(Daniel Jurman / For The Times)
11 delicious gifts for L.A. food fans
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Stumped for holiday present ideas? Food gifts have universal appeal: These are fun and practical at once. And even more meaningful because they’re from local small businesses including L.A. restaurants, bakeries, farms, markets and makers.
Who’s on your gift list? A chocolate lover? A Caracas-born chef in Pasadena makes her own hot chocolate mix from Venezuelan Criollo cacao. Coffee fan? East L.A.’s Picaresca Barra de Cafe roasts coffee beans and bottles its cinnamon-scented cafe de olla syrup. Tea aficionado? A Chinatown tea shop offers subscription boxes of thoughtful blends from China and Taiwan; some are rare finds.
And any farmers market regular would want to sport the Weiser Family Farm collab T-shirt emblazoned with a pink radish or Bonnie melon.
If you make a purchase using some of our links, the L.A. Times may be compensated. Prices and availability of items and experiences in the Gift Guide and on latimes.com are subject to change.
Showing Gifts
Amara Gran Criollo Hot Chocolate
Beverage $18 at Amara Cafe
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(Amara Barroeta)
When chef Amara Barroeta left Venezuela, she couldn’t find a hot chocolate as rich and smooth as the ones she’d sipped in Caracas. She created her own drinking chocolate made from Criollo cacao beans, organic cocoa powder and just the right amount of cane sugar. It’s aggressively bitter with a wonderfully deep chocolate flavor. She serves the hot chocolate at her Old Pasadena restaurant Amara Cafe, and you can purchase 12-ounce bags of her hot chocolate mix to make at home.
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Altadena Beverage & Market 'Altadena' Denim Hat
Accessories $38 at Altadena Beverage & Market
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(Altadena Beverage & Market)
Altadena Beverage & Market was forced to close because of significant smoke damage during the Eaton fire. It took five months to reopen, but the market is back and once again serving as a vital community hub. The store is selling Altadena merch in the form of hats, T-shirts and sweatshirts. The denim Altadena hat is a favorite, and profits from every hat purchased online will be donated to support victims of the Altadena fire.
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Italifornia Pasta Night Bundle
Dry Goods $96 at Ciao Pappy
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(Danielle Adams)
L.A.-based Ciao Pappy produces jars of Italian red sauce made with owner Francesca Pittaluga’s family recipes. She teamed with Atelier Saucier and San Francisco-based Flour + Water to create a custom gift box that includes everything a pasta lover might need for dinner. The package includes Ciao Pappy’s Marinara Classico; a box of Flour + Water’s organic campanelle pasta and custom Atelier Saucier Parasol Stripe Napkins. And to inspire future pasta nights at home, Flour + Water co-chef Ryan Pollnow includes a recipe for his fiery arrabbiata.
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Helms Canvas Bag
Accessories $20 at Helms Bakery
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(Anne Fishbein)
Sang Yoon’s re-imagined Helms Bakery is a dessert and pastry wonderland, a cafe, grab-and-go market, coffee shop and superette all in one. The cakes, pies and cookies are better than ever, and so is the merch. The Helms baguette canvas bag comes in green, white and pink and features an illustration of three adorable baguettes smiling and hugging. Now imagine your weekly farmers market haul and a baguette peeking out the top of your baguette canvas bag.
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Benny Boy Brewing Pippin Pommeau Batch 3
Beverage $40-$55 at Benny Boy Brewing
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(Benny Boy Brewing)
L.A.’s first combined brewery and cidery, Benny Boy Brewing is an urban oasis for dry California ciders made with local ingredients, minimal processing, zero filtering and natural carbonation. This holiday season, you can gift a uniquely L.A. brew based on a French aperitif — Pippin Pommeau Batch 3 — made in collaboration with craft distillery Loft & Bear. Coming in at 17% ABV, the beverage blends one-year-old brandy with apple juice that uses 100% California Newtown Pippin apples and is barrel-aged for another one to two years.
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Weiser Family Farms Produce T-shirts
Apparel $50 at Papàsweater
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(Shelby Moore / For The Times)
Some Angelenos track the seasons through the vine-ripened fruits and vegetables of Weiser Family Farm, because once these highly flavored items are gone, you’re out of luck until next year. Well, unless you’re wearing your love of Weiser on your sleeve. A new collab with local designer Samantha Myer prints the farm’s cult-favorite pink radishes, Bonnie melons, romanesco cones and more onto these limited-run tees, which can be purchased at select farmers market appearances and through Myer’s company, Papàsweater.
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Steeped Moments tea subscription boxes
Beverage $29-$45 at Steep LA
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(Steep LA)
Steep LA always offers thoughtful blends from China and Taiwan, but earlier this year the Chinatown tea house unveiled a way to sip even rarer finds. Through the Steeped Moments subscription box, two teas arrive monthly or quarterly, one a small-batch offering so limited that it’s not sold in-store. In the quarterly boxes, these teas come with dried fruits for even more involved at-home tea ceremonies. Boxes can be picked up in Chinatown or shipped nationwide.
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Kin Whiskey A-Peel Banana Liqueur
Beverage $30 at Kin Whiskey
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(Kin Whiskey)
Satisfying all by its lonesome or aces over ice with a splash of soda, this is bananas in boozy form. L.A.-based Kin Whiskey infuses white whiskey with overripe bananas, resulting in a tropical liqueur that makes for a perfect holiday gift for anyone who loves a unique tipple. It’s stocked in some of the city’s best bars and can be found for purchase at Flask & Field, Wine+Eggs, Tarzana Wine & Spirits and beyond.
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L.A. Times x Burlap & Barrel Blends
Dry Goods $12-$36 at Burlap & Barrel
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(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
The L.A. Times collaborated with single-origin spice company Burlap & Barrel to create this trio of spice blends that reflect the flavors of Los Angeles: California Heat, L.A. Asada and Salty Angeleno. Smoky, aromatic and citrusy, California Heat is a dry version of chili crisp. L.A. Asada spices up steaks, chops or fish for grilling, and it’s great for seasoning homemade tacos and vegetables such as calabacitas. Use Salty Angeleno to rim your glasses for any beer or cocktail — micheladas especially.
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Hey Champ candy bars
Candy $5-$40 at Hey Champ
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(Danelle Adams)
Hey Champ is the local company that produces my favorite made-in-L.A. candy bars. They’re chunky and chocolate-y and have compelling flavors and charming packaging. I stuff these into my suitcase as gifts when I visit family in Tokyo. A sampler pack would make a good holiday present. The bestseller is the pretzel candy bar with pretzel shortbread, salted caramel and dark milk chocolate. But I’m partial to the chocolate bar with brown butter rice krispies and miso caramel.
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Picaresca Barra de Cafe Cervantes Blend and Cafe de Olla Syrup
Beverage $16-$33 at Picaresca Barra de Cafe
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(Shelby Moore / For The Times)
Two years ago, Picaresca Barra de Cafe moved into its current space on the corner of East 4th Street and Evergreen in Boyle Heights and has become a hub for the neighborhood and coffee lovers all over the city. Picaresca roasts beans as part of its mission to honor the work of farmers growing them. Among its most popular drinks is its olla latte, a double shot of espresso with its cafe de olla syrup, made with cinnamon, anise, orange peel and brown sugar, which you can buy bottled.
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