Missed previous Long Beach Food Scene Intel updates? We got you covered, boo: Click here for the full archive.
Long Beach Food Scene Intel is a series from Brian Addison that will recap food news throughout the city, both news that needs just a quick mention or repeated news where you might have missed the full features.
Ficklewood—up for sale since April—drops price in half in hopes to spur buyers
After opening in 2019, Long Beach’s first and sole cidery, Ficklewood, is up for sale. While the business has been on the market since April, it’s price has been dramatically dropped from $400,000 to $200,000 this past week. While the owners have yet to personally respond, broker Pasha Darvishian said point blank that a lack of sales had prompted the sale of it. “I’m no expert in cider making but it’s a niche market,” Pasha said. “The space is beautiful and their equipment is first class. I think a normal brewery or restaurant group could see value in the turnkey operation, which also includes all the furniture, fixtures, and equipment.” For more information, call: 562-800-4002
Chefs from Pizza Parlor and AGL Craft Meats partner up for barbecue popup
They call it Smuggler’s Port BBQ and they will be setting up today, June 6, on the waterfront at Catalina Landing from 11AM onward. That’s right: Chef Josh Knight, the BBQ enthusiast turned pitmaster behind East Long Beach’s Coffee Parlor LB and Pizza Parlor LB, has teamed up with Chef Alex Lopez of AGL Craft Meats and the acclaimed (but sadly short-lived) Pearls BBQ LA. The popup includes brisket, pulled pork, pork ribs, and pastrami beet.
District Wine in Downtown Long Beach celebrates 14th birthday
District Wine owner Angela Mesna has big reason to celebrate: Her tiny-but-mighty wine operations that is District Wine in the historic Lafayette building in Downtown Long Beach has hit 14 years of continual operation—and the oenophile crew will be celebrating with a party the Saturday, June 8 from 6PM to 9PM with lived music from Olivia Pucci.
Ambitious Ales is hiring in Bixby Knolls
From winning medals to winning hearts, Ambitious Ales is a gem of a brewery that is home to Long Beach—and they are hiring, currently looking to add an “enthusiastic craft beer and customer service oriented professional human being to our taproom fam! (Specifically, part-time Taproom Server, 18-24 hours a week.) If you (or someone you know) have an interest to learn and grow with us, we’d love to hear from ya!”
Please email us at jobs@ambitiousales.com with:
-Subject: “Hey How’s it goin?!”
-Your resume attached as a PDF.
-Your Availability
Guisados is hiring at their newly minted Long Beach location
Guisados’s dip into Long Beach came rather quick: Long Beach Fish Grill closed in March, with Guisados having their signage on the building a month later and then opening up to the public on May 29. And now they are hiring: Click here to apply.
Hiccups opens second location
After opening their first location in 2022 on Willow near the airport, Hiccups has opened a second location at 5712 Pacific Coast Hwy. near 7th Street. The fast casual Asian-centric spot is known for its boba, milk teas, and small bites ranging from banh mi to popcorn chicken.
Pa Dekwa coffee shop opens in Lakewood
Located at 5841 Bellflower Blvd., Pa Dekwa is a family owned coffee shop that is returning to the creative roots of coffee shops back in the 1990s and 2000s: Books are there to read, there is a meeting room for budding entrepreneurs, and even a podcast room for creatives to record.
Long Beach Beer Lab is offering Father’s Day discounts
Long Beach Beer Lab’s Clean & Crispy Fest is coming as part of L.A. Beer Week—and they want to give dads out there a chance to partake: Now through June 16, use the code CRISPYDAD to get 25% tickets for the event dedicated to all crispy brews come Saturday, June 22. And beginning June 13 through 16, 25% off “all things Dad beer,” including pitchers, pours, single cans, 4-packs, and cases.
ICYMI: Meet the Sicilian godmother of Long Beach, feeding us one arancini and cannoli at a time
One of my favorite stories I’ve written this year, that of The Godmother of Long Beach.
Giuseppina Scorsone is a foul-mouthed, full of love, surly, gregarious spirit who has overcome immigrating, calling a new land your home, and cancer—and the way she did it? Bringing a bit of her home in Sicily to the stomachs of Long Beach, one arancini and cannoli at a time.
ICYMI: Borjstar Shawarma Shop moving into Utopia space in DTLB
In a world once dominated by Open Sesame as the owner of the shawarma game in Long Beach, things have changed. With the Gardena-based Borjstar Shawarma Shop set to take over the form Utopia space in the East Village Arts District, we have a new influx of Levantine and Mediterranean inspired joints that have hit the scene across the past five years and, in all frankness, altered it in ways that are only for the better.
If Borjstar can keep up—and from its quick, almost cult-like following, it seems it can—Long Beach will be home to one of the most shawarma rich cities in the region.
ICYMI: 75+ breweries. 150+ beers. LA Beer Week’s Independent Beer Fest in Long Beach is massive
As with last year, where thousands descended upon Shoreline Aquatic Park in Downtown Long Beach, LA Beer Week and its Independent Beer Fest will once again invade Downtown Long Beach with the largest beer festival in SoCal. Come Saturday, June 15, the festival will bring over 75 breweries from the region and over 150 different beers with them.
