“January 2020 will go down as the worst possible timing for a restaurant opening perhaps ever.”
These are the words of Burger Daddy owner John Bower after closing the doors on Long Beach’s first and only space dedicated to the almighty katsu burger—and a restaurant whose location, the first floor of the historic Broadlind building in DTLB, is seemingly plagued with rotating tenants despite a clutch location.
It also brings a deeper sense of concern: While it was initially thought the pandemic would immediately wipe out the service industry, restaurants and hospitality spaces have been surprisingly resilient. Facing the pandemic head-on, they’ve adapted, adapted some more, and have dealt with blowbacks with pride.
However, those who have opted to stand in for the long-haul might be facing their toughest uphill battle yet: With the county seeing record-highs for new COVID cases, the woes facing restaurants and other businesses are likely to heighten: More staff shortages, more distribution issues, higher costs of operation.
As to the specific of this closure, the aforementioned issues rank high, according got Bower, a person already enveloped in the Long Beach food and bar scene, as he is also co-owner of The Blind Donkey. With that, Burger Daddy opened up with both positivity and patrons, its minimal menu refreshing and forthright.
The restaurant sat directly above the Blind Donkey in the northeast corner of the historic downtown building, a space that has been riddled with bad operators and great ideas (like Sipology), good operators and great ideas but seemingly unable to sustain (The Greenhouse), and good operators but bad ideas (like the tenant before Burger Daddy, Linden Public).
Bower does hold onto a sliver of optimism by noting that they hope to “keep the brand alive for a possible relaunch.”
Until then, rest beloved katsu burger.
Burger Daddy was located at 149 Linden Ave.
