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Los Angeles Times
27-02-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
10 Black-owned dessert spots in L.A. for a little something sweet
Family-owned Crustees bakery in View Park-Windsor Hills stands out with sweet and savory pies, including key lime, lemon meringue, peach cobbler and a curry chicken pot pie. Feb. 27, 2025 1:37 PM PT 'I just need a little something sweet.' It was a predictable post-dinner refrain growing up, stated matter-of-factly by my mother, Southern grandmother or aunts, as though they were prescribing themselves dessert. The assertion was made regardless of the meal we'd just eaten, whether it was a simple weeknight dinner or a generous spread at a holiday gathering. The necessity of dessert — nothing too heavy, just a taste of something sweet — never waned. Now I find myself doing the same thing, searching for the ideal treat that will perfectly round out my meal. In those moments, I gravitate to the classic Southern desserts I was raised on: cinnamon-swirled Sock-It-To-Me cake, crumbly 7-Up poundcake with a delicate lemon-lime glaze, peach cobbler and sweet potato pie with flaky, buttery crusts that prove just as delicious as the filling. Thankfully, Los Angeles has plenty of Black-owned dessert shops ready to curb my craving. On South Central Avenue, a landmark bakery now in its third generation of family ownership represents the largest manufacturer of sweet potato pie on the West Coast. In View Park-Windsor Hills, another family-run spot specializing in sweet and savory pies proudly serves the neighborhood they've called home for years. The Black-led sweets scene is also expanding with fresh bakeries that bring new influences, including a French-inspired cookie shop in West Adams and a hip-hop-themed sticky bun pop-up at Smorgasburg L.A. Here are 10 Black-owned spots to visit next time you need something sweet to complete your meal: No matching places! Try changing or resetting your filters Showing Places Downtown L.A. Bakery $ This family-owned dessert pop-up launched during the pandemic when a cinnamon roll craving hit and all of the go-to spots were closed. Co-owner and head baker Lindsay Sears-McDonald set about perfecting a recipe, and after testing it out on family and friends, decided to launch a cinnamon roll-focused pop-up alongside her husband, Lawrence, and son Dom. The menu draws inspiration from old-school hip-hop acts, including the classic Big Poppa, loaded with cinnamon and cream cheese, and the Missy Elliott that's topped with strawberry shortcake crumbles and fresh strawberries. All About the Cinnamon joined Smorgasburg L.A.'s Sunday lineup in 2023 and is still going strong, with plans to open a bakery in Sherman Oaks this spring. The bricks-and-mortar will feature an expanded menu that spans savory items including a pizza bun named after Alicia Keys and a soft Philadelphia-style pretzel bun dubbed the Will Smith. The buns can also be purchased online or via Instagram DM. Route Details Harvard Heights Bakery $$ By Danielle Dorsey This is the dessert shop for cheesecake lovers. Owner Amili Williams blends his grandmother's recipe with a variety of flavors and in a host of desserts, including pecan pie cheesecake, banana pudding cheesecake and a peach cobbler cheesecake, all available by the slice or as whole pies. If you can't decide, try the Cali Love sampler that offers one slice of strawberry, chocolate chip, peach cobbler and sweet potato cheesecake. Like many food businesses, Cali Love Pie has struggled to stay afloat and has an ongoing GoFundMe campaign to raise money for necessary repairs and new equipment. Route 1570 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, California 90006 Route Details View Park-Windsor Hills Bakery $ R&B hits blare from a standing speaker that props open the door to Crustees, a quick-service restaurant and bakery on Slauson Avenue in View Park-Windsor Hills. After first gaining popularity at local farmers markets for its peach cobbler with a flaky, two-layer pie crust, head baker Sharon Washington, alongside her husband, Carl, and son Steven, opened their bricks-and-mortar six years ago in the neighborhood they've called home for years. The menu has since expanded with pecan, key lime, lemon meringue, banana pudding ('We have the best banana pudding,' says Steven.) and savory pies that put creative twists on classic options, including a chicken pot pie