Michele StuevenThe confluence of Dave Grohl, Bruce Kalman, Duff Goldman and Nick Shipp onstage and behind the BBQ resulted in raising thousands for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank at the Eat, Drink and Support music and food fest at the 100,000-square-foot facility in Vernon on Saturday.
“We want to help because we can and because we should, ” Kalman told L.A. Weekly as he flipped Brussels sprout, guanciale, potato and smoked mozzarella pizzas with bandmate Tyler Anderson from Square Peg Pizza for the lucky crowd of more than 500 people.
“The team of chefs we put together — Dave Grohl, Tyler, Duff, Nick and Antonia Lofaso — we are all giving people and want to help. Every dollar raised today goes to the food bank. When I was a younger chef, I used to feed my ego; now I just want to feed people.”
Dave Grohl and chef Antonia Lofaso; Credit: Alex Berliner/AB Images
Grohl joined Kalman and Duff’s Foie Grock band onstage and belted out CCR’s “Fortunate Son” until they forgot the lyrics and started singing about ribs and pizza. In addition to serving up fire-roasted corn with avocado cilantro butter, cotija cheese, and smoked paprika, and green bean and fennel ratatouille with pickled raisins, chef Nick Shipp delivered a heart-thumping drum solo with the Foie Grock.
“That’s what happens when you get a bunch of people together to play rock & roll and try to fucking cook food,” Grohl explained to the crowd. “I really wish I knew how this song goes, but I don’t really think it matters anymore!”
Kalman went on to dish on his bromance with the foodie Foo Fighter frontman.
“I don’t think you can find a person on the planet that is not a fan of Dave Grohl,” Kalman gushed.
“He’s just the most wonderful human being. He’s fun and talented as all hell as a musician and is serious about his BBQ. We’ve been here since 9 p.m. last night trimming briskets and smoking ribs.”
“We reconnected about six months ago after I did an event at his studio, when he was starting up his Backbeat BBQ project,” Kalman added. “Sometimes you just meet someone and know they are a real, pure human being. He came over and cooked for my son’s 'Gotcha Day' party last week. I made pizza and he did barbecue.”
Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe; Credit: Alex Berliner/AB Images
The final music performance was by Chevy Metal, featuring Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) and Wiley Hodgden (Birds of Satan) with special guests Nikki Sixx (Mötley Crüe) and Grohl. The event was organized by culinary emcee and producer Billy Harris, producer Paul Vitagliano and K.C. Mancebo of Clamorhouse.
Also, on hand were Cedd Moses and his Imperial Western Beer Co. team serving Union Station pale lager, Superchief IPA and Panache Vienna lager.
The L.A. Regional Food Bank started in 1973 by Tony Collier, who heard about the first food bank in Phoenix. He hopped on his motorcycle and rode across the desert to check it out and saw it wasn’t very complicated. He came back to L.A. and started with his pickup truck and a two-car garage in Pasadena getting food to people who needed it.
Los Angeles Regional Food Bank; Credit: Michele Stueven
Since then, the L.A. Regional Food Bank has distributed the equivalent of more than 1 billion meals across the L.A. community. The food bank provides food to more than 300,000 clients on a monthly basis and distributed 70 million pounds of food in 2017 to children, seniors, working families, veterans and other neighbors in need out of its massive Vernon facility, which could easily be confused with a Costco warehouse.
“There is a lot of surplus food at different levels of distribution channels,” Food bank president Michael Flood tells L.A. Weekly.
“The food here is from farmers, growers, retailers like Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons and every major retailer like Walmart, Target or General Mills and a lot of others who are part of this effort,” Flood added. “When you’re in the food world, you never want to be out of food for a food order, so there’s always an estimate, even with computer modeling, of what demand is going to be, and there’s more product coming in on the next shipment. That small margin of what isn’t sold needs to go somewhere. They want to see that food go to someone who needs it. They don’t want food that’s wholesome and edible to go to landfill.”
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