The Brief

Editor's note: This story was first published in early 2020. It has been updated, refreshed and republished to reflect new locations and other details for our fellow falafel lovers. If we missed your favorite place to get falafel in and around L.A., let us know and we may include it.

Tell your friends you're craving falafel and you'll probably get a shrug.

Not that people actively dislike the crusty brown orbs, but they are about as far from a feast for the eyes as you can get, especially lined up next to glistening shish kabobs kissed by flame, crisp bits of shawarma sliced straight from a spit or lule logs oozing with rivulets of rendered fat.

That doesn't mean falafel is bad, just underappreciated. Let's change that.

Originating in the Middle East — probably Egypt although no one knows for sure — "falafel is as contentious as the region itself," History Today says. While multiple cultures claim invention or ownership of the spiced chickpea fritter, falafel's popularity has spread far beyond its likely geographic beginnings.

Crunchy on the outside, moist and fluffy on the inside, it's become a ubiquitous street food throughout the Mediterranean, Europe and North Africa, and a popular snack around the world. And, of course, in L.A.

From Van Nuys to downtown, from Garden Grove to Glendale to Melrose, here are some of our favorite places to find it:

Sababa Falafel Shop

When’s the last time you went into a restaurant and got a free sample? Well, when you make it to the front of the line at Sababa Falafel Shop in Garden Grove — and is there ever not a line? — you’re greeted by an exceptionally friendly server who will dole out samples of fresh, piping hot falafel balls. Prepare to be transported: These morsels are fluffy, pillowy, and almost juicy. (How is that even possible? Well, they are.) And an order of straight up falafel is served in a hand-held paper bag, to make the scarfing down easier. LAist supporter Nancy Serag tipped us off to this place, saying no falafel list is complete unless it includes Sababa. "The taste is just phenomenal," she said, "The best I've ever had." She lives in Irvine and says a drive north to Sababa’s, on the southern edge of Orange County's Little Arabia, is well worth the traffic. You can get the falafel served up many different ways — salad with your choice of an array of toppings, pita sandwich, or a freshly baked-to-order Jerusalem baguette. Yep, the baguettes are finished off while you wait, so it does require a bit more time. Totally worth it.

Dune

Almost no one in recent memory has done as much to elevate the region's falafel consciousness as the folks behind Dune. When they opened in a sunny, stylish shoebox on Glendale Boulevard back in 2015, they flipped falafel from an afterthought to the focus, putting it at the top of the menu. Their falafel is stupendous, craggy and rough on the outside with a bright green interior like Griffith Park on a rainy spring day, moist but not mushy and bursting with herbs. The stretchy, toasted-to-order flatbreads and immaculate renditions of condiments like zhug, a fiery green chile and parsley-based hot sauce, and amba, a salty pickled mango sauce, make an excellent overall meal. They've powered Dune to mini-chain status, with an additional location in downtown L.A. and, if we're lucky, more to come.

Cairo Restaurant & Cafe

You know you're enjoying the falafel at Cairo's in Anaheim when you see the tell-tale sesame seed crust that adorns their chickpea fritters. This Little Arabia eatery is known for its authentic, homemade Egyptian food and their Facebook page is filled with comments from diners expressing their gratitute for it, such as: "Great Authentic Egyptian Food, My only complaint is that i wish it was close by! Highly recommended!" Eating at Cairo is "like you are back home," said another. But the falafals, said a fan, are "best best best. Cooked to perfection. The falafel appetizer plate could easily double as a lunch deal: It serves up fritters with a side of tahini sauce along with cucumbers and tomatoes, $7.99.

Joe's Falafel

Joe's Falafel feels out of the way, hiding in the corner of a strip mall on a flyby section of Cahuenga Boulevard near Universal City. It's not quite Hollywood, not quite the Valley. But the falafel, rounded at the bottom with a protruding tip like a deep-fried muffin, is worth the trip from just about anywhere. It doesn't hurt that they bake fantastic lafa and pita to order, make their own harissa and handle loads of large group pickup orders, to the delight of production assistants on both sides of the hill.

Kareem's Falafel

Kareem's Falafel is one of the OG restaurants in Little Arabia, and now has another South Coast location. The menu proudly plays with flavors — cilantro hummus, chipotle sauce, the Quinoa Reeves (get it?) salad bowl spiked with cranberries and sunflower seeds. But as Eater reported, there is one sacred menu item: The falafel. Kareem Hawari told the outlet that his dad's final words before he died, were: "Don't change my recipe." Hawari is keeping that promise, and then some. There is now a falafal burger on the menu, and Kareem's even sells frozen falafals for those who can never tell when a craving will strike. "Best falafel in California!!" says one fan.

B'ivrit

B'ivrit has excellent pickled veggies, silky hummus and an intriguing meat-free version of arayes, a stuffed-then-griddled pita pocket that's like a crunchwrap. But you're here for the falafel, in all three colors — stained red with paprika and harissa, yellow with turmeric or the classic herbaceous green. Order a falafel sandwich and get two of each kind tucked into two split pieces of pita and topped with tahini, finely chopped Israeli salad and cabbage slaw. A hit of spice here and a snap of turmeric there, the contrasting falafel flavors work together to keep each bite interesting. All together, it makes an excellent foil for whatever alcohol you consume. B'ivrit was a one-woman pop-up operation long enough to generate a devoted following. Amit Sidi has since made a home for her restaurant concept — and headlines — in Cypress Park.