with a Thai-inspired curry sauce and a shepherd's pie topped with cheesy truffle mashed potatoes, plus jalapeño-cheddar cornbread, turkey chili and a gumbo pie that's only available on weekends. The 5-inch pies are perfect when you want to satisfy a sweet tooth in one sitting. The titular peach is bright with nutmeg and cinnamon, with a thick crust made with vegetable shortening, but the key lime that features a buttery graham cracker crust, perfectly tart key lime curd and is topped with tiny swirls of whipped cream and zested with lime, ended up being my favorite. Route Details West Adams Bakery $ By Danielle Dorsey The menu at Lara Adekoya's West Adams cookie-centric bakery changes with the seasons and as new inspiration strikes the baker-owner who started baking during the pandemic and opened a bricks-and-mortar last year. As our version of winter gradually gives way to spring, new additions include a peanut butter and Nutella option and Neapolitan and Meyer lemon shortbread cookies. Adekoya's craggy, palm-size cookies also come in classic snickerdoodle, oatmeal raisin with walnut and oozy chocolate chip flavors, plus house creations that blend French and floral influence, including lavender vanilla chai and a cookie with raspberry, pistachio and white chocolate. The shop is close to a number of neighborhood spots, including Alta Adams, Bee Taqueria and Mian, in case you need a sweet treat after a meal. On March 23, Adekoya will host a citywide scavenger hunt to celebrate the bakery's one-year anniversary. Route Details Pasadena Southern Desserts $ By Danielle Dorsey Opened since 2002, the Gourmet Cobbler Factory has supplied more than one of my family's holiday dinners with a catering-size tray of peach cobbler, particularly when my aunt would host at her former Altadena home not far from the Pasadena bakery. The buttery, honey-baked double crust gives way to soft peaches warm with cinnamon, though apple, blackberry, blueberry, cherry, lemon meringue and mixed-berry cobblers are also on the menu, along with sweet potato and pecan pie. A full barbecue menu is available if you decide to dine-in, but ending your meal with a slice of cobbler served a la mode is a must. Route Details Inglewood Bakery American $ By Danielle Dorsey Before you enter Ms Ruby's Bakery in downtown Inglewood, you'll see a sticker in the front window boasting red velvet cake as the specialty item, with a thick slice of the dessert painted underneath. You can walk in and order it by the slice or call in advance for a whole cake, in addition to popular Southern desserts like Sock-It-to-Me cake, pecan and sweet potato pies and lemon poundcake. If you're in the mood for something savory, burgers and tacos are made to order and meals are served with natural-cut fries generously doused in a seasoning blend. Ms Ruby likely will be busy behind the counter when you visit but makes a point of greeting every customer. Route Details Mid-Wilshire Soul Food Californian $$ By Danielle Dorsey At My 2 Cents, chef-owner and homegrown Angeleno Alisa Reynolds combines Southern staples with local, seasonal produce and regional trends. For example, most of the menu is gluten-free, with plenty of plant-based options. For dessert, I direct your attention to the strawberry cake made by Reynolds' sister Teresa Fountain, perfectly moist and light with hand-whipped icing and fresh strawberries that come through in every bite of the blush-pink cake with no added food dye. Also baked by Fountain, the brown-sugar caramel cake and peach cobbler prove just as impressive. Cakes can often be made gluten-free or vegan with advance notice. Route Details Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw Bakery $ By Danielle Dorsey The dessert shop from 'Cupcake Wars' winners Catarah Coleman and Shoneji Robison anchors the entrance of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, with a few tables for enjoying treats on the spot. Cupcakes are the primary allure here, in flavors such as vanilla buttercream, red velvet and sweet potato that you can mix and match in packs ranging from two to 12. Cakes and pies are available by the slice or whole with advance notice, including lemon poundcake, coffee cake, German chocolate pie and sweet potato pie. My go-to order is the butter cookie that's reminiscent of a tea cake and described as 'a chocolate chip cookie without the chocolate chips,' with a golden-brown edge and a soft, raised middle. It's simple, satisfying