La Casa de Iris Cocina Boricua opening brick-and-mortar in Long Beach on July 1

La Casa de Iris—the Boricua kitchen that epitomizes Puerto Rican cuisine—will open its first brick-and-mortar at the northeast corner of Long Beach Boulevard and Anaheim Street. The space at 1260 Long Beach Blvd. will host its soft opening from July 1 through 3. And on Saturday, July 5, it will have its grand opening.

Wondering what it’s all about? Think of the humble, stuffed potato ball of Puerto Rico—rellenos de papa. Golden orbs of mashed potato stuffed with seasoned ground beef. Coated in a thin layer of flour. Deep-fried until the outside crackles into a light crust. Like the absurdly popular version at Porto’s—soft, breaded—or the much heftier, crisper version at OBRA Hand Bakery, some might say the ones from the Negron family at La Casa de Iris are better.

And that is just the beginning.

So what is La Casa de Iris?

I learned about La Casa de Iris from Eater LA writer Bill Esparza, whose feature on what used to be a pop-up showed me the beauty behind this Puerto Rican hub. But the legacy of La Casa de Iris doesn’t begin with a food tent—it begins in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in a kitchen where a young Iris Negron, barely 13, began absorbing the secrets of her family’s recipes. Long before measurements and timers, she cooked by feel, by scent, by memory. And in 1968, after she and her husband Ramon moved their growing family to California in search of work and reunions with kin already in the Golden State, Iris brought that culinary memory with her.

By the 1970s, she was selling Puerto Rican staples out of Wilmington. Word spread, feeding baptisms, weddings, wakes… By decade’s end, health issues forced her to step away, leaving her work unfinished. Of her five children, it was her daughter Maria who refused to let the recipes fade. She learned through senses alone—no notebooks, no written recipes—across three decades of self-teaching.

Then came the moment when Iris said: “One day, I want to sell my food in a restaurant before my time is up.” That one sentence was enough.

In 2023, Maria and Eddie launched La Casa de Iris under a tent made of the Puerto Rican flag colors—red, white, and blue—with the declaration that here, at a stop alongside Cherry Avenue just above the 405. It was a street stand, yes—but it was also the beginning of a dream deferred, finally given room to breathe.

La Casa de Iris Cocina Boricua is located at 1260 Long Beach Blvd.