I stopped into Beverly’s Erewhon earlier this week looking for a few sweet treats for Halloween sharing. There was a sweet looking young woman standing behind a table with samples, which isn’t unusual but it was the normally not sampling time of 9:30PM. I curiously approached and tried what she was selling: various natural sweet baked items under the brand LA LA Bakies all served with a side of adorable baked good chatter. I tried a bite of a “Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownie Bite” and I totally loved it. What a surprising late night find!

The brand is based in Culver City and was started by Michelle Marquis, a healthy eater with a very restrictive diet because of health issues. She runs the brand with her boyfriend and business partner, Maneesh Madahar. Their branding has the art nouveau Goodfellow font and a bright picture of a girl a small orange bowl. After visiting the store and examining the product at home, it all came together that the sampling girl was Michelle who is the same girl on the packaging who is the same girl who makes all the treats. You can’t get any closer to the source than that!

The item we tried and subsequently purchased so we could share were here Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownie Bites. These are little bite-sized brownie bites that come in a six pack. They’re organic and gluten free and vegan and soy free and all of those other culinary buzzwords. Each bite is a bit moist, which is good because I–a non-titled eater–always have trouble with how dry and crumbly and unsatisfying treats of this nature. LA LA’s didn’t completely clear this hurdle but they came so close and perhaps the closest that I’ve encountered. The chocolate brownie (“chocolate brownie”) flavor is very similar to a banana bread and it is extremely good, almost like a powdered Mexican hot chocolate concentrated into a squishy bite.

We normally don’t go out of our way for gluten or vegan food but this was one that we did. After trying the LA LA sample in store and giving them a go at home, this was in fact a great treat. They’re damn good. We’re excited to try their other “bakies” but the Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownie Bites are wonderful. You should stop into Erewhon and hit up the Silver Lake Tuesday farmers market, the latter of which you’ll definitely be able to say hello to brandmother Michelle. If you want to give it a go, you can order the bakies online too.