rjw_lgb_ca's Profile
Jongewaard's Bake N Broil
I've had the red velvet cake.
"Rich" doesn't begin to describe it. It achieved a Platonic ideal of creamy Southern excess, as far as a dessert goes.
I loved it. It certainly didn't taste like something out of a factory; it really seemed like a home-made RVC.
Grocery Store Fried Chicken
I've enjoyed the fried chicken at my local Stater Bros. (Long Beach: in the Plaza neighborhood, Spring at Palo Verde)-- and have ordered it for groups many times.
Albertson's fried chicken is good as well, but in my neighborhood Stater Bros. is the better choice (and we've got all the chains within a four square block radius).
As SIMIHOUND notes, it's best to do some sampling before committing to a party purchase.
Long Beach breakfast joints, there seem to a plethora of joints in just very few blocks...
Of the group you mention, my pick would be Coffee Cup Café. Chuck's is a beach joint and fine for what it is, but CCC is better.
Friends love the Potholder (that's the one on Broadway). I haven't been yet. Since I've moved a bit north to the Plaza, I don't get to Belmont Heights except on special occasions.
Jongewaard's Bake & Broil is very good-- but it's not in the Belmont Heights/Belmont Shore/Gay Ghetto area you're discussing.
Pre-show (6-ish) Dinner Choices Near Ahmanson: 2012 Edition
I am a Long Beach resident who works on the Westside of LA. Therefore, my knowledge-- hell, my awareness-- of the downtown dinner scene is just about non-existent.
Yes, shower your scorn and disdain upon me. I stand before you in shame.
Tee hee.
I'm doing some long-range planning for a Saturday night at the theatre (or, as my Southern mom says, "thee-AY-ter")-- specifically, at the Ahmanson. I want to have a REALLY good pre-show dinner (cost is basically not an object, but nothing ridiculous) somewhere in the theatre's sort-of immediate vicinity (walking distance, of course), and that means some place slinging good chow at around 6 PM. If we (my husband and I) wait until after the show, we'll be eating at 11; and I may not know downtown LA that well, but I'm fairly sure it's not like Madrid or South Beach, where we'd be indeed eating around 11 and just starting our bar crawl. Besides, we're not spring chickens, and eating that late is a sure-thing one-way ticket to Agità-ville.
As I said, money isn't a huge issue. In theory we will eat just about anything, but in practice I will get pushback against Asian food (we're perpetually trying to lose a few pounds, and that means we're trying to avoid-- wait for it-- "carbs", i.e., rice). If the place is really incredible, however, I will fight for it. We love good food, we're not Foodies, but a bit upscale would be nice.
How about it, folks? Any help for me and my better half?
2 dinners in Long Beach
Third for Enrique's, with the caveat that it's not downtown. It is in a mini-mall at the corner of PCH and Loyne's a few miles east of downtown.
It would help to know what budget we're working with, as well as likes/dislikes.
For Greek/Cypriot, there's always George's downtown AND in Belmont Shore AND in Lakewood. I've also had good Greek at a place called Café Ambrosia, at the corner of Broadway and Cherry. And in Belmont Shore you'll find Open Sesame, serving good Middle Eastern fare.
Alegría Café downtown has pretty good pan-Latin food. It doesn't get much attention here, so I may be alone in that opinion. But I've had good meals there.
L'Opera used to be my go-to for high-end Italian, but Michael's on Naples has replaced it completely for me. Michael's is also more expensive, so that's an expense-account meal. Café Piccolo in Belmont Heights is surprisingly good and a lot cheaper.
If you don't mind a drive, two Thai places I like are both near Long Beach City College: Panvimarn on Carson and Tiny Thai on Norse Way. Very tasty food. In Belmont Shore, I also like Phuket Thai. For Vietnamese small plates, Benley is great, but it's way east and north of where you'll be, in the Long Beach/Los Alamitos netherlands (Wardlow and Los Alamitos Blvd).
