Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
This Is What It's Like To Attend A Seven-Course Cannabis-Infused Dinner
“Wait...B.Y.O.B doesn’t mean ‘Bring Your Own Bud?” Any other day this question would elicit the mildest of scoffs from me. But when it’s asked on 4/20, it’s honestly just astute reasoning.
In a penthouse in downtown’s Art Deco fixture, the Eastern Columbia Building, blunts were liberally rolled and passed around as smokable appetizers while Chef Robert “Bean” Castañeda and his staff scurried around the kitchen in a Food Network-worthy montage of chopping and sizzling and plating, preparing a decadent seven-course meal with one crucial ingredient: cannabis.
The occasion? A “Pot-Up,” which is exactly what it sounds like. Legalization is the name of the game and as a result, cannabis dinner parties have exploded in popularity. Using the same plant that accounts for more than half of all U.S. drug arrests, elaborate gastronomical soirées are thrown as chefs bridge the gap between culinary and cannabis. VICELAND even has an entire series, Bong Appétit, dedicated to the rising trend.
Support for LAist comes from
Like any self-respecting party looking to achieve the highly sought after “chill vibe,” 90s hip-hop dominated the playlist while attendees shuffled around the penthouse combatting lethal levels of cotton mouth. But the battle paid off once dinner was served. Chef Bean is no stranger to pop-up dinners and has become ubiquitous with the process through his Living Breathing Kitchen dinners that take place across Los Angeles. For the stoner holiday, he and his team impressed with rich flavors like wasabi caviar, squid ink crema, micro-orchids (yes, that’s a thing), and more. While some of the dishes combined multiple overpowering ingredients that were unfortunately lost, Chef Bean still mastered subtlety through courses like his arancini, which harmoniously played with the creamy lightness of Manchego cheese and cashews.
The dinner was nothing if not wildly on-brand for those who identify as the ethically blazed; tables were adorned with hemp napkins from local hemp clothing retailer Recreator, while the artful plating quietly beckoned one to open up Instagram to document the casually bourgeois evening, but chances were that you were too high to take a clear enough photo. Conversation flowed easily because as it turns out, people are incredibly warm when they’re stoned and fed. And because each bite allowed one to stay comfortably baked, you better believe the chats were laced with goofy laughter and introspective discussion about the universe. The munchie haze was thick, to a point where one of my dinner companions revealed how she was breaking her typical vegan and gluten-free diet for the evening. “It’s a cultural experience!” she rationalized. And she wasn’t wrong.
Living Breathing Kitchen Supper Club presents regular pop-up dinners in downtown Los Angeles. Check out their Facebook page for more.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist