Topline:
Diwali, which starts on Sunday, is a time for spirituality, to reconnect with friends and loved ones — and enjoy the best of India’s regional desserts. Here’s where to find them.
Dessert destinations: We highlight Indian eateries from Riverside County to Artesia to Fullerton.
What to buy? Oh, so many different options. Boxes of Jalebi, cashew and mango flavored Barfi, Ghewar with Rabdi, or a salted caramel Gulab Jamun — enjoy your Indian culinary tour.
Diwali in greater L.A. is something else. While I love the endless aisles of spices in nearly every Indian grocery store, I’m tickled that in the time it would take to find a reliable recipe and laboriously cook it into a Diwali treat, I could simply drive over a nearby Indian eatery and satisfy my cravings.
I’ve lived in many cities in the U.S., but on many days, and particularly over Diwali, Los Angeles feels more like my hometown Mumbai than anywhere else. Its culturally complex energy, its neighborhoods and restaurants exude a warmth and familiarity that soothes the nostalgia for my homeland.
After we moved here in 2010, we took the time to explore much of SoCal’s Indian restaurant scene, and kept finding more and more great places. It seems Indian restaurants are experiencing a coming of age.
Here are some of my family's favorite sweet treats for Diwali (or really any time).
Our initial introduction to living in SoCal was Riverside County, with its dusty, arid and hot climate, which immediately reminded my husband, Uma, of his hometown, New Delhi.
In no time, we found New India Sweets & Spices, blocks away from the campus of UC Riverside.
Primarily a grocery store, I was surprised to find a fairly extensive confections or mithai section behind a glass case, all sold by weight; it felt guilt-free to purchase "just a Boondi Ladoo or three." Our daughter discovered they carry Badana throughout the year — small beads of fried and sweetened chickpea flour that resemble larger and more addictive dippin’ dots. In the winter months, they have Atta Pinni, a wheat and jaggery-based Ladoo preparation with warming spices and edible gum — a traditional Indian energy bar, one of those "good-for-you" kind of things only grandmas seem to know how to make.
Growing more comfortable, we began exploring the region and discovered BAPS, Shayona in Chino Hills. The large complex is evocative of temple complexes in India, and is a sight for homesick eyes. The on-site spacious Shayona Cafe offers a seasonal menu that adheres to the guidelines of the Swaminarayan sect, excluding garlic or onions. The cafe offers umpteen pre-packed treats both sweet and savory, including traditional mithai in boxes, as sampler packs.
Familiar ones include Boondi Ladu, Kaju Katli, and a Gujarati version of a fudge-like winter preparation called "paak." My kryptonite is their boxes of Jalebi, swirls of deep-fried batter sweetened in a sticky sugar syrup. I will consume at least a few pieces before I get to our car.
Many friends encouraged us to head to Artesia, unofficially titled “Little India." The retail strip exudes an energy that I have not experienced elsewhere in the country, and seeing its many regional Indian cuisines made me feel like I was in a culinary theme park.
At Saffron Spot we found falooda, an ice-cream float with traditional Kulfi ice cream and sweet basil seeds. Uma was delighted to learn that Tirunelveli Halwa was on the menu at Anjappar. This traditional south Indian dessert reminded him of childhood visits with his grandparents, deep in rural Tamil Nadu. Made by cooking down the milk extracted from wheat berries, it's a regional favorite.
Surati Farsan Mart has many kinds of fudge-like preparations under the broad category of "Barfi" with flavors like cashew, and mango, as well as ladoo varieties, plus savories to enjoy while an order is filled. They also carry pre-packed sampler packs that are particularly popular during Diwali. The sampler packs also make welcome hostess gifts.
More recently, we discovered a newcomer to the Artesia strip, Bhooke. It steals the scene with classic desserts from the desert state of Rajasthan, including Ghewar and Mawa Kachori. Both are technique-heavy preparations, best left to the hands of an expert.
Ghewar is made by pouring a thin stream of batter directly into hot ghee that creates a fine lattice like structure. Drizzled with sugar syrup, it is sometimes served with Rabdi, a rich and creamy sauce-like dessert. Mawa Kachori is a large handmade flaky pastry, stuffed with sweetened milk solids, or mawa and nuts and then deep fried in ghee. What’s not to love?
