The Brief

My 5-year-old son Hank has been eating bowls of soup bigger than his head since he could hold a spoon. He is such a matzo ball head that the last time we were at our regular place he got to utter that iconic line “I’ll have the usual.” (It was actually more like “I’ll get that one thing that I always get here.” He’s still working on the idiom).

Josh Heller's son, Hank, surveying the soup at Factor's Deli

(

Josh Heller

/

LAist

)

He’ll be in his element, along with his twin sister Lucy, next week, when Chanukah begins sundown Dec. 25 (aka Christmas Day — the first time they’ve coincided since 2005). Instead of Chinese food, (or along with, whatever you do) we’ll likely have hearty bowls of matzo ball soup at our table.

My dad’s ideal bowl is a thick matzo ball — the kind of thing he says you could throw across the room at a cousin. He also wants the carrots and celery to be so soft they fall apart instantly in your mouth. It’s pretty hard for him to find this at the deli. He said occasionally someone in the kitchen at Jerry’s Deli (RIP) would send out a hardball — but it wasn’t consistent.

My mom’s matzo ball ideal is closer to the L.A. deli standard. A fluffy matzo ball, maybe made airier with the presence of seltzer. Squishy matzo balls with firm vegetables.

Sinkers or swimmers, there’s definitely an argument to be had. (Case in point: when I asked the Save the Deli Facebook group their personal favorite it almost came to blows. Firm! Fluffy! Check out some of their words of wisdom later in the story).

So I decided to speak to the masters, aka L.A.’s delis, to get the inside scoop on making a great matzo ball soup.

Wexler’s (DTLA, Santa Monica, Las Vegas)

Wexler's matzo ball soup

(

Courtesy Wexler's

)

Wexler’s is a new school L.A. Jewish deli with an old school flavor.

When they opened in 2012 they were the first of a generation to bring handmade chef-driven Ashkenazi cuisine to a wide audience at Grand Central Market. They’ve since added a Santa Monica shop and a location inside the Aria resort in Las Vegas.

Customers regularly kvell over the deli’s ability to make matzo balls that taste like those from their childhoods.

Owner Michael Kassar said the key to great matzo balls “is using extremely high-quality, pasture-raised egg yolks, and not adding too much matzo meal”.

“The goal is to keep the matzo ball light and fluffy,” he said. “Form the balls delicately, use high quality schmaltz, and simmer gently.”

Frank’s Weiler’s Deli (Canoga Park)

Matzo ball soup at Frank's Weilers Deli

(

Josh Heller

/

LAist

)

When my nana and Auntie Jan moved from the old neighborhood to Canoga Park in the 70s they’d still have their favorite deli dishes caravanned over from Pico-Robertson.

But when Frank’s Weiler’s Deli opened in Canoga Park they had found their spot.

(The deli was a big enough deal for our family that my nana wanted to make sure that they catered her funeral.)

Frank Mesriani said their secret to a great matzo ball “is to keep the dough in a cooler for about an hour before boiling them.”

Mesriani, who left Iran in 1979, said he also “put a touch of my Sephardic heritage into my menu. I add a bit of turmeric to the soup.”

Mort and Betty’s Vegan Deli 

Matzo ball soup at Mort & Betty's

(

Mort & Betty's

)

If you think keeping a matzo ball together is hard, imagine the challenges of doing it vegan style — without things like eggs or schmaltz. Chef Megan Tucker of Mort and Betty’s has made it her mission to crack the code.

For her, getting a dense umami-full broth is the easier part.

She said that while some of the vegan soup bases are totally fine for home use, she likes to make her broth from scratch. She makes a mirepoix, and adds in shiitake mushrooms (to replace the chicken.)

Then she adds fresh bay leaf, a little fresh turmeric, and fresh thyme. "I can never find parsley root, so I use parsley stems, plus any alliums I have laying around, like leeks,” Tucker said.

She also includes fresh dill, onion powder, black pepper, and traditional aromatics, “to make it tasty.”

The matzo balls have taken a little more experimentation. Tucker said that for the past three years she has been using The Matzo Project, an all-natural artisanal matzo brand founded in 2014. She said the product has “a tastier base to start with, but I had to adjust it because it’s a coarser grind of matzo crumbs.”

As for replacing the egg and schmaltz, Tucker said she landed on psyllium husk: "They’re typically used as a fiber supplement, but they gel when you add water, acting as a binder.”

And instead of the 20 minutes refrigeration for conventional matzo balls, she said they make the mix, shape it immediately and refrigerate it overnight.

You can buy four matzo balls in broth by the quart on Sundays at Atwater Farmers Market.

Factors Famous Deli (Pico-Robertson)

Suzee Markowitz has been running this place with her sister Debbie for more than forty years.

She said the restaurant makes an estimated 3,500 matzo balls a week. Her customers like to customize their matzo ball soups; some just want broth and a matzo ball, others want noodles, others want rice. Her favorite way is to add kasha varnishkes, the bow-tie noodle and buckwheat groat Ashkenazi comfort food. “Try it next time you come in,” she said.

Suzee Markowitz's granddaughter, Margot, being fed soup by her grand-nephew, Benny

(

Courtesy Suzee Markowitz

)

The kitchen has a legacy as well. Head Chef Silverio Perez has been working in the kitchen with his four brothers and cousins since he started as a young dishwasher in 1981. His father Papa Chuy had been running the kitchen since 1979. Their family is originally from Tala, Jalisco.

His matzo ball making process is to “break an egg into some vegetable oil. Add baking powder, white pepper, salt, and chicken base. Then mix. Once they’re ready, boil in water.”

Suzee playfully interjects that “we blow kisses” into each matzo ball “because they are made with love.”

