THE HUNGRY HOURS

In LA, dessert is a mood | The LA ice cream & dessert map 2026

In Taiwan, summer is a bowl of shaved ice; in LA people line up for ice cream all year, still strolling with cones at 10 p.m. LA's ice cream, soft serve, wagashi, shaved ice and pastries, plus a page for Taiwanese palates that find everything too sweet.

Translated from Jasmine’s original Chinese. The illustrated slides are on the interactive reader.

Full text

1. 01 | The ice cream counter, translated

   A scoop is one ball, a flight is a tasting set, a pint is a tub to go, and sorbet has no dairy. When in doubt, start with 'Can I try…?'

2. 02 | Flavors, translated

   Ube is Filipino purple yam, pandan is pandan leaf, misugaru is a bit like Taiwanese roasted flour drink, and saffron rosewater is saffron and rose. 'Read the flavors, and you can read who lives in this city.'

3. 03｜Salt & Straw

   From Portland, with a menu that changes monthly; the line is long but moves fast. The classic is honey lavender; if you can't decide, get a flight and try four at once.

4. 04｜Sweet Rose Creamery

   Opened at Brentwood Country Mart in 2010, organic and made from scratch, down to the marshmallows; the salted caramel is the classic.

5. 05 | Four from out of town that put down roots in LA

   McConnell's from Santa Barbara, Jeni's from Ohio, Van Leeuwen from Brooklyn, and Bacio di Latte, gelato from São Paulo, Brazil (the pistachio is the bestseller).

6. 06｜Wanderlust Creamery

   Travel through ice cream: ube, mango sticky rice, Thai tea, with every flavor labeled with the country that inspired it. The Sawtelle location is a perfect walk after ramen.

7. 07 | Persian ice cream: rose and saffron

   When Mashti Malone's took over in 1980, they couldn't afford a new sign, so they just swapped Mugsy for Mashti; Saffron & Rose opened in 1974, with saffron pistachio and faloodeh.

8. 08｜Fosselman's

   Open since 1919, one of LA's oldest ice cream shops, in Alhambra. Taiwanese palates can go for black sesame or ube; cash only, so hit the ATM first.

9. 09 | The new kids on the 2026 list

   All-coconut-milk Awan, Ecco Un Poco with 45–50% fruit in its sorbets, Kinrose with Iranian and Egyptian flavors, and Carmela, where salted caramel is the bestseller.

10. 10 | Team soft serve

    Bumsan uses Korean organic milk, Honeymee tops it with a piece of honeycomb, 626 in Arcadia has honey misugaru, and Kansha in Gardena makes matcha parfaits.

11. 11 | Fugetsu-Do

    Open since 1903, the oldest shop in Little Tokyo; during WWII, in the incarceration camps, they made manju with sugar everyone saved up. It's now run by the third generation. Mitsuru Cafe nearby bakes imagawayaki fresh.

12. 12 | Team shaved ice: Japanese kakigori

    Kakigori with honey cream at Tonchin ramen, Yess in the Arts District (evenings only), and Katsu Sando with just one seasonal flavor at a time. 'Fluffy shaved ice is the bite closest to a Taiwanese summer.'

13. 13 | Taiwanese flavors: when you're homesick

    Salju in Alhambra has Taiwanese snow ice, and Meet Fresh has taro balls and tofu pudding in Arcadia, Cerritos and Hacienda Heights.

14. 14 | Cakes and pastries

    Porto's started in Echo Park in 1976: cheese rolls, guava and cheese pastries, potato balls; Bottega Louie in DTLA has a French pastry case; and people line up for Harucake's Korean cakes too.

15. 15 | How to order if you hate things too sweet

    Pick tea, grain or bean flavors, go for sorbet or plain milk soft serve, try before you buy and order small. ''Not too sweet' is the highest compliment Taiwanese people give a dessert.'

16. 16 | Three dessert routes

    Westside: ramen on Sawtelle → Wanderlust → Sweet Rose. Little Tokyo: Fugetsu-Do → imagawayaki → Bumsan. Homesick route: Fosselman's → Salju → Meet Fresh.

17. 17 | The ones that are gone

    The McConnell's in Pacific Palisades closed because of the 2025 fire, and Jeni's Venice, Fatamorgana in Studio City and Capri Gelato in Marina del Rey are all gone too.

18. 18 | Two-city mirror

    Taipei's dessert is a bowl of shaved ice under the arcade; LA's is a cone in your hand at 10 p.m. 'In Taipei, dessert beats the heat; in LA, dessert is a mood.'

Places in this story

• Salt & Straw
• Van Leeuwen
• Bacio di Latte
• Honeymee
• Bottega Louie

In this series

• The LA brunch map | An LA weekend starts with brunch
• The LA Taiwanese breakfast map | How far do you drive for shaobing youtiao in LA?
• The LA coffee map | Which kind of LA coffee do you want?
• The LA bakery map | Why do you have to get up early for bread in LA?
• When did LA bagels get this good? | The LA bagel map 2026
• The LA juice & smoothie map | Why does one smoothie cost that much in LA?
• The LA taco map | In LA, the taco is the real national dish
• Why does everyone's first meal in LA have to be In-N-Out? | The LA burger map 2026
• Why do people line up for seventy years for one pastrami sandwich? | The LA old-school deli map
• The LA farmers market map 2026 | Which day, where, and which stall first
• Why drive to the San Gabriel Valley for dim sum in LA? | The SGV dim sum map
• The biggest Thai community outside Thailand, right next to Hollywood? | The LA Thai Town map
• Why does everyone hit Sawtelle for ramen in LA? | The Sawtelle Japantown map

Read it with the slides →

An original JSLALALAND field guide by Jasmine Chang (@jslalaland).