Nyesha Arrington wrapped her California food tour in Los Angeles with pastry chef Ellen Ramos at Santa Canela in Highland Park, where Ramos crafted champurrado doughnuts using fresh masa and burnt-vanilla cream-stuffed conchas. The episode marked the third and final stop on Arrington's journey through the state for her series Plateworthy.
The segment showcased the precision behind contemporary pastry work, with Ramos demonstrating techniques that blur the line between traditional Mexican baking and modern American pastry culture. Fresh masa doughnuts represent a deliberate return to ingredient authenticity, while burnt-vanilla cream filling reflects the kind of flavor innovation that defines Highland Park's current food scene.
Arrington's appearance alongside Issa Rae elevated the profile of a neighborhood increasingly recognized for its culinary depth. Highland Park has transformed over the past decade from overlooked to essential, with chefs and bakers like Ramos anchoring that shift through persistent focus on craft and cultural specificity.
The collard green lasagna mentioned in the title signals another direction within the episode, likely exploring how chefs in Los Angeles approach Southern soul food traditions with California's agricultural abundance. This intersection, where immigrant and diaspora cuisines meet local produce and contemporary technique, defines much of what makes the city's food culture distinct.
Plateworthy operates as a visual document of American regional eating, with Arrington moving through neighborhoods and restaurants with the eye of someone genuinely curious about how food reveals place and identity. Her return to Los Angeles for the final installment suggests the series has value in showing how a native's perspective shifts when encountering the same city through a food journalist's lens.
Santa Canela itself represents a broader phenomenon in Los Angeles: the rise of pastry-focused establishments that demand standing room and repeat visits. A single burnt-vanilla con