Bustling and popular Fullerton includes two of my favorite destinations, especially for desserts.
The first is Spice Social with a casual vibe, and a fancy bar. Their meals are flavorful, and offer both a mix of traditional and fusion eats, but their desserts push the envelope without going overboard. My favorite is their Gulabi Paratha: a layered paratha, stuffed with Gulab Jamun and served with ice-cream.
Down the street is another family friendly restaurant, Khan Saab. This alcohol-free restaurant has received a Michelin Bib Gourmand award twice (2021, 2023) for good reason. Their zero-proof cocktails are excellent, every dish is executed with perfection, and the desserts are worth saving room for. Chef Imran "Ali" Mookhi offers two stand out desserts, both including chocolate: a Chocolate Gulab Jamun, offering the best excuse to eat Nutella served with a chocolate wafer, and a Chocolate Samosa, served with vanilla ice-cream. In the spirit of the festive season, it is only fair to order both.
Over time, we learned that traveling into downtown Los Angeles requires a fair bit of planning. Although there is no good time to be on the highways, we discovered three worthy destinations. Baar Baar is a newer restaurant that offers a delicious and fun-filled cocktail menu, elegant dining options, and exquisite desserts.
Elevating the classics into portrait worthy desserts, Chef Sujan has curated a handful of masterpieces. The Coconut Payasam Cassata is a layered dessert with the delicate flavors of a creamy payasam, a traditional South Indian dessert, served as a cassata. The Mango Ghewar here elevates the traditional Rajasthani dessert. Served over a mango jelly with a dollop of chilled mango kulfi, soft mascarpone mousse and topped with crunchy pistachio, it is a symphony of textures.
Meanwhile, Tulsi Eatery offers three convenient locations across the city: Northridge, DTLA and Westwood, making it hard to miss. Two easy-to-love desserts hit the spot every time —Shrikhand, a classic dessert of sweetened smooth yogurt flavored with cardamom, and a salted caramel Gulab Jamun, an easy favorite for anyone who loves the sweet-salty combo.
Roots Indian Bistro on Melrose offers another delicious avatar of Gulab Jamun, this time as a churro, served with a coconut dust.
With each trip to the beach, we stumbled into a new restaurant and returned to those who would get their Indian flavors just right. Rangeen Kitchen is a small, friendly eatery in Laguna Niguel. This owner-operated restaurant offers a California-fresh and flavor-forward menu, including classic Indian dishes and fresh takes on them, but their desserts make it worth a visit. Chocolate Pani-puri is a fun take on the classic savory Pani-puri, where the puff is dipped in chocolate and filled with a sweet cream. The melt-in-your-mouth Saffron and Rose Pana Cotta is topped with a chia seed and pomegranate syrup and pistachios.
Tustin’s Masala Bae surprised me with two desserts I did not expect to see outside India — Qubaani ka meetha and a Hyderabadi Fruit Custard. These two are quintessential comfort foods for many people from India, the desserts one would expect to serve a family member. Rich, decadent and yet simple, Qubaani ka meetha is made with preserved apricot, served with vanilla ice cream and topped with almonds. At the same time, a Hyderabadi fruit custard is another familiar dessert - mixed fruits topped with a chilled vanilla custard and served with assorted dried fruits and nuts — simplicity at its best.
Topline:
A brush fire burning in Wildwood Canyon above Burbank has prompted evacuation orders for DeBell Restaurant and Golf Course and Stough Canyon Nature Center, according to the city of Burbank.
What we know so far: The Walnut Fire broke out Saturday afternoon near the intersection East Harvard Road and Wildwood Canyon Road.
Read on ... for more on evacuations and weather conditions.
This is a developing story and will be updated. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:
Evacuation orders for DeBell Restaurant and Golf Course and Stough Canyon Nature Center remain in place for a fire burning in Wildwood Canyon above Burbank.
Evacuation warnings for Churches Ct. and Country Club Drive were lifted at 6:20 p.m.
As of 5:55 p.m., the fire had burned 40 acres and 70% contained, according to Burbank.
The Walnut Fire broke out Saturday afternoon near the intersection East Harvard Road and Wildwood Canyon Road.
Hiking trails around the area are closed. The Starlight Bowl concert scheduled for tonight has been canceled.
