Photo courtesy @whitemoustache
It was dense and at the same time light, and sweet — not sugary sweet, pure-milk sweet. The pitted cherries underneath had been left whole, and their flavor still gripped a tart edge. The fruit’s juices mixed with the yogurt and created a slurry deliciousness. I had never tasted finer commercially made yogurt in America. Hello, new obsession.
When I knew I was moving to Los Angeles in the late fall, I was sad there would be no more White Moustache yogurt in my life. But I was wrong. Exactly one place sells it here: Eataly L.A. in Westfield Century City.
Homa Dashtaki started White Moustache in Southern California in 2011. Ironically, she had to move her business to Brooklyn before Angelenos could find her exquisite product. She first began making whole-milk yogurt in Orange County with her father, Goshtasb Dashtaki, whose fulsome facial hair inspired the company’s name. They used a family recipe; eating homemade yogurt was part of the diet in her Iranian family. Dashtaki set up shop at the Laguna Beach Farmers Market — and quickly began tangling with an inspector from the California Department of Food and Agriculture. By 2012, Brooklyn had proved a more hospitable business environment.
