LOS ANGELES — With a pandemic that’s getting worse by the day, you’d be forgiven for wanting to do nothing but sit on a couch watching Netflix and eating cookies. That’s the concept for the Flouring LA pop up at downtown LA’s Hotel Figueroa and the holiday dessert box they’re offering for the next two Saturdays leading up to Christmas.

Available from 1 to 3 p.m., preferably by preorder, each $44 holiday box includes eight pieces of melt-in-your-mouth decadence: gingerbread cake bars that don't need a plate or fork, fudge brownies topped with peppermint meringue, baked cinnamon donuts that recoup the calories because they’re soaked in brown butter, and Belgian sea salt chocolate chip cookies. 

What You Need To Know

  • Hotel Figueroa is hosting a holiday dessert box pop-up for the next two Saturdays

  • Made by the downtown L.A. bakery Flouring L.A., the $44 boxes include gingerbread cake bars, fudge brownies topped with peppermint meringue, baked cinnamon donuts, and Belgian sea salt chocolate chip cookies

  • Flouring L.A. also runs an independent curbside pop up at downtown's Urban Palate

  • As part of the pop up, holiday dessert box customers can "send a slice" of holiday sweets to an essential worker staying in the hotel as a thank you for their service

“People want very familiar, comfort-style desserts right now,” said Flouring L.A. founder and chef Heather Wong. “They’re not looking for high-end, highly designed French pastry. They want something they can eat out of the box.”

Wong speaks from experience. She was the executive pastry chef at Josephine Bakery in Sherman Oaks until March of this year, when COVID prompted the restaurant’s closure. Being a single mom with bills to pay and a knack for buttercream, “I just felt the need to bake again, to be creative again, and not sit around and wait for something to happen with this pandemic.”

In July, she launched Flouring LA as a curbside pop up in the Arts District.

“I realized immediately that people still need their sweets,” said Wong, who, in addition to her holiday dessert box at Hotel Figueroa, is offering a spiced apple coffee cake and salted caramel apple galette through her regular pop up at Urban Palate. 

“If there is an up side to any of this, it’s that the food artists, the chefs, the cooks are now seeing their light of day with all these pop ups happening around town getting an opportunity to show their talents and have a voice in the food community of LA that normally would not be able to because they couldn't afford a larger establishment,” Wong said.

Her bakery seems to be serving the right food at the right time. Business has been steadily growing, she said. Each week, her pop up sells as many as 50 dessert boxes. Over the summer, she partnered with Hotel Figueroa to make custom cakes for its COVID-inspired micro wedding service. 

 

 

“It was natural as we go into the holidays to think about how we can continue to partner,” said Hotel Figueroa General Manager Connie Wang, who admits to sampling the wares. “I can personally attest to the quality of these baked items.” 

The holiday pop up is pickup only. It’s held in an outdoor, open-air part of the hotel with strict social distancing, and masks are required, Wang said. While picking up their goodies, customers are encouraged to walk through the lobby and enjoy the hotel’s vintage winter wonderland decorations and music.

Hotel Figueroa is currently open to essential workers, Wang said. Flouring L.A. holiday box customers wishing to express their appreciation can “send a slice” to a first responder as part of their order and have it delivered to the room.