Plate by Plate Los Angeles 2026 took over the Petersen Automotive Museum on Saturday, September 19, turning a museum built around the car into a tasting gala built around a neighborhood. Project by Project Los Angeles packed the fourth-floor rooftop with restaurants from across LA and Orange County, poured cocktails against the Wilshire skyline, and pointed every dollar at the Lincoln Heights Tutorial Program in East Los Angeles. VIP doors opened at 6 p.m., and the night ran until 10.

What happened at Plate by Plate LA 2026

Plate by Plate is Project by Project's signature tasting benefit. One ticket covers unlimited tastings and drinks, and the proceeds go to a single grassroots nonprofit chosen for that year's campaign. The 2026 edition ran under the theme Communities in Action, with general admission on the Petersen's Rooftop Penthouse and Terrace and a separate VIP lounge, the Paddock Club, on the second floor. The motorsport vocabulary came from the building. The lineup was the Pit Lane. General admission was the Grandstand.

Project by Project is a fully volunteer-led national nonprofit, founded in New York in 1998, with chapters in San Francisco since 2001 and Los Angeles since 2009. The organization says it has delivered more than $1 million in monetary impact and worked with more than 57 local nonprofits. Plate by Plate is how most of that money gets raised.

Who cooked on the Pit Lane

The rooftop lineup read like a map of where Asian American food in Southern California actually lives right now. KazuNori came back after pouring hand rolls at the 2025 edition. Peking Tavern, Cafe Dulce, Castaway, Mayura, Mochimas, Unreal Poke, Ho Tok, Picala, Brique French Toastery, Flouring LA, The Plug, 626 Hospitality, Ysidro, Steep LA and Cognoscenti Coffee filled out the Grandstand, with Asahi pouring.

Downstairs, the Paddock Club gave VIP guests a quieter room and a roster of its own: 71Above, Wolf & Crane, Dô Asian Cocktails, Cara Cara at Proper, Wanderlust Creamery and République.

Project by Project billed more than 40 food and beverage partners for the night, well past the roster it published ahead of time. The range was the point. At one end sat KazuNori's hand rolls. At the other, dessert, tea and coffee from Flouring LA, Wanderlust Creamery, Steep LA and Cognoscenti, the stations that tend to hold their lines until the last hour.

The chapter billed live music alongside the tastings. Unlike 2025, when live demos from two headline chefs anchored the program, no celebrity chef demos were announced for 2026. The food and the cause carried the night.

Why a tutoring program in Lincoln Heights

The beneficiary is the story. The Lincoln Heights Tutorial Program serves students in East Los Angeles from first and second generation Asian American and Latino immigrant families. According to the organization, every student it works with comes from a household at or below the federal poverty level, and many are navigating language barriers with few academic resources at home.

That is an unusual place for a Wilshire Boulevard gala to send its money, and that is the point of Communities in Action. Lincoln Heights is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles and one of the least discussed when people talk about Asian LA. Small community organizations like LHTP run on exactly this kind of annual night, and general operating support is the hardest money in the sector to raise. We laid out the full case in our preview of what a Plate by Plate ticket actually funds.

How much did Plate by Plate LA 2026 raise?

Project by Project Los Angeles has not yet announced a final total. The chapter's online giving page set a goal of $88,888 for the night, and we will update this story when the number is released.

From The Revery to the Petersen: 2025 vs. 2026

A year ago, Plate by Plate LA filled The Revery LA on September 20, 2025, with more than 40 restaurant and beverage partners under a Community Development theme, raising money for the Little Tokyo Community Council. That night leaned on star power, with live demos from Tuệ Nguyễn of ĐiĐi and John Liu of Chifa. Our 2025 recap covered it from the floor.

The 2026 edition moved to a bigger stage and a smaller cause. Little Tokyo is a landmark. Lincoln Heights is a neighborhood most Angelenos drive past on the 5. Shifting from preserving a historic Japantown to funding after-school tutoring for immigrant kids is a deliberate move from heritage to the next generation, and it says something about where Project by Project thinks the need sits.

Plate by Plate San Francisco and New York: what is next

Los Angeles was the first of three. The season continues under the same Communities in Action banner.

San Francisco, Saturday, October 17. Project by Project San Francisco brings Plate by Plate to the San Francisco Design Center Galleria with more than 40 Bay Area food and drink partners, including Papa Noodle, Cantoo, Kaiyo, Tiya and Hardwood Bar & Smokery. The beneficiary is the Charity Cultural Services Center, founded by immigrant Harrison Lim to serve newcomers in Chinatown and now running out of Commercial Street and the Bayview. CCSC's culinary training program teaches Chinese, Japanese and Western cooking along with barista and bartender certification, which makes a tasting gala a fitting way to fund it. If you caught Chinatown Night Out this month, this is the same neighborhood's working side.

New York, Saturday, November 7. Project by Project New York, the founding chapter, closes the season at Lavan Midtown in Hell's Kitchen with more than 40 culinary and beverage partners, among them Yoon Haeundae Galbi, Boon Dee BBQ, Chalong Southern Thai, Pokeworks and Kato Sake Works. Proceeds go to Mekong NYC, a Bronx organization founded in 2012 that works for dignity and justice for Southeast Asian communities through organizing, arts and culture, and social services, with roots in youth organizing that goes back to the welfare fights of the late 1990s.

Three cities, three neighborhood organizations: a tutoring program in East LA, a job training center in Chinatown, a Southeast Asian community group in the Bronx. None of them are household names. Taken together, the 2026 slate is a clear read on where AAPI philanthropy is pointing its money this year, not at national campaigns but at the block.

Tickets for San Francisco and New York are at platebyplate.org.