Life Is Beautiful braces for hungry festivalgoers

For both Hash House A Go Go and Culinary Dropout, their debut appearances last year in the Life Is Beautiful festival's Culinary Village were learning experiences they'll apply this year.

"Organizationally, we definitely learned a lot," said Brannon Rees, marketing director for Hash House A Go Go, which has five locations in the valley.

"We definitely got a better idea of the process and what kind of volume there is," said Daniel McLaughlin, manager and director of live music at Culinary Dropout.

That volume will undoubtedly be huge. During its first year the festival drew 60,000 people; the total swelled to 90,000 last year, and projections for this weekend's event in downtown Las Vegas have reached 120,000 over three days.

"We had a lot of people working in our booth," Rees said. "It was always extremely busy."

But he also found that the nature of the festival helped a bit when service slowed.

"We found last year that people were willing to wait," Rees said. "They were OK with it, because where our booth was, there was a stage."

They had two booths last year but are streamlining with one. And they're serving what they served last year — bacon-mashed-potato sliders and kiwi-watermelon lemonade.

"We're doing the same things again because it was just perfect," Rees said. "They could walk around with them."

Culinary Dropout will serve two of its most popular items, 36-hour barbecue pork ribs and soft pretzel nibs with Provolone fondue.

While the festival's culinary component itself has been somewhat streamlined, there still will be plenty for those who are as interested in the culinary arts as in the musical and cultural ones. Pop-up culinary demonstrations will take place in the VIP area of the Downtown Stage (with a live feed for festival attendees), with three cooking and two mixology segments daily. Among the culinary participants are Elizabeth Blau, Kim Canteenwalla, Duff Goldman, Hubert Keller, Sam Marvin, Rick Moonen, Carla Pellegrino, Steve Samson, Adam Sobel and John Tesar, with Ricky Gomez, Eric Hay, Andrew Pollard, Jaime Salas and Willy Shine in the mixology lineup.

Food in the VIP area will be by Hearthstone Kitchen & Cellar.

This year's Culinary Village will be split into groupings at each of the festival's music stages. Participants are Aloha Kitchen, Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken, Clever Chefs Catering, Eat, Siegel's 1941, Fist of Fusion, Fleur, Fruits & Roots, Garden Grill, Gimme S'More, Gimme Some Sugar, Honey Salt, Itsy Bitsy Ramen & Whisky, Jun's Korean Restaurant, Kuma Snow Cream, Made L.V., Makers & Finders Coffee, MTO Cafe, N9NE Steakhouse, Nacho Daddy, Nobu, Origin India, Pot Liquor, RM Seafood, Rx Boiler Room, Strictly Vegan Jamaican Cuisine, The Lab Real Hawaiian Shave Ice, The Twisted Lemon, Truffles & Bacon Cafe, Vegenation, Yellowtail Japanese Restaurant and Z India Catering Company, in addition to Culinary Dropout, Hash House A Go Go and Hearthstone.

Food trucks also will be positioned around the festival, including 50 Shades of Green, Buldogi's Gourmet Hot Dogs, Coolhaus, Cousin's Maine Lobster, Dragon Grille, The Funnel Cake Cafe, Grouchy John's Coffee Shop, Oming's Kitchen, Sausage Fest, Spud Shots and More, Stripcheezze, Truck U Barbeque and Truk-N-Yaki.

And, of course there will be plenty of drink to go with all of that food. The Craft Beer Garden at the Ambassador Stage will serve 24 beers from breweries including the local Tenaya Creek and international favorites Gulden Draak, Hofbrau and Stiegl.

The cocktail program, by Wirtz Beverage, also will be at each of the festival stages. Organizers are planning 25 to 30 crafted cocktails using premium spirits, such as the Strawberry Blonde (Ketel One Citroen Vodka, lemonade and Jarritos strawberry soda) and the Mi Amigo (Milagro Reposado Tequila, Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur, lime and Barritt's Ginger Beer). To ensure speedy service, the recipes will, during the duration of the festival, be premixed in large quantities at a commissary just off the festival's grounds, then taken to each of the bars, where the bartenders will add premium spirits and serve.

It's a huge undertaking for everyone involved in the festival's culinary component.

"We have to do it all in advance," Rees said. "To load in and load out, it's a ways. It gives us a great opportunity to not just promote the restaurants, but to remind people we have a Hash House at the Plaza, we have one in The Linq."

"We do it because it's a really great event," McLaughlin said. "It gets you out into the community, and it's a really special event because it celebrates art, culinary art and music, all in one. We're excited to be a part of that."

— Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at reviewjournal.com and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.