Executive Chef Andrew Gruel of the rapidly growing Slapfish empire with restaurants in Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, LAX, Irvine at UCI and, most recently, Brea, is back as today’s special Guest Host. Last month in Chicago he received Nation’s Restaurant News’ Trendsetter MenuMaster Award for Slapfish.

Now a provocatively tempting preview of Saturday’s abundant show and not, with profuse apologies, for dieters. If we’re doing it right we will always leave you incredibly hungry and thirsty. In our case that’s actually a pretty good thing…

Journalist Brock Radke is, fortunately, no stranger to the SoCal Restaurant Show. He’s a genuine Las Vegas insider. Brock is Managing Editor of Las Vegas Weekly and has been covering Las Vegas for more than 15 years. He joins us for a long overdue update on the Las Vegas dining scene. First up is a report on The Strip.

We hear the word “artisanal” all the time—attached to cheese, chocolate, coffee, even Subway sandwiches—but what does it actually mean? Now, from Los Angeles Magazine restaurant critic and multiple James Beard Award winner Patric Kuh comes FINDING THE FLAVORS WE LOST: From Bread to Bourbon, How Artisans Reclaimed American Food. It’s an insightful exploration of the cultural demand for “artisanal” foods in a world where corporate agribusiness has co-opted the very concept. Patric is our guest.

Chicago’s Steve Dolinsky is a serious food journalist with impressive credentials. He’s the recipient of an unprecedented 13 James Beard Awards for his outstanding work on TV and in radio. He’s ABC 7 TV’s (Chicago) “The Hungry Hound.” We’ll meet him.

It’s just about time for the 29^th Annual Hoag Summer Classicc featuring great food and live musical performances at Newport Dunes in Newport Beach. More than 30 of Orange County’s most crave-worthy restaurants will be serving incredible tastes from their menus. Joining us with all the edible details are Jonathan Blackford from A Restaurant (a returning participating restaurant) and the Hoag Hospital Foundations’ Deb McCune.

Chef Andrew Gruel recently returned from a week in New York. He has some further observations on the New York dining scene. He partook of a New York classic in SoHo, Keith McNally’s Balthazar, and something relatively new in breakfast, OatMeals, the world’s first oatmeal bar and using whole grain steel-cut oats. He also shares his impressions of the New York dining scene as compared to the Los Angeles dining scene and the influences of social media in both market areas.

All of this and lots more absolutely incredible deliciousness on Saturday’s show!

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