MasterChef’s Christina Tosi is bringing her trendy desserts to Melrose Avenue — and along with it, a new, Instagrammable, pink wall.
A week after the iconic Paul Smith pink wall was vandalized, Tosi will be opening Milk Bar on Saturday — complete with a pink facade and giant birthday cake wall — a cookie’s throw from the haute boutiques in West Hollywood. Taylor Swift and Jay-Z have raved about Milk Bar’s sweets.
At the Los Angeles location, Milk Bar’s super-sweet menu will include the famed birthday cake latte, her signature crack pie and cereal milk soft serve ice cream, topped with salty cornflakes ($6.50), as experience by Coachella attendees this year. Just don’t confuse Milk Bar with Milk on Beverly Blvd. or with Milk Jar Cookies on Wilshire Blvd.
Customers can try the cereal milk — similar in flavor to Salt & Straw’s Lucky Charms ice cream — in a shake or latte form, made with cornflakes, milk, brown sugar and salt (maybe she’ll attract Kylie Jenner, who just tried cereal with milk for the first time this week), in addition to her famous compost cookies and birthday cake truffles. As for the crack pie ($6 a slice), it’s essentially a sugar pie with oats.
“L.A. is one of the most gritty, inspiring, individualistic cities. It’s been incredible to live and work here over the past few years, immersing myself in the culture and dreaming up what Milk Bar L.A. will be,” Tosi said in a statement. “It has all the OG elements and spirit of our New York roots, plus tons of new innovations and surprises that capture the magic of its distinctly West Hollywood neighborhood.”
The largest of Milk Bar’s 15 locations, at 4,000 square feet (designed in place of a former laundromat and Baskin-Robbins), the Melrose outpost will become its West Coast flagship, with cooking classes, a tasteable R&D lab and pre-packaged items for sale (from California pins to baking mixes). And exclusive to L.A.: the first Milk Bar Ice Cream Truck to fit in with L.A.’s truck foodscape.
Adding to her classic desserts are the new, dairy-free pineapple fo’sho whip soft serve ($5.50) and an “I heart LA” section on the menu, featuring pistachio-lemon brioche, gluten free elote cornbread and a chorizo and egg bomb — to satisfy the L.A. brunch crowd.
Tosi joined culinary brand Momofuku in 2005 as its first pastry chef, setting up soft serve machines at the noodle bar in 2007, the same year she developed the cereal milk flavor. As CEO and founder, Tosi opened Milk Bar in 2008. Tosi’s culinary successes earned her the role of a judge on MasterChef from 2015 to 2017 alongside chefs Gordon Ramsay and Graham Elliot.
Her restaurant, also known as Milk Bar Bakery or Milk Bar Store, has locations in New York, Washington DC, Las Vegas and Toronto. The DC flagship offers an all-day cafe, classroom and event space.
“We have been talking about opening in L.A. for eight years,” Tosi told Eater. “The most exciting part now is just that it’s happening.” She added that “it’s important to build a headquarters, a flagship, a home, a wonderland that reflects every side of us.”
