Some of L.A.’s best ice cream expands with new Larchmont flagship
Some of the region’s best ice cream recently expanded to Larchmont with a new location and a rainbow of flavors — just in time for L.A.’s current heatwave.
Dayglow coffee’s Tohm Ifergan and chef Zen Ong (formerly of Inda and E.P. & L.P.) debuted Awan in West Hollywood in 2021, and the plant-based ice cream made from Balinese vanilla and coconut cream instantly took off, garnering collaborations with and support from world-famous chefs, musicians and fashion designers.
“We’re a vegan company second,” Ong said. “To me the goal was the Indonesian core of it, the passion through it all — then realizing that the core recipe is vegan, being like, ‘Let’s just double down on it.’”
In addition to being entirely plant-based, the ice cream ingredients are meticulously sourced. Awan’s chocolate ice cream, for example, involves kluwek, an Indonesian mangrove seed that, when fermented, yields an almost malted-chocolate flavor. Its lemonade-inspired scoop blends Yuzu Co.’s imported fresh yuzu with live blue spirulina. And the signature vanilla includes shavings of gula jawa, the sugar of Indonesian coconut palms.
Next door on Melrose Avenue sits a new outpost of Dayglow, Ifergan’s coffee shop, which offers roughly 20 varieties of coffee. Dayglow focuses not only on single-sourced beans but also whimsical caffeinated concoctions inspired by films, directors and other creatives.
The first Awan opened next door to West Hollywood’s Dayglow, launching as a walk-up window with space carved from the coffee shop’s office.
Now, with ample kitchen space for dedicated ice cream making in Larchmont, the new outpost serves as the culinary home base with roughly 15 flavors always on offer at the shop. Culinary director Sophie Montoya, formerly of Konbi, has added some new flavors and tweaks.
The founders plan to shift the West Hollywood walk-up window to more of an experimental location with newer flavors and items such as large-format ice cream cakes.
Ong and Ifergan hope to open a Chinatown flagship in the fall. Next door, a Dayglow would operate during mornings and afternoons; a planned Niteglow, a Chicago-founded microbrewery from Ifergan and his family, would run at night with a full bar. Another location of Dayglow and Awan is slated for the Westside.
Awan is open in both Larchmont and West Hollywood from 3 to 10 p.m. Monday to Friday and noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
5630 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, enjoyawan.com
L.A. Grocery & Cafe
A new grocery store in Melrose Hill is now open with produce entirely sourced from local farms, a cafe that minimizes food waste and an affordability-minded option for nearly every product category on the shelves.
L.A. Grocery & Cafe is a new collaboration from Honey Hi vets Theresa Ruzumna and Caitlin Sullivan, who met while working at the Echo Park restaurant.
The building had served the neighborhood as a grocery store since the 1990s, most recently as Produce for Less. When Sullivan and Ruzumna proposed their vision to realty developer Zach Lasry, they outlined a neighborhood corner store with fresh farmers market produce alongside affordable home basics such as dish soap and paper towels, and specialty items sourced from around the globe.
Now, they’re filling the deli case with prepared steelhead trout, roasted chicken thighs and chana masala, most items using surplus vegetables, fruits and herbs.
“There’s no responsible way to run a grocery store unless you have a cafe that’s able to use all of the overage,” said Ruzumna, the store’s general manager.
Chefs employed in the cafe are encouraged to be nimble, using whatever may be on hand from the grocery departments that day.
In the pastry case, fresh croissants from local baker Out of Thin Air sit next to house-made pistachio cakes and tahini banana bread, with a gluten-free bakery program overseen by Mozza vet Dahlia Narvaez. A full coffee program is on offer, and just around the corner is a small enclave of wines, with many bottles priced under $25.
L.A. Grocery & Cafe is surrounded by HUD housing and opens amid a rush of new restaurants and art galleries rapidly changing the neighborhood of Melrose Hill. Its owners planned for months to serve long-term residents, newcomers and studio employees stopping by on the way home from work.
“We have a minimum standard that we want to uphold, but we do still want it to be accessible for the neighborhood,” said Sullivan, who heads business strategy. “So how do we toe that line of making sure that we have things at a price point that can be accessible, and that can be familiar to a neighborhood that’s really dynamic and is a thoroughfare for so many different parts of the city?”
For most home staples, such as pasta or a dozen eggs, specialty goods are available alongside a more budget-friendly pick that still meets the owners’ ethics, sustainability and transparency goals. The two owners said they are in the process of registering the store and cafe to receive EBT as payment.
Ruzumna’s family used food stamps while she was growing up nearby, and her mother used them to the best of her ability to buy the best quality food she could. “This has shaped my entire life and my entire career,” Ruzumna said.
