Some Temecula stories start with a liquor license. This one starts with banana pudding.
Famous PUDN is back in a storefront at 28676 Old Town Front Street, immediately next to Swing Inn Cafe, open Thursday through Sunday according to Patch’s July 2026 profile. Owner EJ Smith rebuilt the business after closing the Murrieta shop in 2025, kept a presence at area farmers markets, and then took what he and Swing Inn owner Dean Norris described on social media as an offer to set up shop next door. (Patch, July 22, 2026)
The product locals already knew
Patch’s reporting — and Smith’s own account in that piece — sticks to a simple pitch: a five-ingredient, gluten-free, kettle-cooked banana pudding you build with toppings. The dessert is kosher-certified (“blessed by a real Rabbi,” Smith told Patch). The acronym, worked out with his son, stands for PUDN Unifies Diversity Nationwide. Renee Zellweger stopping by on Mother’s Day 2023 is part of the shop lore Smith shares; treat it as the owner’s claim, reported by Patch.
Smith told Patch he started making the pudding in 2004 from his mother’s family recipe, grew lines in Long Beach, left California for a stretch when his wife needed surgery, and moved to Temecula in 2015. During the pandemic the family decided the business would be the thing they built together — including coaching his son through football and, now, through the shop.
Why this spotlight
We are building Temecula Magazine as a free quarterly that lands in local mailboxes. The first Local Spotlight is not a wine-country travel feature. It is a family dessert counter on Front Street that people already line up for, next to a barbecue room Temecula has known for years. After opening day, Smith told followers his heart was full — “for the first time ever, I was able to have my wife and kids working in the business at the same time,” Patch quoted.
That is the kind of in-the-know note we want on page 6 of Issue 01: specific address, named owner, sourced timeline, no invented quotes.
If you go
Famous PUDN, 28676 Old Town Front Street, Temecula — next to Swing Inn Cafe. Patch lists Thursday through Sunday. Confirm hours on the shop’s Instagram (@famouspudn) before you go; farmers-market schedules can still overlap with storefront days.