These simple spiced cakes at Milo & Olive, Zoe Nathan & Josh Loeb's bakery and restaurant in Santa Monica, come topped with thick glaze of caramel and a dense pumpkin flavor.

This elegant presentation at David Myers and Kuniko Yagi's sleek new dining den in Century City doens't detract from flavor, especially this pumpkin toast topped with bright orange squash, miso jam and a smear of goat cheese as a base.

Chef Bryant Wigger takes liberty with pumpkin during the holidays, incorporating the ingredient into a classic Italian dessert: bombolini. The diminutive donuts get a sprinkling of sugar and spice then get limoncello and pumpkin crema sauces before a dusting of crunchy pepita seeds.

Made with a sage butter sauce, these simple pillows of pasta filled with pumpkin get a dusting of parmiggiano reggiano for an extra salty boost to counter the sweet squash.

This fantastic comfort dish by Ricardo Zarate is one of the most compelling dishes to order at Picca, where bite-size chunks of pumpkin stud a stew of choclo, Peruvian corn, crispy tomato, and parmesan cheese.

This seasonal side dish comes with brown buttered gnocchi laced with pumpkin and candied ginger for a great side dish to steaks or other entrees at this Bunker Hill steakhouse. Available at dinner for $9.

This roasted pumpkin dish by chef C.J. Jacobson at this Studio City restaurant uses foraged California buckwheat, farmer's market pumpkin and a base of condense milk as well as a topping of walnuts.

A seasonal classic at Pitfire Pizzas around L.A., this pie gets studded with butternut squash, slightly bitter swiss chard, and crunchy pepitas. Brown butter and a mix of three cheeses melds everything together.

Unusual yes, but this salmon-stuffed organic pumpkin gets topped with a white cheddar gratin, spinach, and red beet creme fraiche for a comfort dish to enjoy by the sea.

Pumpkin pie gets a remix at Milk Jar, one of the best purveyors of large, chewy cookies that are best fresh of the oven. Topped with spiced pecans, and paired well with a scoop of pumpkin ice cream from Fosselman's, they're only around until Thanksgiving.

These ravioli get filled with free-range chicken, ricotta, and charmoula, then drizzled with an pumpkin olive oil emulsion, toasted pumpkin seeds, and aged balsamic.

This elegant dessert is a construction of pillowy choux pastry, vanilla chantilly and pumpkin custard that is a great finish to the refined cooking of Elia Aboumrad and pastry chef Uyen Nguyen at this West Hollywood restaurant.[Photo: KevinEats]