Gab Chabrán
covers what's happening in food and culture for LAist.
Published December 23, 2025 11:04 AM
The introductory course at Restaurant Ki starts with gimbap, Chef Ki Kim's nod to Korean sushi, made with sweet shrimp wrapped in bugak and topped with Buddha's hand, a fragrant citrus.
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Gab Chabrán
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Topline:
LAist food writer Gab Chabran's 12 standout dishes of 2025 span the full spectrum of LA dining, from a $10 carnitas taco in the Piñata District, to a $285 Michelin-starred tasting menu in Little Tokyo, to Panamanian fine dining in Venice and more.
Why now: Year-end retrospectives capture more than memorable meals — they document a pivotal moment for LA's restaurant scene. In 2025, we saw unprecedented chef collaborations, the growing recognition of underrepresented cuisines and the restaurant community's response to crisis, as chefs like Jason Witzl transformed ordinary dinner service into wildfire relief fundraisers, proving that restaurants remain essential community anchors beyond just serving food.
Why it matters: These dishes tell the story of who we are as a city. They showcase the region's unmatched culinary diversity — where a strip mall in Garden Grove serves some of the region's best falafel, where Koreatown embraces Taiwanese cafe culture, and where Long Beach chefs blend Colombian traditions with California ingredients. Each meal represents the creative vision of chefs and cooks and proves that exceptional food exists at every price point.
After hundreds of meals across Southern California this year, these 12 dishes stand out for me — not just for how they tasted, but for what they revealed about our region.
2025 took me from makeshift taco stands in Vernon to Michelin-starred counters in Little Tokyo, from strip-mall gems in Garden Grove to high-profile chef collaborations in Santa Monica and downtown L.A.
I tasted underappreciated cuisines finally get their due, discovered that some of the most memorable meals cost less than lunch at a chain restaurant, and felt embraced by love as a Long Beach chef turned a dinner into a wildfire fundraiser. What tied it all together? Each dish told a story about who we are as Angelenos — our immigrant roots, our creative spirit, our refusal to choose between honoring tradition and pushing boundaries.
So without further ado, here are my best dishes of 2025.
Aguachile at Mariscos Chiltepín (Vernon)
Aguachile mixto with salsa verde and salsa negra at Mariscos Chiltepín in Vernon. Chef Francisco Leal dusts the fresh shrimp with crushed chiltepín peppers for extra heat.
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In the never-ending quest to find the best mariscos in all of Los Angeles, after a few tips from some trusted colleagues, I found myself at Mariscos Chiltepín, a small makeshift outdoor restaurant run by Francisco Leal, who's from Sinaloa, Mexico. Leal's tenure in Los Angeles began when he helped start Del Mar Osteria, a popular mariscos truck located off La Brea, for which he still consults.
These days, Leal can be found on the streets of Vernon making some of the most memorable aguachiles that I've had in recent memory. I ordered a mixture featuring fresh, opaque shrimp splayed in a circle, bathed in two different salsas on either side, which Leal makes himself. I ordered a salsa verde along with his signature salsa negra, both dusted with crushed bits of chiltepín, a tiny, fiery wild chili pepper that's also Leal's stand's namesake, providing that extra added heat. The salsas are dynamic beyond belief, each with its own distinctive flavor profile that combines sweet, savory and spicy notes, highlighting the integrity of the fresh shrimp and making the dish super memorable.
Location: 1836 E. 41st St., Vernon Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Roasted duck breast at Backbone (Montrose)
Roasted duck breast with caramelized endive and roasted black figs at Backbone in Montrose.
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I've always been a sucker for a good comeback story when it comes to restaurant vets, especially in places like Los Angeles, where there seems to be endless fascination with the new, best thing.