The pair hope that L.A. Grocery & Cafe can serve many functions for many communities — even if customers don’t ask about the surplus produce in the breakfast burritos, even if they’re only ducking in for a bunch of cilantro or a bottle of dish soap. L.A. Grocery & Cafe is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
5059 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, lagroceryandcafe.com
Slutty Vegan
Popular plant-based Atlanta restaurant Slutty Vegan just kicked off a monthlong residency on Melrose Avenue, bringing founder Pinky Cole-Hayes’ meat-free burgers to the Nomoo space until July 24. Cole-Hayes launched her viral vegan burgers from her apartment in 2018, taking orders via Instagram. She evolved the business into a food truck, then a restaurant in Atlanta, others throughout Georgia, and multiple outposts in New York City. For the next month, she’ll be serving them in L.A. and taking over Nomoo, another plant-based burger shop. Slutty Vegan’s burgers boast Beyond Meat patties and come in options such as the Dancehall Queen, topped with jerk plantains, vegan cheese, onions, lettuce, tomato and the brand’s signature “Slut Sauce”; the One Night Stand, made with vegan bacon and vegan cheese; and the Sloppy Toppy, which adds vegan cheese and jalapeños to the mix. Each burger comes with fries and a drink for $20. The pop-up also serves cookies by local outfit Cookies A’More, which bakes gourmet vegan cookies in a range of flavors. Slutty Vegan is open daily in Nomoo from noon to 8 p.m.
7507 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, sluttyveganatl.com
Something About Her
There’s a new restaurant in the “Vanderpump Rules” universe. Something About Her, a buzzy West Hollywood shop serving sandwiches and salads to throngs of fans, is the latest food and beverage project by cast members of the hit reality TV show. Founders Katie Maloney and Ariana Madix planned the gourmet sandwich shop for more than two years; in late May it opened up the block from Lisa Vanderpump’s SUR Restaurant and Lounge. Intended to “celebrate femininity and creativity,” dishes are named for famous actresses its founders admire — the Drew, the Reese, the Cameron, the Kerry — while Nancy Meyers’ production designer, Jon Hutman, oversaw the space’s aesthetics. Options include Sicilian tuna salad with marinated fennel and preserved lemon; chive goat cheese with mango-and-jalapeño jam, apples and cucumber; and smoked turkey with roasted red pepper, smoked Gouda, onion marmalade and chipotle mayo. The restaurant serves Second Chance Beer Co. craft beer, Cameron Diaz’s Avaline wine and canned Loverboy spritzes from Bravo reality TV colleague Kyle Cooke. Something About Her is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday.
640 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, wehosah.com
Bagel Boss
A New York bagel shop with nearly 50 years in the trade recently touched down with its first California outpost. Now the Bagel Boss rainbow of schmears, freshly baked bagels, classic deli desserts and signature “flagels” — flat, thinner bagels — can be found in Burbank. Fourth-generation bagel and bialy maker Mel Rosner founded the company in Long Island in 1975 with his sons; one of his sons and a grandson still operate the business today, along with a decades-long employee of the original shop.
For the purists, they import the dough from Long Island and hand-roll it into bagels on-site, then kettle-boil and bake them in flavors such as salt, everything, sesame, egg, garlic, plain and rainbow. Schmears include classics like lox, scallion, garlic and herb, cinnamon raisin and vegetable, as well as funfetti, olive, tofu and strawberry, with additional spreads and salads such as tuna salad, egg salad, whitefish salad and baked kippered salmon. There’s a classic bacon, egg and cheese bagel breakfast sandwich, along with a range of breakfast burritos and other breakfast sandwiches, plus coffee and deli-stalwart sweets such as black-and-white cookies, rainbow cookies, muffins, rugelach and linzer cookies. While many Bagel Boss locations are kosher, Burbank’s outpost is not. Bagel Boss is open daily from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.
3116 W. Magnolia Blvd., (747) 241-8549, bagelboss.com
Triple Beam Pizza Santa Monica
The long-anticipated Westside expansion of one of L.A.’s most popular pizza spots is here. Triple Beam Pizza, founded by chefs Nancy Silverton and Matt Molina and Silverlake Wine’s Randy Clement, is now open in Santa Monica. The Roman-style pizzeria’s executive chef, Juan Robles, is overseeing the menu in the new space, which is the largest yet and is located near the beach with a handful of tables for indoor dining. Expect Triple Beam’s thin, crispy-bottomed pizzas topped with options such as roasted fennel, sausage and goat cheese; mushroom and shallot with black-truffle cheese; bulgogi chicken with cabbage, pickles and Korean barbecue sauce; pepperoni; and pineapple, prosciutto and jalapeño. Salads, garlic knots and a rotation of daily sandwiches by Robles also are on offer, with plans for beer and wine in the future. Triple Beam Pizza is open in Santa Monica from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
2905 Main St., Santa Monica, (310) 579-4775, triplebeampizza.com
Guisados Long Beach
Prolific L.A. taqueria Guisados has landed in Long Beach. The Boyle Heights-founded restaurant run by Armando De La Torre Sr. and his family, beloved for its fresh, thick handmade tortillas and range of braises, has spread from the Eastside to South Bay since it debuted in 2010. Its new location in Long Beach offers the brand’s signature tacos — including braises such as chicken tinga, mole, steak picado and cochinita pibil — along with tamales, fresh tortillas to-go and, from 9 a.m. to noon, breakfast items such as breakfast tacos and burritos. Guisados is open in Long Beach from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.
1201 Redondo Ave., (562) 494-5292, guisados.la
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