These are all random shots. Anyone else?
Enrique's - Long Beach (Late Lunch Yesterday)
That pork shank is my go-to when I'm ending a strict diet. That first splurge has to be good. And the pork shank is more than good. It's several mouths-ful of Heaven.
The chips are a bit meh, sure. They're primarily a delivery system for their salsa and guacamole, so I'm fine with them.
FULL DISCLOSURE: They catered my wedding and I know Michelle Pérez a bit (Enrique's wife and business partner), so maybe my judgment is a bit biased. Well, too bad. I love this place and dine there happily as much as I can.
Their version of Surf 'n' Turf (grilled filet mignon slices and grilled tiger prawns) is quite awesome, as are their Ribs 'n' Fries (the ribs are citrus-rubbed and perfectly tender and delicious).
Great-- now I want to go eat there some night this week...!!!
Long Beach eats
That is NOT Café Piccolo (which is on Broadway). You are talking about a place that used to be called Picarelli's, on PCH at Clark, which indeed has a new name and concept.
Café Piccolo is alive and well (we dined there a month ago and enjoyed it very much indeed)!
Long Beach eats
Where will you be? How far are you willing to go for good food? Breakfast/lunch/dinner? Budget? Any cuisines you especially love/loathe? What kind of bar-- chill lounge, good happy hour, meet market, LGBT, dive, what?
The food scene in Long Beach isn't anything like LA or other big cities. Things are quite a bit humbler in this city. That said, there is good food to be had, Some for a pretty penny, some for mere pennies.
You'll hear about the same places over and over, I do warn you:
-- Michael's on Naples for grown-up Italian
-- Enrique's for cocina jalisqueña
-- Jongewaard's Bake 'n Broil for diner food and killer desserts (nothing earth-shattering, just comforting and familiar)
For cheaper Italian, there's a place called Café Piccolo that serves very tasty food in about as cozy and charming a room as you'll find around here. Lasher's serves very delicious American cuisine in a restored 1900's California bungalow; many here find the menu very 80s ("raspberry vinaigrette for salad? Let me get my acid-washed jeans and Members Only jacket!") and rather unironic, but I love their food. Bono's in Belmont Shore has a gorgeous room and good American food; the owner has sold to an Orange County interest and will be re-opening her eponymous room, Christy's, in November, Flying Spaghetti Monster willing, but she's still runnning the show at Bono's (yes, named for the Palm Springs eatery her father-- a guy named Sonny, you might have heard of him-- ran).
I really like Baja Sonora for fast-food Mexican that's gooey and saucy and spicy and just GOOD. Others like Super Mex, which I also enjoy (especially when very drunk).
George's Greek has solid, tasty Cypriot-Greek food. I also like Café Ambrosia, which has a purer Greek menu and a full bar.
Downtown, there's L'Opera for Italian and Café Sevilla for Spanish, as well as Alegría (Latin American). You'll find chain-resto Hell over at the Pike, although if you head to Shoreline Village you've got the Yardhouse, which is part of a southern CA chain of beer-centric pubs with lots and lots of beers on tap and pretty yummy bar food. You can do far worse over in that part of downtown (say, PF Chang or Gladstone's). Parker's Lighthouse is a maddeningly inconsistent seafood place, although the last time I ate there I was shocked at how good it was. Go figure. King's Fish House on Pine is more consistent-- always pretty darn good-- but it's better to take the drive to Los Alamitos (barely 20 minutes away) for the Original Fish Company. Yum.
Panvimarn and Tiny Thai are both close to Long Beach City College and Boeing-- and both serve delicious Thai food. Panvimarn has the better room and a bit more flair to the offerings, but the owner of Tiny Thai is very sweet and the food is cheaper, if pretty standard in the menu.
These are stream-of-consciousness recos. Others will have more thought-out things to say.
