The Taste for Los Al returns this Saturday night for its 13th straight year of food tasting and fund-raising to benefit activities and facilities at Los Alamitos High School.
The Taste for Los Al returns this Saturday night for its 13th straight year of food tasting and fund-raising to benefit activities and facilities at Los Alamitos High School.
Forty-two local restaurants will be offering their fare at the event to be held from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Shops at Rossmoor, in the parking lot behind Sprouts and PetSmart. Food sampling takes place in the first two hours. Tickets can also be bought online for $45 through Oct. 17, or can be bought at the gate for $50.
With a strong possibility that USC and UCLA football as well as Dodger baseball can all be on the air during the event, organizers have arranged to have four televisions on site to provide coverage of all the sporting events that night.
Continuing their unblemished record of participation are four local restaurants – Hof’s Hut, Sango Sushi, Callender’s Grill, and the Yucatan Grill – who have now been providing food at all thirteen Taste for Los Al’s.
The Taste, which is totally parent-driven, has become one of the community’s largest fund-raisers, consistently drawing crowds of around 3,000 people and raising more than $200,000 annually. Over its 12-year history, the event has generated nearly two million dollars to support Los Alamitos High School activities and facilities. The majority of those funds go directly to the 23 participating Los Al High booster clubs via ticket sales, raffles, gear sales, and one of the area’s largest silent auctions.
For the first time, the silent auction will feature a premium section where booster clubs can showcase their top offerings. This section closes at 8:30 p.m., with the rest of the auction closing at 9 p.m.
Also participating this year is the Friends of the Los Alamitos-Rossmoor Library as part of their Front Porch library improvement campaign. Because so many high school students use the library, the event organizers felt it appropriate to let the group participate.
Coordinating the event is OUR Los Al, a non-profit which not only handles all the event logistics (approx. $60,000 each year) but has also donated its profits over the years to a wide variety of Los Al High School needs. The group spent nearly $250,000 on the research and planning for the school’s soon-to-be-opened all-weather track, and has donated to many other booster improvements, including the gym scoreboard, softball fences and backstops, tennis windscreens, trainers room improvements, repair of landscaping equipment, soccer and lacrosse field improvements and more.
If you can’t make the event, you can still contribute to the cause by patronizing the participating restaurants with your business – either as a family, by catering for business meetings, or by scheduling group fund-raising nights.
More information on the event is available online at www.tasteforlosal.com.
A list of participating restaurants/businesses (as of Oct. 11) includes:
320 Main (Seal Beach)
Antica Olive Oil (Los Alamitos)
Baja Fresh (Seal Beach)
Belmont Brewing Company (Long Beach)
Blake’s Place (Rossmoor)
Bogart’s Coffee (Seal Beach)
Callender’s Grill (Rossmoor / Seal Beach)
Coconut Rabbit (Los Alamitos)
Corner Bakery (Long Beach Marketplace)
Daphne’s California Greek (Old Ranch Town Center – Seal Beach)
Great Dane Baking Company (Los Alamitos)
Hof’s Hut (Los Alamitos)
Hollywood Candy Girls (Los Alamitos)
Islands (Seal Beach)
Jamba Juice (Old Ranch Town Center – Seal Beach)
Kampai Sushi (Los Alamitos)
Katella Deli (Los Alamitos)
Kobe Japanese Steakhouse (Seal Beach)
Long Beach Firemen’s Grill
Lucille’s BBQ (Long Beach Town center)
McKenna’s on the Bay (Long Beach – Alamitos Bay Marina)
Macaroni Grill (Seal Beach)
Mahe (Seal Beach)
Naples Rib Co. (Long Beach)
On the Rocks (Garden Grove)
Outlaw Burgers (Cypress)
Pei Wei (Rossmoor/Seal Beach)
Pick-Up Stix (Seal Beach)
Polly’s Pies (Los Alamitos)
Rubio’s (Old Ranch Town Center – Seal Beach)
Sango Sushi (Los Alamitos), who has participated in all Taste events
Schott’s Cookies (Garden Grove)
Seal Beach Winery (Los Alamitos)
Shenandoah at the Arbor (Los Alamitos)
Sno-Biggie (Los Alamitos)
Spin! Neapolitan Pizza (Los Alamitos)
Sprouts (Rossmoor / Seal Beach)
Starbucks (Los Alamitos)
Steve’s Catering – BBQ (Rossmoor), who has participated in all but one Taste events
Subway (Los Alamitos)
Yucatan Grill (Seal Beach)
Z Pizza (Old Ranch Town Center, Seal Beach)