In the waning years of the 20th century, "Bill" wrote (with possible deletions): > I'll be visiting Long Beach California at the end of August. Looking for > recommendations on the best eateries. It has been awhile since eating once a week with my GodMother in Long Beach. But here are a couple of suggestions Mexican - Acapulco (which is part of a chain) Green Burrito (which is part of a chain) FAST FOOD La Salsa (which is part of a chain) FAST FOOD Coffee Shop type for Hamburgers, homemade pies (Olliaberry should be available now, pecan, strawberry...), hash browns, patty melts and shakes - Russell's (have been eating there for over 50 years) Coco (which is part of a chain) so - so Polly's Tasty Foods and Pies (which is part of a chain) NOT as good as Russell's Spires - (which is part of a chain) not very spicy Hamburgers - Tommy's burgers - (which is part of a chain) they are world famous and lots of people go long distances to eat there, but I haven't found the attraction over Russell's Smorgasbord type - Arnold's Family Restaurant - including soup, salad and meats Soup Exchange - soup, salad, bread, dessert bar Steak - Charley Browns (part of a chain) BUT GOOD they also serve Sunday Brunch which is excellent but around $10 - $15 per person Black Angus (which is part of a chain) Clearman's NorthWoods Inn (try their cold cabbage) Variety of foods - GOOD EATS but go hungry - Claim Jumper (which is part of a chain) Mustard's - Good food but a little expensive Hof's Hut - used to serve Sunday brunch Seafood - FISH TALE - excellent fresh fish, halibut, scallops and wonderful large size piece of mud pie, not cheap but not overly expensive Parker's Lighthouse - on the shore Rusty Pelican - Steaks, seafood, salad bar Sandwiches - Togo's - (which is part of a chain)much better quality of sandwiches and salads try BBQ beef Subway (which is part of a chain) they serve healthy subs also but nothing special (I like the Tuna) Breakfast - Denny's (which is part of a chain) International House of Pancakes (which is part of a chain) we like the whole grain and chocolate chip pancakes RIBS - Johnny Reb's this is a treat with saw dust on the floor and southern cooking including hush puppies Ice Cream - Swenson's Tastee Freese Nearby in Lakewood - Outback Steak House (which is part of a chain) Chili's (which is part of a chain) for burgers, sandwiches, salads etc. I like the chicken salads Donut Queen - for donuts and ice cream Don't forget to visit the new aquarium of the pacific, which just opened this past month. http://www.aquariumofpacific.org Enjoy Barbara Jean Lull
Los Angeles, CA
Best Rest. in Long Beach?
NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 17:24:51 PDT
Organization: MediaOne Express, Western Region
Xref: rec.food.restaurants:40174
If you are not into chain restaurants you'll have to look around to find good food. Areas to explore (Long Beach is quite large),
2nd Street - Good night life, College crowd, lots of bars, a dappling of restaurants worth exploring.
Shenandoah Cafe - Americana/Southern Cooking, chintz covered everything
decorates this little spot, good food ranges from southern basics to superbly prepared cuts of meat. Their signature appetizer side dish - hushpuppies.
Shoreline Village / Pine Ave. - Shoreline is experiencing a revamp, while nearby Pine Ave. is the current hot spot for all of Long Beach.
Parker's Lighthouse - One of the original cornerstone restaurants of
Shoreline Village, they provide simply prepared good quality fish of all types, great view over the hustle and bustle of the inner harbor.
Yard House - the newest place in Shoreline Village, a bar which boasts
oodles of beer choices but only basic bar food. The view makes it special, but in the heat of the summer, the inner harbor can hold more than just boats (all the garbage from the harbor winds up in this little nook which can begin to look quite scummy by August).
401 Shoreline Dr. 562-628-0455
Mum's Cafe - on Pine St. offers an outdoor patio for people watching and
an eclectic menu featuring salads, pasta, and seafood. This is a more upscale restaurant which offers live music on the weekends during brunch. Good food, decent service.
Alegria - on Pine St. across the street from Mum's Cafe - Spanish Tapas
rein here, creative decor, an out door patio (who's position offers shade during most of the day) and live music on some nights. The food is good but not great, choose well from their fairly large menu and you should be happy. It's certainly a change from the normal meal. There aren't many Spanish places in Southern California.
115 Pine Ave. 562-436-3388
King's Fish House - on Pine St. 1/2 block North from Alegria - The best
fresh seafood in Long Beach (IMHO), creative dishes, several types of oysters on the 1/2 shell, many specials, out door patio and indoor dining, full bar. The food has a decidedly New Orleans, LA flair. I love their food, there's always some creative fish dish to try and the quality is great!
100 W. Broadway (at Pine Ave.) 562-432-7463
Also on Pine St., but I haven't tried these: L'Opera (there are a few of these restaurants, but I wouldn't call it your normal chain restaurant, upscale Italian); Trilussa - ditto!
For great food in Long Beach - Delius receives very high marks. Although it's located in a mini-mall they apparently do quite a good job. For a creative experience, check it out: 3550 Long Beach Blvd between Wardlow and 36th 562-426-0694
Also, check out that post on the Mexican place in Belflower - you've got to eat Mexican while you're hear, why not check it out?
For the best fast type Mexican food (but not greasy) try Super Mex in Long Beach.
Vickie McCorkendale
� Culinary Vixen – http://home.gwp.com/bmcorkendale/food.html � Food Editor - Suite101.com - http://www.suite101.com/topics/page.cfm/265
Bill wrote in message ...
>I'll be visiting Long Beach California at the end of August. Looking for
>recommendations on the best eateries.
