The Brief

Can Los Angeles Unified top a beloved coffee cake?

The crumb-topped cinnamon confection has been a cafeteria staple for years, but it might have competition from a new breakfast pastry: a guava apple pastelito with local flavor and 16 grams of whole grains.

“I like the filling since it almost tastes like a bread from Porto’s,” said New Open World Academy 8th-grader Arnold. He took an audibly crunchy first bite at a tasting before the start of the most recent school year.

His sister Ashley agreed that the pastry tastes like the one from the iconic L.A. Cuban bakery. “It doesn't even taste weird,” she said. “I like the flavor.”

High praise from a 6th grader.

Ashley and Arnold, like every California student, can get a free breakfast, lunch and snack at school regardless of their family’s income, but taste and variety are an important factor in whether students grab a tray.

Nearly 1 in 5 L.A. County kids live in food insecure households and 4 in 5 LAUSD students qualify for free and reduced prices meals, which is often a proxy for low-income families.

“We wanna make sure every kid who's coming to school is getting those three meals every day, because I don't know what their situation may be at home,” said Director of Food Services Manish Singh. “So let's find ways to make it happen.”

How are the pastelitos prepared and served?

Los Angeles Unified faces the task of serving meals that meet federal nutrition guidelines, are affordable, and that its 389,000 students actually want to eat. It serves about 250,000 breakfasts daily.

Last May, the district reached out to longtime supplier Buena Vista Foods to expand the variety of vegan breakfast options.

In addition to making the district’s beloved coffee cake mix, the Azusa-based company produces muffins, cookies and croissants that meet the federal nutrition standards for school meals. Those guidelines require whole grains and limit sodium, saturated fat and added sugar.

“We feel it's definitely a very big responsibility for us that we're providing food to kids all across the country,” said Buena Vista Foods President Laura Bruno. “We don't take that responsibility lightly.”

Over several months, Buena Vista sent LAUSD several versions of a flaky, layered pastry made with whole grain flour and without butter.

The vegan guava apple pastelito debuted at LAUSD's cafeteria this fall and is scheduled to be back on the menu this spring.

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“They gave us the guava and we were like, stop — done,” said district culinary innovation chef Jamie Ginsburg. “This is delicious.”

The pastelitos are shipped frozen and heated up in school ovens.

Ginsburg said while the district is working to increase on-site cooking in school cafeterias, convenience matters for students who may only have a few minutes for breakfast before the bell rings or who eat in their classroom.

“We're kind of in that balance right now where we're trying to elevate our schools, but we also have to have some things that are a little bit easier to make,” Ginsburg said.

Students are ready for more options

Ashley and Arnold, the New Open World Academy students, said they eat breakfast and lunch at school most days.

Research shows universal school meals can be associated with increased attendance and academic performance.

“They give us the best options so we can have healthy food,” Arnold said. For example, the “very sweet” oranges.

“That's probably one of my favorite foods,” he said. “And if they're gonna add more, well, I'll be glad to taste them.”

Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman presented the nominees for the 98th Academy Awards this morning. The awards ceremony will be held on March 15. You can watch the announcement above, or check back soon for a full list of nominees.

Copyright 2026 NPR

After a warm spell, winter weather has returned to Southern California.

Thursday's rainfall will be on the drizzly, scattered end of things. The National Weather Service forecasts around a quarter inch of rainfall through Friday. Any snowfall will stick to the 8,000-foot elevation range Thursday, and drop down to around 6,000 feet by Friday.

As for temperatures, it's going to be another relatively cool day.

We're looking at highs in the mid 60s from the coasts to the valleys, and up to 68 degrees in the Inland Empire. In the Antelope Valley, temperatures will range from 54 to 63 degrees. And in Coachella Valley, expect daytime highs from 69 to 74 degrees and dry conditions.

The Sundance Film Festival begins for the last time in Park City, Utah, before heading to Boulder, Colo., next year. It's a bittersweet finale for the country's premier independent film festival, founded by Robert Redford in 1978.

