The Brief

That dream event for a food writer, the L.A. County Fair, starts today at the Pomona Fairplex, and runs through May 26.

What better way to test your palate — and stomach — than scarfing down fried food in all its rainbow variety? So earlier this week, I went to the fairgrounds to attend the media food preview.

I was accompanied by a cadre of local food influencers I recognized from Instagram and TikTok. (Like me, their family members are no doubt asking them if this is really what they do for work.)

Howdy, Thummer — so named because he appears to have been hitching a ride since his debut 75 years ago.

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L.A. County Fair

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We were given goodie bags with various branded L.A. County Fair ephemera, much of which includes the likeness of an anthropomorphized cartoon pig named Thummer, who has been the face of the fair organization since 1948. He looks good for being in his 70s — not a wrinkle on him. (He's named Thummer because his hoof looks like he's thumbing a ride).

In addition to the Thummer-themed goodies, the bag contained a white bucket hat. I was instructed to take it to a booth where an airbrush artist would personalize it with my name and a couple of preselected designs. So I dropped it off and was told to pick it up later. More on that soon.

So there we all were on a slightly overcast morning in Pomona, where internet culture and fair culture mixed like a cartoon crossover episode warning about the dangers of taking drugs. Yet, instead of a moral message, my compatriots and I were primarily focused on how many creative angles we could film ourselves stuffing our faces under the best lighting.

I peeled myself off, made a plan for my review of the fairgrounds tasting menu, and set off.

Meatball mozzarella corn dog

Much like the name itself, this was a mouthful. But not in the ways that you’d expect.

My first bite of the battered "dog" was not what I'd hoped — juicy meatball, gooey cheese. Instead, I got a large helping of only slightly melted mozzarella, which felt somewhat disappointing.

I took matters into my own hands, removing the dog from its stick, tearing it apart and searching for the meat as our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have. I was successful. But the meatball lacked any seasoning and couldn't be rescued, despite numerous dunkings into a side of marinara sauce.

Rating: 1 out of 5

Anaheim chile poppers

The Anaheim chile popper, topped with a cheese sauce and crushed Flamin’ Hot Cheetos ranked high in our taste test.

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Gab Chabrán

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LAist

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Next up was a series of grilled Anaheim chiles, cooked down and dolloped with a queso-like dip, almost bechamel adjacent, similar to what might be found in a homemade macaroni and cheese. It was then sprinkled with crumbled-up bits of hot Cheetos.

I was surprised how much I liked this. Perhaps I was showing my age, but the simple construction of peppers, cheese, and spicy bits worked exceptionally well.

I’m not usually one to go for Hot Cheeto-branded products for fear that it might wreak a certain kind of havoc on my insides, but this particular dish felt decently balanced. (And indeed kept my insides intact).

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Jerk lobster mac and cheese

The jerk lobster mac and cheese, a savory bomb, filled with spice.

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Gab Chabrán

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LAist

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Speaking of mac ‘n cheese, it was time for the next dish, which felt like something conjured by Chat GPT when you type "fair food.” To my surprise, this dish with its bookoo flavors managed to walk the line between salty and spicy hot.

The meatiness of the lobster was so prominent that I pondered how many lobsters had lost their limbs for this dish. Despite that passing thought, I continued with more forkfuls, chasing the spice dragon to get my fix, with the flavors releasing just the right amount of dopamine in my brain.

After finally coming to my senses, I found myself extraordinarily thirsty but still feeling like a million bucks, and it was time to find something to drink before I consumed my next dish.

Rating: 3 out 5

Pickle lemonade

LAist Food Editor, Gab Chabrán, ponders his fate while taking a sip of pickle lemonade.

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Marcellina Chappelle

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LAist

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Luckily, the good people at Hot Dog on a Stick had me covered. The local chain has been around since 1946 (making it two years older than one Thummer the pig), when it made its debut at Muscle Beach near the Santa Monica Pier.

The chain has built a name for itself slinging corn dogs and lemonade, and we were greeted by a row of employees wearing the iconic red, white, blue and yellow uniforms. This particular day, however, they had a new addition to the menu: pickle lemonade.

To say that I love pickles would be a drastic understatement. My fridge at home contains at least a couple of jars, not to mention the occasional jar of relish.

