The Brief

Now that the anxiety-inducing Sriracha shortage is over, and the bottles are back on the shelves, we’ve been noticing fans of the famous red chili sauce expressing concerns online. They say there’s a difference in taste between the pre-shortage bottles, and the bottles that are now on the shelves.

Some Instagram users commenting on the taste of the post-shortage Sriracha under a photo from the account @asiansneverdie

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@asiansneverdie on Instagram

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Some say it doesn’t have as full of a flavor, has a slightly stale aftertaste, and just doesn’t seem like the Sriracha they know and love.

We, as hungry journalists (and not food scientists, keep this in mind… for later), and hometown stans of the pride of Irwindale, wanted to take the people’s words and put them to the test.

So, we bought a new bottle of the sauce, and borrowed a bottle that had been sitting in our colleague Briana Lee’s fridge since the before times.

For our taste test, we wanted to answer the question — do current Sriracha and pre-shortage Sriracha taste different?

Sriracha taste test materials

We poured each of the sauces into a row of clear disposable condiment cups and hid the bottles from the eight LAist colleagues who volunteered for the taste test, including the author.

We also brought a bag of organic yellow corn tortilla chip rounds from Trader Joes that the participants could use to taste the sauces or cleanse their palates in between.

Once all of the participants gathered around the taste test table in the LAist newsroom, we gave everyone one cup of each of the sauces.

The clear condiment cups of sauces each participant was given for the taste test.

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Makenna Sievertson

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When everyone was set up, we asked them to take their first taste of the sauce on their right. That was current-day Sriracha.

Current-day Sriracha

“It’s not spicy,” said editorial intern Anne To immediately after taking a bite.

Others said it tasted light, sweet, and more “ketchupy.”

“I’m really surprised, I feel like it really doesn’t taste like what I remember Sriracha to taste like,” said engagement producer Stefanie Ritoper.

Editor Karina Gacad felt like she had to keep trying the sauce (or maybe she was very hungry — it was lunchtime). She said this version tasted more like Sriracha the more bites she took.

“Just keep eating more of it,” Gacad added.

Pre-shortage Sriracha 

After the first sauce was sampled, we asked everyone to take a sip of water or eat more tortilla chips to get the taste out of their mouths.

Once our palates were clear, the participants took their first taste of the sauce on the left. That was the pre-shortage Sriracha.

The group had a visceral reaction.

“What did I just put in my mouth?” said managing editor Jason Wells. “This is not even close to the first one.”

“Now I’m super confused… this definitely does not taste like Sriracha," said senior reporter Elly Yu.

“It is significantly spicier than the first one," added the author.

“I feel like I’m being pranked right now,” Wells said.

The group also pointed out the difference in the color of the sauces. The pre-shortage sauce was closer to a deep burgundy while the post-shortage version seemed much more red.

What was going on?

It was then we realized we had a problem. We hadn’t been as rigorous in our methodology as we should have been — as I said, we’re journalists, not food scientists after all.

While the current-day bottle had been sealed before we used it, the pre-shortage bottle had not. It had been opened and sitting in Brianna's fridge for, it turned out, two years. Ahem.

The fact that it had been opened for so long had clearly changed the flavor. We realized we were no longer comparing like with like, so in the spirit of fairness, we declared the taste test null and void (much to our disappointment).

But we were still left pondering — what exactly had happened to the open Sriracha bottle while it had been in the fridge? How had the taste been affected?

So we asked Bryan Le, a food scientist from Pacific Lutheran University.

Sauce storage 101

Le said because the bottle had been opened and the seal broken, it had allowed oxygen to enter, which creates a lot of challenges.

Le said the good thing about Sriracha and most other hot sauces is that they have a lot of vinegar in them, and they are also pre-fermented, which helps them hold off a lot of spoilage and pathogens.

However, he said there are some very resistant microorganisms that can survive in these really acidic conditions, which often produce savory notes that can come across as off-putting.

