Missed out on Brian Addison’s Favorite Things of past? We got you covered—just click here.
Too many years back, I wrote a very self-indulgent listicle that was about so-called “essential” Long Beach dishes; dishes that I loved and could depend on as long as that place existed—and I wrote it because there’s something so elemental and useful about a specific great dish at a specific place. It was less about some grander proclamation than it was about, “This is just great food.” (I’ve done a much more comprehensive, similar list since then.)
And after a year of not doing such lists, I want to return to it. Not some grand list of “essential dishes”—that is too hard of a burden to put on a restaurant: You better have this and you better have it all the time. But for now, in this moment, I am happy to share some of my favorite things.
In other words: Why not just own the moment? Without further ado, here are the favorite things I’m eating right now…
Chamomile ice cream with caviar
2030 E. 7th St.
I have oh-so-much to say about Heritage and Chef Philip Pretty’s latest menu at his Michelin-starred space. And while, to steal the words from a dear friend in food, the “insidious Michelin fog that has rolled in and covered everyone’s notion of dining in California” is still very real. What is the best part of this very dark truth is that Chef Phil has somehow come to usurp it.
This is not to say he isn’t aiming directly for Michelin and its increasing heights: he is vocal about scoring a second star and he has a plan to achieve it. But this latest menu—unquestionably the best food he has executed in a rightfully lauded career—feels less textbook-y, mechanical, and cold. Instead, it is witty and playful, with odes to nearly every part of food culture we love while pleasantly surprising patrons.
There is no better example of this than his utterly gorgeous chamomile ice cream. Layered with bit of honey, olive oil, chives, salt, and a dollop of Heritage’s proprietary N25 caviar, this dessert-gone-rogue is wondrous in every bite. It doesn’t suffer from the fact that N25, a Munich-based brand, has chosen only three restaurants in California as brand ambassadors; Heritage is one of them. It’s a deep olive-y green with a funk reminiscent of a solid, MSG-crystal-filled slab of PDO Parmesan. And to add to the quality, Chef Phil and N25 only procure the top 10% of the roe inside a sturgeon’s belly, largely considered the best because the rest underneath falls to the pressure of gravity.
Nonna Mercato’s tortelloni di ricotta
3722 Atlantic Ave.
Yes, Nonna Mercato is back with dinner service via its Summer Nights series, which debuted last year to merited applause. But really what this endeavor represents is a multitude of things about Chef Cameron Slaugh, his kitchen, and his staff.
Firstly, Chef Cam is the most innovative pasta maker in Long Beach (with a strong follower in Chef Julianna over at Marlena). His play on shapes—from the esoteric, like busiate and pici and torchietti, to the common, like rigatoni and bucatini and spaghetti—paired with his obsession over mattarello- versus machine-rolled pastas makes him the proudly anointed Dean of Pasta.
Firstly, there is no middling pasta dish from Chef Cam; not one. An example of this is his tortelloni di ricotta, where bufala ricotta-stuffed, perfectly constructed bits of hand-made tortelloni sit in a bowl with mint and pecorino before a spectacularly light, this-is-the-essence-of-tomato broth is poured over. Beautifully Californian, certainly Italian, definitively Chef Cameron-style.
Fried musubi rolls from The Bamboo Club
3522 E. Anaheim St.
If there’s one space that embodies Long Beach’s long-standing flirtation with tiki culture, it’s The Bamboo Club. Full stop. Sure, we’ve had our fair share of tiki spaces in decades past. From underground joints like The Outrigger tucked beneath The Lafayette to the iconic Hawaiian that once held court on Pacific Coast Highway from the ‘50s through the late ‘60s, tiki has always held a special place in Long Beach. But it’s The Bamboo Club that brought it roaring back in full, flaming glory.
Amid its array of new offerings, a particular standout is their Musubi roll, one of which is fried and provides a texture I never knew was wanted in, let alone wonderfully compatible with musubi. Salty. Umami. Crispy. Bring it.
Duck breast with onion rings from Bar Becky
3860 Worsham Ave.
Bar Becky—Chef Johnathan Benvenuti’s massively underrated space over at East Long Beach’s LBX retail complex—brought together a powerhouse of a “Hell’s Kitchen” alumni crew for a multi-course dinner. A genuinely happy spread that spanned summer vegetables to Iberico pork to witty plays on carbonara. Hosting Chef Ryan O’Sullivan—the Irish powerhouse from County Cook that took out Johnathan in the Season 22 finale—and Chef Sammi Tarantino—the charismatic fan-favorite of the season who ended in third place—the trio kept the dinner Bar Becky in spirit but highlighted each of their strengths.
And that is the fact that they were the proper chefs of their seasons. Collectively, they proved that Bar Becky, whether hosting guests for a collaboration dinner or focusing on something as simple as the farmers market for a tasting menu, is the city’s most underrated space.
One of the stars of the night? A duck breast topped with duck fat-fried onion rings. Drizzled with ramp oil and a black garlic aioli. Paired with rapini, its beautiful bitterness is sliced with lemon and complemented by the fat of the duck.
Pork belly appetizer from The Second Owl
5272 E. 2nd St.
There is no bad order at The Second Owl, my favorite new restaurant in Long Beach. For Chef Regan Chantrirak—who, with his wife Pason, opened The Second Owl in Belmont Shore—the journey to what he feels is a “proper space to experience the food of our cultures” isn’t just a story of evolution. After all, he started at a cramped kitchen, slinging takeout at the height of the pandemic in Signal Hill when the pair opened Owl Owl. And now, they stand with a full-service restaurant on 2nd Street. Second Owl seems to—at least right now—take Thai into an arena which simultaneously harbors but eschews traditions.
There are many things I wanted to put on this list: their stellar tom kha crème brûlée. Their incredible Massaman curry. The savory bomb that is their take on nom kha tod. Their wildly cool fish larb. But with a dessert dish already on this menu and not wanting to be too divisive with a new restaurant, I went with a dish that I feel was more universal, a plate to order comfortably with a group: their pork belly appetizer.
Cooked, then brined, then fried, then seasoned, this pork belly is incredibly succulent, intensely flavorful—particularly with that nam jim jaew sauce
Missed out on Brian Addison’s Favorite Things of past? We got you covered—just click here.
