Newsletter: How to burn cheesecake

The top food stories from this week at the Los Angeles Times:

Freshly baked Basque cheesecake made by chef Dave Beran of Dialogue restaurant in Santa Monica.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

BURNT CHEESECAKE

Genevieve Ko explores the joy of burnt Basque cheesecake with Dialogue chef Dave Beran, and yes, there’s a recipe.

The classic hummus at Hasiba, a hummusiya and pita restaurant in Los Angeles’ Pico-Robertson neighborhood.

(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

A PICO HUMMUSIYA

Patricia Escárcega reviews Hasiba, the hummusiya (great word, that) on Pico from the Lodge Bread Co. folks.

Kale, avocado and grapefruit salad from Alta Adams.

(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA SOUL FOOD

Bill Addison pulls up a chair at Alta Adams, chef Keith Corbin’s West Adams soul food restaurant.

A GARAGE FULL OF RYE

Amy Scattergood heads to Orange County to find an artisanal bakery in a converted Tustin garage.

A bowl of menudo at Mr. Menudo.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

IN PRAISE OF MENUDO

Hadley Tomicki checks out Mr. Menudo Oficial, a pop-up menudo stand in Compton.

Food Bowl 2019 is coming. Our annual monthlong food festival is happening again this May. We hope you’ll join us for #31daysoffood. If you’d like to hold an event at your bar, cafe, hotel or restaurant; have breakfast in a kitchen garden or cocktails on a rooftop; host a charity bake sale or market tour, let us know at lafoodbowl.com.

Our 101 Restaurants We Love list for 2018 is out. The list incorporates restaurants and trucks from around Los Angeles and Orange County, in alphabetical order (no rankings this time). Plus there’s a bonus list of 10 classic restaurants.

Check us out on Instagram at @latimesfood.

And don’t forget the thousands of recipes in our California Cookbook recipe database.

Feedback? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at food@latimes.com.