I want to welcome those of you who found your way to this newsletter by attending KCRW's PieFest and Contest last week. We're so pleased you joined us. I'm the longtime host of KCRW’s Good Food, Evan Kleiman. Each week, digital producer Elina Shatkin and I put this newsletter together so you can easily discover what's on the latest show. I like to include a weekly recipe that I have a yen to make, and hope you will too. The entire Good Food team contributes a highlight in the Dining Rec section, and we share events happening locally, along with what we may be reading and watching. We're so happy you're here. In addition to this newsletter, I write Good Food's free Substack, which covers my interviews with Madeleine Brand on Press Play and any random subject I'm moved to share with you.

A week may have gone by, but I still feel like I'm recovering from PieFest. What an event! I love when friends and colleagues who haven't been before come to the event and get their minds blown. We had 414 registered pies, 24 judges, four chef demos, five book signings, 30 marketplace vendors, 15 activity/wares vendors, and 11,000 humans enjoying themselves at a fabulous venue, The Autry Museum.

Our guest celeb judges — Will Ferrell, Andy Richter, and Roy Choi — kept the ribbon ceremony moving with serious tastings accompanied by hilarious quips. Jashmine Corpuz, who has a cottage baking license, took Best in Show with her Ube Blueberry Pie. To see all pie winners as well as loads of photos from the day, check out my recent Good Food substack.

If you are a gardener or aspire to be one after listening to historian Kate Brown discuss Tiny Gardens Everywhere, it's Tomatomania season. There are events all over the Southland where you can browse hundreds of tomato varieties and try to take only a couple of them home. Read my interview with founder Scott Daigre. And while you're enjoying Tomatomania, don't forget to look at the other plants on offer. Three years ago, I bought a Polish variety of sweet pepper that is still pumping out very tasty peppers. Sorry, I don't remember the name of the variety.

— Evan

DINING HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE GOOD FOOD TEAM

Evan: After lots of sweet things and several hours in the sun at PieFest, all I wanted was good Mexican food and something refreshing to drink. Gillian and I headed to A Tì on Sunset Blvd. in Echo Park where I had a Michelada made with Modelo, lime, tomato dashi, and an Urfa chili rim. Perfect choice. Also, I love Urfa!

Gillian: I recently had a hankering for pavlova and was directed to Flouring LA. Pastry chef Heather Wong offers a few different versions, but I opted for the one topped with passion fruit curd, sour whipped cream, and graham cracker dacquoise. If you are looking for a centerpiece for a spring gathering, I’d recommend her giant berry pavlova as inspo.

Laryl: Confession: I never eat pie at PieFest. I’m busy orchestrating the judging with hundreds of pies, so at the end of the day, I feel as if I've consumed a whole pie by osmosis. Jade Rabbit from chef Bryant Ng, formerly of Cassia, opened months ago, and it's only a five-minute drive from the station. I stopped by for a build-a-bowl lunch, and that first bite of brown rice tasted like an antidote to my virtual sugar intake this week.

Elina: Seline, Chef Dave Behran's luxurious spot on Santa Monica's Main Street, is a case study in storytelling through food. I think this is mousse made from the head of a black cod between two paper-thin sunchoke crackers, but I could be getting that wrong. Regardless, it was delicious and gorgeous and everything in between.

This week on Good Food:

• Jashmine Corpuz takes Best in Show at this year's PieFest with her ube blueberry pie.
• Trevor Warmedahl became a self-described "cheese trekker," living a pastoral life alongside animals and guiding the cheeses that come from their milk.
• Tami Parr chronicles the history and importance of goats in America.
• An obsessed mushroom hunter, Chef Chad Hyatt is beloved by the mycological world for his culinary prowess.
• At the farmers market, artichokes are on offer.

Connect with Good Food host Evan Kleiman on Substack.

WHAT I'M CONSUMING

WEEKLY RECIPE: A lot of pie was eaten at PieFest 2026. It is March, and it's too hot. There is nothing like resetting with a huge salad that keeps you forking it up. This almond vinaigrette from chef Jackson Kalb at Jame Enoteca in El Segundo can be used with any combination of salad ingredients. I like how he pairs it with a mountain of julienned kale. I might use cabbage and the dressing for a very satisfying slaw. GET THE RECIPE

TASTY STUFF TO DO

• For Women's History Month, RE: Her, the non-profit designed to help women restaurateurs, is holding several events. On Sunday, March 22nd, Lien Ta is leading an Echo Park Crawl (although that's already sold out) and on Monday, March 23rd, Maydan Market is hosting several cooking classes led by Odilia Romero of Lugya'h, Heidie Irra of Maléna, and Rose Previte of Maydan, Compass Rose and Sook. Check out the full list of events.

• At A.O.C., Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne present Harvest Dinner – Women of the Field, Vine and Sea on Monday, March 23rd, 2026. The menu will feature best-of-season produce from Leticia Garcia of Garcia Family Farm and Sherry Mandell of the Tehachapi Heritage Grain Project, seafood caught by Stephanie Mutz of Sea Stephanie Fish, and an exquisite dessert by chef Irene Widjaya of the Downtown LA Proper Hotel. $125. Make a resy via OpenTable.

READING LIST

• A huge New York Times investigation alleges that labor leader Cesar Chavez, who died in 1993 at age 66, sexually abused and assaulted women and young girls for years. Fellow activist Dolores Huerta, 95, who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Chavez and Larry Itliong, says Chavez sexually assaulted her twice, a disclosure she has never before made publicly. Huerta said she chose not to report the assaults because she didn't want to harm the movement and because she thought that the police wouldn't care. Many cities have already cancelled events honoring Cesar Chavez Day, on March 31st. There's talk of renaming LA's Cesar Chavez Avenue to Dolores Huerta Avenue.

• Thousands of workers at a JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colorado have gone on strike to demand higher wages and safer working conditions. JBS processes roughly 25% of all US beef. The "Big Four" packers — JBS, Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef — control approximately 85% of the US beef market.

• The SoCal food community was shocked when Frinj Coffee founders Jay and Kristen Ruskey died in their sleep in early February. It turns out, they perished from an accidental leak of toxic carbon monoxide. They left behind three teenage children — two in high school, one in college. 

AWWW

Who's ready to watch a baby goat romp?

To see more of what I'm consuming, including recipes, events, and other stories, check out my Substack!

—Evan