But what if chefs and restaurateurs used their platforms as jumping-off points to grow and develop into something that recognizes its past while embracing its future? That's the vibe I caught while visiting Backbone, located on North Verdugo Road in the Montrose neighborhood, run by Karen Yoo and Nathan McCall. They were the original owners of McCall's Meat & Fish at its first Los Feliz location before selling it. McCall and Yoo have also spent time cooking in some of the most revered kitchens in the world, including the Michelin-starred Daniel in New York and Arzak in San Sebastián, Spain.
That talent is on full display at this cozy neighborhood bistro, where you can grab a seat at the bar or any one of the tables and still get a good view of the team pulling out all the stops. A standout dish for me was the roasted duck breast, dressed in a buttery golden sauce, served alongside caramelized endive with roasted black figs over a bed of greens. It was both seasonal and timeless, capturing McCall and Yoo's ability to stay as relevant as ever, just in a different era of their careers.
Location: 3463 N. Verdugo Rd., Glendale Hours: Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesday-Saturday, 5 to 9 p.m.; closed Sunday-Monday
Lamb biryani at Jikoni (Culver City)
Goat biryani and sides including kale egusi at Kiano Moju's pop-up Jikoni, which operated at Citizen Public Market in Culver City before the market closed.
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This past year, I had the privilege of hosting the LAist live event series Cookbook Live, in partnership with the James Beard Foundation, where I participated in live cooking demos and conversations.
One of the guests was Kiano Moju. Moju was born in California to African immigrant parents — her mother is Kenyan, and her father is Nigerian. In 2024, she published her cookbook AfriCali.
I got to try some of Moju's cooking at her pop-up Jikoni at the Citizen Public Market in Culver City before it closed earlier this year. When our social media producer, Brandon Killman, and I arrived, Moju informed us that the special of the day was goat biryani. I'm a huge fan of lamb protein and love the gamey flavor it adds to each dish, and I always jump at the chance to try it in a way I haven't had before.
The rich flavors from Moju's version didn't disappoint. The same goes for the seemingly endless side dishes she served with it, which included her egusi, a traditional West African dish with cooked-down kale, where the bitterness of the greens and the nutty flavors of the crushed melon seeds came together with the soft bitterness of the roughage.
Jikoni ended right before the Citizen Public Market closed its doors; however, Moju and her team are still popping up around Los Angeles. Follow her on Instagram to see where she'll be next.
Chochoyotes with squash blossoms, roast Petaluma chicken with pepián at Rustic Canyon x Acamaya (Santa Monica)
Chochoyotes with squash blossoms (top) and roast Petaluma chicken with pepián at the Rustic Canyon x ACAMAYA collaboration dinner in Santa Monica.
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Elijah Deleon's work at Rustic Canyon has consistently demonstrated that Mexican cooking doesn't need to compromise its soul to earn fine-dining recognition. For this collaborative dinner at his home base — where he serves as chef de cuisine — Deleon partnered with Chef Ana Castro of Acamaya, the acclaimed New Orleans mariscos restaurant known for blending Mexican traditions with Louisiana Gulf Coast ingredients. Castro brought the same infectious energy to her cooking as she did working the dining room that night, flitting from table to table like a monarch butterfly with plenty of joie de vivre. The result was a multicourse showcase of what happens when Mexican techniques meet California's peak-season abundance.
The chochoyotes course — an ode to Oaxacan cooking made from the masa from Chef Fatima Juarez's KOMAL, the craft molino located in the Mercado de Paloma — made the strongest case: those distinctive thumb-pressed masa dumplings swimming in a vibrant golden-green sauce built from Valdivia Farms squash blossoms, eggplant and habanada peppers (a fruity, floral cousin of a habanero minus the spice). Whole squash blossoms — some bearing delicate char marks — floated alongside the dumplings, their petals still intact and tender. Where traditional preparations might serve chochoyotes in simple broths, the sauce is carefully emulsified to preserve that just-picked vibrancy rather than the heavier, earthier notes of conventional moles.