Check out LAist's wildfire recovery guide
If you have to evacuate:
Navigating fire conditions:
How to help yourself and others:
How to start the recovery process:
What to do for your kids:
Prepare for the next disaster:
Topline:
A report Friday from the Labor Department shows that employers cut 23,000 jobs last month, and job gains for May and June were revised sharply lower.
Why it matters: The unemployment rate dipped to 4.1%, but only because more than 260,000 people dropped out of the workforce.
Why now: It was the second month in a row that the monthly jobs tally came in weaker than forecasters had expected.
The U.S. job market unexpectedly stalled in July.
A report Friday from the Labor Department shows that employers cut 23,000 jobs last month, and job gains for May and June were revised sharply lower.
The unemployment rate dipped to 4.1%, but only because more than 260,000 people dropped out of the workforce.
It was the second month in a row that the monthly jobs tally came in weaker than forecasters had expected.
"We are increasingly hearing from workers that they are anxious about their job security and they are frustrated by the fact that they are stuck in roles that are not necessarily good for them," said Daniel Zhao, chief economist at the job search website Glassdoor. "And that's on top of workers who are not in a job right now and feel frozen out of the job market."
Glassdoor's worker confidence index slumped in July to a record low.
Restaurants and retailers cut thousands of jobs last month, and local government also saw large job losses. Healthcare continued to add workers, but at a more modest pace than earlier in the year.
The softening job market may complicate the Federal Reserve's job, since it's also battling stubborn inflation. The Fed may be more cautious about raising interest rates at a time when the labor market appears less stable.
For people who are working, average wages have risen 3.2% in the last 12 months. That's likely not enough to keep pace with inflation, however, so workers' paychecks don't stretch as far as they used to.
"Part of the reason that workers are feeling bad about today's job market," Zhao says, is that "a lot of those wage gains have been eaten up by rising energy prices."
Copyright 2026 NPR
Topline:
Every Sunday night, a semi-secret event at the tony Los Angeles Athletic Club lets anyone experience a near-private concert from jazz legends — for just $10.
Why it matters: The revolving cast draws from a repertory group of about 15 artists, including: saxophonist Rickey Woodard, who played for Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald and more; trumpeter Nolan Shaheed, who backed Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Stevie Wonder.
Read on ... to find the details of this hidden gem ...
It seems that jazz is everywhere in Los Angeles. Blue Note opened a club last year, venues like Sam First, Catalina’s, Vibrato and the Baked Potato draw large crowds, and hotels and bars are adding jazz to their schedules.
But every week, a semi-secret event at the tony Los Angeles Athletic Club lets anyone experience a near-private concert from legends such as Rickey Woodard, who played saxophone for Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and others; and Nolan Shaheed, trumpeter for Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye and more.
That’s before you get to the evening’s singer, who might be 96-year-old pianist Betty Bryant, former Raelette Val Monroe or singer and Grammy-winning songwriter John Proulx.
Until recently, the Sunday night Jazz Salon was free. Now it charges a nominal $10 per person, which is still an outrageous bargain, so be sure to add something to the tip jar on the piano, and maybe try one of the cocktails or the steak frites.
Walking into the club earlier, you see black-and-white photos of all types of healthy pursuits on the walls, as well as trophies and mementos of the club’s nearly century-and-a-half history. Plush sofas, high ceilings and book-filled shelves are the order of the day, and alongside members in gym gear or lugging laptops, you go up in one of the elevators to the third floor, where the Jazz Salon takes place.
Earlier in the day, Dave Ross, 76, was setting up the amps, drum kit, mixer and mic stands. He also administers the website, acts as MC and plays double bass as part of the ensemble. He began the venture over a decade ago, when he persuaded the LAAC, of which he had long been a member, to host concerts in their redecorated restaurant and bar.
Ross draws from a repertory group of about 15 artists, and the concert takes place opposite the bar in a wood-paneled room of just a few dozen leather chairs and tables. This small scale makes the night intimate and unique.
Location: Invention (3rd Floor), The Los Angeles Athletic Club, 646 S Olive St., Downtown Los Angeles
Time: Sundays, 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM (with a brief intermission)
Cost: $10 cover charge at the door
Make reservations and check out the weekly artist schedule
“No gig is ever the same,” says Ross. “We don’t rehearse, and every time we play a song, we're never trying to play it the same way we played it before.”
