creamy celery root and chestnuts. DELISH! We polished off every bite.

J gives the confit his "sandwich test"

Then it was dessert time -- a chocolate tart with a soft, creamy praline bar, and a huge warm cherry clafoutis with a generous dollop of creme fraiche.

As we waddled home, we pondered how it was possible that we could find unpretentious and delicious French food, with excellent service, at the former Riot Hyatt.

But we're sure stranger things have happened on the Sunset Strip.