The L.A. churro and the evolution of pan dulce. Plus more Dodgers-themed food and drink for the World Series, the new Hollywood Distillery in a former mortuary, spiced hot chocolate for Day of the Dead and a Paris ham-and-butter sandwich better than the one the internet loves. I’m Laurie Ochoa, general manager of L.A. Times Food, with Tasting Notes.
The sweet spot 
Ellen Ramos inside Santa Canela, the bakery she opened in L.A.’s Highland Park.
(Laurie Ochoa / Los Angeles Times)
I’ve been thinking about the conchas Ellen Ramos makes at the Highland Park bakery Santa Canela and how Mexican pan dulce has been evolving in Southern California.
If you grew up eating pan dulce for family gatherings, a tray of pastel-pink conchas in a panadería window likely stirs childhood memories. But with hundreds of panaderías dotting the streets of the Southland, there’s a risk that your concha nostalgia could lead to spongy, bland pan dulce from a bakery that relies too heavily on commercial-grade dough conditioners.
Ramos, however, is part of a new generation of bakers upping the quality and inventiveness of pan dulce.
She might be most famous for her L.A. churro, with the dough piped into the shape of the classic interlocking “L” and “A” seen on so much Dodgers gear around town, especially now with the World Series happening here in Los Angeles. There’s almost always a line to get into her tiny but beautifully designed Santa Canela bakery and this week nearly everyone is asking for L.A. churros, which are fried to order and are exceptionally light and airy.
Even more remarkable are Ramos’ conchas. Some of her conchas have a classic shell-patterned topping, including one flavored with with orange blossom. But I’m drawn to the one she calls the Santa Canela concha, draped with a smooth layer of cinnamon-inflected topping and piped with a filling of burnt chantilly cream, slightly reminiscent of Oaxaca’s famed burnt milk ice cream. For me, this concha is a beautiful blend of tradition and pastry chef ingenuity.
Conchas filled with burnt vanilla cream at Santa Canela panadería in Highland Park.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Then, there is her churro croissant, which contributor Kelly Dobkin featured earlier this summer in our guide to 8 bakeries with globally inspired croissants that are uniquely L.A.
“Ramos is infusing her Mexican heritage (and churro mastery) into the bakery’s take on the classic French croissant,” wrote Dobkin. “The churro croissant is dusted heavily in cinnamon sugar, but still remains light, flaky and delicious.”
And though Ramos doesn’t claim to have invented the street-meets-patisserie confection (the L.A.-founded Porto’s bakery, for instance, has been selling churro croissants for the past few years), it’s just one more way that she fearlessly mines multiple traditions.
Churro croissant and coffee from Santa Canela.
(Santa Canela)
Born and raised in L.A.’s El Sereno neighborhood, Ramos, as she recently told Voyage LA, is the youngest of six kids with a mother who came from Mexico City and a Salvadoran father. Each of her parents’ traditions are evident in many of her pastries, including the Salvi quesadilla, a take on the traditional sweet cheese pound cake, and a savory chicken tinga danish, which as Stephanie Breijo wrote soon after the bakery’s opening, was inspired by the tinga Ramos’ mother made.
Before Santa Canela, Ramos worked in many L.A. kitchens, including the Patina group, 71 Above, Redbird, the now-closed Yours Truly in Venice and the L.A. rooftop spot Cha Cha Cha (which is relocating to Miami). And she still oversees the desserts at Loreto in Frogtown near the L.A. river with executive chef Francisco “Paco” Moran. A smaller version of her L.A. churro is a mainstay on the menu and Ramos shows a love of spectacle and color in her meringue topped and folded with red berries and her use of a hot pink raspado ice made with dragonfruit and blood orange in her occasional “dragon bowl.”
Currently, that sense of drama is seen at Santa Canela in two of her pan de muerto offerings for Day of the Dead — one dusted with purple-pink jamaica (hibiscus) sugar and one filled with hazelnut cream and dusted with hazelnut marzipan.
