I’m dedicating a whole tab just to dessert, because if money is tight, why not cook and eat dinner at home, then go out for dessert? That way you’re still experiencing the excitement of getting out of the house, but at half the cost of dinner and service tip.

1) Ice Cream Macaroons

Found at Milk (Hollywood), most Korean BBQ restaurants or Irori Sushi in the Marina. Milk is open late and very popular (this tiny shop is small and always crowded with lines out the door until closing) since there’s such a variety of menu items. Choose from milkshakes, banana splits, brownies, cookies & my favorite of all - ice cream macaroons. Korean BBQ places also have cases with different flavors - definitely give green tea or coffee a try, if you have any room left after dinner (although usually not the case after AYCE KBBQ).

2) Shuhari Matcha Cafe (Venice)

For green tea lovers, try this or Midori Matcha Cafe in DTLA. Shuhari Matcha has matcha green tea ice cream ($3.50 single scoop, $5.50 double), matcha green tea soft serve ($5) & matcha green tea affogato!! (amongst other things - just check their Instagram for more). There are also other unique flavor options (azuki bean, kinako, or even a vegan coconut soft serve if you want to stray from the matcha path or get more than one thing!

3) Mochi Ice Cream, Whole Foods

Whole Foods may sound unoriginal being that it’s a grocery store, but not to be dismissed! They get mochi ice cream from Bubbies, which is the well-known spot for mochi ice cream in Hawai’i, so do what the locals do. Mochi ice cream is now available at most Whole Foods (Playa Vista, Venice and El Segundo carry it for sure). Enjoy flavors like espresso, guava, mango, passionfruit, lychee… the list goes on. $2/each or buy a baker’s dozen for $20.

4) Wanna Chill? (Redondo Beach)

Wanna Chill is a fun place for shave ice if you’re down for a bit of a drive. It can be a fun road trip just to get dessert. They also have acai bowls, but overall just a fun place to go to anytime of day, especially during the summer. On Wednesdays they have a special - $2 shave ice.

5) Nitrogen Ice Cream

For some fun, take a slight road trip to Creamery N7 in La Mirada. Yes, it’s a bit of a drive, but they have an extensive list of flavors and are open late! 11 am most nights, including weeknights. Service is so friendly and the drive is worth just about the creamiest ice cream ever! Have fun picking toppings and watch them make it with the dry ice kicking up in their machines. They also have macaroons (and paninis if you don’t go too late).

Another great spot for nitrogen ice cream is Smitten’s in El Segundo at The Point. Hailing from the Bay, Smitten’s has a lot less flavors, but they will always have a few consistent flavors and rotate seasonal ones. Seasonal flavors are $1 more, no matter what size.

There is also Creamistry with various locations now throughout SoCal. In LA specifically, they are located in Torrance and Beverly Hills, with other locations in OC. It’s menu is more extensive than Smitten’s. Also check Groupon, I've seen them run deals for various locations.

6) Thai Ice Cream Rolls

When I went to Thailand, my obsession became the Thai ice cream rolls. Apparently, you can get that here too, no passport necessary.

I am an ice cream fatass but I really don’t care. This is a fun, newer concept of ice cream, or at least one that only came across my radar after coming back from Phuket, Thailand. The Thai ice cream roll shops typically have a set menu or order guideline, but will allow you to make variations to your toppings. The workers are hard at work pouring the liquid ice cream and ice cream mixture and mixing it around on a freezing cold plate so that it starts to look like a crepe (which eventually gets rolled into your cup), usually behind a glass so you can see the magic as it happens. Rollin Creamery in Fountain Valley, -8 C in Gardena (unlimited toppings & Yelp check-in offers here) and Chelo Creamery in Monterey Park. Best of all, these places are open late, which is convenient for some any spur-of-the-moment late-night cravings.

7) Macaroons

Once again, Whole Foods may sound original but they totally come through with their macaroon selection. The Whole Foods in Playa Vista has an impressive selection of macaroons (Lavendar, Coffee, etc) at $2/each (but you can also request to sample macaroons for free and literally, they give you half a macaroon for your sample. Don’t abuse it, but if you’re stuck between two flavors, go for it).