“If you've got something that's already opened, there's not a huge concern in terms of food safety, but you've got all these chemical reactions occurring and these fermentation processes occurring as well,” Le added.

Once a bottle has been opened, Le said after about six months is when you might start to notice flavor defects (reminder: ours had been open 4x longer than that).

Overall thoughts

The two lines of clear condiment cups each filled with a different version of Sriracha for the LAist taste test.

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Makenna Sievertson

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LAist

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It shouldn’t come as a surprise that almost everyone in the taste test was able to correctly identify the old sauce and the new sauce because of the noticeable differences in color and taste.

But the most interesting finding in all of this — coming out of the test, no one could quite remember what the sauce actually tasted like originally.

The test plunged a few people into an almost existential crisis at the table in the middle of the newsroom as they wondered to themselves – what is “real Sriracha” anyway?

Company’s stance on the sauce

We spoke to Huy Fong Foods, the company behind the sauce. It turns out that there may be no "real Sriracha" after all.

While it insisted in a statement that the recipe doesn’t change, the company did say the taste may vary with every batch.

“We would like to note that because we use fresh chili peppers in all our sauces from various sources, there will occasionally be variations on our final products depending on the chili harvest time and place it was harvested,” the statement added. “Some batches can vary in color, level of spiciness and even consistency.”

So, dear internet, you all may be right. Or wrong. Who knows. Just don't ask us to run a double-blind clinical test at any point in the near future.

After a fire scorched more than a third of Santa Rosa Island this spring, the race is on to protect what remains of a beloved grove of rare Torrey pines.

The fire sparked in mid-May after a sailor wrecked his boat on the island’s rugged southeastern shore. It grew to more than 18,000 acres, becoming the largest fire ever recorded on the Channel Islands.

The island’s grove of Torrey pine trees, a subspecies found nowhere else on the planet, bore much of the worst damage. Early surveys estimate as much as 80% of the rare trees will perish. Experts with the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden are working on a more complete analysis.

Now, the biggest worry is how intense El Niño-driven rains may erode soil in the charred remains of the grove.

Restoration ecologist Michelle Gados holds Torrey pine seeds gathered from the burn scar.

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Erin Stone

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“ It keeps me up at night,” said Michelle Gados,  a restoration ecologist with the California Institute of Environmental Studies and a lead on the restoration effort. “I just hope it's not as bad as they predict because this would just be really bad timing. … If you get too much too fast, then all that soil could slide down the slopes.”

The pines released thousands of seeds during the fire — more than 14,000 have been collected by Gados’ team, park staff and other partners since the fire, while thousands more seeds remain in the charred soil.

“ So we're really concerned about all that seed being washed out to sea,” Gados said.

She said keeping the soil intact in the grove is key to supporting surviving trees and to planting hundreds of Torrey pines after the rainy season. The goal is to plant 300 to 500 Torrey pines annually over the next four years.

To prevent erosion, biologists, fire crews and dedicated volunteers have been racing for nearly four months to build 500 wattles — essentially 18-foot cigars of rolled-up biodegradable material. The fiber cylinders can be bought pre-made, but on the island, they have to be built from scratch to avoid introducing any nonnative plants. They’re made of a tightly rolled coir blanket, or coconut husk fiber, around five layers of jute fabric. The wattles will be installed in some of the most erosion-prone areas identified in the Torrey pine grove.

“This is kind of a make-your-own option that we have developed through other projects that have been ongoing for about a decade and have worked really well,” said David  Mazurkiewicz,  a wildlife biologist with Channel Islands National Park, and the implementation lead for the post-fire response on Santa Rosa.

He said they expect to have all 500 rolled and installed by the end of October, just as the official rainy season begins.

The charred grove of Torrey pines on Santa Rosa Island as seen from a boat this week. Early surveys estimate 60% to 80% of the trees will perish from the fire. Some trees are showing new growth today, but it's unclear how they'll fare long-term.

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Volunteers are key to the effort

Originally, the park was planning to work with fire crews from across the state and country, but a busy fire season across the West pulled those crews elsewhere, Mazurkiewicz said. So dozens of dedicated volunteers have stepped in.

