Tonight is the start of the 31st Annual Taste of Greece Festival at St. Pauls Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine.

There will be food, food and more food along with cooking demonstrations, carnival rides, games, music, boutiques, greek dancing lessons and a raffle. You could win 7 days in Athens or you could munch on a gyro and enjoy the entertainment.

Admission in $3, children under 10 for free
Located on 4949 Alton Parkway, Irvine
Friday: 5-10 pm
Saturday: 12-10 pm
Sunday: 12-9 pm

PA’ME NA’ FA’ME!

There will be cultural demonstrations, authentic music, hands-on arts and crafts, vendors, performances, story-telling, villages representing the Pacific Islands and of course, good food.

7111 Talbert Avenue,
Huntington Beach, CA.
92648

4 ounce tasting mug

As many of you know, the Orange County Beer Festival was held yesterday at Irvine Lake. As promised there were lots of breweries, lots of beer to drink and plenty of heat.

Since it was so hot – the thermometer in my car showed 100 degrees – I was shocked at how many people had on jeans, closed-toe shoes and dark shirts. However, most people seemed to be aware we were in the middle of a heat wave and dressed as such. Thankfully there was shade to be had and the vendors that happened to be in the shade produced a crowd.

Our purpose was to try beers we’d not had before. I sampled 14, but did not entirely drink them all. Some were just too heavy for such a hot summer day. I tried to stick to lights, wheats, whites, etc. plus that’s what I tend to prefer. Although, one of my favorites was none of those, exactly. MateVeza an organic beer with caffeine.

More photos and commentary after the jump.

All of the vendors were extremely knowledgeable, not only of their own brews, but beer in general and were fun to talk to.  They often asked what we liked and were genuinely interested in our responses. There were over 50 microbreweries and probably more than 200 different types of beer.

OC Beer Festival - notice how everyone is in the shade. The beer vendors were set-up under the tents that lined two sides of the grounds as well as the center, creating two large grassy aisles. The food trucks were in the parking lot next to the lake.

The immense pyrocumulous cloud from the Station Fire is visible from many locations in Orange County

Metal Shop, an '80s cover band entertained the crowd and a passing bicyclist.

The live band, Metal Shop, was a lot of fun and in my opinion perfect for this type of event. They provided fun energetic sing-along 80’s glam rock. Plus, ya gotta love the throwback outfits/hair, which I took to be a little tongue-in-cheek. My only complaint: they didn’t play Nightrain, although this song is more hard rock than glam rock. Metal Shop played lots of Bon Jovi and Poison.

Two Down ... on our way out we noticed two people who looked like they didn't drink enough water, nor did it look like they were dressed properly. God, I sound like my dad. Ack!

I am so glad free bottled water  and iced tea was provided. We frequented that booth more than any. If I didn’t drink lots o’ water that’d be me in the above photo. Food – burgers, sausages, desserts, etc. – was for sale at a reasonable price. The In-N-Out cheeseburger totally hit the spot and also prevented me from ending up horizontal.

There were also plenty of porta-johns available. I’ve been to many events when this is not the case. Thumbs up for this.

I thought the venue of Irvine Lake was nice, but if the event were much bigger it would’ve been a tight squeeze and an even bigger traffic nightmare. I estimated a crowd of about 1,000-1,500. Getting to Irvine Lake is a bit of a challenge as well. Basically there is one two-lane road, Santiago Canyon Road, in and out. The easiest way to get there is off of the 241 toll road and that is the way most people came, including us. We sat in at least a one-mile back-up. Traffic was creeping along until the OC sheriffs rolled up and took over traffic control. The only other alternative was to come via El Toro Road, which changes to SCR at Cook’s Corner.

One thing I wish was available was a tasting menu. I did take a little notepad to jot some thoughts and list the beers I tasted, but an entire list of all of the beers available and the brewery’s that produce them would’ve been nice. Oh well, what do I know? Other than that I really don’t have any complaints.

All-in-all for $40 a ticket/$80 per couple – heck we spend at least that when we just go out to dinner – you really got your money’s worth, unlimited four-ounce pours, live music and free non-alcoholic beverages. Speaking of tickets, I’d like to add a BIG thank you to Frazgo for the heads up/tickets for this event. He is an author for LA Metblogs.

The husband and I had a great time and are considering making the drive up to LA for Septemberfest. Anyone else?

Overall I think the event was well attended and well organized. So OC metblog readers, did you attend the Beer Festival? If so, what did you think?

