There is a bowl of seafood stew at Bungalow Kitchen Long Beach that helps explain how this inaugural menu is Chef Eric Samaniego’s next culinary chapter.
Guajillo, ancho, and puya chiles. Plenty of Mexican oregano. Shrimp stock and fish bones, plus the scrappy pieces left behind when a kitchen breaks down fish to make the stock. That broth—like a bouillabaisse gone Mexican—is then poured over, tableside, some shrimp, Prince Edward Island mussels, and sole. A seafood-laden nod to pozole.
It’s a heart-warming, collaborative dish with his sous, Kristine Schneider. (You might recognize her work from her time at Liv’s in Belmont Shore and, serendipitously, from her time working under Chef Eric at Michael’s in Naples.) And it sits on a menu that drifts between French, Spanish, Italian, Mexican, and, of course, Californian influences.
And yes, all of those things belong at the same table.
Bungalow Kitchen Long Beach melds Chef Eric’s innumerable influences…
For Chef Eric, the Long Beach veteran whose cooking became synonymous with Michael’s on Naples, Bungalow Kitchen offers room to bring together the influences that shape how he cooks. Here, a chile-rich seafood broth has as much claim to the menu as one of his rightfully loved handmade pasta. Fried chicken named after his father can share space with mustard spätzle under duck confit.
The result is a restaurant that makes a compelling case study in two things. One, for the art of rebranding: Owner Brent Bolthouse is a master chameleon, having already reconceptualized Bungalow when it opened in the pandemic. Then, this year, a closure forced Brent and his team to return to its roots as more of a restaurant than a party space. Secondly, it shows how expansive California cooking can be. And how personal it can become when a chef has the freedom to follow all of his influences.
With Chef Kristine—a reunion brings an existing working relationship into a restaurant where Chef Eric is stretching the scope of his food—there is an added comfort.
“It just landed perfectly in my lap,” Chef Eric said. “A new space to explore my cooking within. A colleague I love and respect, whose creativity meshes so well with mine. And the chance to really offer something that feels appropriate for a space that is unquestionably beautiful, both inside and out.”
What to expect from the food at Bungalow Kitchen Long Beach…
For diners who followed Eric at Michael’s, the Italian thread is easy to find. There’s a hamachi crudo ($21), lined with both baked and compressed grapes, drizzled in the same Ligurian olive oil he used at Michael’s on Naples.
“I couldn’t give it up,” Chef Eric said, laughing. “Massimo [Arrone, the former GM of Michael’s and now owner of Massimo’s] brought it from the town he grew up in, Imperia… It’s just the best.”
His lasagna ($28) arrives cut to reveal its layers: braised short rib, béchamel, and a classic Italian red sauce. It’s deceptively simple but wonderfully complex in its construction. And it joins wonderful dishes courting varying pasta shapes: paccheri, spaghetti, rigatoni, and tagliatelle. If there is a special? Grab it. Like rabbit-stuffed cappellacci that was lined with a squash puree.
It is an anchor for anyone who wants the comfort of a familiar dish from a familiar chef. And it gives the rest of the menu room to roam.
Beyond reflections of his past, there are wonderfully personal dishes at Bungalow Kitchen Long Beach.
That roaming is essential to understanding what Chef Eric is doing here. Michael’s was an Italian restaurant, with the expectations and identity that come with it. Bungalow gives him a broader canvas: French technique, Italian cooking, Mexican flavors, and the ingredients and producers surrounding him in California can all help shape dinner.
Take Bob’s Fried Chicken ($32), easily one of Chef Eric’s most stand-out dishes.
Named after Chef Eric’s father, the dish starts with a buttermilk brine before the chicken is dredged and fried in tallow. Its chili crisp brings together crispy shallots and garlic, smoked paprika, oil, lemon zest, and brown butter. It is a particularly telling collection of ingredients: the crunch of fried alliums, chile warmth, citrus, and the richness of browned butter, all directed toward a plate of fried chicken. Dandelion greens bring bitterness, while pomme purée rounds out the plate. The family name gives the dish its personal footing; the details show how much of his own cooking he is bringing to it.
Then there is the duck confit ($42), served with mustard-infused spätzle and charred cabbage.
The cabbage is steamed first—”I’ve learning the art of steaming vegetables so that we maintain the highest nutritional value from them while also getting the right texture,” Chef Eric said—brushed with duck fat, and then put on the grill. It sits alongside solid mustard spätzle, topped with an unctuous, fatty confit duck leg.
And local producers have a place in that picture, too.
The wild mushroom pizza ($23) uses sourdough crust from Colossus Bakery, topped with fontina, mozzarella, ricotta, and mushrooms from Long Beach Mushrooms. Bread and mushrooms from two Long Beach businesses form the foundation of a pizza that’s becoming one of the space’s best sellers: savory as all hell, with umami from the mushrooms and tartness from the crust.
That continues with another one of his most solid dishes: his roasted bone marrow. Brushed with Italian salsa verde and doused in fresh herbs, he takes that same Colossus dough to create sourdough, tortilla-like rounds for dipping. Accompanying a braised short rib side with farmers market lettuce and grilled onions, it is one of the most satisfying shareables.
Look across the rest of the menu, and Chef Eric’s evolution continues. Broccolini gets miso bagna cauda. Moules frites—another standout—brings green curry and crème fraîche together. A tarte flambée sits close to carbonara and grilled Long Beach mushrooms. The dishes offer different entry points in Californian flair.
This is where Bungalow’s new chapter becomes interesting for Long Beach. We already knew Chef Eric could cook within the Italian language of Michael’s on Naples. Now, with Kristine beside him, we get to see more of the vocabulary. And California—with its overlapping food cultures, local growers, bakers, and purveyors—is a fitting place to hear it.
Bungalow Kitchen is located at 6400 E. Pacific Coast Hwy., Suite 200, in the 2nd & PCH complex overlooking Alamitos Bay. Dinner service begins at 5PM Wednesday through Sunday. Reservations can be made here.
