Buen Provecho, the space taking over the former Toma/Lupe’s space at 3rd Street and Promenade in Downtown Long Beach, is gearing up to open its doors for the first time.
It’s a slight melding of Latino American cultures: Largely Mexican. A handful of Puerto Rican and other influences. Buen Provecho aims for one thing: To highlight the Latino influence on SoCal culture, life, and food. This is for the Latino kids who straddle the line between where their immigrant parents were born and their distinctly American upbringing.
For Broken Spirits bar manager Stephen Ramos and Chef Isaias Hernandez—the former an owner of Buen Provecho and the latter heading the kitchen—both have shared the desire to share their mixed-heritage experience. With Stephen, whose parents hail from Puerto Rico, there was always the burden of being, well, too American for the Latinos who speak Spanish. For Isaias, it was not being Mexican enough after three generations of his family made California their home.
It’s a fence-riding many Latino Americans experience. But for Stephen, Isaias, Isaias’s mom, and a handful of others, it is time to recognize their Latino-ness and their American-ness.
Buen Provecho: Think carne asada Sundays, cold beers, and parties on the patio.
“When you hear your Latino friend said, ‘Hey, man—come over. I want you to meet my parents,'” Isaias said. “It’s that hospitality that you were welcomed with: Cold beers. Amazing food. Strong influences. And the respect that Mexican-American, Puerto Rican-American, and Latin American food have for ingredients. But with a modern twist, incorporating American choices… It will hopefully remind some of the time they discovered a friend who had tortillas at school. Instead of a sandwich.”
As of right now, you’ll find Isaias’s mom preparing her tortillas while the space gets built out. And the masa she is creating? They will be used on everything from taquitos and huaraches to chips and tacos. Additionally, the menu—about as straight-forward as you can get with SoCal Mexican grub, harkening to SoCal’s defining array of Mexican cuisines melding with American culture—will feature mariscos like aguachile and tostadas covered in tuna crudo.
To be enjoyed, of course, with pitchers and cocktails both inside and on the space’s jealous-inducing patio.
Owner Stephen Ramos’s Puerto Rican background will have some highlight as well…
“’If Anyone Can A Puertorican,’” Stephen said, laughing. “That’s the name of my version of a twist on the piña colada. It has an achiote-infused pineapple juice that amps up the savoriness without being overwhelming.”
It’s one of many hints at how Stephen’s own Puerto Rican background is featured. And this is especially through the cocktail program, which he will have the heaviest hand in creating. Even more guests are expected to see specials as the holidays approach.
“Think things like coquito and some food specials as well,” Stephen said. “Things that go beyond the common denominator.”
How American interpretations of Latin American food—especially Mexican food—have created their own culinary niche in SoCal.
Southern California has long been a place where identities blur, where tacos live comfortably beside hamburgers, and where a family recipe can transform into a neighborhood staple. A wonderful tangent of the Mexican food diaspora, Mexican-American grub—and, for the sake of this piece, that of SoCal, not other border states like Texas with TexMex or Arizona and New Mexico with Southwestern cuisine—has long straddled a fusion that honors both sides of the border.
More than something that has long been derided as “pocho” by Mexican natives, this approach represents the lived reality of Mexican-American communities in SoCal: children of immigrants who grew up with pozole on Sunday and, well, In-N-Out on Friday. Chefs who understand that identity is layered, fluid, and flavorful—something Chef Thomas Ortega solidly grasped with the much-missed Playa Amor. It’s food that is as comfortable at a backyard carne asada as it is on a downtown patio—and it’s helping redefine what “Mexican food” means in California.
And for Latinos who aren’t part of the massive Mexican influence that has largely dictated Latino culture in SoCal, there’s a sense of wanting more representation and involvement. From a growing team of non-Mexican offerings—from newer spaces like La Casa de Iris bringing Puerto Rican food to legacy spots like Honduras Kitchen—this has slowly been becoming a larger reality in Long Beach.
Buen Provecho will be located at 301 The Promenade N.