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Parker's Lighthouse
435 Shoreline Village Drive, Long Beach, CA 90802
L'Opera
101 Pine Ave., Long Beach, CA 90802
King's Fish House
100 W Broadway Ste 1000, Long Beach, CA 90802
Tiny Thai Restaurant
4152 Norse Way, Long Beach, CA 90808
Baja Sonora
2940 Clark Ave, Long Beach, CA 90815
Bake 'n Broil
3697 Atlantic Ave, Long Beach, CA 90807
George's Greek Cafe
5316 E 2nd St, Long Beach, CA 90803
Shoreline Village
419 Shoreline Village Dr, Long Beach, CA 90802
I simply don't get food as competition
Ahh, yes, Schadenfreude as entertainment. You are 100% correct, I'd say.
That's the theme underlying the entire Reality TV juggernaut.
Are we THAT insecure and resentful as a culture?!?
Where to buy Wine?
My goodness, don't we have an inflated sense of self-worth tied to living north of LAX...!!
The reco is welcome (I do like the Wine House, but find the Wine Country staff MUCH friendlier-- must be due to all of us south LA County types being such hicks), but the snotty dismissal of all points south of Westchester (and, presumably, east of La Brea) is NOT.
I would see if the same sense of entitlement afflicts all of your posts, but I'm afraid I would click on your user ID and turn to gold....
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Wine House
2311 Cotner Ave, Los Angeles, CA
Wine Country
2301 Redondo Ave, Signal Hill, CA
Red O worth checking out?
Bear in mind that Bayless has basically been involved to the extent of some menu consultation to the restaurant but, IIRC, not much beyond that. I'm frankly mystified by the Bayless worship; his Chicago eateries communicate a clear love for Mexican cuisine, but the food itself has never exceeded the level of "meh-- not awful" for me. I know I'm in the clear minority on that.
But Red O? Like some other Chowhounds have stated, it would be "fine Mexican dining" for a town that doesn't have good Mexican food. Say, Prague. The claims that it serves "elevated, high-end Mexican food" make me chuckle. It's expensive and full of haughty attitude, but I've had far better in LA for a lot less money. I don't need a "hot" room or a bouncer at the door to get good Mexican in this town. I'm low-rent and trashy, I guess, but I don't need to "be seen" at the latest place to carry warmed-over coals to this Newcastle.
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Red O
8155 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046
Trader Joe's frozen steamer clams
Yes. They're acceptable in a pinch, although you'll never close your eyes and think you're on a beach somewhere in the Cape. I don't get a "fresh" taste from them. And eat them fast; they go from "fine" to "pure rubber" in seconds.
Does anyone in LA make a New England style clam chowder thickened with cream instead of flour?
That would be Original Fish Company, at the corner of Los Al and Katella in Los Al.
The NE clam chowder is very nice (my New Bedford-born mother-in-law loves it!), and it doesn't skimp on the clams. It is thick enough for me to think they do use a roux to thicken it (and they cook it down enough to get rid of the flour flavor); it's also just rich enough that I'd assume they also add heavy cream. Either way, I'm not complaining. It's delicious.
Lasher's in Long Beach has a very nice NE clam chowder, although it has a stronger flavor note from bacon, which some might find not historically correct. Again, I will just note that I love it, tradition be damned. I think their version has just heavy cream, without a roux. But I could be wrong.
I'm heading to the Cape in a couple of weeks and plan to stop at Captain Parker's in West Yarmouth for their famous chowdah, having already enjoyed Lindsey's chowdah (in East Wareham). I'll be sure to compare them all!
Rachel Ray's $40 a Day vs. Giada's Weekend Getaways
[Deep breath:]
Rachael Ray blah blah blah horrible cook blah blah blah awful grating voice blah blah blah not a chef blah blah blah no knife skills blah blah blah god I hate her blah blah blah.
