Doubting Thomas

Tucked into the ground floor of an apartment building on Temple Street, Doubting Thomas represents the new wave of LA coffee shops that have elevated their game far beyond the usual pastry case offerings. This Historic Filipinotown spot has the familiar aesthetic of modern cafes—bright white walls, eclectic furniture, and the soft glow of laptop screens—but what sets it apart is the kitchen’s serious approach to all-day dining.

The food here goes well beyond typical coffee shop fare. While you can certainly grab bacon and eggs or a simple bowl of granola, the menu ventures into more ambitious territory with options like a pork shoulder breakfast burrito that might just change your morning routine forever. The burrata-topped tomato toast comes on exceptional seeded bread with a bright almond pesto, and the sage sausage breakfast sandwich arrives on homemade biscuits slathered with whole grain mustard. The pastry selection rotates with whatever’s fresh from the farmers market, yielding gems like orange morning buns and perfectly flaky pain au chocolat.

For neighbors lucky enough to live within walking distance, this is the kind of spot you could visit daily without exhausting the menu. The portions are generous and satisfying, making it ideal for those late-morning arrivals when breakfast and lunch have essentially merged into one meal. While some dishes like the rice bowls could use a little more excitement, the highlights more than compensate.

Doubting Thomas works best as a neighborhood haunt rather than a destination worth crossing the city for. But if you find yourself in Historic Filipinotown with a craving for something more substantial than your average coffee stop, this is exactly the kind of elevated cafe experience that makes LA’s food scene so rewarding.