The Scene Official Blog

This might be old news for some of you who actually frequent the Scene, but we recently retooled our whole events portal, and if you check it out, I think you’ll agree that it is quite useful, and it maybe even rules a little bit.

Here’s the deal. About a month ago, we added new tools for users to easily add three new classes of events to our database: recurring events (referred to as “nights” in the argot of promoters, just pretty much any weekly event with the same DJs, themes, specials, etc. Here are some examples.), happy hours (you know what those are), and other specials (basically any special deal on food or drank that couldn’t accurately be described as a happy hour, so everything from all-day or all-night specials to lunch specials to student/military discounts).

We immediately got to work adding events and specials to our database, but for the past couple weeks, the only place you could find these events was on the upper left part of the city portal, under “Things to Do,” or on the calendar pages of the venues themselves.

Now, however, those events and specials are searchable and browsable here.

That is the Los Angeles events portal, obviously. Since we’re based in L.A., and we have our biggest user base here, I’ve been concentrating on adding as many L.A. happy hours, specials, and recurring events as I can. Notice on the left sidebar you can filter down to just happy hours, just beer specials, just one event category, etc.

You can also filter by neighborhood, which is nice, as obviously you work in a neighborhood and are therefore probably interested in finding a happy hour in that very neighborhood. You also live in a neighborhood, so … useful feature. (After casting a wide net all over the city to collect events initially, I’ve recently turned my attention to filling out certain popular neighborhoods, as determined by user traffic. I did Venice and Culver City last week, and am now concentrating on the East Side, so if you live or work in those areas, you’re in luck!)

Also, clicking on the calendar in the upper right corner will (obviously) allow you to browse events by day, week, and various other hott timespans.

So, anyhow, I hope you check it out and I hope you find it useful.

There’s still more updates and improvements planned, including: making it possible to add recurring events that don’t recur every week, but instead happen maybe every first and third Wednesday, or something (like a personal favorite, Awesometown at the Shortstop); and being able to switch the venue of a recurring event if it moves (for instance, LAX’s long-running Sunday night party Banana Split just moved to Bardot. This happens pretty often, as clubs will offer successful DJs/promoters better terms to move their popular nights.) Also, we’re going to make recurring event categories non-exclusive, so an event can be classified as both “music” and “nightlife,” for instance, and it will surface under both searches. Another improvement will be additional categories to choose from. We haven’t nailed them down yet, but chances are karaoke will get its own category, since karaoke nights seem to be so prevalent these days, and we’ll probably add something like “fun & games” for things like trivia nights and the increasingly popular Wii and Rockband nights.

Anyhow, I’m very excited about this new site feature, as it gives the Scene somethign that no other nightlife platform has. Sure, you can find sme events on other sites, but searchable and browsable happy hours? Specials? Nope. The events portal also looks freeaking awesome on our new iPhone app, which will be out shortly.

-PETE

Sony Kegs

The Scene hit up the L.A. Beer Festival this Saturday, and a good time was had by all. Mike’s photo gallery is here; check it out. The event — sponsored by us, among others — took place on Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m.-5 p.m (It’s too late now, obv, but more info here).

I have to admit, while I love beer, AND beer festivals, I had some misgivings about this one. For one, it was the first go-round, and the first time you try to hold an event of this size and scope — especially one involving essentially limitless amounts of booze — problems are likely to arise.

But aside from the website not being all that clear as to how to get into the Sony lot, or where on the giant Sony lot the beer fest was (once you get there, it’s pretty self-explanatory. But it’s very dangerous to assume that the average beer fest attendee can perform complex mental functions like map-reading and, well, even reading), everything ran very smoothly.

Parking was free; they had guys in the parking lot that told you where to find the will call tables; the lines at the will call tables were not long; the lines at the beer tents were also not long (although the food lines were, but I didn’t eat because I’m hard core like that); the 4 oz. cups were NOT too small; and it turns out that three hours was plenty of time to drink your money’s worth!

Seriously though, all things considered it was an amazingly well-run event. You can always use more bathrooms at a beer festival, but aside from that: impressive.

Also, the range of beers was really good. Everything from Pabst (You’d think after winning one Blue Ribbon they’d sort of pack it in, rest on their laurels, so to speak) to serious craft breweries like Quebec’s Unibroue and The Bruery in O.C.

Now, obviously, after the first, like, 10 or so minicups of beer the memory starts to get hazy as to exactly what we were drinking, what was like whoa! and what was like meh. But, a few favorites:

• The Union Jack IPA from Firestone
  The first beer I had where I was like, “Damn! Give me a brochure!” If you are a fan of hoppy, strong-flavored IPAs, find some of this stuff.
• Éphémère from Unibroue
  I actually had this before, liked it, then forgot all about it. It’s a Belgian-style white ale (The dude at the booth was pretty testy about calling his Quebecois beers “Belgian” or “Belgian-style” — and I left it alone because he was pretty swole, like Remy Marathe with legs (if you get that reference, good for you)) … anyways, a BELGIAN-Style white ale brewed with apple. It’ not a cider, it just has a hint of apple favor. Delicious.

