Did we mention this whole thing is positioned as a NorCal v. SoCal showdown? Well, Ted Allen said it again during the Michelin Stars of Los Angeles dinner last night, rallying the audience to rate the dishes and proclaim a winner via Twitter. (After giving an amusing ode to the “red teeth-ed girls” of the festival.)

I didn’t attend Friday's dinner, but the rumblings were that L.A. may have us beat. Crowd favorites were a Japanese kanpachi by Michael Cimarusti and an inspired venison with tomato-kumquat jam from David Myers. (Check out a photo play by play of the meal on our twitter feed.) Though it was Nancy Silverton’s dessert that put it in the bag for our rival city, with a bittersweet chocolate cake with perugian chocolates (check it out here —though a semi phallic presentation, no?). The Twitterati (and my table, who included Tom Michaels of Tennessee Truffle, the largest truffle farm in the U.S.) went wild for this one.

We'll let the tweets from the evening speak for themselves.

Here's the menu...