Falafel Arax

Falafel Arax is an East Hollywood institution and a city-wide legend. It's a simple spot, powered by a steady stream of lunchtime takeout orders, the four tables often occupied by people waiting for containers of falafel or tongue sandwiches. Like the restaurant itself, the falafel is no-frills. Their rough-edged saucers are the same brown, inside and out. Don't let their unrefined appearance fool you. They are perfect. Crisp on the outside and impossibly light inside, like a deep-fried dirigible laced with garlic and cumin, they're a textbook example of simple food prepared with exceptional technique.

Ta-eem

The first thing that hits you when you get an order from Ta-eem is the amount of food you receive. Even if you opt for a pita sandwich, the smallest unit of measure, you receive five pieces of falafel stuffed into an oversized pocket of bread. You'll also get a plate heaped with thick-sliced pickles and a saucer split 50/50 between their forest green zhug and bright red harissa, both housemade. But you don't come here to the heart of Melrose for quantity alone. The falafel is bright and punchy, a vivid green inside, denser than some but still moist. When you pile on sauces, pickles and vegetables then wrap it in fresh, fluffy pita, it makes an excellent and filling lunch. (Just fyi, Ta-eem used to be a stand-alone restaurant on Melrose. Ta-eem now serves up its fare through the Kosher Madness "ghost kitchen" on Pico, with a new La Brea location coming soon.)

Open Sesame

Unlike most falafel joints, Open Sesame is a table-service restaurant with a heated patio overlooking busy Beverly Boulevard near the Grove. (At the Long Beach location, that patio looks out onto busy 2nd Street.) Open Sesame is fancier than any other spot on this list, with décor and vibes to match. The falafel is dark, dense and fried hard so its heft runs right up to the border of stodginess, but it is seasoned aggressively enough to make up for the excess weight. These chickpea fritters will crack you across the nose and linger on your palate, in a good way. And the relative poshness of the spot has one crucial advantage — Open Sesame serves beer. Nothing pairs so well with falafel as a happy hour bottle of malty Lebanese lager.

Kobee Factory

The place is named for Kobee, the beef-and-bulgur specialty that comes either fried or grilled, but Kobee Factory also makes a mean falafel. The light brown pucks arrive with a divot in the middle, sprinkled with sesame seeds and lightly fried so the batter forms delicate tendrils around the outside, creating a bird's nest so airy you hardly notice as you inhale a plateful of the toasty brown delicacies. They are earthy and salty, pairing well with the minty tzatziki and smooth hummus.

Hollywood Falafel

When you walk up to the Hollywood Falafel food truck for the first time, owner Yaniv Cohen is ready with his line: "You're so lucky, I would pay a million dollars to taste this falafel for the first time again." His falafel, he'll tell you, is unique in Los Angeles: The balls are smaller, lighter and loosely packed, yellow inside and generously spiced with a lingering smack of heat. It's a treat to encounter a hyper-specific take on a familiar food, particularly from a noteworthy street food city. A million dollars is a lot of money but Cohen makes an argument for it with his fantastic bag of falafel that he serves up in Valley Village.

Anyone will tell you that these are tumultuous, borderline-apocalyptic times for the film industry. Box office is down. The threat of AI looms. Billionaires and tech giants are laying waste to what remains of the major Hollywood studios. I'm not entirely sure how to square all this bad news with my own good news, which is that I saw more terrific new movies this year than I have any year since before the pandemic. True, most of those movies weren't from here, but all of them played in U.S. theaters in 2025, and all of them are well worth seeking out in the weeks and months to come.

1. Sirāt

The best new movie I saw this year is a breakthrough work from a gifted Spanish filmmaker named Oliver Laxe. It's a nail-biting survival thriller, set in the desert of southern Morocco during what feels like the end-times. It's a little Mad Max, a little Wages of Fear, and all in all, the most exhilarating and devastating two hours I experienced in a theater this year. Sirāt also features the year's best original score, composed by the electronic musician Kangding Ray.

2. One Battle After Another

Paul Thomas Anderson's much-loved, much-debated reimagining of Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland is an exuberant mash-up of action-thriller and political satire. One Battle After Another stars Leonardo DiCaprio in one of his best and funniest performances as an aging revolutionary drawn back into the field. He leads an ensemble that includes Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, Regina Hall and the terrific discovery, Chase Infiniti.

3. Caught by the Tides

Caught by the Tides is an unclassifiable hybrid of fiction and nonfiction from the Chinese director Jia Zhangke. Drawn from a mix of archival footage and newly shot material, it's a one-of-a-kind portrait of the myriad transformations that China has gone through over the past two decades.

4. Resurrection

Resurrection, another structurally bold Chinese title, is a bit like an Avatar movie for film buffs. Placing us in the head of a shapeshifting protagonist, the director, Bi Gan, takes us on a gorgeous, dreamlike odyssey through various cinema genres, from historical spy drama to vampire thriller.