and surprisingly addictive — I always buy more than I can finish in one sitting but immediately freeze a few so I won't be tempted to ignore my full stomach and keep eating. Route Details Inglewood Bakery $ Teacher-turned-baker Karolyn Plummer started pursuing her passion for baking in 2000 and landed in an Inglewood strip mall across from SoFi Stadium in 2019, with additional locations in Torrance and Menifee, as well as two franchise locations in Atlanta. The menu includes staple desserts within the Black community, including 7-Up poundcake, red velvet cake and a range of cakes and cookies bursting with pecans. When I'm feeling nostalgic, the light and not-too-sweet pound cake is my go-to, but the coffee cake with a thick crumbly crust pairs perfectly with a strong cup of coffee If I arrive on the earlier side. The peach cobbler nachos — a new item featuring a pile of crispy, buttery pie crusts coated in cinnamon and loaded with caramelized peaches and whipped cream — are also a must order. Route Details Central-Alameda Bakery $ This South L.A. bakery specializing in Southern desserts is a neighborhood institution that's now in its third generation of family ownership. Led by Al and Jeanette Pickens, the bakery has grown to become the largest supplier of sweet potato pies on the West Coast and it's easy to see why. The crust is perfectly flaky and the sweet potato filling is whipped to a light consistency. I had every intention of only taking a bite or two when I unwrapped my personal-size pie and before I knew it, I was scraping crumbs of buttery crust from the aluminum tin in attempts to extend my sweet treat. A variety of pies, cobblers, cheesecakes and cakes are available to order whole or by the slice, and old-fashioned tea cakes occasionally make an appearance. Route Details Get our weekly Tasting Notes newsletter for reviews, news and more. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
11-02-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
8 L.A. supper clubs that pair good food with live music
Guests mingle and wait for a seat at the bar inside Somerville on Slauson Avenue. Feb. 11, 2025 3 AM PT The sloping View Park-Windsor Hills neighborhood bustles during the day as residents grab smoothies from Simply Wholesome market, order pies from Crustees or walk the track at Reuben Engold Park. But with few late-night dining and nightlife options, the unincorporated community turns sleepy after dark. That's changing with the opening of Somerville, a swanky spot on Slauson Avenue from partners Yonnie Hagos and Ajay Relan of GVO Hospitality, behind five locations of Hilltop Coffee (including one just next door) and Lost, a Mexico City-inspired rooftop in downtown. With modern continental cuisine and a full cocktail menu with live bands that take the stage every night, the space brings the supper club model to a South L.A. neighborhood steeped in Black history. The immersive lounge pays homage to Central Avenue, a once-thriving thoroughfare that, for decades, served as the heartbeat of L.A.'s Black community with a strip of jazz and blues clubs that brought big-name musicians such as Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday to their stages. The restaurant is named after Hotel Somerville, a former mainstay on the avenue that's since been converted into Dunbar Hotel, a senior living center. 'We wanted to create our version of what that era might have been,' said Relan. Since Somerville launched last November, it's not uncommon to see clusters of guests draped in stylish furs and beaded gowns idling near the Slauson and Overhill intersection, hoping to snag a seat at what's quickly become one of the city's toughest reservations. The lounge belongs to a growing supper club scene in Los Angeles, one that spans a long-running showcase in Los Feliz, a Glassell Park sandwich shop that flips to an evening jazz club and a clandestine wine bar in Highland Park. Here are nine L.A. supper clubs to visit next time you're craving dinner alongside a live show. No matching places! Try changing or resetting your filters Showing Places Glassell Park American $$ By day, it's one of L.A.'s favorite bakeries and dinettes. By night, on Sundays and Mondays, it's a low-lit jazz haven. Bub and Grandma's is perhaps best known for its stellar and sprawling bread operation, its pies and some of the best sandwiches in town but at BG Nites — the only time you'll find the Glassell Park restaurant