  They also had a limited-edition beer called Quatre-Centieme, brewed to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec in 1608. It was also very, very good. Although it might be hard to find now.

• Angel City “Che”
  I personally don’t remember having this. But it was a favorite of Mike, our vp product.
• Lagunitas Censored
  Back in college, once the student loan checks cleared, we’d forgo the Keystone Ice and grab a six pack of Lagunitas IPA. I’d never had their Censored Ale before Saturday, and I got a pour out of the third-to-last bottle. If you like red/amber ales (Boont Amber, Red Nectar, Red Seal), you will really enjoy this one.
• Newport Beach Brewing Co. Barlywine [sic]
  I have never had a Barlywine I liked, ever. I got a cup of this because my girlfriend asked me what the hell a barleywine was. I tasted it first, to refresh my memory as to why barleywine is terrible — but it wasn’t. In fact, it was incredibly good, so good that I thought it might have been mislabeled. So I made everyone else try it, and they all agreed. Unfortunately, not a word about any Barlywine on the NBBC website. But that’s why you go to a beer fest, to taste stuff you might not find anywhere else.

So those were some of the beers that stuck out. For anyone who is disappointed they missed this event, or for those of you who went and are already jonesing for another all-you-can-drink-type beer-fest situation, you’re in luck! Coming to the Echoplex on Saturday, May 9, the first annual L.A. Craft Beer Fest!

So a few things to look forward to here. 1) This fest only costs $30, and that includes food as well as beer (Stout ice cream? Yes, please!). 2) This event goes from 2 p.m.-9 p.m. — a full SEVEN HOURS of all you can drink. 3) Local bands playing all day. 4) This is craft beers only, aka not PBR, aka expect a bunch of delicious, mad-scientist-type concoctions.

Hopefully, this 0-60 L.A. beer fest trend will continue.

-PETE

The Scene Team et al.

We’ve posted a gallery for the first Scene Wednesdays @ Winstons. Adrian Sidney was in attendance to record all the action, and we should have at last one more gallery going up at some point, which I’ll link here.

First of all, apologies to anyone who showed up before 10 p.m. thinking that the bar would be open. I was given erroneous information which I then passed on to you, the user. But you guys are probably cooler than me — who showed up at 9:30, which is totes lame — so, you know. But anyhow, I corrected the info on the event page.

One more correction, the DJ was/is DJ Mr. Best (or DJ Mister Best … or DJ Mi$ter Be$t), not DJ Best. While trying to track down a website or MySpace page for him, I commented to a few people how “DJ Best” has the least google-able DJ name ever. Makes a lot more sense now. Anyhow, here’s the website for DJ Mr. Best.

For my part, I had a blast. Some friends I invited showed up right away, so I had people to chill with while waiting for the rest of The Scene team, who showed up at a more fashionable hour. Shout out to Sabrina’s dad for the bottle of Goose. It was put to good use. By the time we got it, I didn’t need it, if you follow me. I was already a bit TOO loose. (Speaking of, apologies to the bartender. All the drinks on my tab were legit. Sorry for yelling.)

Also, normally I’m not one to geek out over celebrity sightings, but at the table next to us I noticed a generously coiffed gentleman with artfully arranged facial hair and a leather vest. I’ll admit, I clowned a little bit, commenting that he looked like he just got back from the caveman gym.

But then I got the pictures back …

Ladies and gentlemen, Matador from VH1’s The Pick Up Artist!

Kino escalation, yo!

He’s the one who’s got some lucky girl in a headlock. If you’ve never experienced The Pickup Artist, I suggest you make things right. It is a seriously amazing show. So Matador, if you’re out there, I’m sorry I clowned on your vest. Blame it on the Goose …

-PETE

Yes, this photo is the go-to Internets' choice to affix to any even tangentially beer-related blog post, and yes, I'm doing it too.

If you’re much over the age of 21, I do hope you’ve had the opportunity to attend at least one beer festival in your life. If you have — not to get ahead of myself here, but — L.A. Beer Festival! If you haven’t, here’s the deal:

Generally admission is handled in one of two ways. Either you pay a nominal entry fee, and then buy little tickets, like at a fair, which you exchange for cups of beer and food. Or you pay a larger entry fee in exchange for unlimited beer. Sounds good right?

So okay, yes, L.A. is the second-biggest “city” in the U.S., but is anyone really surprised it has taken this long — until now — for us to get our own beer fest? I know, right? But we can put all that behind us now because we DO have a beer fest, and it’s going down in Culver City (good choice, easily accessible and relatively ample parking) on April 4 and 5.

$40 gets you entry and unlimited 4 oz. beers. Will you have to drink a lot of beer to get your money’s worth? Yes. But that’s kind of the point. You can check them out here. Click on the sponsors link and notice the large, attractive Scene logo.