With a gala, the festival plans to pay tribute to the late actor and director, who died of natural causes in September.

"Before he passed earlier this year, [Redford] shared with us this quote: 'Everybody has a story,'" says the festival's director, Eugene Hernandez. "This notion is such a great framing for a festival that has always been about finding and sharing with audiences the stories that come from all over the world."

This year, the festival will screen films that got their starts at Sundance, including Little Miss Sunshine, which went on to be nominated for best picture at the 2007 Oscars.

The festival will also screen a remastered print of the 1969 movie Downhill Racer, in which Redford plays a champion skier. Redford was also a producer on this indie film.

"He would tell this story year after year about getting Downhill Racer made," recalls Sundance senior programmer John Nein. "It became a way that he understood the notion of protecting independence and protecting the artistic voice of a film. He often used that when he talked to emerging filmmakers, to relate to the struggles that they had in getting their films made the way that they wanted to."

Nein says one way to recognize that legacy is by programming 40 percent of the slate from first-time filmmakers. More than 16,200 films were submitted from 164 countries. Throughout the year, the Sundance Institute hosts labs and programs and provides grants and fellowships for independent filmmakers.

Over the years, Sundance has been a launching pad for filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, Ava DuVernay, The Coen brothers, Ryan Coogler, Chloe Zhao and Paul Thomas Anderson.

Another filmmaker whose career Sundance supported is Rachel Lambert, who says she was inspired by a film Redford directed: Ordinary People.

"It's a profound legacy a single human being can leave an entire nation's culture," she says of Redford. "It's remarkable."

Lambert will premiere her newest film, Carousel, a love story starring Chris Pine and Jenny Slate.

Also showing at Sundance: documentaries about Chicano theater pioneer Luis Valdez, singer Courtney Love, tennis star Billie Jean King, and South African leader Nelson Mandela.

Among the features in competition is The Gallerist with Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega.

Another is The Invite, with Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton. The Invite's producer, David Permut, has been faithfully attending Sundance since the late 1980s, when he was in the audience for Steven Soderbergh's breakout Sex, Lies, and Videotape. 

"I never miss Sundance. I've been going every year since," says Permut. "I stay for 10 days, I'm not in and out like a lot of people from Hollywood when they're there with their film. I love the second week because it's basically cinephiles from all over the world."

Permut showed his first film at Sundance — Three of Hearts — in 1993. Last year, his film Twinless won the festival's audience award.

"I have 57 movies I want to see this coming Sundance," he says. "For me, it's about discovery."

Actress Hana Mana in <em>The Friend's House Is Here</em>. The film was smuggled out of Iran to premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

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Alma Linda Films

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Some filmmakers have gone to great lengths to get their work screened this year — including the Iranian film The Friend's House is Here.

The drama—set in Tehran's underground art scene — was shot under the radar of Iranian authorities. Amid the country's recent political turmoil, members of the film's crew had to drive 11 hours to smuggle the film over the Turkish border to get it to the festival. According to the film's publicist, the film's two main actresses were not heard from for weeks during Iran's recent unrest. The publicist says the women are now safe but have been denied visas by the United States to attend Sundance.
Copyright 2026 NPR

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Why it matters: Pasadena’s claim to the cheeseburger is a significant part of Southern California's food history, with direct ties to car culture and roadside dining.

Who's participating: Nearly 50 restaurants are taking part, including Dog Haus Biergarten, Pie 'n Burger, the Taproom at the Langham Huntington Hotel and Magnolia House. There are also week-only specials, including Tardino Bros. Italian Kitchen's chili cheeseburger pizza and Burrito Express' smashburger taco.

Why now: It’s a perfect opportunity to explore some of those Pasadena spots that you've been meaning to try (and a good way to fire up your palate before LAist’s citywide Tournament of Cheeseburgers later this year!).