I don’t know about you but all of this palette vs palate vs pallet stuff can get confusing! Your “palate” is the roof of your mouth, your sense of taste.  A “palette” is the flat board an artist mixes paint on and a “pallet” is a flat platform onto which goods are loaded. Look, all this Secret Stalker Agent knows is that a glass of bubbly tastes smashing on her palate, while painting on a canvas with palette in hand and the delivery man is ringing the doorbell to deliver a pallet of shoes from Barney’s!

One thing that was not confusing however, was the incredible event held at The Laguna Art Museum. On May 18 the museum transformed into a unique venue, featuring the culinary talents of Chef Craig Strong of Studio at Montage Laguna Beach. He hails from Pasadena and was crowned as one of the top chefs in Los Angeles by Modern Luxury. If Vincent Van Gogh would have experienced this event he would have never cut off his ear! The cuisine and highly acclaimed wines of Ramey Wine Cellars was complemented by the work of ten artists, presented at each of the dining tables and throughout the gallery.  Participating artists included Suhas Bhujbal and Siddharth Parasnis, Larry Fodor, Laurie Frick, Hacer, Gregory Hull, Jason Kowalski, Ali Smith, James Verbicky, Feodor Voronov, and Jean Wells.  It seems a good sculptor is often a great cook and a high qualified chef can sometimes paint. Both require a flair for creativity, right? To me cooking is an art form, especially when it comes to presentation, so the combination of Food & Art together with sophisticated wine? Now that’s a delicious masterpiece!

*  Photos by Ann Chatillo