The roast Petaluma chicken with pepián proved equally revelatory. That ancient pumpkin seed sauce — golden-green and glossy with natural oils from ground pepitas — pooled around perfectly cooked chicken, topped with a tangle of sunflower shoots and edible flowers. Deleon's refined take maintained a distinctive nutty, earthy complexity, while fresh plums added subtle sweetness to the sauce's savory depth. It was the cooking of both chefs that honored its roots while speaking fluently in California's agricultural dialect — precisely the kind of work that defines both Rustic Canyon and Acamaya's overlapping missions.
Location: 1119 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica Hours: Monday to Wednesday, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.; Thursday, 5 to 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 5 to 9:30 p.m.
Gimmari at Kato x Animae (Downtown Los Angeles)
Gimmari, Korean seaweed rolls filled with shrimp, pork and perilla are topped with salmon roe and are meant to be eaten by hand, wrapped in the perilla leaves.
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When Jon Yao and Tara Monsod, two chefs operating at the highest level of Asian American dining, came together for a Sunday Summer Series dinner pairing, it felt inevitable. Both are committed to honoring tradition while refusing to be constrained by it. But it was the opening course that set the tone for everything that followed: gimmari, those humble Korean seaweed-wrapped noodle rolls, reimagined as sleek rectangular packages filled with shrimp, pork and perilla, then crowned with glistening salmon roe.
Served on wooden planks atop fresh perilla leaves, the dish demanded interaction — you wrapped the crispy, glossy nori bundle in the aromatic leaf. You ate it with your hands, almost like a taco, with the ikura bursting against the savory filling. It was refined and playful, luxurious and humble, a perfect synthesis of both chefs' approaches. This wasn't just elevated banchan; it was a thesis statement about what California's Asian diaspora cooking can be when two masters collaborate.
Location: 777 S. Alameda St., Building 1, Suite 114, Los Angeles Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday
Carnitas at Carnitas Los Gabrieles (downtown Los Angeles)
Michoacán-style carnitas tacos at Carnitas Los Gabrieles in Downtown's Piñata District.
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There's something fitting about a Gabriel (that’s me) finding his way to Carnitas Los Gabrieles in the Piñata District — call it destiny or just good marketing, but either way, it delivered. This is Michoacán-style carnitas done right: all parts of the pig, slow-cooked until they achieve that impossible texture where the meat simultaneously holds its shape and melts the moment it hits your tongue.
Served on freshly made tortillas that were still warm, the carnitas needed nothing more than maybe a squeeze of lime and some salsa to let that pork fat work its magic. Every bite was pure, unapologetic indulgence — the kind of straightforward, technically perfect cooking that reminds you why carnitas remain one of Mexico's greatest gifts to the taco world.
Location: 1251 E. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday hours vary.
Tasting Menu at Restaurant Ki (Little Tokyo)
Dungeness crab soup with pine mushrooms and fresh noodles made by Keizo Shimamoto at Restaurant Ki in Little Tokyo.
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Chef Ki Kim earned his first Michelin star this year, and one evening at his Little Tokyo counter made it clear why. The $285 multicourse tasting menu is nuanced dining storytelling at its finest — each plate building on the last, taking you on a culinary journey that feels both meticulously crafted and surprisingly intimate. Kim's cooking has a quiet confidence that never announces itself, letting technique and ingredient quality speak without unnecessary flourish.
What sets Restaurant Ki apart from other high-end tasting menus is its approachability. Despite the price point and the precision on display, there's nothing precious or intimidating about the experience. Kim and his staff engage directly with diners from behind the counter, explaining dishes without pretension, making you feel included in the creative process rather than merely observing it. It's the kind of meal that justifies its cost not through luxury ingredients or theatrical presentation, but through thoughtfulness, skill, and genuine hospitality — the markers of a chef who understands that a Michelin star is just the beginning of the conversation.
