"If you frequent coffee shops around the city, then you’ve likely had a Sugarbloom pastry (this place is essentially LA’s original ghost bakery). While most small food businesses start off with retail and then expand into wholesale, Sugarbloom did the opposite. In fact, owner/pastry chef Sharon Wang said the past year has given her the opportunity to return to Sugarbloom’s roots. With the wholesale business, Wang focused on classic pastries, but selling directly to customers has allowed her to bring back some more unconventional treats, like the kimchi and SPAM musubi croissant, which was inspired over a dinner of Korean army stew. Born in Taiwan and raised in Arcadia, Wang had a career in interactive design before enrolling in a weeklong discovery program at the Culinary Institute of America. After a decade working in the Thomas Keller empire, she started making pastries for a friend’s coffee shop in 2012. Soon after, Stumptown reached out to her to supply pastries for their Arts District shop, and the rest is delicious history. Order this: White miso kouign amann or a kimchi SPAM musubi croissant." - with warm welcome, leslie yeh