The Find: Zaatar Factory in Burbank

Sunny-side-up eggs with flowing yolks and house-made Lebanese beef sausage top the khachapuri at Zaatar Factory in Burbank.

Made to order and served warm from the bakery's oven, the boat-shaped flat bread with high-fluted edges has the look of a chalupa. Your topping choices can vary: cheese or sautéed potatoes instead of sausage, or any combination of these. However you order it, khachapuri ranks up there with eggs Benedict or a smoked salmon omelet as a luxurious morning meal (although this 8-month-old bake shop serves it any time of the day).

The tiny shop's repertoire, a mixture of flour, yeast and family baking tradition, is tightly focused on seasoned and stuffed Lebanese-style breads. Pastries, cakes and even basic breads are left to others.

"Baking is in our family's blood," Zaatar Factory co-owner Silva Haroun says as she stacks beef and mushroom-stuffed breads called burek into a sparkling new display case. "Back in Lebanon, our relatives have owned six shops like this one."

Although the Harouns have lived here since 1979, Zaatar Factory is their first foray into the food business. It took their 23-year-old daughter, Annemarie, to get the ball rolling.

To read the rest of Linda Burum's story, click here.

Photo: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

Cupcake Madness with SusieCakes, Yummy, Sweet E's, Whole Foods

To celebrate its 3-year anniversary Saturday, July 18, SusieCakes will hide golden tickets inside 10 of its cupcakes. Prizes include a spot in one of their baking or cake decorating classes, a free 6- or 9-inch cake, five dozen mini-cupcakes and one dozen cupcakes. Winners will also be entered in a grand prize drawing to receive a 9-inch specialty layer cake every month for a year. The ever-expanding bakery will open its newest location, in Manhattan Beach next Saturday, July 25. (SusieCakes: Brentwood, Calabasas, Newport Beach)

Can’t make it to the county fair? Starting in August, Yummy Cupcakes will offer concession stand-themed cupcakes in flavors: buttered popcorn, Goobers, Good N’ Plenty, Hot Tamale, Sour Patch Kids and Raisinettes. (Yummy Cupcakes: Santa Monica, Burbank)

Are these a new item or something that's long been around? Either way, it's come to our attention that Whole Foods recently started promoting its in-house cupcakes -- decorated like Cookie Monster, piglets, bears and other adorable animals -- quite aggressively. Here's a shot from the Pasadena store.

And if you're too lazy to get out of bed and buy yourself treats, you can now have a passel of mini-cupcakes delivered to you by Sweet E’s mini bake shop, reports Daily Candy. They come in a travel-safe white box and include flavors: Peanut Butter Blizzard, chocolate-iced, cookie dough-stuffed vanilla cake, and S'mores. There's no storefront; order online or by phone (323-422-8885).

--Elina Shatkin

Photos: Top: courtesy of SusieCakes. Bottom: Rob Takata / For The Times.

Sampler Platter: Hot dogs, burgers & chili fries

Tuesday food news you can use...

• Want to know what Texas death row inmates requested for their final meal? Of course you do. Web Archive
• Pleasure Palate says Mustard's, a Chicago-Style hot dog joint in Long Beach, mostly cuts the mustard.
• Eating L.A. digs into Umami's new scallop burger.
• LAist says they've found the most awesome chili fries ever — they're at the Hat in Pasadena.
• A Hamburger Today tastes history at Bob's Big Boy.
• Crooks & Liars tries to dispel some of the misinformation floating around the blogosphere about H.R. 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.).

  — Elina Shatkin

Photo: Hot dogs from Pink's spell out the owner's enthusiasm for the Los Angeles Zoo. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times