Location: 111 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 6:30 p.m to 9 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday
Makali pita at Sababa Falafel Shop (Garden Grove)
Makali pita at Sababa Falafel Shop in Garden Grove, stuffed with fried eggplant, potato, vegetables, pickles and tahini.
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In the suburban sprawl of Orange County, finding a parking spot in a strip mall lot can be just as challenging as scoring a reservation. Sababa Falafel Shop in Garden Grove has been quietly earning recommendations for years, tucked into one of those spaces that reward the effort. This is the kind of place that does one thing exceptionally well: stuffing impossibly good ingredients into warm, soft pita bread until it can barely contain itself.
The makali pita was a revelation — fried eggplant and potato tumbling together with assorted vegetables, sharp pickles cutting through the richness, all drizzled with creamy tahini that tied everything together. Every bite delivered that perfect contrast of textures: crispy, tender, tangy, smooth. And as the name suggests, their falafel lives up to the shop's reputation, which everyone is given a free sample of before they order — herbaceous, perfectly crispy outside, fluffy within.
Location: 11011 Brookhurst St., Garden Grove Hours: Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sesame cold noodles at Liu's Cafe (Koreatown)
Sesame cold noodles with chili crisp and chili wontons at Liu's Cafe in Koreatown.
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What if I told you one of my favorite meals in Koreatown this year wasn't actually Korean food, but instead a hybrid Taiwanese and Hong Kong-style cafe with a modern bent? Liu's Cafe is just that place. Walk inside and you might think it's strictly a spot for coffee and tea — which it is — but you'd be missing the point entirely if you didn't explore the lunch menu, particularly the noodles.
The sesame cold noodles with chili crisp sound simple on paper, but that simplicity is exactly what makes them remarkable. Fresh, extra-chewy egg noodles get bathed in house-made sesame sauce and chili oil, topped with crisp cucumber. Each bite builds on the last, reminding you that not everything needs to be elaborate to be exceptional. The chili wontons hit that same sweet spot — spicy, savory, beautifully textured, tasting exactly like the platonic ideal of what the dish should be. Washing it all down with one of their Taiwanese fruit teas over ice added the perfect fruity counterpoint to all that savory heat. I haven't stopped thinking about this place since, and I'm already planning my return.
Location: 3915 1/2 W. 6th St., Los Angeles Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday
Afro-Caribbean shrimp dumplings at Si!mon (Venice)
Afro-Caribbean shrimp dumplings in coconut bisque with coconut rice at Si!mon in Venice.
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It was a Monday night and I was on assignment to write about a $27 Panamanian-style lamb neck tamal, so I made a late reservation at Si!mon in Venice — 8:45 p.m., late enough to put my kids to bed first. Chef Jose Olmedo Carles Rojas' restaurant had been on my radar for years, ever since it opened, but I'd only had Panamanian food once before and honestly had no idea what I was in for.
My server didn't need to work too hard to convince me to order beyond the tamal. The Afro-Caribbean shrimp dumplings arrived in a pool of coconut bisque, highlighted with charred scallion oil and fresh herbs — essentially shumai that had taken a tropical vacation. Alongside it, the coconut rice looked unassuming. Still, it delivered some of the most memorable rice I've tasted this year: deeply coconut-forward with crispy, caramelized bits throughout that left me almost at a loss for words. I ended up pacing myself through both dishes, partly to save room but mostly because I wanted to bring some home for my wife to share in the discovery.
Si!mon is a special restaurant, and I'm already ready to go back to soon — hopefully at a more reasonable dining hour.
Location: 60 N. Venice Blvd., Venice Hours: Monday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m.; Friday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to midnight; Sunday, 5 to 9 p.m.
Crispy smoked lamb belly at Selva (Long Beach)
Crispy smoked lamb belly at Selva in Long Beach. Chef Carlos Jurado, who grew up in Long Beach, blends Colombian influences with techniques learned at Nashville's Husk and Beverly Hills' Bouchon.