According to the organizer, about 60 breweries will be in attendance, pouring some 120 beers. Generally, aside from offering some or all of their commercially available beers, the beercos will bring special limited edition brews for the exclusive pleasure of fest attendees, so you got that goin’ for you.

So come on down to Culver City and get lit on the Sony Pictures lot — no klieg lights necessary!

Hey! Speaking of bad puns, a special shout-out to the Saturday performers, Petty Cash. Now, if there’s one thing I love more than a good pun its a bad pun, and calling your Tom Petty/Johnny Cash cover band Petty Cash just warms the cockles of my heart.

(Sunday performer is “Hollywood U2,” a name ALMOST as clever as U2.)

Also, another note for those of you who’ve been to beer fests before: coffee WILL be available on the premises. Nothing worse that hitting a rough patch in hour 4 and getting told by security guards that if you leave to get coffee you can’t get back in. Boo.

-PETE

Update: Evidently, Saturday is sold out. Which doesn’t matter because no one reads this blog yet! Ha HA!

Update 2: Oh, so evidently the beer fest only lasts from 2 p.m.-5 p.m. each day. Three hours is not a lot of time to drink $40 worth of beer, even at L.A. prices. I think when i go on Saturday I’m going to bring this up — repeatedly — with the organizers.

Yeah, I know, big deal right? What’s next? A Twitter account? Pff!

Primarily, the blog will serve as a place for us to post updates related to our company and our product. Not every partnership we ink or site update we release is big enough to warrant a newsletter shout-out. So there’s that.

The second function of the blog is, well, the Scene is staffed by actual people who actually go out a fair amount, the result of which is some strong opinions on food and drank, and places that serve food and drank. As we rely on our users be the subjective ones on the site proper, we do need our own place to be subjective once in a while. So don’t be surprised to see some editorial reviews and features on the blog as well. And of course the larger guides that we publish — like the St. Pat’s Guide — will live here too.

-PETE

Itsa me, Mario!

The same people that are putting together the much-anticipated L.A. Beer Fest on April 4-5 are holding their second annual Cupcake Challenge on Sunday, March 29 — and I’m going to be one of the judges!

So okay, really the whole point of the challenge is that all attendees are judges. You pay your entry fee, and, like, 20 cupcake bakeries bake mini cupcakes and you judge them. But as an official judge my vote is worth more, which obviously means I’m better than you, and my kids will get into top-tier universities whereas yours will not.

There are two separate categories: Traditional, where the bakeries compete head-to-head with their “regular” flavors, mostly variations on chocolate and red velvet — which I was recently disappointed when I learned that red velvet is basically chocolate dyed red with either food coloring or beet juice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_velvet_cake). I guess the beet juice at least adds extra sweetness, so maybe that’s what I like so much about it;

and Original, where the bakeries can enter any flavor they want, some specially created for the competition. As a judge, I have already obtained a ballot listing all the special cupcakes in the Original category, but am required to keep such info hush hush, lest any one bakery get a whiff (pun intended) of their competition. But let me just say that I am quite looking forward to tasting some of these. It’s amazing what people are doing with cupcakes these days. Next year they’ll probably have microchips in them or something. “This cupcake not only tastes delicious, it can also solve the three-body problem!”

(Sugar Jones, last year’s OG cupcake winner, will be back this year to defend its title with some new creations.)

There’s also an Overall winning cupcake, which last year was NOT one of the two category winners.

As a bonus, as far as my impartiality, I have never eaten a cupcake from any bakery in the competition. I don’t really have a sweet tooth. I have a meat tooth. And a salt tooth, specifically a Fritos tooth. But so anyways, my roommate likes cupcakes a lot and she occasionally brings them home. The only place I can think of by name that I like is Crumbs on Larchmont, but evidently they are too lily-livered to compete. Somewhere in there is a joke about “yellow cake,” but I’m not going to make it.

Full disclosure: As an East Side resident, I obviously love the Oinkster. But I’ve never had their vaunted cupcakes, and I will leave thoughts of their insanely delicious house-cured pastrami out of my mind when judging.

The details about time, place, tickets, etc. are here.

Hope to see you there! I’ll be the guy with the bag of Fritos.

-PETE

Update: My mom is pretty cool:

Well, it has always given me immense pleasure that you, upon occasion, listen to your MOM.

Here is what I would do, especially if you have 30+ to get thru.

Make a simple list of 4 deciding factors: frosting, cake…cake and frosting, presentation.

1) Just put a pinky in the frosting.  It is lumpy, grainy, too sweet, has a smooth texture…but tastes like paste…or yummy?

2) Taste the cake independent of the frosting. Heavy, light, too dense, no taste, too much taste?

3) Taste a bit of the cake with the frosting?  Does the frosting overpower the cake, compliment it…what?

4) Last but not least, does it look terrific but taste like ka ka? Or….does everything come together to make it the very perfect cupcake?

Have fun.  xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoooxoxxox Mom