5. My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow

My No. 5 movie is the year's best documentary: My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow, from the director Julia Loktev. It's a sprawling yet intimate portrait of several Russian independent journalists in the harrowing months leading up to President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As a portrait of anti-authoritarian resistance, it pairs nicely with my No. 6 movie.

6. The Secret Agent

The Secret Agent is an emotionally rich, sneakily funny and continually surprising drama from the director Kleber Mendonça Filho. Set in 1977, it lays bare the personal cost of dissidence during Brazil's military dictatorship.

7. Sound of Falling

Although not a horror film, exactly, this German drama qualifies as the best and spookiest haunted-house movie I've seen this year. Directed by Mascha Schilinski, Sound of Falling teases out the connections among four generations of girls and young women who have passed through the same remote farmhouse.

8. April

April, from the director Dea Kulumbegashvili, is a tough, bleak, but utterly hypnotic portrait of a skilled OB-GYN trying to provide health care for women in a conservative East Georgian village. It may be set far from the U.S., but the difficulties these women face would resonate in any setting.

9. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

Directed by Rungano Nyoni, this Zambian film is a subtly mesmerizing drama about a death that takes place in a middle-class household, setting off a chain of dark revelations that threaten to tear a family apart.

10. It Was Just an Accident

It Was Just an Accident, which won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, is a shattering moral thriller from the Iranian director Jafar Panahi. It centers on a group of former political prisoners who are given a rare chance at retribution. In the past, Panahi has been a prisoner in Iran himself, and earlier this month, the government sentenced the director in absentia to a year in prison. I hope that Panahi never sees the inside of a jail cell again, and that his movie is seen as far and wide as possible.
Copyright 2025 NPR

In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena and Pasadena’s music community have really shown up to support fire survivors, especially fellow musicians who lost instruments and record collections.

That effort continues this weekend with a special donation concert at a Pasadena record store, with the aim of getting vinyl records back in the hands of survivors who lost their collections.

“You know, our name is Healing Force of the Universe, and I think that gives me a pretty clear direction… especially after the fires,” said Austin Manuel, founder of Pasadena record store, where Sunday’s show will be held.

The record donation effort is the brainchild of musician Brandon Jay, who founded the nonprofit Altadena Musicians after losing his home and almost all of his family’s instruments in the Eaton Fire. Through Altadena Musicians’s donation and registry platform, Jay said he and his partners have helped some 1,200 fire survivors get their music instruments back.

Now, that effort has fanned out to restoring vinyl record collections.

“All of that stuff evaporated for thousands of people,” Jay said. “Look at your own record collection and be like, ‘Wow, what if that whole thing disappeared?’”

You might know Jay from several bands over the years, including Lutefisk, a 1990s alt-rock band based in Los Angeles. He and his wife, Gwendolyn Sanford, composed music for TV shows, including Orange is the New Black and Weeds.

Jay plans to play some holiday tunes at Sunday's record donation show (which LAist is the media sponsor), along with fellow musician Daniel Brummel of Sanglorians. Brummel, who was also a founding member of Pasadena’s indie-rock sensation Ozma, said he was grateful to Jay for his fire recovery work and to Manuel for making Healing Force available for shows like this.

Brummel, who came close to losing his own home in the Eaton Fire, recalled a show he played at Healing Force back in March.

“The trauma of the fires was still really fresh,” Brummel said. After playing a cover of Rufus Wainwright’s “Going to a Town,” that night — which includes the lyrics “I’m going to a town that has already been burnt down” — Brummel said his neighbors in the audience told him the rendition hit them hard. “It felt really powerful. And without that space, it just wouldn’t have occurred.”

Details

Healing Force of the Universe Record Donation Show
Featuring: Quasar (aka Brandon Jay), Sanglorians (Daniel Brummel) and The Acrylic.
Sunday, Dec. 14; 2 to 5 p.m.
1200 E. Walnut St., Pasadena
Tickets are $15 or you can donate 5 or more records at the door. More info here.

Topline:

The case: In September, the city settled a lawsuit brought forward by two brothers in their 70s who said they suffered serious injuries after an LAPD officer crashed into their car. Days before the $18 million settlement was reached, lawyers for the brothers said Feldstein Soto called an expert witness testifying for the plaintiffs and “attempted to ingratiate herself with him and asked him to make a contribution to her political campaign,” according to a sworn declaration to the court by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert Glassman.

The response: Feldstein Soto did not respond to an interview request. Her spokesperson said the settlement “had nothing to do” with the expert witness. Her campaign manager told LAist the city attorney had been making a routine fundraising call and did not know the person had a role in the case, nor that there were pending requests for her office to pay him fees.

What Jurado says: In a statement to LAist, Jurado said she wants to “make sure that the city’s legal leadership is guided by integrity and accountability, especially when their choices affect public trust, civic rights and the city’s limited resources."

What’s next: The motion needs to go through a few committees before reaching the full City Council. If it passes, the motion calls for the city attorney to “report to council in closed session within 45 days regarding the ethics breach violation and give updates to the City Council."