And you don’t want to miss Santa Canela’s kouign-amann filled with cajeta, which Ramos named the Odette in honor of the Mexico City baking star Odette Olavarri, who developed the recipe for the shop.
Of course, one of the most influential hubs of the pan dulce evolution is Gusto Bread, the Long Beach bakery opened by Arturo Enciso and Ana Belén Salatino. Known for using sourdough in their conchas and corn masa in their nixtamal queen, a cheeky take on kouign-amann, Gusto has been a James Beard Award finalist for the past two years.
I have a feeling it won’t be long before Ramos is up for a James Beard Award of her own.
Craving Dodger blue 
Dodger-blue doughnuts at Colorado Donuts in Eagle Rock.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
It’s not just Santa Canela’s L.A. churro. We’re seeing Dodgers love, and so much Dodger blue, in restaurants and bars all over the city — on doughnuts (at Colorado Donuts and Cofax Coffee), in drinks (the 33 Dodgerita at 33 Taps) and Du-Par’s Dodger Blue Plate Special, with blue-dusted blueberry pancakes. Stephanie Breijo found 25 Dodgers food and drink specials for the World Series. And senior Food editor Danielle Dorsey put together a guide to 11 places to watch the World Series near Dodger Stadium.
One spirit after another 
Hollywood Distillery’s founders, from left: Ferris Wehbe, Larry Neuberg and Jeff Zarrinnam.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
In a former Pierce Brothers Mortuary across the street from Hollywood Forever Cemetery, self-described “partners in hooch” Jeff Zarrinnam, Larry Neuberg and Ferris Wehbe have built a “home to spirits of another nature,” as Stephanie Breijo reports, at their newly opened Hollywood Distillery. Among the California-inspirted spirits you can buy and sample in their taproom is gin is made with native herbs and prickly pears. Coachella Valley dates sweeten and ferment their Oasis vodka. And their Zanja-Madre and rye and bourbon is “named for one of the first aqueducts to power Los Angeles.”
In the same column, Breijo writes that Mírate in Los Feliz has been named one of the 100 best bars in the world by the group behind the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. And Joshua Whigham, an alum of several José Andrés restaurants, has opened his own Spanish place, Casa Leo, in Los Feliz. Beyond tapas and shellfish, Whigham is making his own version of the Catalan flatbread cocas, “topped with local and L.A.-inspired ingredients as well as Iberian accoutrements.”
Also … 
Jambon beurre sandwiches from Caractère de Cochon in Paris.
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times )
Jenn Harris waited nearly an hour for jambon beurre at the internet’s favorite influencer-approved spot in Paris and thought it was … fine. Not worth the time in line. But thanks to a recommendation from deputy Food editor Betty Hallock, Harris found, as she wrote last week, an even better shop making “the exquisite French sandwich of ham and butter on a baguette.” Caractère de Cochon, devoted to all things ham, makes the jambon beurre that Harris says should be on everyone’s Paris list. Then she came home and with the help of the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills for ham and hand-kneaded Maison Bordier salted butter imported from France, she made her own jambon beurre. She recommends buying baguettes from République or Clark Street.As a companion to our recent 50 dinners under $50 guide — including tax and tip, which meant ordering food and drinks that cost no more than $38 on the menu at sit-down restaurants — Stephanie Breijo and Danielle Dorsey halved that amount and ate breakfast, lunch and dinner spending no more than $25 each for the entire day. Breijo chose Tam’s Noodle House, Guisado’s and the Win-Dow. Dorsey chose Bagels by Kneady, Fuegos L.A., La Pupusa Urban Eatery.For our L.A. Times Concierge series, Kailyn Brown provides advice on what restaurants or bars are good for a big birthday party on a budget.And if you are observing Day of the Dead or Día de Muerto this year, you might want to try the spiced Mexican hot chocolate recipe from Food editor Daniel Hernandez. “Why spiced?” he writes. “Well, I can find almost any excuse to add a chile component to a dish or drink.” After tasting his hot chocolate in the Times Test Kitchen, I have to agree.
