At 8 a.m., Mikan at 17237 Ventura Boulevard opens its doors with cube-shaped shokupan and pastries filled with orange custard. At 9:30 p.m. on a weeknight, Handel's is still scooping ice cream at 16545 Ventura. On a Saturday at the same hour, Kinrose Creamery is serving saffron-pistachio-rose at 16915. Three dessert counters have opened on the Encino stretch of Ventura since last summer, and each one keeps hours the other two don't.
That matters if you live here. Together, the three cover the day in shifts. Mikan holds the mornings and afternoons, Handel's holds the weeknights, and Kinrose holds the weekend evenings.
Morning to 6 p.m.: Mikan bakery & more
Mikan is the first bakery from JINYA Holdings, the company behind the JINYA ramen chain. Founder and CEO Tomo Takahashi based the concept on his childhood in Ehime, Japan. The name is the Japanese word for mandarin orange. Baker Aya Asaumi runs the bread program. According to the launch materials, everything is baked from scratch without additives or preservatives.
The grand opening ran July 3 through July 5. Chef-owner Nobu Hoyo of Boulangerie Maison Nobu in Tokyo came in to make four items sold only that weekend, including a raisin walnut bread and a mentaiko baguette.
The regular menu leans hard on the shop's name. As listed on Mikan's menu this fall:
- Mikan Matcha Latte, $8.80. Mandarin purée, oat milk, Uji matcha, an einspänner cream top and mikan zest, served iced.
- Matcha Mikan Tonic, $8.80. Uji matcha, house-made mikan agave, mandarin zest and tonic water.
- Fresh mikan juice, $7.80 for 12 ounces.
- Orange Cube, $5.50. Filled with orange custard and orange whipped cream.
- Mikan Sandwich, $6.50. Sweet cream and mandarin.
The savory case has Japanese curry bread, egg sandos, fruit sandos, shio pan and European-style loaves.
The hours have changed since opening. WhatNow's preview listed 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The company's launch release listed a 3 p.m. close. Mikan's own site now lists 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, so plan around that. A 6 p.m. close makes Mikan a breakfast and afternoon stop. It covers the after-school hours and the time after a Saturday errand loop, but not dessert after dinner. That gap is why the next two shops matter.
11 a.m. to 10 p.m., every day: Handel's Homemade Ice Cream
Handel's opened its Encino shop at 16545 Ventura Boulevard on Thursday, July 16. Chef Zahra Afshar, her husband Bill Wagner and Jayron Afshar own and run it. That address puts it toward the east end of Encino's Ventura stretch, in the 91436 ZIP code, apart from the cluster of shops farther west.
The July announcement listed 48 rotating flavors and daily hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The word "daily" is the important part. Among the three newcomers, Handel's is the only one serving on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night. Mikan closes at 6, and Kinrose doesn't open on weekdays at all. For four nights a week, a dessert stop on this stretch after dinner means Handel's.
Handel's store page also lists pickup and delivery for Encino. That helps on school nights, when getting a pint home matters more than finding a table.
Friday to Sunday, 4:30 to 10 p.m.: Kinrose Creamery
Kinrose came to Encino as a pop-up before it had a storefront. The Iranian-Egyptian creamery started in Old Town Pasadena at 140 Mills Place. WhatNow called the Encino shop its second brick-and-mortar location. In July 2025, WhatNow described a weekend pop-up running at the front of the building at 16915 Ventura Boulevard while the permanent shop was built out behind it. Kinrose's site now lists the Encino storefront with set hours.
Those hours are Friday through Sunday, 4:30 to 10 p.m. The short week helps the schedule rather than limiting it. Kinrose opens 90 minutes before Mikan closes, so on weekends the two overlap from 4:30 to 6. Then Kinrose and Handel's both serve until 10. Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights are the only times these openings give you a choice after dinner.
The flavors are nothing like the other two shops. WhatNow listed saffron-pistachio-rose, walnut baklava, kanafeh, lavashak, and sour cherry topped with pashmak, an Iranian fairy floss. Garnishes include rose petals and phyllo crumble. If you've been driving to Pasadena for these flavors, you can now get them in Encino from Friday to Sunday.
The schedule, read across a week
Taken together, the three shops cover most of the day:
- Weekday mornings and afternoons, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Mikan, plus Handel's from 11 a.m.
- Weekday evenings, 6 to 10 p.m.: Handel's only.
- Friday through Sunday, 4:30 to 6 p.m.: all three are open.
- Friday through Sunday, 6 to 10 p.m.: Handel's and Kinrose.
You can plan around this. A Saturday afternoon visitor can get an Orange Cube at Mikan before 6, then walk over to Kinrose once it opens. Midweek, the only late option among these three is Handel's. From Friday through Sunday, all three are open in the late afternoon and two of them stay open until 10.
Where the older counters fit
The new shops opened next to long-running businesses. Western Bagel, which dates its business to 1947 and says its first shop was the first bagel bakery in Los Angeles, has an Encino location at 17401 Ventura Boulevard, Unit A43. Back in 2006, a Los Angeles Times profile of a family living in Encino named the Ventura Boulevard Western Bagel as one of their regular stops. Its address is in the same block range as Mikan at 17237. On the west end of Encino's Ventura stretch, a bagel run and a Japanese bakery run can now be the same trip.
Milk Jar Cookies opened in Encino in June 2023, also at 17237 Ventura, in Unit C. Mikan's preview gives Unit C as its address too. No source in this research says what happened to the cookie shop, so check before you go.
What's still unconfirmed
One more name may be coming. In June, WhatNow reported that Dojo Sushi in Sherman Oaks was looking at Suite G in Encino Courtyard, 17401 Ventura Boulevard. The owner said they were only looking at the space and nothing was definite. That's the same complex as Western Bagel. No opening date has been reported, so treat it as a possibility for now. If it does open, the 17401 address would hold a bagel bakery and a sushi counter, in the same block range as Mikan.
Kinrose's hours could also change. Its Pasadena shop is open seven days a week, Monday through Thursday 1 to 10 p.m. and Friday through Sunday noon to 10:30. Encino currently gets three evenings, which leaves Monday through Thursday nights to Handel's.
This stretch of Ventura now has dessert shops open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. If you want to know how your Encino home's distance to this part of the boulevard figures into what it would sell for today, Mario Acosta will prepare a valuation based on current sales near you, not a portal estimate. Get a Free Home Valuation.