The latest volunteer cohort of about 20 went to the island this week, where for several days they’ll camp and spend their days rolling wattles.

David Rush of Riverside was there for the second time since the fire.

“The Torrey pines, they're the most endangered pine on the planet, so it's a worthy cause,” he said. “We're killing the earth, and just doing, in my own little way, something to help, it's cool.”

Hundreds of wattles will be installed in the Torrey pine grove on Santa Rosa Island to help prevent erosion during winter rains.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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Volunteers prepare to roll a wattle made of a coir blanket and five layers of jute on Santa Rosa Island.

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Erin Stone

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Volunteers, including CSU Channel Islands student Carlos Cruz, right, complete the rolling a wattle on Santa Rosa Island.

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Erin Stone

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Carlos Cruz, a first-year student at Cal State Channel Islands, joined this round, too. With Indigenous roots in Oaxaca, Mexico, he felt called to the work to honor and restore land that for millennia was home to and tended by Chumash people.

“ I think that it’s important to understand and … see, as folks residing on spiritual lands, how we could come together,” he said.

On Wi'ma, Santa Rosa Island

The fire is just the latest moment of upheaval in the island’s long history. Birthed from shifting tectonic plates and volcanic lava flows more than 15 million years ago, then eventually named Wi'ma and inhabited by Chumash people for millennia, the island as we know it today was reshaped by European settlers. Experts say the recent fire was made worse by nonnative grasses that have covered it since ranching began here in the mid-1800s, after European settlement.

Nonnative livestock and game species such as feral pigs, cattle, horses, deer and elk destroyed the island’s forest of native oaks and bishop pines, as well as over 75% of the island's native vegetation.

It’s only been in the last decade-and-a-half that, thanks to conservation efforts since the islands became a national park in 1980, native plant and animal life have begun to return, including the once-nearly extinct endemic Santa Rosa Island fox. Mazurkiewicz said officials have not found many carcasses of the foxes in the burn scar, and expect their population to remain stable despite the fire.

A Santa Rosa Island fox.

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Gustav Verdouw

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npgallery.nps.gov

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Park officials have also been working for more than a decade to restore an ancient oak and bishop pine forest, or “cloud forest,” named for the trees’ ability to catch heavy ocean fog and harvest its water, which then condenses and drips to the chaparral below their branches. That ecosystem, essential habitat for native species, is slowly being restored, and was largely untouched by the recent fire.

In areas that were once just dirt, there are now native shrubs like toyon, sage scrub, lupin and lemonade berry. And in recent years, in the absence of nonnative mammals, Torrey pines have actually been growing beyond their traditional footprint on the island as well — some of those seem to have survived the fire.

Cause for hope

In the burn scar, other signs of hope are sprouting. On a recent afternoon,  Mazurkiewicz pointed to light green grass emerging from the charred hillsides.

“All that green is actually native vegetation, and it just was waiting for a little breathing room,”  Mazurkiewicz said.

In some ways, he said, the fire may prove beneficial — by clearing out the invasive nonnative grasses that have choked much of the island’s flora.

A dusting of light green on this burned hillside are native grasses sprouting where invasive, nonnative grasses once dominated.

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Erin Stone

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David  Mazurkiewicz,  a wildlife biologist with Channel Islands National Park, and the implementation lead for the post-fire response on Santa Rosa, describes the importance of installing wattles in the island's charred Torrey pine grove.

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Erin Stone

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Native plants like the endemic manzanita — which hasn’t done so well since the fire — as well as other native shrubs, grasses and trees are propagated at the island’s nursery. A newly-built shade house will soon be the home of Torrey pine seedlings that will eventually be replanted in the burn scar.

But for now, how the Torrey pine grove will fare is unclear. One factor that could play a big part in its future is how severe the upcoming rains will be.

