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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.
Small Cafe in Naples reopens today after abrupt closure
After announcing their closure earlier this month, The Small Cafe in Naples reopens with a new owner.
“We should have downsized the staff during the slow season but I didn’t have the heart to do that,” said former owner Melanie Overett, who had finished remodeling the space in 2021. “Bad business decision on my part—but between inflation, high rent, and payroll, we were drowning in debt and I just had to stop the bleeding. It was a heartbreaking decision. That said, we have finished the process of selling it to a very serious buyer who owns a few other breakfast places and is planning to keep it as The Small Cafe.”
The Small Cafe reopens today.
Maru Maki closes; replaced by Kimu Sushi
Serving the eastern edge of the Downtown community for nearly two decades, Maru Maki has formally closed and has made way for an entirely new sushi space dubbed Kimu Sushi. Little information is known outside of the fact that the space will obviously remain a sushi/izakaya space.
New farmers market heads into Wrigley
The newly minted Wrigley Farmers Market had its first day of operation on Sunday, April 14, at the southeast corner of Willow Street and Pacific Avenue. The market opens in an area desperate in need of such activation: While more affluent, grocer-rich neighborhoods like Alamitos Bay, Alamitos Heights, and Downtown have long had weekly farmers markets, Wrigley—despite an uptick in great businesses like the Long Beach Beer Lab, with its amazing activation events, and The Wicked Wolf—and its adjacent Westside need far more lifting up when it comes to things like this. Which means they are very, very warmly welcomes.
The market continues every Sunday from 11AM to 4PM.
More boba: Meetup Boba Teahouse & Cafe opens
Long Beach is having a boba explosion as of late: While staples like Loose Leaf in Downtown Long Beach and Cha for Tea over near CSULB have long been serving the gelatin balls, in the past few months, we’ve seen many more open, from Gong Cha at Marina Pacifica to Hechalou in Lakewood.
And there’s more: Meet Up Boba Teahouse and Café has officially opened at 350 W. Pacific Coast Hwy., smashed between Washington and South Wrigley.
Shady Grove Foods returns to popup roots with Friday appearances at Ten Mile
After the permanent shuttering of their brick-and-mortar, the boys at Shady Grove aren’t giving up: While Chef Chad Phuong of Battambong BBQ is away at Coachella, Shady Grove has taken his spot at Ten Mile Brewing this past Friday as well as this upcoming Friday, April 19.
ICYMI: First look at what the Telefèric Long Beach location will look like
So, we already knew from my announcement last year that Barcelona’s Telefèric is going to be opening a location in Long Beach.
Now, we can see a part of what it will look like—and she looks gorgeous.
ICYMI: Selva’s candlelit ‘test kitchen’ dinners flex the muscles of Chef Carlos Jurado
Chefs going beyond their comfort zone is always an essential cog to the culinary creativity machine—and when one does and does it well, it deserves applause.
Selva’s ’Test Kitchen Tuesdays,’ where Chef Carlos Jurado has the ultimate freedom, is a wonderful example of how Jurado is much more than the Colombian food his restaurant embodies.
Amid candles and dark flowers, from plantain gnocchi to scallop crudo that aims for the earthy over the tart, it’s a wonderful expression of how solid the Long Beach food scene is.