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I'd be remiss not to mention a Long Beach restaurant on this list (where I live), especially when Selva remains one of my favorite places in the city. Chef Carlos Jurado has built a reputation as something of a local culinary alchemist, playfully blending Colombian food with influences from the American South (he worked with Sean Brock at Husk in Nashville) and Southern California fine dining (Thomas Keller's Bouchon in Beverly Hills).
The crispy smoked lamb belly exemplifies his approach — similar to pork belly but lighter, with a distinct gamey richness that sets it apart. It arrived over a bed of forbidden black rice, topped with a heap of purple spring onions and a thick triangle of pickled golden beets that cut through the richness with sharp acidity. It's exactly the kind of dish you get from a chef who honors tradition without being bound by it.
Location: 4137 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach Hours: Wednesday to Thursday, 4 to 9 p.m.; Friday to Saturday, 4 to 10 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 9 p.m.; closed Monday to Tuesday.
Chicken parmesan at Ellie's (Long Beach)
Chicken Parmesan at Ellie's in Long Beach. Chef Jason Witzl turned this dinner service into a fundraiser for those affected by the Eaton fire, asking guests to donate directly to a friend who lost his home rather than paying for their meals.
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Gab Chabrán
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The wildfires that hit Los Angeles were felt everywhere throughout the Southland, even all the way down here in Long Beach. When my wife and I were invited to a special dinner at Ellie's — a charming Italian American bistro run by Jason Witzl, blocks from the ocean — we knew we were coming to support our mutual friend Andre Soto, whose house was tragically lost in the Eaton fire. What we didn't realize was what Chef Jason had planned for the evening.
When he came out to address the whole dining room, he announced he wouldn't be charging anyone that night — instead asking guests to donate directly to Andre and his family. There was an audible gasp. Nobody expected that kind of generosity, but the leadership Chef Jason showed that evening, rallying the Long Beach community around a victim of the Altadena fire, made this one of the most important meals I attended all year. The chicken parmesan — deliciously breaded chicken breast blanketed in mozzarella and swimming in bright San Marzano tomato sauce, served with a simple arugula salad — was exactly the kind of comforting, generous food the moment called for. It was a perfect meal to celebrate a friend and support a good cause.
Location: 204 Orange Ave., Long Beach Hours: Monday 4 to 9 p.m.; Tuesday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday 11:30 a.m.to10 p.m.; Saturday 10:30 a.m.to10 p.m.; Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
O.C. Japan Fest, corgi beach day, the grunions are back, a new play festival, a talk with Sen. Cory Booker and more of the best things to do this weekend.
Highlights:
Experience sakura season without leaving the area at the O.C. Japan Fair, featuring 250 vendors, craftspeople, food booths, art activities and more, all celebrating Japanese culture.
Check out readings of five new plays – all for free! – at the Play L.A. New Works Festival, put on by Stage Raw and the Greenway Arts Alliance along with a number of L.A. indie theater powerhouses.
Spend Friday night with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, whose new book, Stand, tells stories from his political life that aim to share “actionable insights” to help preserve democracy in these challenging times.
I hope you had luck in securing the first round of LA28 Olympics tickets — and that you’re not still waiting for page refreshes this morning! We’ve got all the info on how to get your tickets and why you shouldn’t fret if it doesn’t work out on this first try.
LAist’s Mariana Dale went to Hollywood High School this week to see how students and teachers felt about Mitski bringing a concert to the historic space. Seems like no one was missing class since perfect attendance meant a shot at tickets.
No matter your music taste, there’s a show for you this weekend. It may not be the height of summer yet, but things will be heating up at the Hollywood Bowl as Ben Platt and Rachel Zegler reunite for their concert performance of Broadway hit The Last Five Years. Plus, Licorice Pizza recommends Mercury Prize-winning London rapper Dave at the Palladium, St. Paul & the Broken Bones are at the Belasco, Calum Scott plays the Wiltern, and there’s a really cool First Fridays night at the Natural History Museum with dub legend Adrian Sherwood. Saturday has pop trio LANY at the Intuit Dome, Lamb of God slaughtering the YouTube Theater, SoundCloud rapper Rich Amiri at the Fonda, post-hardcore band Hail the Sun at the Wiltern, pop sensation Nessa Barrett at the Masonic Lodge, and another rising pop star, Alexander Stewart, at Chinatown’s cool new venue, Pacific Electric.