There is also the famous Bottega Louie in DTLA.

Also try Chocolate Opulence on Sawtelle in West LA. Seriously, ALL of their flavors are noteworthy, including Kona Coffee, Mango, Passionfruit, Raspberry… oh god.

Creme Brûlée ("burnt cream") at Kincaid's in Redondo Beach — Creme Brûlée ("burnt cream") at Kincaid's in Redondo Beach

8) Creme Brulee

Usually nice to fine-dining level restaurants have creme brulee, my favorite having been at Ruth’s Chris and Kincaids. I don’t really see a problem in just going to one of these places just for the dessert. Don’t splurge and go somewhere reasonable for dinner, then go all out for dessert, nothing wrong with that.

If you dine at Kincaid’s in Redondo Beach after 9 pm for their late night Happy Hour, their creme brulee (or as they call it “burnt cream” is only $3.95) Or hit up Lawry’s in Beverly Hills for a late night Happy Hour for $6 creme brulee, 8:30 - 10 pm Sun - Fri.

9) Ice Cream

Of the non-nitrogen variety that I listed earlier on the list, but still amazing and noteworthy in its own right, because, duh, it’s ice cream and technically it needs no introduction.

- Salt & Straw (DTLA, Larchmont, Abbot Kinney, Studio City) Coffee ice cream with Compartes Love Nuts cannot be beat. A line out the door every night until 11 pm closing.

- McConnell’s (Grand Central Market, Santa Barbara) Ice cream made from grass-fed cows. The Santa Barbara location on any given day will have a line out the door, but it’s worth the wait. The establishment has been around for almost 70 years so you know they are doing something right. The ice cream is creamy and there are more than 20 flavors to choose from in Santa Barbara and a limited amount at Grand Central in DTLA.

- Coohaus (Culver City) My family thinks this is the best ice cream they’ve ever tasted. The texture is really chewy (almost like a thicker gelato) and they have some amazing flavors (including Bulletproof, Coffee Oreo & Ube). You can get it by the scoop or sandwich it between 2 cookies (multiple cookie flavor options). They also serve a limited amount of Coolhaus ice cream at the mini-cafe at the Manhattan Beach Pier aquarium. Coolhaus also has a Happy Hour Monday - Friday 4 - 6 pm. Save $1 off all scoops, shakes and sammies.

- Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream (Culver City) Pure ingredients, open til 11 pm everyday, 11:30 pm Fri, Sat. They also bring their truck to Abbot Kinney. The vegan coffee ice cream tastes even better than the regular dairy ice cream! (maybe because I love coconut and they use coconut milk as their base)
- Kansha Creamery (Torrance) Limited flavors that get announced every Tuesday for the week (check their social media for flavor announcements). Made in small batches, they’ve been known to sell out quickly! Flavors rotate, matcha brownie, A$AP Rocky Road… they all come and go. Kansha was one of the places that was on my cousin’s must-try list when she flew in from Hawai’i!

- Wanderlust Creamery (multiple locations, with newest location in Venice!) Try unique flavors from different parts of the globe, no passport necessary. The consistency is average, but I would say the mixture of varying flavors is the most original thing. For vegan lovers, some of their mainstay flavors like “mango & sticky rice” or “gianduja” is vegan and dairy-free.

- Scoops & Scoops Westside (Culver City) Unlimited sampling (which is very convenient considering sometimes the selection makes it hard to narrow down). Both locations have rotating menus of unique flavors (Horchata oreo, Cinnamon Maple Toffee, Sweet Potato Burnt Sugar, Key Lim Lychee to name just a few) They announce new flavor rotations on twitter, so it’s kind of fun to follow. They also have many non-dairy sorbet options - great for your vegan friends. The single scoop is $3.75 (which is on the cheaper end on the going rate nowadays for ice cream) and you can pick up to 2 flavors on a single. They also have discounted pre-packaged pints with certain select flavors.

- Ginger’s (Culver City) Small batch ice cream with an extensive menu of unique flavors (LA Mill Cold Brew Coffee, Whiskey de Coco, Blood Orange Chip; seasonal flavors of the month AND vegan selections made with coconut milk) along with ice cream pops and cookies (baked daily).

