It’s amazing how a single taste can bring back a flood of memories, making the past feel as vivid as the present. The first time I ever tasted baklava was at my friend Dahlia’s house. I was in college, far from my hometown, and Dahlia’s parents were always warm and welcoming,
treating me like another daughter. I loved curling up on their couch, snuggling with their adorable cat, Mish Mish, and savoring Dahlia’s mom’s amazing baklava. There was a secret ingredient in that recipe that I could never quite place—something I never found in any restaurant
or bakery, that is, until I stumbled upon Luminous Café in Southdale Center. I took one bite of its pistachio baklava and was instantly transported back to Dahlia’s house, cat on one side and treats on the other—a taste of the family who gave me a home away from home. After the
nostalgia settled, I thought to myself, “Well, the secret ingredient is pistachios.” We chat with Luminous Café’s owner, whose journey is as layered as the sheets of phyllo pastry in her ba
