Here’s your latest intel on the local food scene:
- First announced back in August of 2022, it looks like San Diego-born Epic Wings—which has been serving the San Diego area for four decades—is ready to make its first showing in Long Beach. According to Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association leader Blair Cohn, the shop at Atlantic Avenue and 45th Street is expected to open mid- or late-May. It marks the company’s second dive into Los Angeles County territory, having opened a location in Northridge last year.
- Mom’s Touch, the short-lived Korean fried chicken at the southwest corner of Atlantic Avenue and Harding Street, closed officially after being open for about a year. The last day of service was April 28—and unfortunate loss as Long Beach started seeing an influx of Korean brands moving in, including the still-in-operations Myungrang over on Carson.
- Coffee Drunk owners Breezy and Matthew Church have soft opened their new, second location at the northeast corner of Wardlow Road and Myrtle Avenue, just east of the Meat & Vino shop. The Cal Heights shop follows the coffee space’s flagship store near 4th Street and Temple Avenue.
- Honeybee, the breakfast burrito-meets-Viet coffee space at the northwest corner of 3rd Street and Loma Avenue in Belmont Heights, has remodeled and is reopened for business. Expect lots of boba, more coffee options, and a clean, black-white-and-yellow space to honor the shop’s moniker.
- Fior di Latte has opened inside The Hangar at the Long Beach Exchange retail complex. While they claim to be the first charcuterie storefront in the city, that is largely on a technicality: Many of the city’s great cheese and wine shops—from Oh La Vache on 4th Street to The Wine Country in Signal Hill—also sell great cured meats. And while this means that, yes, you’ll have to assemble at home, it also feels hard-pressed to say that a charcuterie place didn’t exist before Fior di Latte. However, I am also sure people will be happy to score some charcuterie boxes to-go, where Fior di Latte will offer a $65 box for 4 people (with three cheeses, two meats) or a $40 version (with two meats and two cheeses). To read the full profile from the Signal Tribune, click here.
- ICYMI: Beachwood’s kitchen has reopened following an announcement in January that it was permanently shuttering—just don’t expect barbecue: Smash burger popup Proudly Serving is taking over the kitchen space in a win-win situation for both businesses. The story is genuinely good news—and you can read the full feature here.
