Nosh Around the Huge LA Food & Wine Fest

Tucking a small notebook into your shirt pocket or fanny pack, all to take notes about the various noshes found at a major food event and their levels of num-o-sity?

You don't have to be some fancy food critic to go that route (and, true, most food critics probably wouldn't deem themselves fancy, though, if they do, that's cool). For keeping track of all of the bites you're biting, when there are a lot of bites, just makes sense, especially if you want to connect again with the chef behind the dish that delighted you.

So stick a small spiral pad in your fannypack and make for the Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival, a five-day feast-around that puts multiple spotlights on multiple esteemed food pros.

Will you know every chef on the lineup?

Perhaps, but you may have not tried all of their well-sauced, beautifully basted, spiced-to-perfect output. So snap up a ticket to the event or events you'd like to be a part of (and, yes, as always, the festival prices each happening in an a la carte fashion, so you will only attend want you really want to attend).

Tempting to-dos?

There's a Power Lunch at Rossoblu with Chefs Steve Samson & Alex Seidel on Aug. 24, as well as a Power Lunch at Viviane at Avalon Hotel with Chefs Michael Reed & Robert Irvine, also scheduled for the 24th.

And the large-of-scale, large-of-flavor Lexus Grand Tasting lands at Barker Hangar on Saturday, Aug. 25 and Sunday, Aug. 26.

Look for "25 Celebrity Chefs" and over 200 vinos to make that snack-around scene.

So break out the tiny spiral pad, take notes, and remember the chefs you'd like to call upon again, the eateries, the meals, the experiences. Beyond a traditional food fest, the Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival is all about helping dine-outers get to know their favorite gourmet SoCal stars, and some that may be new to them.

The glittery gourmand-a-rama runs from Aug. 22 through 26, 2018.