Republique Wine Master Taylor Parsons Prepares For His Second Act

What’s next for Taylor Parsons?

It’s now official that one of Los Angeles’ best wine leads, Taylor Parsons, is no longer pouring at Republique. The affable beverage director and all-around wine guru stepped away from the La Brea restaurant several days ago, leaving in charge the endlessly capable Maria Garcia, a 33 year old hometown hero from Whittier. So that begs the question: What’s next for Taylor Parsons?

In short, not much ... yet. Parsons says that for the time being he’ll be consulting on a few projects around town (or anywhere the gig takes him, really) but will mostly be working behind the scenes at HomeState, the beloved breakfast taco institution owned by his wife Briana Valdez. After that, Parsons has big plans for his own personal future in the wine industry, but is keeping those details close to the vest at the moment. Still, it’s nice to hear that, at least sometime down the line, we’ll all be able to (hopefully) sit around and listen to one of the smartest faces in L.A. wine talk about his passion.

Talking food trucks

Folks from the BBC have descended on Los Angeles to talk about food trucks, and their enduring success in the City of Angels. The piece focuses of course on Roy Choi’s Kogi innovation, but also heavily involved the new NoMad truck as well as Wes Avila’s Guerrilla Tacos truck.

You can’t keep Valerie Confections down

Unstoppable sweets maker Valerie Gordon is up and running once again with her Echo Park shop after someone apparently broke in two days ago. The team there showed up to a broken front door in the middle of the night, but threw up some plywood and kept on serving anyway. Awesome.

Is this LA’s best hummus?

There is no shortage of hummus in this city, but LA Weekly critic Besha Rodell thinks she may have found the absolute best. It’s coming from a Valley-roaming truck called Hummus Yummy, of all things, and apparently it’s a lunch-only delight that can compete with Israel’s best.

A Basq Kitchen x King Harbor Brewery

Want some craft beer with your Basq food? Get to Redondo Beach then, where A Basq Kitchen is going to partner up with nearby King Harbor Brewery on January 22 for a one-night affair. The dinner event spans three courses with beer pairings and costs $49.

OC’s big noodle

There’s a big ol’ noodle event coming to Orange County on Saturday, January 14, and it’s called Noods Noods Noods. The production features folks of all stripes doing their take on noodles, from Goa Taco to Hamasaku on down. Get your tickets now for the Foodbeast-backed party.

More to love at Dough Box

Want to switch things up at your favorite pizza place? Check out Pizza Week with Dough Box, the Eastside delivery option that’s making big waves. They’ll be rocking a slew of new recipes all week long, and you can even vote on the one you like the most.