Giada de Laurentiis blah blah blah huge head blah blah blah low-cut blouses blah blah blah mouthful of too many teeth spoiled Italian bitch blah blah blah over-enunciates/mispronounces Italian words according to what I think Italian sounds like blah blah blah god I hate her blah blah blah.
Just saving people the trouble of taking this thread into the usual direction it goes for these two personalities. Since there is a 100% chance it will move from your question into these irresistable but totally stupid and immature weeds. This site teems with irrational snarky bile directed at these two people who, people have decided, do not deserve their success. To which I say: Hey, they fill some niche in culinary education and are making some money doing it. More power to them. And I wouldn't turn down a meal cooked by either one.
As for your question: I'll go with Giada. But then again, her food budget on her travels is basically unlimited. If I'm pinching pennies, I'll go with Rachael's choices.
My first time at Chipotle.... or, what the hell was that bland beige lump I just ate?
100% agreed, Mr Taster. A Chipotle burrito is a gummy, flavorless abomination. They should be ashamed to push it as "Mexican".
Its success just discourages restauranteurs from opening eateries using some of the more assertive and unique flavors of Mexican cuisine.
And I love chipotle en adobo too. Too bad you can't get any there...!
Affordable Mexican Catering for Mexican Traditional Wedding
I can offer two Long Beach options, simply because I like them (and the owners are all mensches): Enrique's on PCH at Loynes, and Baja Sonora on Clark at Spring.
Enrique's actually catered my wedding. I can't recall the exact cost, but it was quite reasonable. And the food was terrific.
Baja Sonora is standard Mexican fare (I guess leaning to Sonoran and/or Tex-Mex), but it's damn tasty. And I would think their catering would be just as good.
I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions, but here are mine...!
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Baja Sonora
2940 Clark Ave, Long Beach, CA 90815
Resturant in Santa Monica, where the staff and customers sing Dean Martin's That's Amore
C&O, maybe.... There's a Buca di Beppo in Santa Monica that might do something like that too. The times I've gone there, it's been more subdued. But then again, the food was unbelievably bad-- a Platonic ideal of horrible red-sauce Italian-American atrocities.
And I *love* red-sauce Italian-American food with a passion (I'd crawl on my eyes for a plate of spaghetti puttanesca from Ferraro's here in Long Beach-- OK, not that big a deal, I live a block away, but still....). You can imagine how upset I was.
I hope it wasn't BdB...!
California Burritos in LA?
I think they might have that also at Baja Sonora, corner of Clark and Spring in Long Beach.
It's been on their Specials board recently. It seemed very weird to me, but it would make sense that a San Diego specialty could have migrated north to our neck of the woods...!
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Baja Sonora
2940 Clark Ave, Long Beach, CA 90815
Your top long beach restaurants
Frenchy's has closed permanently, which is a real bummer. So has Da Vinci at Long Beach Airport (food was good, but the room was stunning).
Michael's on Naples is still first-rate. Enrique's for killer Guadalajaran cuisine is always worth a trip. What new treats am I missing since I stopped going out to eat so much?
Bitchin' Kitchen -- Frickin' Funny!
*psst* I'm with you. Nadia G makes me laugh out loud. And she's not a particularly bad cook. Some of her stuff looks quite good, actually. They can't ALL be Grant Achatz, after all...!
Diners, Drive-ins, Dives, and Disgusting
It's not that off the mark, actually. California does host 12% of the US population, after all (2009 Census Bureau estimates). What is notable is the underrepresentation of the state of New York-- with 6.4% of the US population, NY only gets 3.2% of Guy Fieri's douchy love....
Need breakfast or lunch near Long Beach Outdoor Antique Market
If the weather cooperates, I'd try Schooner or Later for brunch. It's not next door to Veterans Stadium, but it's no more than a ten-minute drive to the Marina, and what's not to love about brunch by the water?
