Get Your Swirl On: Cotton Candy in L.A.
Updated: July 15, 2009
Hey, sticky fingers. Just because you're all grown up doesn't mean you can't indulge your inner child with your favorite carnival treat. Cotton candy is showing up in the most delightful (and unusual) ways all over Los Angeles. From margaritas in Manhattan Beach to foie gras lollipops in Beverly Hills, find out where to get a tasty new twist on this sweet sensation.
L.A.'s Cotton Candy Craze
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Boa Steakhouse
Read Reviews101 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401 (map)
Santa Monica's uber-meaty, ultra-manly mainstay might not be the first place that comes to mind when you're feeling nostalgic for some good ol' fashioned cotton candy (although if you're a single girl looking for a good ol' businessman this place is a goldmine). But your inner child will be bouncing on the banquettes with glee once you get a load of the massive mound of glowing sugar that's been spun around a candle. (Yes, it glows!) So go ahead--tear at it, blow out the candle and party like it's your birthday.
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Crumbs
Read Reviews216 N Larchmont Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90004 (map)
This decadent sweet shop on Larchmont (as well as other locations in Beverly Hills, Malibu and Calabasas) recently debuted a cotton candy cupcake to its ever-growing list of mouth-tingling flavors. Priced at $3.75, the baseball-sized mound of vanilla cake is slathered with cotton candy flavored cream cheese frosting and rolled in pink and powder-blue cotton candy crunch. Sure, it might send you into a diabetic coma, but at least you'll be having some seriously sweet dreams.
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Fatty's
Read Reviews1627 Colorado Blvd, Eagle Rock, CA 90041 (map)
It's not just veggies and wine at this fun Eagle Rock vegetarian/vegan-friendly joint. Nah, this 'tude-free favorite also serves homemade maple cotton candy for dessert. For $8 you can have pure Vermont maple sugar spun to order. Our friend Chef Amy Jurist describes it best: "It's strange because it doesn't have food coloring--it's sort of maple colored--so it kind of looks like you swept up all the hair off the floor of a hair salon and put it on a plate." Eww! But wait--don't let that scare you. "It's so good I actually got inspired and went out and bought a cotton candy machine and ordered maple powder!" Just make sure to read the menu's warning. The sweet stuff is on offer "only if Miss Dingle is around because she's the only one who will do it."
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Mucho
Read Reviews903 Manhattan Ave, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 (map)
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the margarita go down. Manhattan Beach's sauciest and sceniest Mexican spot has given everyone's favorite carnival confection a decidely grown-up twist with the Cotton Candy Margarita. The eye-catching $10.95 concoction starts with a nest of spun sugar stuffed into a martini glass that's then dissolved by pouring silver tequila, limoncello, hibiscus eau de vie, lime juice and cane sugar over it. The result is super sweet and oh-so pretty in pink.
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Simon
Read Reviews8555 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048 (map)
Did someone say Junk Food Platter? Leave it to the quirky mind of chef/owner Kerry Simon to come up with a platter devoted to everyone's favorite junky edibles. At $25, this infamous finale is by far the priciest dessert on the menu, if not in the entire city, but just think about the pleasure you'll get from the sugary mountain of cotton candy (sometimes it's pink, sometimes it's blue) surrounded by Rice Krispies treats (both regular & chocolate), mini Hostess cupcakes, homemade cookies, milkshake, snoball, caramel popcorn, mini sundae and rotating selection of ice cream flavors. (Last time we were there it was goat cheese.) It's all a bit out of control. And we wouldn't have it any other way.
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The Bazaar by Jose Andres
Read Reviews465 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048 (map)
Excuse me, but did you say foie gras lollipop? The SLS hotel's bizarre eatery is where to get cotton candy in a way that's just as unexpected as you'd expect. Whipped up cartside by one of the restaurant's "vendors," the thick chunk of foie gras and crushed Corn Nuts is sweetly disguised beneath a swirly cloud of cotton candy. As the salty, crunchy paste melts onto your tongue, the candy fibers simultaneously dissolve, creating an unusual hybrid of savory sweetness. And at $5 a pop, it's the most affordable thing you'll find at this place.
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