Chef Jason Witzl is back, Long Beach—and takes Ellie's to a full return to form

Chef Jason Witzl of Ellie’s has had one helluva 2024.

He opened up his Jolie’s space on Coronado Island in San Diego, he was lauded as Chef of the Year. This was on top of bouncing between that very space and his two Long Beach restaurants, his flagship Ellie’s and the neighboring Ginger’s. Even more, this was all after the strenuous years of the pandemic, where Chef Jason hit a triple hardship: The inability to move Ellie’s to the Compound in Zaferia; that, in turn, prompted the loss of his Ellie’s Deli concept; and then the permanent closure of his Lupe’s space in DTLB to make way for Toma.

Truthfully, 2024 is showcasing Chef Jason’s resilience far more than echoing the struggles he (and nearly every chef-owner) experienced over the past half-decade. And, well, another truth be told: it made us severely miss him here in Long Beach. Surely, his Ellie’s and Ginger’s spaces were running fine, especially under the watchful eye of culinary director Pedro Quintero. But Ellie’s still missed that, well, Jason-ness.

With new menu, Ellie’s has full return to form in the best way possible.

There is a thing I call “happy food.” It’s something I distinctly mentioned the last time I wrote about Chef Jason nearly three years ago. It comes from a place where a chef has, to be frank, gone through some shit and come out the other side. Sometimes, it follows creative redundancy or the intense obsession with competitors. It can also follow a severe sense of self-doubt, of questioning whether it’s worth it all. But when it comes, it comes with full force.

Take a look at his wonderfully toothsome gnocchi lunghi.

I really hate to revert to the word sexy, but that is what the dish is and oozes. Perfectly produced, pillowy poles of potato gnocchi are rolled into lengthy bits. They are then slathered in a slightly spicy, heavily black pepper-ed vodka sauce before being topped with a fine shaving of black truffle and a dollop of burrata. It’s everything to expect from a Witzl pasta: acid, heat, umami, and savory.

Or Chef Jason’s full embracing of his lack of gravity—one of his most charming traits: the Peter Pan rarely leaves Neverland—with an spicy Italian sausage plate that is, for lack of a better term, utterly SoCal AF. Laid atop a spread of buttery avocado crema and dotted with bits of pickled red onion, cilantro, and cotija, the dish is about as deep of a handshake an Italian and Mexican can make with one another.

That same avocado crema is used in a salad that screams Witzl. Baby beets and pickled golden raisins are paired with corn, labneh, avocado crema, and salmon roe for an exercise in Chef Jason’s masterful way with vegetables.

Ellie’s in Alamitos Beach, Long Beach. Photos by Brian Addison.

The return of Chef Jason didn’t come without the thought of quitting.

This is some of the best food he’s created in years—but it didn’t come without struggles. “I was really beginning to question whether I should continue or not,” Chef Jason said.

It’s a conversation that is rarely had in the food industry. But it is that one Chef Jason, myself, and a handful of other chefs—from Chef Luis Navarro over at Lola’s and The Social List to the sadly passed Chef Art Gonzalez and Chef Janice Dig Cabaysa—had at a table shortly before the pandemic hit. From addiction and stress to the ruthlessness of some patrons and the small margins, the discussion of mental health is rare. And this is especially true in an industry whose outward sex appeal of sleekly concocted cocktail and perfectly prepared plates are indeed a façade.

And though Chef Jason saw many highs in the pandemic, there was still some very intense darkness that surrounded him as he built both a family and a thriving business. Even more admirable, as we watch Chef Jason look at his first baby—Ellie’s—with a different lens given the the arrival of his actual first babies—his sons, Aiden and Max—we see an open vulnerability with discussing the very things so many folks like him just cannot.

Chef Jason Witzl opens up about how mental status and his food are inherently connected.

“I was almost at 300 pounds,” he said, pulling up a picture of himself without hesitation. “I was entirely unmotivated, didn’t care what I was putting into my body. It was dark and yeah, I thought I was ready to give up… But Jolie’s really infused something great into me and when I got back to Ellie’s, yeah, I admit: Something was missing. So we literally went plate by plate and if it wasn’t something the entire kitchen loved, it got nixed.”

This humility is knowing something wasn’t up to par—despite Ellie’s having its most successful year financially to date—echoes, on a different level, when Attic owner Steve Massis had to reconceptualize his entire space despite its success. Of course, Ellie’s didn’t need to be reconceptualized, just tweaked. And now, it is churning out its best food in years.

Ellie’s programming—from their Burger Party to Monday Suppers—have entered it into a renaissance.

And it has achieved this return to form this not just through a brand new menu. No, that would dismiss the brilliant programming the space has been enacting across 2024. One of Chef Jason’s most admirable, respected traits is his ability to adapt. And adaptation, ironically, oftentimes involves not a constant evolution but return to basics; an examination of where your space sits within the community’s wants.

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Monday Suppers at Ellie’s are under the night sky and wondrous. Photos by Brian Addison.

Take his Monday Suppers, where guests can get down on a $38, four-course dinner with an awesome array of optional upgrades. (Like New York strips and damn near perfect wine pairings.)

Or the beautiful return of Ellie’s for lunch, as the space now opens at noon for their Burger Party, where an array of sandwiches and sides—all $15 or under—are offered Tuesdays through Fridays from noon to 4PM. And yes, that also includes $1.50 oysters.

”Let’s have fun—we deserve it,” Chef Jason said.