Over the Thanksgiving break, I took trips down to Chinatown and explored local bakeries to try various holiday desserts from different cultures. Moon Cakes (Photograph: Ruru Chonzi) A traditional Chinese dessert, moon cakes are typically eaten during New Year's. I found a local bakery in Chinatown serving them, with a Lotus flavored one being one of the last ones left. I was very excited to try the Lotus flavor (with egg yolk), especially considering it’s one of moon cakes’ m

I usually crave desserts on Sundays, so this Sunday, I decided to take my good friends, Sebastian and Santi, to try some Mexican desserts. After looking at all the different countries and cultures I want to try next, I thought it would be perfect timing to review a Mexican bakery in honor of Dia de Los Muertos. Growing up, I was very surrounded by Mexican culture, despite being Persian myself. My mother’s very close friend, Veronica, welcomed my siblings and I to many of her

On Sunday afternoon, I took a trip to Thaitown with my practical brother and best friend, Rayne. Rayne and I have been friends since 6th grade, and have always talked about taste-testing some desserts from his culture. As soon as I had the idea to start this new column, the first thing that came to mind was to try to review desserts from Thailand. The only Thai dessert I had ever tried was, of course, what we all know and love, mango sticky rice. After seeing and hearing abou

Our favorite spot is reaching its final days and our community is reacting.  Think of the times you warmed up with a hot lavender latte...

In the first installment of the hidden gems subsection in my food column, I grace you, dear reader, with maybe the best, definitely the...

Has Subway taken the Sub way too far?  In the middle of California, along the Interstate 5 and surrounded by the pungent smell of death from the nearby Harris Ranch (which can contain up to 120,000 cattle at a time for perspective), lies a gas station, and more relevantly, a Subway. Throughout the U.S, this seems to be a common image. Chances are, if you’ve taken a roadtrip in the U.S, you’ve seen something along these lines plenty of times, and maybe even noted just how comm