“We don’t know  until we get some rain, and we can see whether the trees that are pushing back out are going to hold,”  Mazurkiewicz said. “The grove was heavily impacted. … A lot of those trees are not going to make it. But there's also outliers that look a little more encouraging.”

Pour yourself a cup of ambition. It’s Dolly Parton Day.

Across the world, communities are dedicating Friday to honoring the beloved country singer. The day is falling on Sept. 25, a wink at Parton’s hit song “9 to 5.”

Parton, who died of cancer last month at age 80, built an impressive legacy over the decades as a singer-songwriter, actor, philanthropist and entrepreneur — leaving big and small ways to honor the icon.

So whether it’s dusting off your rhinestones, donating a book or throwing back a pink-themed cocktail, here’s how you can celebrate Dolly Parton Day.

Join a celebration

In the U.S., a growing number of state and local leaders are establishing Sept. 25 as an annual Dolly Parton Day from California to the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The proclamations highlight Parton’s successful career and stress her lifelong commitment to promoting literacy.

In Nashville — where Parton had lived since she was 18 — the city will honor the singer with pink lights and posters and give away stickers, buttons and bookmarks. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines announced that it would hold a Parton-inspired karaoke Friday for travelers and employees. Tennessee state and local officials are currently in the process of renaming the airport after Parton.

“Dolly Parton’s impact on Nashville will be felt for generations, through the music she has given us, the people she has helped and the example she continues to set,” said Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell in a statement. “She has shown us that caring for a community means showing up for one another.”

Over in New Orleans, the marching group Krewe of Dolly will lead a parade through the city’s French Quarter to honor Parton.

And in San Francisco, organizers are planning a public event in the heart of the city, called “Dolly Day,” designed to be a celebration of life that will include “singing loud, dressing up, and being a little kinder than usual in her honor.”

Donate a book to Imagination Library

For those chained to their actual 9 to 5 job on Friday, sneaking away for an event may be challenging. Instead, you can channel Parton’s giving spirit.

Parton made it her mission to improve literacy through her Imagination Library book giveaway program. The program has quickly expanded, resulting in more than a million books sent out each month to children in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.

The Imagination Library is encouraging the public to give directly to their local Imagination Library Partner on Dolly Parton Day, or help establish a new program in their community.

Don’t know where to start? The Dollywood Foundation is directing people to ImaginationLibrary.com, where a ZIP code search can find nearby programs.

“For Dolly, giving was always personal and from her heart,” said Jeff Conyers, president of The Dollywood Foundation, in a statement. “She believed deeply in helping people, especially children, and she always felt if you are in a position to help, you should help.”

Get inspired by Parton’s style and songs

The Queen of Country was known for her over-the-top style, proudly wearing sequins with big hair and plenty of fringe in her signature color pink.

Parton especially adored butterflies, singing that “love is like a butterfly, as soft and gentle as a sigh.”

Dig into your closet and throw on something extra flashy, shiny or sparkly. Feeling adventurous? Some tattoo artists are offering Dolly-inspired tattoos on Friday, but a butterfly clip will also work.

Of course, there’s no easier way to celebrate Parton than by playing one of her many, many albums throughout the day.

Known for her hits “9 to 5,” “Jolene,” and “I Will Always Love You,” Parton’s catalog runs deep, and there’s room to discover new favorites.

It was Parton’s wish that her songs would have a lasting impact, and that in turn, she would be remembered for trying to make the world a better place.

“I hope that a lot of my songs may last that long. And I hope I’ll be remembered as somebody that tried to do some good in the world and left, you know, a few good things,” she told The Associated Press in 2024.

Long Beach Airport will hold an emergency preparedness drill Friday night that will include smoke, along with lights and sirens from emergency vehicles.

The drill, which will happen from 9 to 11 p.m. on Friday, is required by the Federal Aviation Administration every three years and “will test the speed and effectiveness of first responders” and airport staff in an emergency situation, according to the airport. As part of the drill, volunteer actors will play injured victims.

It will not take place near the terminal or the drop-off area, but may be visible to some people at the airport, said airport spokesperson Darrick Lee.