open past 3 p.m. — it hosts a rotation of jazz ensembles near the front windows, dims the lights, pours the wine and lets the night unfold in a neighborhood-restaurant setting. Trios, solo pianists, experimental groups and more provide the soundtrack to a special menu that includes many of the Bub and Grandma's daytime hits, plus BG Nites-exclusive dishes such as roast chicken with tangy white barbecue sauce; a succulent burger on a pillowy house-made bun; and vinegar-laced steak tartare. This is a jazz night with comforting food and a cozy, casual feel. Find each month's BG Nites lineup on Instagram , and be sure to time your arrival around 6 and 8 p.m., when the sets begin. Route Details Beverly Hills Italian $$$ By Stephanie Breijo Cipriani's upstairs jazz club boasts both style and substance. The world-famous restaurant — founded in Venice, Italy, nearly a century ago — serves a full menu of fresh pastas, steaks and Italian specialties on white tablecloths in the ground-floor dining room, but ascend the stairs and you'll find the new Jazz Café. Here, small palm trees bend in S-shapes from the walls over zebra-patterned banquettes, servers clad in white tuxedo jackets offer tremendous service, and the music rotates throughout the evening. The vibe is that of Hollywood's Golden Era or supper clubs of the 1930s and '40s, with performers often donning evening gowns or suits with fedoras, and their songs range from jazz standards with trios and quartets to frontman-forward silken soul. Many of its attendees don their own finest in a nod to the theme. An abbreviated menu features Cipriani's signature Italian dishes and sips, including whole veal chops, pastas and caviar — as well as beef carpaccio and the Bellini (white peach puree and Prosecco), which Cipriani's founder Giuseppe Cipriani is credited with creating — plus a new selection of smaller, snackier items like egg-and-anchovy sandwiches. Tables tend to book out weeks in advance, so keep an eye on reservations before heading over. Route Details Toluca Lake Jazz venue By Danielle Dorsey It's a rainy Wednesday evening, but every table at Verse is occupied, filled with couples on a date night, groups of friends celebrating birthdays and music-industry types obscured behind sunglasses and furs. The nondescript exterior gives way to a moody dining room with spacious seating facing a stage that's back lit with built-in bookshelves, making the entire affair feel like you're private dining in some millionaire's upscale den. The restaurant, our server tells us, features 58 strategically placed speakers that pipe in clear, even sound no matter where you're seated. Live bands take to the stage each night, including residencies from notable names such as Terrace Martin and Ozomatli, the latter of whom is ongoing every Thursday in February. The menu from chef Oscar Torres pulls broad Mesoamerican and Mexican influences, resulting in creative plates including maple-glazed pork belly over butternut squash risotto, Mediterranean octopus and squid ink-glazed potatoes floating in a moat of pipian verde and cheesecake topped with briny caviar for dessert. The cocktail menu features creative and classic options, including a Negroni blanco with mezcal. Route Details View Park-Windsor Hills Soul Food New American $$$ Entering Somerville feels like stepping back in time, with velvet-clad booths, Art Deco light fixtures that cast the space in a sepia glow, and a grand piano that anchors the stage under a crystal chandelier and billowing canopy. The menu from chef Geter Atienza (formerly of New York's Bouchon Bakery and Broken Spanish) blends steakhouse, new American and soul food influences, and local musicians of note such as Terrace Martin regularly take the stage. Menu highlights include fried chicken sliders smeared with honey mustard and caviar-dotted crème fraîche, and a creamy lasagna with braised collard greens. The beverage menu features a wine list curated by Westside Winos, the group behind West L.A.'s Offhand Wine Bar, with a similar emphasis on West Coast and organic wines, and the cocktails are named after jazz and soul hits. Try a Love Supreme, a chartreuse-hued drink with rice vodka, Midori, Cointreau and lemon. Route Details Downtown L.A. Italian $$ Wander down the mirrored hallway until you find yourself in the bustling lobby restaurant in downtown's Per La hotel, with coffered ceilings, plush booths and a marble fireplace that towers in the back of