Experience sakura season without leaving the area at the O.C. Japan Fair, featuring 250 vendors, craftspeople, food booths, art activities and more, all celebrating Japanese culture. From sake tastings to sushi-making workshops to musical performances and kimono try-ons, the annual event is one of the largest Japanese cultural fairs in California.
Play L.A. New Works Festival
April 3-4 Greenway Court Theatre 544 North Fairfax Ave., Mid-City COST: FREE, MORE INFO
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PLAY LA Festival
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Check out readings of five new plays — all for free! — at the Play L.A. New Works Festival, put on by Stage Raw and the Greenway Arts Alliance, along with a number of L.A. indie theater powerhouses. This year’s plays are Stonewall’s Bouncer by Louisa Hill, produced by The Victory Theatre; At Olduvai Gorge by India Kotis, produced by The Odyssey Theatre Company; Ghost Play by Mathew Scott Montgomery, produced by InHouse Theatre; The Incident by Rachel Borders, produced by The Road Theatre Ensemble; and Three Dates by Erica Wachs, produced by IAMA Theatre Company. Go see one, or go see them all!
SoCal Corgi Beach Day
Saturday, April 4, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 21351 California 1, Huntington Beach COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Vlad D
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Head to Huntington Beach for the cutest event of the year, the annual SoCal Corgi Beach Day. This year’s theme is "Tiki Beach Pawty," because of course it is. Honor Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite pets and spend the day at the beach with these short, stout, snuggly friends while they frolic and compete in events like — I am not making this up – Corgi Limbo.
Plaza Mexico Celebrates Easter
Sunday, April 5, 12:00 p.m. to 4 p.m. 3100 E. Imperial Highway, Lynwood COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Plaza México
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You have your pick of Easter Bunny photo ops and egg hunts around town, and Plaza Mexico would be a great one with the family. Meet and take a picture with the Easter bunny, enjoy kids' arts & crafts, family activities, vendors and sweet treats.
Writers Bloc: Cory Booker
Friday, April 3, 7:30 p.m. John Adams Middle School (JAMS) Performing Arts Center 2425 16th St., Santa Monica COST: $33; MORE INFO
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 05: Senator Cory Booker attends PBS' "Black & Jewish America: An Interwoven History" Screening With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. And Conversation With Sen. Cory Booker at 92NY on February 05, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
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Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
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Getty Images North America
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Spend Friday night with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, whose new book, Stand, tells stories from his political life that aim to share "actionable insights" to help preserve democracy in these challenging times. The conversation with Writers Bloc will be hosted by Sean Bailey, the former head of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production for 14 years and the current CEO of the new multi-platform production company B5 Studios. The event is sold out, but there is a waitlist available.
Behind the Canvas — An Exclusive Art Talk with the Jurors of A Woman's Place: Framing the Future
Saturday, April 4, 11 a.m. Ebell of Los Angeles 741 S. Lucerne Blvd., Mid-Wilshire COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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The Ebell
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Have coffee and doughnuts with the curators of the Ebell’s Women’s History Month exhibit, "A Woman’s Place: Framing the Future." You can catch the show before it closes and see work from women artists exploring new interpretations of womanhood, feminism and art.
Grunion Run
Saturday, April 4, starting at 10:30 p.m. Venice Breakwater Ocean Front Walk, Venice COST: FREE; MORE INFO
Thousands of grunions on the shore.