10) Carrot Cake

One of the best carrot cakes is at Cafe Vida in Culver City. They get it catered from Debbie’s Diners and it’s not always at the restaurant so make sure to call ahead of time and check. It’s made with real cream cheese and the cake part is super light. You can eat the whole thing in one sitting. In fact, it’s best to bring someone with you to split it otherwise you WILL eat the whole thing. For my vegan people, you can’t go wrong with Veggie Grill. I’m not vegan and I still love Veggie Grill’s carrot cake. It’s so moist. They have chunks of pineapple in it (to help make the consistency bind together) and it’s so damn good. Also, Urth Caffe; they do not know how to disappoint.

11) Pie to Die For

Urth Caffe takes the cake (and pie and brownie, etc etc) here. They have THE BEST pumpkin pie - made with graham cracker for the crust. People drop money to pre-order these during Thanksgiving, but luckily for us, it’s also available year-round. The pecan pie, coconut pie, and carrot cake also top the list. You really can’t go wrong with dessert here, but you can leave 10 pounds heavier - easy.

Pie Hole is another one I keep hearing about. You can find them in a kiosk on a leisurely day at the Americana in Glendale or one of their other locations (Orange County, DTLA, Pasadena, Hollywood, and Venice location coming soon ).

The ever-tantalizing chocolate souffle at Roy's

12) Chocolate Souffle

Roy’s. Especially for dark chocolate lovers, no one has nailed a souffle the way Roy’s does. I mean, you need to put the order in at least 30 minutes before you’re even done with dinner because you really can’t rush perfection. The souffle cake is so moist throughout, with a rich, dark chocolate flavor. They bake it for a while in the over so the outside layer can be a bit crispy and almost chewy in places (mmm) and the inside once you stab your fork in it is this melted chocolate flowing of decadence. Again, like with the creme brulee thing, I say it’s totally okay just to come for the dessert. Eat dinner elsewhere and come to wrap up your night in the best way possible.

13) Pizookie

BJ’s is a chain restaurant, so there’s bound to be one close-ish to wherever you are in the city. I love Pizookies. I used to eat them all the time during college, whether only 1 friend or an entire group of people was with me. For the bigger Pizookie platters, you can select different cookie flavors all on the same pan (oreo, chocolate chip, double-chocolate chip) for some variety. They bring it out in the pan (as if it were pizza - thus, pizza-cookie - “pizookie”) so it’s crispy on the bottom and warm and goey and then the ice cream just melts over it. This combination is one of the more gratifying things in life. If I ever get married, I just want one humongous pizookie to replace the wedding cake (not a big fan of regular cake).

Devi Ohira dessert Mango Sticky Rice Bamboo Thai Bistro Redondo Beach.jpg

14) Mango Sticky Rice

Everyone needs a reliable neighborhood Thai restaurant that has this. (I’d call ahead of time to make sure they have mangos that day, sometimes they’re out) The mangos that the Thai restaurants use are softer and not as citrus-y as the typical mango. These mangos are usually consistently very sweet & they serve it alongside a big scoop of warm Thai sticky rice (perfect in its chewy texture) and topped with warm coconut cream. I really try to share, but this dish makes it so hard. Even when you don’t have room for dessert, with this, you magically do. My go-to restaurant is Bamboo Thai Bistro in Redondo Beach.

It’s always good to check Yelp images for Thai restaurants before you go. Someone is bound to post a photo of their mango sticky rice.

15) Baklava Cheesecake

Morfia’s Ribs & Pie in Venice is home of the Baklava Cheesecake, a fatal combo of 2 well-loved desserts. They have a case of an assortment of pies in their restaurant location and selection will change (you can call ahead for the daily offerings), but the Baklava Cheesecake is a pretty regular mainstay! Make it a whole evening by dining on some BBQ ribs beforehand, and finishing it up with dessert, all in one place!

What am I forgetting?? Would love to hear your sweet tooth suggestions! Message me here.

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Put Some Sugar On Your Tongue with the Best Dessert Outings in LA!