After taking one sip, it became clear that HDOAS had knocked it out of the park. The fresh, sweet lemonade and the salinity of the pickle brine played off each other exceptionally well. Its flavor combination resembled a fresher version of my preferred Gatorade flavor, Limon Pepino (cucumber lime).

After a couple of sips, though, one thing became abundantly clear: the salt content of the drink left me even more thirsty. Mission definitely not accomplished.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

A break from eating to watch some pig races

I then realized it was time for the pig races, and we made our way over to the small racetrack. A gentleman who owned the pig racing company played an EDM version of Cotton Eyed Joe to hype up the audience, who were about to be inundated with cuteness from the little pigs running as fast as they could.

The hype worked. My fellow internet personalities danced and twerked, filming each other for meme-worthy moments to share with their followers.

After the pig races, we were informed that we would be treated to a special race featuring baby lambs. Let me tell you, if you haven’t witnessed four baby lambs making their way down the racetrack to get to a bottle of milk at the end while Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop the Feeling is playing, then you truly haven't experienced life.

Behold the Ga LAist bucket hat, his parting gift after stuffing his face at the L.A. County Fair Media Day.

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Marcellina Chappelle

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LAist

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It was then time to pick up my personalized, airbrushed bucket hat. I wandered over to the booth, excited to see “Gab Chabran LAist” as I’d ordered, along with my selected image of a corn dog (because what else), so that I could be the envy of all my friends and co-workers.

Instead, it came with the inscription “Ga LAist.” Sigh. When I went back and asked if I could get another, I was told that was what I had written down (it wasn’t) and that there were no more hats. I wasn’t going to fight over a free airbrushed hat. I accepted my fate as Ga LAist and moved on.

Time for dessert

Gab Chabrán, LAist food editor, gets lost in the cheese while consuming his Korean corndog covered with condensed milk and Fruity Pebbles.

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Marcellina Chappelle

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LAist

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I went down to the final stand, which advertised Korean Corn Dogs. The Korean-style corn dog offered that day was deep-fried, slathered with condensed milk, and topped with Fruity Pebbles.

I felt myself fill with childlike excitement, as if the entire day's events had been leading up to this, misnamed bucket hats be damned.

I took my first bite and found cheese — a surprising amount, which buried the hot dog underneath. Truthfully, although cheese is sometimes a feature of K-dogs, it’s not something I usually order, so it caught me a little off guard.

Rating: 1 out of 5

Where's the antacid?

At that point, it was time to hit the brakes. The oversaturated, condensed milk corn dog batter had stolen a little bit of my soul, and it was time to call it a day.

I knew that I'd had my fill of cheese, fried food, and general county fair overstimulation, and I should call it while I still had a modicum of dignity.

I felt fine after consuming everything I did that day, I attribute that to having a strong stomach (knock on wood).

That being said, I'm glad the county fair only comes around once a year, so I don't have to subject myself to this type of abuse regularly.

Ga LAist out.

File this under things that could only happen in L.A.

Paradise Dynasty, the Singapore-based chain known for its signature eight-flavor xiao long bao, has teamed up with Burritos La Palma — the SoCal burrito institution whose birria de res recipe traces back over 45 years — to create a limited-edition birria soup dumpling. The Birria XLB will be available starting Monday (May 11) for a limited time at Paradise Dynasty locations.

I've eaten my weight in both soup dumplings and burritos, so naturally, I'm a fan of both.

Paradise Dynasty has been on a steady ascent as a major player in L.A.'s dumpling scene, with locations at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa and The Americana at Brand in Glendale.

Meanwhile, Burritos La Palma — known for its simple, savory burritos and finely crafted flour tortillas — has been capturing hearts and stomachs since Alberto Bañuelos opened the first eatery in L.A. in 2012. It’s since grown to several spots across L.A. and Orange County, earning a Michelin Bib Gourmand award in 2024 for its high-quality, Zacatecan-style handmade flour tortilla burritos at an affordable price.

How the collab came together

So what exactly is a birria soup dumpling? A delicate wrapper, lightly packed with tender birria de res — slow-braised beef stewed in chilies and spices — juicy, savory and gone in one bite.