That makes the night fun, too. Since you’re right near the musicians, you can hear their laughter and banter, as well as their impressive solos. Ross, stage left, stays out of the limelight — which is how he prefers it — and often says he's just happy to be there playing.
“You're there to keep the beat, the pulse of the music,” he says. “And then, secondarily, the notes that you play help the other musicians understand what the chord, what the harmony is. I'm just doing it for the pleasure of playing the music.”
Once a month, Ross and some of his stable join a touring artist — recently five-time Grammy-nominee Karrin Allyson — in the club’s 250-seat ballroom for a more formal ticketed event, but there have been just two complete sellouts of them this year: tributes to Bill Evans and Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond.
Donations and the tip jar on Sunday evenings sometimes haven’t been enough to break even, either, which led to Ross reluctantly introducing the $10 charge. No matter what, he is determined the Jazz Salon will keep going.
“When I was younger, there was a receptionist I knew who was a nun. She said: “‘You know what your problem is? You’re too optimistic!’”
Topline:
Lime Truck founder and two-time Great Food Truck Race champion Daniel Shemtob is approaching strangers across L.A., asking what their mom's best dish is, and turning it into a taco on his food truck the same day. It's all part of a new five-episode series, Better Than Your Mom, launched on what would have been his mother's birthday.
Why it matters: What starts as a quick, chaotic street-corner challenge opens into something bigger — a Long Beach woman honoring her late mother-in-law's gefilte fish recipe, and a chef processing his own mother's death and the loss of his home in last year's Palisades Fire, one taco at a time.
Read on … for how a stranger's yes turns into a family's story, and what happens when a taco truck becomes a place to grieve, honor and remember.
Daniel Shemtob has been going around Los Angeles asking strangers this question: "What's your mom's best dish?"
He then turns their answers — from Filipino oxtail adobo to the Ashkenazi Jewish favorite of gefilte fish — into a taco for his new five-episode web series, "Better Than Your Mom."
One episode breaks from the format entirely: a head-to-head chopped salad taco challenge between Shemtob and Vanessa Silverton, daughter of famed L.A. chef Nancy Silverton, judged blind by Nancy herself.
A two-time winner of "The Great Food Truck Race" on the Food Network, Shemtob is no stranger to reality TV — he also founded The Lime Truck, serving Cali-Mex cuisine in Orange County.
What starts as a quick, chaotic street-corner challenge opens into something bigger — a Long Beach woman honoring her late mother-in-law's gefilte fish recipe, and a chef processing his own mother's death and the loss of his home in the 2025 Palisades Fire.
Despite loving fine dining, Shemtob said nothing beats the experience of having someone invite him to their mother's home for dinner.
"It's by far my favorite thing," he said.
That urge to connect with other people also came from wanting to celebrate his late mother's legacy and the impact she had on him in the kitchen.
"Eating was like a big part of how we shared and celebrated," Shemtob said. "It was a culture that was built around food."
While most walk past him or decline to talk, Shemtob said he's been surprised by how many strangers say yes almost immediately — like Anne Gundry, a retired biology teacher in Long Beach.
She answered with a dish from her mother-in-law from her first marriage — gefilte fish served cold.
Gundry recalled her first meeting with Dena Levenstein, who would become her mother-in-law. The relationship started out cold — but cooking together changed their dynamic.
"That's where I honestly think we had the deepest bond with her," Gundry said.
Gundry described yearly visits to Levenstein's house as a cooking "apprenticeship," where Gundry was taught to cook by feel — adding ingredients by the handful, testing a dish's consistency by touch.
"She used to say, 'How does it feel?'" Gundry recalled. "And I'd say, 'I don't know, I don't know how it's supposed to feel.'"
Over the years, she learned. Now, Gundry teaches her own children that recipe the same way — without referring to what's written down.
Watching Shemtob cook on "Better Than Your Mom," Gundry was skeptical. Her own process takes over two hours; his took 20 minutes — until she tasted the apple-horseradish slaw he added.
"Brilliant," she said. "I've been trying to duplicate it at home."
You can find Shemtob's videos on his YouTube channel.