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I have lived in Venice for more than 20 years and never actually seen a grunion, despite efforts, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to see all your neighbors scouring the beach by moonlight on a Saturday night. The Venice Oceanarium folks always organize an educational tent with lessons on how these unique fish show up on our shores to reproduce, and maybe you’ll luck out and time it right this year.
She’s Auspicious
Saturday, April 4, 7 p.m. Broad Stage 1310 11th St., Santa Monica COST: FROM $40; MORE INFO
L.A. native Mythili Prakash takes the Tamil dance form Bharatanatyam to new heights as a choreographer and performer. Her short dance film Mollika, commissioned by Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage in London, was nominated for a 2025 National Dance Award for Best Short Dance Film. She’s Auspicious, her latest production, "blurs the line between goddess and woman, exploring the dichotomy between celebration of the goddess versus the treatment of women in society." It was nominated for an Olivier Award in the category Best New Dance Performance in the U.K., and lucky for us, is on for one performance only at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica.
Julia Barajas
explores how college students achieve their goals, whether they’re fresh out of high school, pursuing graduate work or looking to join the labor force through alternative pathways.
Published April 2, 2026 5:00 AM
Cal State Long Beach is one of the 23 CSU campuses where Teamsters-represented workers held a strike last month.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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Topline:
The California Public Employment Relations Board (has issued a formal complaint against California State University trustees over the system’s alleged refusal to give raises to trades workers. The complaint follows a statewide strike earlier this year, in which workers at every campus walked off the job.
Why it matters: Teamsters Local 2010 represents 1,100 plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, locksmiths and other building maintenance staff who work across the CSU system. A formal complaint from the Public Employment Relations Board means the two parties must resolve the dispute in a formal hearing process.
The backstory: According to Teamsters Local 2010, union members won wage increases in 2024 “after nearly three decades of stagnation.” That year, the union was on the verge of striking alongside the system's faculty, but it reached a last-minute deal with the CSU. The union has filed an unfair labor practice charge against the system, arguing that the CSU refused to honor contractually obligated raises and step increases for its members.
What the CSU says: The CSU maintains that conditions described in its collective bargaining agreement with the union — which “tied certain salary increases to the receipt of new, unallocated, ongoing state budget funding” — were not met.
What’s next: In an emailed statement, spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith said the CSU welcomes “the opportunity to present the facts of this case before an administrative law judge.” After the formal hearing, the state board will propose a resolution to the dispute.
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Wind moves palm trees on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Stanton.
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Mel Melcon
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Los Angeles Times
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QUICK FACTS
Today’s weather: Mostly cloudy then sunny
Beaches: mid to upper 60s
Mountains: mid 60s to around 70 degrees
Inland: 64 to 71 degrees
Warnings and advisories: Wind advisory
What to expect: A mostly sunny afternoon with temperatures sticking to the low to mid 70s for most of Southern California. Breezy conditions will pick up in the afternoon for some valleys and mountain communities.
Read on ... for more details.
QUICK FACTS
Today’s weather: Mostly cloudy then sunny
Beaches: mid to upper 60s
Mountains: mid 60s to around 70 degrees
Inland: 64 to 71 degrees
Warnings and advisories: Wind advisory
The cool weather continues for one more day in Southern California. Later this evening, strong winds will kick in for some mountains and highway corridors ahead of a Santa Ana wind event slated for Friday.
Temperatures at the beaches are going to stick around the mid to upper 60s, and around 70 degrees more inland.
Coachella Valley, San Bernardino and Riverside County mountains will continue to see gusty winds until tonight.
At noon, the Antelope Valley will be under a wind advisory, with winds expected to reach 20 to 30 mph, and some gusts up to 50 mph. Wind advisories will also kick in for the 5 Freeway corridor, Ventura County mountains and the Santa Susana mountains, where gusts could reach 45 mph.
