Tell you more? It’s halfway over already. Each Saturday this August, there’s a party going on in Los Angeles Chinatown. And it’s free to attend.

If you’ve ever been to a trade show in Taichung, Hong Kong, or Guangzhou, you know nobody parties harder than the Chinese. The LAPD might put the kibosh on epic partying, but still…

There will be food trucks (not free), KCRW DJ’s spinning tunes on the iPods, and my pal Eddie Lin from Deep End Dining leading us into who=knows-what sort of exotic Chinese food with chefs from local restaurant Golden Dragon (5pm – 6pm) and Hop Woo BBQ (8pm-9pm).

I’ll be there for the earlier Eddie show. Come out and rediscover Chinatown.

My friends David Vindiola from Smokalicious BBQ and Ryan Chester of The Rub Company are teaming up again this Saturday for their monthly residence at Irvine’s Tanaka Farms. I stopped by last month to check in on my boys, and they’re turning Tanaka’s farm into a delicious place to get schooled on summer cooking. With better attendance, this might happen more than once a month.

David is a cooking instructor from San Diego, and this week’s topic is a kids’ cooking class. See details on his site. Last month’s class was gazpacho and grilling. Check his site for a rotating schedule of topics.

Ryan and his family make BBQ seasonings in Buena Park, and I’m all for supporting local BBQ guys that make a good product. At Tanaka Farms, they set up a Santa Maria style grill and sell tri tip smoked over  oak, just like they do it up in California’s Central Valley. Stop by and get a lunch plate, and take home some of Tanaka’s great produce, grown right there.

The Chesters use their Santa Maria Style rub, a kicked up garlic salt blend with lots of black pepper. While you’re at Tanaka Farms, pick up a bottle of that Santa Maria rub and also their brand new, Competition rub. It’s so new it’s not on their website yet, but I used it last weekend on pork ribs to great effect, and recommend it wholeheartedly…

Tanaka Farms
5380 3/4 University Dr. (corner of Michelson Drive)
Irvine, CA 92612
949-653-2100

Season 2 of TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters show premiers this Thursday August 12 at 10pm / 9pm in CST. I’ll be on the Rib Throwdown episode cooking with Bigmista’s BBQ.

The schedule on TLC’s website is a little confusing – it looks like the Pork Shoulder episode is leading off, so “my” episode may not be first, even though it was shot first. Tune in anyway readers, because lots of familiar face are featured this season.

UPDATE: Danielle Dimovski of DivaQ.ca informs me that our Rib Throwdown episode will air on September 2, 2010.

I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’ve been a media whore the past couple of months. In June, there was the appearance on KCRW’s Good Food radio show coverage of the Que’n For Kids BBQ contest, which you can podcast. Also from this event was Eddie Lin’s video of  me making a bacon explosion.

Then my pal Neil of Bigmista’s BBQ gets the front page of the LA Times Food section, and a quote of mine gets used in it. Through this article and the sidebar story on Neil’s favorite websites (ahem, one of them is mine), someone from San friggin Diego found out about my Smoking 101 class and enrolled. Talk about media reach!

Last week, my photo ran in the TV Guide because I auditioned in February for the new Gordon Ramsay show that premiered this past Tuesday. Although I didn’t make the final selection, the producers chose my photo for their media promo package.  The premise of this game show is 50 amateur cooks compete for the silly title of MasterChef and a $250,000 prize. No, I didn’t wanna be on your stupid Fox network show anyway! Thanks for nothing, Ramsay.

Cooking at the Los Angeles cattle call for MasterChef

Moving forward now, here’s the biggest secret – I’ll be on Season 2 of BBQ Pitmasters, backing up Bigmista along with our teammate Sylvie. We’re competing against three formidable opponents: Johnny Trigg, DivaQ, and Big Poppa Smokers.  The show let the cat out of the bag this week by releasing the preview video, so I guess it’s safe to say my team is featured without breaking the nondisclosure agreement. Tivo TLC on August 12, and you’ll see how we did.