It rained much of this past weekend in SoCal and I was mostly content to lay under the covers and read a book. Add in the time change (why? WHY?) and it seemed unlikely that I’d ever leave the house. But, yesterday I had complimentary passes to Cochon 555 and its siren song of endless pork and cocktails proved too strong so I traded in my cozy bed for the posh Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica.

About a week ago i told you all about Cochon 555 – the celebration of heritage pork that found 5 leading SoCal chefs each cooking a whole pig and competing to be the “prince of pork.”  Brian Redzikowski of Kettner Exchange,Sammy Monsour of Preux & Proper, Thomas Bille of Otium, Hugo Bolanos of Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel-Air and Lord Maynard Llera of Mason each created a plethora of unique bites that I happily worked my way through.

Filling myself with creative takes on dumplings, tacos, soup, sausage and even Frito pie I was in porcine heaven. It was hard pressed for me to chose a winning chef but Brian Redzikowski prevailed in the popular vote. Congratulations to a job well done!

Of course, I needed something to wash down all that pork and, man, were there a range of options. Pick your favorite liquor and I’m sure it was represented. If only my liver could handle it all! I did enjoy a sampling of whiskey from Breckenridge…

a refreshing Collins from Effen Vodka…

and an amazing, amazing current punch made by Janet Kim of Petite Taqueria.

As delicious as the food and drinks were the best part of the event was that over $13.000 was raised for the non-profit Piggy Bank. A delicious afternoon culminating in a hefty donation to a good cause? Now that’s worth leaving the house for!