Down Clark from the stadium is a mom-'n'-pop style Mexican joint called Baja Sonora. There's no pretense here: Big piles of hot, tasty Mexican grub, served fast and fresh and messy. Their salsas are fresh and accompany all-you-can-eat fresh chips (fried whole tortillas). The downmarket digs might appall "foodies", but Chowhounds will appreciate the cheap goodness you get here.
If you head up Clark to Carson and take a left, not too far west you'll find the Heritage coffee shop. Huge portions of actually good diner food are found here. NOTE: A bit east of here is another diner with a more self-consciously 50s vibe: Dale's Diner, at the corner of Carson and Norse Way. The food is fine here, but the Heritage is better.
Of course, there's always Jongewaard's Bake 'n' Broil (Atlantic just south of 37th, Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach). This place has a strong fanbase here-- and with Russ Parsons of the LA Times. The food is solid and homey and yummy-- but their red velvet cake is sublime. To die for. Drool drool d-ROOL.
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Dale's Diner
4339 E Carson St, Long Beach, CA 90808
Baja Sonora
2940 Clark Ave, Long Beach, CA 90815
ISO - Dinner in Long Beach Saturday - Any recs?
The recs so far are really good (I love them all), but none of them is actually in the downtown LB area (I assume you're going to the ICT in the Performing Arts Center). Each of them is at least a ten-minute drive away. I should also note that good dining in LB and environs tends to be a "before 10 PM proposition", so I'd count on planning an early dinner.
The usual Pine Avenue recs-- George's Greek (Cypriot/Greek), L'Opera (expensive Italian), Alegria (pan-Latin) or Café Sevilla (Spanish)-- are close to that theatre, as is the original outpost of King's Fish House (family-atrmosphere fish joint-- a bit inconsistent lately) and Parker's Lighthouse (in Shorelive Village, seafood specialist and MADDENINGLY INCONSISTENT).
If you don't mind driving, within fifteen minutes of downtown you can hit Enrique's (PCH at Loynes) and its seriously wonderful Guadalajara cuisine, or the consistently good (IMHO) Los Alamitos Original Fish Company (Katella at Los Alamitos, just across the Orange Curtain), or the amazingly special Benley, A Vietnamese Kitchen (last I checked, it was still open and still good-- if I'm wrong, someone correct me!)-- tucked inside a mini-mall at Wardlow and Los Alamitos (the hinterlands of east LB).
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Parker's Lighthouse
435 Shoreline Village Drive, Long Beach, CA 90802
L'Opera
101 Pine Ave., Long Beach, CA 90802
King's Fish House
1521 W Katella Ave, Orange, CA 92867
George's Greek Cafe
5316 E 2nd St, Long Beach, CA 90803
Strip Joint for 50th B-day Dinner for 2
Alex has a "Jackets Suggested" note on their website-- I just don't think we're planning to bring anything particularly swank on this trip. The place looks lovely, but a bit high-faluttin' for us hoi-polloi...!
L'Atelier Joël Robuchon MIGHT be a possibility. I'll go look at the website now....
Thursday 8/19 MIlestone Birthday Dinner-- Options on Strip?
FINE. Since the original post had an ambiguous title, we're reposting with something more precise.
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OK, this is actually a joint birthday dinner for me and my husband (I turn 46 two weeks before he turns 50)-- mid-August (HOT!). We will be staying at the Mirage, so we're center Strip and ready to take a cab as necessary, but we'd like to stay on the Strip (lazy, what can I say?).
Our requirements:
-- Romantic ambience (flattering lighting is helpful at our ages)
-- Food quality ranging between superior and heavenly
-- Sommelier that will arrange wine pairings (see "lazy" above, combine with "wine-lushes")
-- Price not necessarily an object, but we're trying to avoid Joël Robuchon excess
-- NO JACKETS REQUIRED (no, we don't mean "only play Phil Collins CDs" [eeewwww!]; dress code cannot exceed "business casual", please)
Flood me with suggestions, oh you generous and wonderful Chowhounds, you! Help me show my wonderful husband how much I love him with some awe-inspiring Vegas grub.
