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Food Weekend: So Long Foie Gras, Crawfish Boil, Outdoor Movies Galore, Vegan Pizza Day

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From a goodbye to the controversial foie gras, to a hearty helping of vegan pizza, we have your food weekend covered.

From Thursday -- which, really, will only be helpful if you somehow have access to flux capacitors and other time-traveling technology -- through Saturday, Chaya in Beverly Hills is hosting a nightly feast of various foie gras-infused dishes for one final go-round before the California-wide ban on the delicacy goes into effect on July 1st. Available for dinner-goers to choose from are six a la carte specials, including foie gras-pork xiao long bao and filet mignon "Rossini" with seared foie gras and black-truffle jus. Prices vary per dish. Reservations are strongly encouraged, and can be made by dialing 310-859-8833

All day Saturday in Echo Park, notable food blogger quarrygirl is leading a day of chowing down on vegan pizza and gulping down cheap beer for the Vegan Pizza Day Crawl. Among the establishments that will be participating are Mohawk Bend (who will be offering new specialty pizzas), Two Boots (who are selling vegan slices for 15% off their normal price), Masa of Echo Park (who is offering 25% off all vegan deep dish pizzas) and the LA Pizza Co. (who are selling two vegan slices for $4). Sunset Beer Co will also be offering $1 off draught beers for pizza day crawlers.

Saturday in Jefferson Park starting at noon, Harold & Belle's, a Creole institution since 1969, is hosting its 4th annual New Orleans-style block party and crawfish boil. Among the delicacies that will be served throughout the day include gumbo, jambalaya, fried catfish, red beans, hot sausage, and crawfish étouffée. Tickets are $25 if you purchase in advance and $30 if you buy them the day-of.

As is the case on nearly every weekend in L.A. over the summer, there's just a plethora of outdoor movies being broadcast on Saturday night. And all of them come with a wide array of food trucks to get your nosh on during the screening! Among the selections this week include "Transformers" at the Street Food Cinema down in Exposition Park (band Taylor Locke and the Roughs will be rocking out pre-flick), while Santa Monica's Eat|See|Hear will be showing the epic comedy "Zoolander" (pre-show music by The Orwells). So then, the question is: Do you want to laugh, or do you want to see stuff get blown up?

For more food events visit kcet.org/events/food.

Photo of crawfish by Flickr user SMercury98.

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