It all began with a call from Paradise Dynasty, when Jason Kuo, district manager for Paradise Dynasty USA, reached out to Bañuelos, calling it, simply, a perfect match between the two dishes.

Kuo said the idea came straight from the community.

"When we started asking guests and people around us what flavor they would want to see in a soup dumpling, birria kept coming up again and again — it was very clear. If we're going to do birria, it has to be done right. Burritos La Palma was the first name that came to mind."

Bañuelos was "beyond thrilled" to have been approached.

"We come from a small town in Mexico, and to be able to elevate to the level of Paradise Dynasty and that culinary perfection, I can't even really put it into words," he said.

It took months of R&D to get the right consistency. Bañuelos said the process required dialing down the moisture and upping the spice potency and landed on serving a fresh red salsa with thin slivers of serrano peppers alongside — a riff on the black vinegar and pickled ginger traditionally served with soup dumplings.

The Birria XLB's juicy interior is part of what makes it work — the dish is served with a fresh, tomato-based salsa and slivers of serrano pepper in place of the traditional black vinegar and pickled ginger.

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Katrina Frederick

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Courtesy Paradise Dynasty

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How it tastes

I got a chance to try the dumplings ahead of the public launch and was struck by how well the combination worked. The juicy nature of birria is almost turbocharged in dumpling form, its savory, herbaceous flavors fully encapsulated in the thin skin, creating an exceptional texture in every bite. The dish hits even harder when dipped in the light tomato-based salsa — a rush of freshness that cuts through the richness, with a spike of heat from fresh serrano. (Feel free to skip the peppers if spice isn't your thing.)

But what's most impressive is how organic it all feels. This isn't fusion for fusion's sake — it's a natural meeting of two dishes that are deeply embedded in the Southern California diet, each playing to the other's strengths.

It feels like a logical meeting of the minds — birria and soup dumplings have both been part of L.A.'s culinary zeitgeist for the better part of a decade, and it makes sense that these worlds should collide.

When asked whether a collaboration like this could happen anywhere else, Bañuelos was quick: "It has to start in L.A. You just can't compete."

Where to try it

Nine Democratic House members from California are demanding information about how the Trump administration is treating unaccompanied migrant children who are pregnant and in federal custody. They’ve signed a letter, along with 39 other House Democrats, to Trump officials expressing their concern that the girls are not receiving adequate medical care or access to abortion.

The letter comes in the wake of an investigation by the California and Texas Newsrooms, public media collaboratives in those states. LAist is part of The California Newsroom.

The joint investigation found that the federal government is detaining pregnant migrant girls in a single group home in South Texas. Doctors and reproductive-health experts interviewed for the investigation said prenatal care is severely limited in that region.

The letter says the detention violates federal regulations because the children are “entitled to the full range of medical care, including reproductive health care.”

Rep. Gil Cisneros, who represents the central San Gabriel Valley, says he worries that pregnant migrants who are apprehended in California will be put at risk if they’re sent to a part of Texas that is short on obstetric care. Of particularly concern: High-risk pregnancies are common among minors.

“If they were in California," he said, "they would be able to have more choices of the type of health care that they would get when it comes to reproductive health care.”

Rep. Judy Chu, who represents the West San Gabriel Valley, wrote in a statement that “this administration is so intent on restricting abortion that it is using immigration detention as a tool to control these girls’ bodies.”

Mark Betancourt is a regular contributor to The California Newsroom. 

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating how the Los Angeles Unified School District responds to educators accused of sexual misconduct with students.

The department accuses the district of maintaining a policy that “automatically” reassigns teachers to other schools when they are accused of sexual misconduct with students and cites a 2024 agreement with the teachers union.

A Los Angeles Unified spokesperson wrote in a statement that it’s “not true” that staff being investigated for sexual misconduct are reassigned to other school sites.

“‘Reassignment’ typically means an employee is directed to remain at home and away from students and schools during an investigation,” the spokesperson wrote.

United Teachers Los Angeles called the DOE's accusations a “fundamental misunderstanding” of the district’s reassignment policy.

“[Employees] are not reassigned to another classroom or to any other setting where they would interact with students,” read a statement provided by the union. “This policy protects both students and staff and creates conditions for a thorough and appropriate investigation of allegations.”