the room. Originally built as the Bank of Italy headquarters in 1922, the hotel features Italian-inspired touches throughout, and the restaurant menu follows suit, along with plenty of local influence. That means you'll choose between dishes such as salmon crudo in a zesty pomegranate sauce with Fresno chiles, orecchiette with short rib guajillo ragu and Sicilian-style duck over apple and celery root puree. Cocktails weave similar themes, including Ciao Bella with gin, Creme de Violette, sparkling wine and lavender, and a mezcal Negroni with white cacao and chocolate mole bitters. A brief wine list includes West Coast and European bottles. Live jazz bands play near the host stand every Thursday from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Route Details Beverly Grove Italian $$ By Stephanie Breijo It's hard to tell which takes center stage: the food or the piano. At the first standalone restaurant from Francesco Zimone, who owns the L.A. and Santa Barbara locations of the world-renowned L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele, both vie for their place in the spotlight. Zimone's new Beverly Grove restaurant puts the piano in the center of the dining room, where live music can be found every Thursday to Saturday from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Pianists might be joined by an upright bass, a trumpet, a vocalist or some combination thereof — and sometimes play more than one instrument themselves. To dine, find Tuscan cuisine with upscale flair: There are Wagyu meatballs simmered with heirloom tomatoes; house-made ravioli stuffed with braised oxtail; caviar-topped linguine with scampi tartare; dry-aged steaks; and more. The wine list — nearly all Italian — offers plenty of range to complement the jazz no matter your mood or tastes. Florence Osteria and Piano Bar is chic without feeling stuffy, a casual but elegant night set to music. Route Details Santa Monica American $$$ By Danielle Dorsey This basement speakeasy attached to the Georgian Hotel feels like the sort of old-school-inspired haunt where, decades ago, you might have seen Frank Sinatra flirting with some Hollywood starlet in the corner, in between sets played on the Steinway & Sons piano built into the golden quartzite bar. No cell phones are allowed and you'll have to make a reservation to be shown to its secret alleyway entrance, but this only adds to the time capsule allure. The food blends Italian and classic steakhouse influence, including doppio ravioli with braised lamb shoulder (get the truffle supplement) and grilled lamb sirloin with smoked tomato jam, with classic sides such as cream spinach. The beverage menu features a worldly wine list and house cocktails that put a modern spin on classic drinks, such as Ruby Slipper, based on a Manhattan but with scotch, port wine and absinthe. Route Details Los Feliz Jazz venue By Stephanie Breijo An institution, a time warp, a neighborhood watering hole, a steakhouse, a musicians' gathering place: The Dresden remains all of these things and more at 70 years and going strong. The 1950s aesthetic lends to the eternal charm of this Los Feliz landmark, which is split into two sections. In the main dining room, large curved white booths and rouge-colored walls make a striking setting for a full menu of steaks, chops and pastas. The other half of the space comes to life with music from Wednesday to Sunday, when soloists and bands let it rip in front of the lounge section's rock wall, and play to the guests perched on bar stools or on the swiveling chairs at low tables lit by candles. The abbreviated lounge menu includes Americana stalwarts such as wedge salads, prime rib French dip sandwiches and a fanciful shrimp cocktail served in a vintage vessel with a silver rim to trap the tails' shells. This is a space that calls for a martini or two as you take in one of L.A.'s most consistently diverse jazz lineups: There are Old Hollywood-inspired crooners, jammy modern ensembles, soft instrumental sets, funk trios, yacht rock covers and more, depending on the night of the week. Casual and with a crowd just as eclectic as its programming, this remains one of the city's most fun live-music finds to pair with good food. There are never any covers at the Dresden, but note there is a two-drink minimum on Fridays and Saturdays. Route Details Get our weekly Tasting Notes newsletter for reviews, news and more. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