To order tickets click on the top right of the Drink:Eat:Play website or here. Tickets MUST be purchased in advance, none will be available at the door. There is also a designated driver special of $15, which gives you access to everything except the beer tastings, obviously. Enter code “dd” when ordering tickets.

Remember folks it’s gonna be hot, Hot, HOT on Sunday. In addition to all of the wonderful beer we’ll be drinking don’t forget to drink plenty of water. I don’t want to see someone keeling over ’cause, you know, that’d ruin my buzz. All kidding aside drink responsibly people and that means water and lots of it … that goes for yours truly as well. And to prevent this nonsense from happening iced tea and water will be available for FREE.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the  LA Beer Festival on September 19th.

This is a 21+ only event. Even if you are the designated driver you must be 21 to attend.

With so many great Orange Country breweries, the OC shouldn’t be limited to wine tasting and pairings, which are good too. However, it’s about time for OC to have it’s own beer festival. The event will highlight Orange County’s top breweries, in addition to over 60 domestic and international brands. Click for full OC Beer Fest List. Since it really wouldn’t be a festival without food and music they’ve got that covered as well. The festival will feature barbeque, In-n-Out, and some great ’80s glam rock from Metal Shop.

To purchase tickets and for more information, click on the flyer. Tickets are $40 per person and will NOT be available at the door.

Recently a shoe outlet opening, now a festival dedicated to beer and it’s football season again. I think I’ve died and gone to heaven. Go Steelers!!! ;)

For those of you who can’t get enough beer or just one beer festival just won’t do – and really, who wants to limit themselves to one? – there will be another: LA Beer Festival on Saturday, September 19th.

P.S. I will be posting a follow-up blog about my time at the OC Beer Festival.

The Orange County band recorded three albums, one of which went platinum and propelled them to international fame but to us they will always be part of our talented OC family. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this difficult time.

Here’s a link to his Obituary in the Los Angeles Times.

So sad.

Well that’s only sorta true, I also got a set of lovely atomic-tiki bar glasses and a wonderful clock to augment the object d’art above. If you have never been to Tiki Oasis, it’s a poly-pop appreciation weekend in San Diego that is full up hipsters, hippies and lots and lots of rum. I went with the wife and friend for a day trip and I have to tell you it was pretty fun! I was initially concerned that it would be too much of the renaissance-fair set and too little of the middle-aged hipster set. Turns out it was just a bunch of drunken tiki worshipers having a really big party!

Orange County, as you may or may not know, was once rife with tiki temples. Alas those days are gone and only a couple of places remain. Notable among these are the Enchanted Tiki Room and the former Sam’s Seafood in Huntington Beach; the later of which has changed hands and names so many times I’ve lost count. Anyway, if you want to relive the glory days of swinging bachelor pads and jet-set exotica that California was once famous for, Tiki Oasis is the place to do it. Maybe we’ll see you there next year!

2009 Concerts in Hart Park dates:

• July 8, The Wise Guys Big Band Machine – Big band/swing music
• July 15, The Fenians – Traditional and contemporary Irish music
• July 22, Stone Soul – Motown, soul and R & B classics
• July 29, Open Wide – Classic rock
• August 5, Crashdance – Top 40 dance favorites
• August 12, The Sam Morrison Band – southern classic rock
• August 19, The Hodads – 50’s and 60’s rock-n-roll
• August 26, Film at Eleven – Motown and R & B classics

Hart Park is located at 701 South Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866

See you there!

OC Fair CEO Steve Beazley likened the film to Disney’s “Captian EO”. (I personally would love a full-scale Weird Al spoof of the entire Captain EO short instead of a journey “inside his brain” but….whatever). He goes on to compare the fair to Disneyland (hehe), by stating Disney opens new attractions every year to keep interest in the parks, and they want to do the same with the Fair.

Feel free to read the full article and see the pros and cons to putting this into the fairgrounds.

But I want to know, what are your thoughts? Do you agree with spending $2.5 million on this film, just for the OC Fair? Or do you think this is about as smart as building the New Year’s Eve Orange Drop thingy?

Better yet….let’s do a poll! But please feel free to comment as well!

**Special thanks to former OC Metblogger Mike for sharing this via his twitter account.

If anyone cares what I think, I say build the thing. I don’t think we’re in a position to rule out ANYTHING that could possibly end up making money for fair. Let’s just hope it at least makes $2.5 million to cover the cost of the film!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Who’s with me?