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…
Guajillo and beef calzone from Waldo’s Pizza
at the Got Your Back residency at Selva
If there is one thing to say about Chef Waldo Stout, the founder of Waldo’s Pizza and now currently heading the kitchen at Due Fiori, it is that the man doesn’t rest. When he is not at Due, he constantly imagines what his future pizzeria will look like when he finally has his own brick-and-mortar.
This round, he did it with the fine folks at Got Your Back, currently hosting their Monday-and-Tuesday-only residency at Selva. Yes, there was a beautiful bread plate where one can slide their wood oven-baked bread into black garlic butter or an avocado crema drenched in salt and lime. But the calzone was where it was at.
Bringing in Sonoran wheat via Arizona, Waldo pays tribute to a braised beef dish his mom would often make, doused in guajillo chiles. That is then stuffed into a dough pocket with copious amounts of mozzarella and a massive handful of fresh cilantro before being baked. It is then topped with guajillo butter sauce and chives for what could be the perfect Mexican calzone.
“These are the kind of things I want to eventually do at my pizzeria,” Waldo said. And damn, can we not wait.
Smoked lamb chops with anchovy sauce from Battambong BBQ
Various locations; check Instagram
I was extremely lucky to have some incredible representatives from the food community come out for my engagement party, nearly everyone bringing long-loved classics—from Ammatoli’s Palestinian musakhan to Sonoratown’s chivis to Ellie’s shrimp and melon salad.
Chef Chalang “Chad” Phuong of Battambong BBQ opted to bring something not found on his day-to-day menu: smoked lamb chops. These wondrous hunks of red meat—soaked with the smoke of red oak—are topped with the man’s umami-drenched anchovy sauce. Like all great Cambodian sauces, starting with the mighty prohok, Chef Chad’s anchovy sauce melds the herbaceous and funky with the salty and spicy. Jalapeño. Mint. Garlic. Thai chili. Eggplant, Radish. Anchovies. Lime juice…
It all blends into a beautiful mixture of Chef Chad’s stellar ability with proteins and clever way of creating sauces that are distinctly Cambodian.
Tomahawk pork chop ‘con chicharrón’ from Selva
4137 E. Anaheim
If it feels like I talk about Chef Carlos Jurado of Selva a lot, it’s because it is warranted. In a capacity no other chef has taken on themselves, he has recalibrated his space with the utmost dedication and detail-oriented care. And it wasn’t just this immediate shift to seasonal menus overnight. No. He took the much more difficult, much more patience-testing route of proper R&D. Tasting menus. Prix-fixe dinners. Weekend specials. Collaborations.
And now, Selva has arrived with its new seasonal model, where each welcome of spring, summer, winter, and fall will mark the simultaneous welcome of a new menu. For Selva’s inaugural spring menu, Chef Carlos has some genuinely stellar offerings—an incredible beet salad, an downright delicious ceviche, wondrous whole fried snapper…
But little surpasses his masterful tomahawk pork chop. Quick-brined, it is then grilled before being briefly fried. Why the fry? Chef Carlos leaves the hunk of chop’s meaty, fatty bits on the entirety of the bone, creating an end-bone dangling with bits of chicharrón. Dipped into the plate’s heavenly hagao sauce—where heirloom tomatoes and black garlic combine with the slightest bit of cumin and turmeric and tons of scallion and cilantro—and you have yourself a bite of savory perfection.
Steak tartare from Alder & Sage
366 Cherry Ave.
Another chef I’ve written about often lately is Chef Matthew Roberts of Alder & Sage. And that is because he has done what chefs claim they like to do but rarely achieve: Harness a local space by keeping its essence while honing the kitchen to their own, introducing change without alienation of its key patronage, and earning the trust of both staff and guests alike with a work ethic and empathetic nature that is admirable.
Launching into the space’s first dinner roll-out in years—starting with Saturdays only in March before moving to Fridays and Saturdays in April—he is creating menus that feel appropriate for the space, the surrounding food culture, and the Alder crew.
Just take a look at his spectacularly layered steak tartare, where echoes of Chef Jeremy Fox’s famed play on peas, mint, and white chocolate are turned into a tartare with peas, mint, and cocoa nibs. The result is a wildly textural tartare that is rightfully served with nothing but a spoon and your fork—no bread in sight.
Pistachio and cherry cake from Nonna Mercato
4211 E. Willow St.
When owner and Chef Cameron Slaugh and the Nonna Mercato team asked me if they could make a cake for our engagement party, I was admittedly giddy. The harder part was deciding what kind of cake we wanted. Surely, Nonna Mercato is already famous for their chocolate cake—and rightfully so. But I wanted something that honestly felt very Italian, in honor of my mom’s side of the family.
I opted for pistachio and cherry. The result? A gorgeously nutty, three-layer cake with the perfect hint of tart, surrounded by a proper buttercream. Word on the street is that Nonna Mercato might make this their seasonal cake offering.
“Maybe,” Chef Cameron said. Such a tease.
Missed out on Brian Addison’s Favorite Things of past? We got you covered—just click here.