Voters wait in line at the Riverside County Registrar of Voters office in Riverside on Nov. 5, 2024
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Jules Hotz
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CalMatters
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Topline:
CalMatters and a national consortium of news organizations Wednesday filed a motion in Riverside County court seeking public access to the warrants a judge approved allowing Sheriff Chad Bianco to seize hundreds of thousands of ballots for an unprecedented investigation into the outcome of the November 2025 special election.
Background: A Riverside County judge had ordered the warrants sealed, along with the sworn statements Bianco’s deputies made to a judge justifying their request to seize more than 1,400 boxes of Proposition 50 election materials from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters.
Why it matters: The coalition argues that it’s vitally important for the records to be made public, since they’re central to a bitter dispute over election integrity between two powerful state officials: Bianco, who is running for governor as a Republican, and Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who is running for re-election.
Read on ... for more on the case.
CalMatters and a national consortium of news organizations Wednesday filed a motion in Riverside County court seeking public access to the warrants a judge approved allowing Sheriff Chad Bianco to seize hundreds of thousands of ballots for an unprecedented investigation into the outcome of the November 2025 special election.
The groups are also filing a separate petition with the California Supreme Court that also seeks to have the records unsealed.
A Riverside County judge had ordered the warrants sealed, along with the sworn statements Bianco’s deputies made to a judge justifying their request to seize more than 1,400 boxes of Proposition 50 election materials from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters.
Lawyers representing CalMatters along with The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Riverside Record, other newspapers and local television network affiliates filed a motion to unseal the warrants and the sworn statements.
The coalition argues that it’s vitally important for the records to be made public, since they’re central to a bitter dispute over election integrity between two powerful state officials: Bianco, who is running for governor as a Republican, and Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who is running for re-election.
“The public should not be forced to navigate these competing allegations without the facts on which the investigation is based,” Jean-Paul Jassy, attorney for the news outlets, wrote in the motion. “Nor does the law require them to.”
Bianco obtained three warrants in February and March from Riverside County Judge Jay Kiel authorizing the sheriff’s office to begin seizing ballots and other election materials from Riverside County elections officials. Kiel, whom Bianco endorsed when he ran for the bench in 2022, sealed the warrants at the request of the sheriff’s office.
Bianco intended for his deputies to recount the more than 600,000 ballots cast in the county last year as part of an investigation over what a local activist group called discrepancies between the number of ballots cast and number tallied. The county’s top elections official, Art Tinoco, has rejected those claims and explained in February to the county’s Board of Supervisors that they were the result of the activist group using flawed and incomplete data.
The investigation and recount are on hold, Bianco said earlier this week, after Bonta and the UCLA Voting Rights Project filed several legal challenges seeking to halt them. Bonta had ordered Bianco to turn over the warrants and supporting statements. He said in his lawsuits that the sheriff had failed to allege a crime or provide enough cause to justify seizing the ballots, and accused Bianco of using the investigation as a campaign stunt.
Bonta’s office has refused to release those documents, citing the judge’s order sealing them.
Keeping them under seal has prevented the public from being able to scrutinize both politicians’ statements, in a hyper-partisan dispute ahead of a contentious election.
Bianco, in an interview last week, also refused CalMatters’ request for copies of the warrants. “No, you’re not going to,” he said. “When (the investigation’s) over, like every other case that’s sealed, when it’s unsealed, you’ll get to see it. … Don’t you act like this is something out of the ordinary, because it is not.”
Under state law, police must execute warrants within 10 days of obtaining them, after which the documents and the police’s supporting statements must be made public. But it is common for law enforcement to ask for them to remain sealed during active criminal investigations.
In the ballot case, attorneys for the media outlets argue Bianco himself publicized the investigation during a press conference on March 20. They wrote that even if Bianco’s department had confidential information to protect, that does not justify Kiel’s sealing of all the records.
“It is hard to imagine a stronger public interest,” Jassy wrote, than “access to a proceeding purporting to resolve allegations relating to election integrity — allegations at the heart of our democracy.”