No roads will be closed near the airport, and the drill is not anticipated to impact any aircraft operations, Lee said.

Two years ago, I ate something that blew my mind. It was a basturma brisket sandwich, a version of Armenian pastrami, and lahmajoun, a flatbread, all prepared inside a tiny ghost kitchen in Glendale.

Even though it was a tiny, unassuming space, I knew I’d tried something extraordinary. When I went back to the office, I told my editor I’d found L.A.’s next best restaurant. The type of food that keeps you thinking about it well after the meal is over.

The legendary basturma brisket sandwich, now discontinued.

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Carlin Stiehl

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She’s learned to follow my instincts, even when they seem slightly overblown, and my resulting piece on Yerod Mas Bakery & Deli reflected my strong belief in what this place could become.

Over the years, word of its quality spread far and wide. In January it was successful enough to open a brick-and-mortar location nearby. And now it's just been named one of the 50 best restaurants in the country by the New York Times.

You heard it here first, folks.

The sandwich

Ironically, the basturma brisket sandwich had become notorious for another reason — its price: $38. Large enough to be shared with two people, it featured a thick-cut seasoned brisket and melted Swiss cheese, with house-made pickles and slathered with chaman spread, all served on aish baladi — an Egyptian flatbread similar to pita. It's based on a recipe from Grigoryan's Armenian grandmother, who grew up in Egypt.

But when you sell a sandwich for more than $20 in L.A., people start to talk — especially online. Negative attention from Reddit threads and TikTok influencers began to pile up for the small restaurant.

Arthur Grigoryan cooks outside his restaurant Yerord Mas.

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Robert Haleblian

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"There was one evening where I only had six tables in my dining room, and four out of the six tables had their tripods out, just recording."

It was clear that many, mostly influencer types, were there just to comment on the price point and whether it was “worth it,” without much consideration beyond what went into the sandwich. At a certain point, the viral attention no longer felt worth the volume of negative attention tied to the sandwich's price.

In addition, building the sandwich from scratch was a serious undertaking for a small restaurant.

"Essentially 70% of our labor was just for that sandwich."

The Chi Kyuftah, available only on weekends, is a steak tartare dish made with bulgur, red onion, pomegranate molasses, Aleppo pepper.

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Robert Haleblian

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Grigoryan made the decision to take the sandwich off the menu purely as a business decision — not simply to silence internet trolls.

While talking about the sandwich, it's apparent Grigoryan has complicated feelings about the place it holds in his restaurant's story.

"It was a blessing," he said. "But at the same time, it was also a curse."

The power of vindication

While Grigoryan battled it out online, often publicly reposting on his own Instagram, plenty of others weren't deterred. Positive reviews from both the L.A. Times and the New York Times came pouring in. It was then that Grigoryan realized he'd been internalizing too much of the negative energy the sandwich attracted online, admitting to himself that he was going too hard on himself.

What's next

These days, things feel different at the small bakery and deli, with this newfound attention. It feels much more like where they wanted to be when they first opened the restaurant, with the menu now consisting of a handful of rotating dishes, like a hanger steak kebab, the Aleppo-style kebab served with sour cherry sauce, and a seasonal yogurt kofte soup.

The fattoush salad at Yerod Mas, with heirloom tomatoes, watermelon radish, and pita croutons in a lemon-pomegranate vinaigrette.

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Robert Haleblian

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The recent attention from the New York Times has clearly increased sales. Grigoryan says the hanger steak kebab sells out regularly, and on good days the restaurant feeds about 120 people a night, not bad for a restaurant that only seats 21 people at a time.

That’s all to say that Grigoryan and Petrosyan seem content where they are. They take pride in what they've built independently, with no investors — remaining a mom-and-pop spot that serves culturally significant dishes to their community and the rest of Los Angeles.

Personally, I feel extremely privileged to watch Yerod Mas get the attention they so rightfully deserve, especially having played a part in that. But the reality is, the food is that good. Go try it out for yourselves.