Thanks in advance.
Closest GOOD Chinese Near Long Beach/Los Alamitos
We're willing to drive, but not ridiculously, for good food. The one cuisine that absolutely defeats us in Long Beach is, as is well-known, Chinese. So where can we go within, say, a ten- or fifteen-minute drive from Eldorado Park (we live in the Plaza neighborhood) and have a good sit-down Chinese meal?
We know of Fortune Cookie on Los Al just off of Katella-- it's OK in a pinch, but nothing better. We want better.
Is there anything great in Cerritos we need to know about? North OC?
Thanks in advance!
Strip Joint for 50th B-day Dinner for 2
Gee, I bet this is a new one for the Chowhound boards...!!
/snark
OK, this is actually a joint birthday dinner for me and my husband (I turn 46 two weeks before he turns 50)-- mid-August (HOT!). We will be staying at the Mirage, so we're center Strip and ready to take a cab as necessary, but we'd like to stay on the Strip (lazy, what can I say?).
Our requirements:
-- Romantic ambience (flattering lighting is helpful at our ages)
-- Food quality ranging between superior and heavenly
-- Sommelier that will arrange wine pairings (see "lazy" above, combine with "wine-lushes")
-- Price not necessarily an object, but we're trying to avoid Joël Robuchon excess
-- NO JACKETS REQUIRED (no, we don't mean "only play Phil Collins CDs" [eeewwww!]; dress code cannot exceed "business casual", please)
Flood me with suggestions, oh you generous and wonderful Chowhounds, you! Help me show my wonderful husband how much I love him with some awe-inspiring Vegas grub.
Thanks in advance.
Mirage Restaurants worth dining at....
I was impressed by Japonais-- particularly when they whipped up a vegetarian hot pot (not on the menu at all) for a Brahman in our dinner party; all of the food was sublime.
If you like churrasco brasileiro, Samba is a carnivore's dream (great grilled meats, yummy cenoura com farofa, hearty feijoada...). Just be careful of too many caipirinhas-- they knocked us on our butts.
Kokomo's is pricey-- well, duh. But ohmygawd, the food there was awe-inspiring the last time we were there. Absolutely delectable.
Some of the Best Mexican Food in LA? A Full Review of Border Grill!
Agreed. Of course, the poster notes that he's not an expert on Mexican food. Still, I'd say that the LA chowhounds are by and large very fluent in all Mexican cuisine. And we are blessed with a huge range of eateries encompassing the vast riches of Mexican food-- the nouvelle Mexicans like Border Grill, the great authentic joints you mention and quirky gems like Enrique's in Long Beach (Guadalajaran-style).
I love what Mary Sue and Susan are doing at Border Grill, but it's not authentic-- just good.
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Border Grill
1445 4th St., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Chipotle Opens a Santa Monica Atrocity on Third St Promenade
Maybe this should be on the "Not About Food" board, but I went to the grand opening of the latest Chipotle outpost, on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.
That was maybe the single worst "Mexican" meal I've had in my life. I don't mind the occasional Latin calorie bomb, but the barbacoa burrito I had was horrible. There was undistinguished heat from their roasted chile-corn salsa (and a metallic sweet taste from the canned corn) and about half a quart of watery sour cream and indifferent guacamole-- and that was it as far as any taste in the burrito. The "barbacoa" was flavorless stringy beef with some kind of red sauce that hinted at enchilada-- but didn't even make the effort. The gummy rice and starchy black beans didn't have any flavor either.
And the chips I ordered on the side had one flavor. Salt. Lots and lots of salt.
Oh Santa Monica, why can't you offer good cheap Mexican food somewhere downtown within walking distance of my office? Why do you insist on mediocrity (La Salsa, Baja Bud's) or inedible (Chipotle)?!