Canter's matzo ball soup

(

Courtesy Jacqueline Canter

)

Canter’s (Fairfax) 

Jacqueline Canter told me they’ve made over 24 million matzo balls since opening Canter’s on Fairfax. They use a 100-year-old recipe for its soup, which includes matzo balls, noodles, chicken, onions, carrots, celery, and parsnips.

Her grandfather first opened Canter’s in 1924 in Jersey City. Then, after losing the deli to the stock market crash, they relocated to Los Angeles with $500 in their pocket and opened their first location in Boyle Heights in 1931. In 1948 they moved with the Jewish community to the Fairfax neighborhood — then into their current location inside the old Esquire theater in 1953.

Jacqueline Canter said many people swear matzo ball soup is “Jewish Penicillin” and “the cure for the common cold,” to the extent that as soon as they get out of the hospital they go and pick up this comfort food.

Note: they also offer vegetarian matzo balls, as well as vegetarian broth, so everyone can have their fill.

The payoff

Not to get too schmaltzy, but chicken soup really has the power to bring your family together. Even if you’re still figuring out how to keep your matzo balls from falling apart.

“Dad, that was yummy," is the ultimate feel-good compliment. Even if it wasn’t perfect, my family still enjoyed it.

Finally, for the matzo ball lovers among you, I recommend the scene from Janicza Bravo's 2017 movie Lemon, of a family singing along to Dean Friedman’s novelty song “A Million Matzoh Balls.”

It’s just hilarious and reminds me of my family. And now my kids won’t stop singing it.

This is a developing story and will be updated. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:

• CalFire incident page
• City of Burbank
  

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.

Listen to our Big Burn podcast

Fire resources and tips

Check out LAist's wildfire recovery guide

If you have to evacuate:

• Why fire officials don't want you to stay and defend your home
• How to get packed up
• How to leave your house
• What evacuation terms mean and how to sign up for alerts

Navigating fire conditions:

• How to drive in high winds and fire danger
• How to prep for power outages
• How to navigate poor air quality

How to help yourself and others:

• Resources for fire victims, evacuees and first responders
• If you want to help fire victims, resist the urge to volunteer
• How to help find lost pets

How to start the recovery process:

• What to do — and not do — when you get home after a wildfire
• How to make an insurance claim
• How to safely clean up wildfire ash

What to do for your kids:

• How to talk to children about wildfires and losing a home
• What parents should know about wildfire air quality

Prepare for the next disaster:

• Fire season is here. Make sure you're signed up for these alerts
• Every day is now fire season. Let's get you ready for the next wildfire
• Yes, wildfires are getting worse. The history that got us to this moment

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.

The Fed's job gets harder

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

Next week Phoebe Bridgers fans in Southern California will get an otherworldly way to enjoy her new album ahead of its official release Friday.

And a Costa Mesa institution will enjoy the chance to introduce indie music lovers to what it does beyond astronomy lectures and field trips.

The Orange Coast College Planetarium is one of dozens of planetariums around the world – and the only in Southern California – hosting listening sessions next week for Lost Weekend, one of the year’s most anticipated indie releases and Bridgers’ first solo studio album in six years.

The Pasadena native is not expected at any of the planetarium shows. But that doesn’t matter to her fan base.

Phoebe Bridger fans can listen to her album in the planetarium's 125-seat dome theater.

(

Courtesy Orange Coast College Planetarium

)

Twelve shows in the 125-seat theater sold out within four hours of going on sale Thursday, according to the planetarium. So staff added 16 more, bringing the total to 28 screenings over four days, Aug. 10 through 13. (At last check, tickets for showings earlier in the day were still available.)

“We have never had an event that was this anticipated,” Rhiannon Graffio, lead speaker and educator at the planetarium.

There’s two ways to experience the record from start to finish, which is a little over 50 minutes long.

One is a full-dome show featuring images taken by renowned astrophotographer Babak Tafreshi.

“It's gorgeous,” Graffio said. “There's some that are of the night sky, where you can see the paths of the stars as the Earth rotates, or auroras or lightning.”

The other option is a laser show created by Laser Fantasy, with scenes and storylines moving in time with the music.

Graffio said the planetarium had been approached by Bridgers’ label Dead Oceans to host the shows, which are being presented in partnership with Spotify.

Rhiannon Graffio, a lead speaker at the Orange Coast College Planetarium, has been working with Phoebe Bridgers' label on next week's listening sessions.

(

Courtesy Rhiannon Graffio

)

The events are strictly phone-free. To prevent album leaks, attendees will have to put their phones in pouches provided by Yondr, a company that works concerts and other events. Smartwatches, and Meta glasses also aren’t allowed.

The Lost Weekend events are the most high-profile but certainly not the planetarium’s first experiment with mixing music and visuals.

The theater regularly hosts laser shows set to music, cycling through different artists like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé each month while keeping some crowd favorites like Pink Floyd in rotation. Graffio said in the last year KPop Demon Hunters laser shows have been especially popular.

Accommodating the Lost Weekend shows has meant bringing extra staff to handle the weekday crowds at the community planetarium.

But Graffio said there's a big upside to introducing music fans to a place they may never have thought to visit.

“It’s a wonderful experience,” she said. “And most of the shows that we do are also educational in some sense. As cool as the visuals are, they are about the universe and what we know about it.”

And for those who can't make it to the planetarium shows, there's a more traditional route to marking Bridgers' new album. A dozen record stores around Southern California are hosting listening sessions at midnight Friday.

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.

Inside the club 

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.

Dave Ross, bassist and founder of the Jazz Salon.

(

James Bartlett

/

LAist

)

The bassist who built it 

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.

“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.”

The Jazz Salon is a $10 Sunday night concert at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

(

James Bartlett

/

LAist

)

Why $10 barely covers it 

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!’”