What to expect from the federal investigation

The federal investigation, overseen by the department’s Office for Civil Rights, will assess whether the district’s policy violates Title IX, a law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs.

Kimberly Richey, the assistant secretary for civil rights, wrote in a statement that Title IX requires schools to address claims of sexual misconduct in a “timely manner.”

“It is unconscionable that the district would simply ignore Title IX’s procedural requirements to protect teachers who cause life-changing harm to their kids,” Richey wrote. “The Trump administration will always fight to uphold the law, protect the safety of all students and restore common sense to our schools.”

The Trump administration also has recently targeted LAUSD's desegregation policy and transgender student protections.

Last year, the office failed to resolve any cases related to sexual harassment, sexual violence or racial harassment, according to a report released by Sen. Bernie Sanders in late April. Sanders is the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Education Committee.

In March 2025, the Trump administration pushed to cut over half of OCR’s nearly 600 staff members, which contributed to a growing backlog of cases. Those employees were placed on administrative leave pending the result of legal challenges, and many were later brought back.

The Education Department has also withheld records related to civil rights investigations, prompting a lawsuit from investigative nonprofit newsroom ProPublica.

What does LAUSD’s policy say? 

LAUSD protocol related to employee misconduct says administrators must remove accused employees from their classroom or worksite whenever there is a risk to the safety of students or staff.

The 110-page protocol document also lists several other requirements for allegations related to sexual misconduct, including contacting law enforcement and the agencies that license teachers.

“Los Angeles Unified takes all allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment with the utmost seriousness,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement. “Our primary responsibility is to ensure the safety, dignity and well-being of every student and staff member in our care.” The statement also said the district follows Title IX procedures and continuously reviews its policies, training and reporting systems.

The UTLA settlement outlines several circumstances where an employee can be reassigned, including a law enforcement investigation of misconduct, sexual harassment of a student, behavior toward a student perceived to be motivated by a sexual interest and communicating with a student for non-school-related purposes.

School employees are “mandated reporters” who must, by law, notify local law enforcement or child welfare agencies of suspected child abuse or neglect. California Attorney General Rob Bonta reminded K-12 school district leaders in late April of their legal obligation to prevent sexual misconduct and protect students.

How prevalent is sexual misconduct in California schools?

There have been few comprehensive studies of sexual misconduct in schools. A 2004 report to the Department of Education estimated 1-in-10 students experiences sexual misconduct, ranging from inappropriate comments to physical abuse.

A new California law requires schools to train students and staff to recognize and report misconduct and write new policies on “appropriate behavior.” It also will create a new database of educators credibly accused of abuse.

More than 1,000 lawsuits related to sexual abuse that date to the 1940s have been filed against California school districts since the enactment of a 2019 law that gave victims a three-year window to sue.

LAUSD has authorized $750 million in bonds to pay for sexual misconduct settlements related to suits stemming from the law.

The LA County Library has begun its Summer of Soccer program to bring the excitement of the North American tournament to all Angelenos.

“Soccer has a unique way of bringing people together across cultures and communities,” Skye Patrick, director of the LA County Library, said on the library website.

The program kicked off May 1 with the library system offering limited-edition Summer of Soccer library cards, emblazoned with the library logo, the outline of a soccer pitch and a ball hitting the back of a net.

The new limited-edition Summer of Soccer library cards

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Courtesy LA County Public Library

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The cards are available for free for anyone signing up for the first time and for $1 for people who already have an LA County Library card.

From soccer story time to making circuit boards

There’s a whole range of Summer of Soccer events at branch libraries, from May 20 to July 9.

Highlights include a soccer-themed story time for 2- to 5-year-olds at Graham Library, north of Watts at 3:30 p.m. June 4, while at 3 p.m. the same day, the A C Bilbrew Library west of Compton hosts “Makey Makey for Teens,” which will lead youth through the steps to make their own game controllers and test them on a virtual soccer field. This and other programs repeat at other branches.

All Summer of Soccer events are free and are designed to support youth and families during the summer months when school is not in session.

The LA County Library serves more than three million residents through its 86 libraries and four Cultural Resource Centers, as well as Bookmobiles and other outreach vehicles.