Temperatures in Los Angeles have recently scaled far past one hundred degrees and no one is having a harder time with it than my deodorant. Standing with my back to an open freezer or lying in bed with the air conditioner on blast normally helps, but before I know it my deodorant has disappeared. “Wait, where’d you go little fella?” Sure you may not want to hear about my current fleeting relationship with Dove and how it relates to food, but here we are three sentences in.

The minute the surface of the sun was no longer blazing on the planet, I shut my freezer door and ran out the house. My friend Sara and I decided to spend the cooler part of the day at the Hollywood Bowl for dinner followed by a show. The time and weather accompanying it all was perfect as the dinner was held in the open Camrose Park followed by the “Bernstein 100 Celebration with Dudamel” in the Bowl. A late afternoon breeze and the evening stars surrounded by food and music was a great way to peruse the ordinary Tuesday. Before we made our way to experience the beautiful performance by Dudamel, we explored parts of the “Supper in Your Seats” menu in the park.

The dinner where we all gathered was organized by Sodexo Sports & Leisure. It’s a name I’ve heard a time or two before thanks to going to school in Pasadena, but to see the organization partnering at an event far away from a school cafeteria was exciting. Within the picnic streamlined by Sodexo, was a selection of beautiful food and wine. The menu designed by chef Suzanne Goin with wine selected by Caroline Styne, both of The Lucques Group, is available for pre-order to all concert goers with box seats in the Bowl. The goal is to give you a dinner made as close to your tastes and preferences as possible. You can choose from the A La Carte Menu (ranging from $13 to $56 per item), three separate and unique 3 Course Menus ($44 per person to $68 per person), five types of Goin’s Family-Style Feasts (ranging $98 or $120 each), and five different Picnic Boxes (between $37 to $44 each). All items across the menu are seasonal, fresh, and delivered to your box seat when ordered online by 4pm the day before your concert.

That seemed simple and delicious to us. After scanning the menu, we made our way along the tables to try the food, sip the beer and wine, and get a taste of what would be given to those in the venue’s box seats.

With more items than we could grab with one or even two plates, Sara and I made multiple trips to the lines to sample as much as possible. While the falafel, coleslaw, rice, beans, and create-your-own-tacos were aromatic and willfully called my name, they weren’t the food that I was drawn to. Instead, I couldn’t help but return time after time for the Pork Ribs, Early Girl Tomato Salad, Peppered Beef Tenderloin with Horseradish, and Fingerling Potatoes with Wild Mushrooms (individual prices unavailable). If my second and third times around the table should serves as anything, it would be to tell you that the food was truly delicious. Tender meats and juicy vegetables were all I was given by the culinary team and I had little shame in making a repeat visit.

With our fill of the cooking style by chef Goin and wine from Styne, we made our way to our seats to watch the performance. Sara with a can of Golden Road Brewing’s Mango Cart and myself with an over-sized Sprite I would never be able to finish carried us through the latter part of the evening. Instruments that played notes that we’ve never mastered along with moments of silence as beautiful as the melodies that preceded them was a perfect way to end the evening. Not to mention, the cool weather underneath the dark Hollywood sky made this trip one that was more than welcome in my world. My only hope was that the days which followed would be the same. Looking back on them as I write this I can sadly tell you they weren’t. At least I can be thankful for the brief afternoon turned evening that I had previewing the “Supper in Your Seats” menu.

Both me and my deodorant are thankful.

For a complete menu and wine list click here, and to see their calendar of events, click here.

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