>Thanks,
>Bill
>
>NNTP-Posting-Date: 16 Jul 1998 17:26:52 GMT X-Newsreader: News Xpress 2.01 Xref: rec.food.restaurants:40186 Bill wrote: >I'll be visiting Long Beach California at the end of August. Looking for >recommendations on the best eateries. >Thanks, >Bill > > Bill: Fortunately for you, Long Beach is NOT Orange County and you will not be forced to eat at overpriced chain restaurants and served by snotty intolerant people. There are a number of EXCELLENT restaurants where you will get great food, good service, and reasonable prices. Some of the best restaurants are located in the section of town known as Belmont Heights: 1. Christy's Italian Restaurant--a personal favorite, owned by Sonny Bono's daughter, Christy. Excellent pasta dishes, veal, chicken fiorentina (my favorites dish) and an occasional osso buco or steak special. Meal includes your choice of a ceasar salad or minestrone and, with a glass of wine, tax and tip, comes to about $20-25 person....a real bargain. Great wine list and atmosphere. Located at intersection of Broadway and Termino and I believe their phone # is 562-433-7133. Four stars. 2. Lasher's--located about a mile west of Christy's on Broadway. More basic fare, but great food and variety, and a charming cottage style atmosphere. Resaonably priced as well...save room for dessert. 3. House of Madam JoJo's--also on Broadway, about a mile west of Lasher's. Combination continental/mediterranean cuisine. Chef Mario also owns a restaurant downtown, although this one is better and more intimate. Women dig this place because its set up as a classy New Orleans bordello and Mario comes around and puts masks on people towards the end of the evening--a fun place and good food. Downtown, i.e. Pine Avenue, you have a number of good places as well and they are convenient to the Convention Center and Aquarium of the Pacific. You can always visit Mum's--food is good (not as good as the restuarants listed above), but nice "trendy" atmosphere and you should try and get a table on the outside patio where they have live jazz in the evening. If you like seafood, King's Seafood is across the street (has two locations--one is a more formal seafood restaurant; the other is a more casual New Orleans style oyster bar). Finally, for something different, try Alegria (also on Pine Avenue) for paella and Spanish tapas..they even have flamenco dancers perfoming towards the end of the week and weekends. In general, Long Beach is the crown jewel of So. California...nice people, genuine (very rare for this section of the country), laid back, and lots to do. For additional information, go check out www.gazettes.com ...This is the local newspaper for the city and has information on upcomg events (i.e. Long Beach Jazz festival) and more. Hope this helps. Roy CigarFriendly.com http://www.cigarfriendly.com
> I'll be visiting Long Beach California at the end of August. Looking for >> recommendations on the best eateries. Cha Cha Cha - great atmosphere (Caribbean) and wonderful food, near downtown and Pine Street. Not sure of exact address.
Skipping the chains: Try North Woods Inn in Belmont Shore, excellent steaks, some great lunch specials and you can throw peanut shells on the floor. ;) Nearby is Shenandoah Cafe, semi-southerm/southwest, A bit pricey at dinner but really excellent food. Russell's Hamburgers in in Lakewood..the way they ought to be..and desserts that can cripple at 17 yards. ;) Ashkari, in the Hilton downtown, some unusual and really neat entrees, varying menu, with a nice buffet also. Sort of nova cucina italia, but with more. An absolutely killer dessert tray. Small, somewhat local chain: Norm's in Lakewood..good cheap food and lots of it. Terrible ambiance but hard to find better food for this little..MacDonald's can cost you more. Chicago Rib Joint, downtown: good food but the ambiance of a bus station. Really bad psuedo-40's vocal music strove with someone's boom box back in the kitchen playing mariachi music while a TV in the dining area showed commercial tv and half the staff was popping their chewing cud while serving. Get the food to go or have it delivered. Couple of interesting looking places out along Second street including a siamese restaurant with a good rep (I've not eaten there) The restaurant scene in Long Beach is brighter than it has been in years, there's lots of new life. Avoid the Rock Bottom, down town, middling good beer but only average food and too pricey, the staff has no idea of service and you'll often see clusters of them standing about chatting with each other while you're trying to get noticed. Indicates really poor management, last time I was there, someone was having a screaming argument in the kitchen complete with incredibly foul language, staff igored it, if there was a manager, he or she was ignoring it. Another time, there were major repairs going on int he kuitchen, with considerable banging of sheet metal and endless pounding of a hammer. Bring a penlight, at night the lighting is so low it's hard to read the menu.
Someone wrote: : > I'll be visiting Long Beach California at the end of August. Looking for : >> recommendations on the best eateries. : Cha Cha Cha - great atmosphere (Caribbean) and wonderful food, near downtown : and Pine Street. Not sure of exact address. Somewhere between sixth and 10th on Pacific, it's a converted gas station (Long Beach's first, built in 1908 or some such so not what you expect.) One other thing, be really careful where you go in Long Beach, it still has major gang and drug problems, do'nt go west of Pacific downtown ecept along Ocean Blvd. or north of 6th, the area deteriorates badly. Going out Broadway/second street, you'll pass through some dismal areas for a mile or so, keep your doors locked, there's a lot of winos and trash in the area, until you get out past Aalamitos ave, then it rapidly goes upscale and there's a lot of interesting places. I strongly do not reccomend walking except right along Pine and close by downtown or the nicer parts of Broadway/second street and Belmont Shore.
Chanteclaire in Irvine has wonderful French Food. It is not too far from Long Beach. If you order Steaks Diane, the chef comes out to your table and cooks there. Christy DMckin4975 wrote: > > I'll be visiting Long Beach California at the end of August. > Looking for > >> recommendations on the best eateries. > > Cha Cha Cha - great atmosphere (Caribbean) and wonderful food, near > downtown > and Pine Street. Not sure of exact address.