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On Tuesdays, the sisters behind Bungkus Bagus shop for ingredients. On Wednesdays, they line their Glendale driveway with steel tables and spend hours chopping chiles and garlic for their Balinese-food pop-up, while Thursdays are dedicated to frying aromatics, long beans and sambal goreng. On Fridays, Celene and Tara Carrara trim banana leaves to wrap bungkus, their bundles filled with coconut rice and fragrant curries and hard-boiled eggs, and on Saturdays, they set up a booth reminiscent of their childhood in Indonesia and greet their customers just inside the gate to their home. Sometimes, the line stretches all the way to the sidewalk.
Last year, food halls were all the rage. A wave of new openings from Minneapolis to Houston heralded a booming niche in the hospitality industry. What used to be touristy rarities have become landmarks of Southern Californian cuisine, we reported back in September 2019.
A lot can change in a year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended all expectations for the Southern California food scene. With most indoor dining prohibited, takeout has surged as have food delivery apps. Every day brings new stories of restaurants closing or desperately revising their menus and business models. Food halls face many of the same obstacles.