The Brief

Armen Martirosyan is an L.A. kid who grew up eating tacos.

He’s also the son of Ovakim and Alvard Martirosyan, who emigrated from Armenia. For 35 years, the family has owned Mini Kabob in Glendale, the small operation that’s become one of the most lauded Armenian restaurants in the city.

To regular patrons of Mini Kabob, it wasn’t uncommon to see the young Martirosyan behind the counter, helping with taking orders and giving suggestions on what was good that day.

But Martirosyan always knew he wanted to apply what he had learned in his family’s restaurant to carve his own path.

In 2017, MidEast Tacos was born, with Martirosyan’s son-of-immigrants take on two cultures, offering Armenian kabob-style meats grilled over an open flame and folded into tacos, burritos and quesadillas.

When you cross paths with Martirosyan, you can see why this pairing makes sense; he exudes a certain homegrown West Coast coolness. He spent his formative years watching Kobe Bryant win championships and listening to Tupac with Black, Asian, and Mexican friends, often eating tacos together after school and on weekends. It connected him to the dominant L.A. culture while still remaining close to his parents’ Armenian heritage.

Armen Martirosyan (left) and Aram Kavoukjian (right) bring their MidEast Taco concept to a new brick and mortar in Silver Lake.

(

Ashley Randall

/

Courtesy of MidEast Tacos

)

Partnering with friend Aram Kavoukjian, they began selling their tacos from a cart near the USC campus and, after some success, decided to establish themselves with a residency at Smorgasburg Los Angeles at The Row in DTLA.

Their falafel tacos brought a certain notoriety, showcasing Matirosyan’s unique sazón, capturing herbaceous flavors in a warm, freshly made corn tortilla.

Building the brick-and-mortar

During the pandemic, the pair paused their operation, with Matirosyan shifting his focus to helping his parents at Mini Kabob.

But this year, after getting all the permits cleared by the city, the pair moved into a brick-and-mortar location, a small cafe space they converted into an order-at-the-counter restaurant with outdoor seating.

Grilled meats at MidEast Tacos.

(

Ashley Randall

/

Courtesy of MidEast Tacos

)

While the concept of falafel tacos has turned its share of heads, MidEast Tacos also impresses with its grilled meat dishes. It is undoubtedly a testament to Martirosyan’s Mini Kabob pedigree, which is expertly applied here in this format.

A perfect example is their steak taco, arriving in a warm flour tortilla with exquisitely juicy and tender meat, setting it far above your average carne asada taco. It’s topped with a refreshing avocado salsa and a menagerie of garnishes, like red onion, cilantro, thai basil, toum árbro (Lebanese garlic sauce), and sumac.

The chicken burrito at MidEast Tacos is the burrito you didn't realize you needed in your life.

(

Ashley Randall

/

Courtesy of MidEast Tacos

)

There’s also the chicken burrito, wrapped in a flour tortilla containing lightly charred chicken, rice, cilantro, and a zesty salsa roja. Adding rice to the inside of burritos can be contentious, as it can leave burritos overstuffed and bland, but MidEast Tacos manages to turn that paradigm on its head with its expert-level mixing of flavors.

Martirosyan has hopes MidEast Tacos will bring added cultural value to the already diverse neighborhood, similar to what his parents' restaurant achieved in Glendale.

Having joined the ranks of local standouts such as Simón, Pine & Crane, and The Win-Dow, located just across the street and a few blocks from Dodger Stadium, it already feels like they’re solidifying themselves among beloved L.A. institutions.

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.

Brandon Jay.

(

Robert Garrova

/

LAist

)

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.

Ryen Slegr (left) and Daniel Brummel perform with their band, Ozma, on the 2014 Weezer Cruise.

(

Even Keel Imagery

)

“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."