Long Beach staple Chinitos returns—moving beyond the tacos and aiming for the proper, OG lunch plates

Chinitos has officially returned—under less than ideal circumstances, after its decision to sublet its lease earlier this year to a failed Filipino concept—but it comes without the tacos that came to define it.

And for Chef Beeline Krouch, the Cambodian-American cook who created what was truly a Long Beach taco, the time has come to stop looking at the past and create something more fulfilling for him and his community. Lunch plates with mac salad and garlicky egg noodles replace his much-missed, lavishly layered tacos that melded Cambodian and Southeast Asian flavors with Mexican grub.

“It was a lesson thoroughly learned,” Chef Beeline said. “A rough lesson for sure—but still something learned. It’s never a great thing to be forced to return back to something so I knew I had to find something that would spark a bit more joy in my life. I have kids now, full-time Dad here. And if I don’t learn how to showcase fulfillment and resilience for them, it definitely won’t be the world to do it for them.”

Introducing Chinitos OG Plates, Chef Beeline Krouch’s straight-forward lunch plate concept.

Creative burnout is real amongst chefs. It can go one of two ways: Constantly attempting to reinvent and evolve by way of the Michelin-focused crowd. Or, on the other end, creative restriction by way of redundancy and repetition, making the same food over and over. And for Chef Beeline Krouch, that latter burnout was all too evident.

“I’m not just a taquero, man,” Chef Beeline said, who still offers his famed tacos as random specials on certain days of operation. “There are so many aspects of food and the world that are important to me. And I need to explore those avenues. People come in, still asking for the tacos—but I want to encourage them to try what I offer now. Look at the lunch plates: they’re filling, made-to-order.”

And, if I am just being honest as a food person? Much better quality that the Ono’s that just opened up.

That last part? True, no matter how the shrimp is battered. And the result? A much-more streamlined, far less complicated concept than his taqueria that heralds Chef Beeline’s ability to make proteins absurdly layered with flavors. “OG plates,” as Beeline calls them, grace the menu. Lemongrass-meets-turmeric marinated, Korean-style short ribs. Roasted-and-fried chunks of Chinese five spice-d out pork belly, glazed with a soy-ginger-meets-lemongrass’n’tarragon glaze that has a slight hint of vinegar—wondrous. Chunks of chicken melding with sesame, soy, lemongrass, ginger, turmeric…

They’re some of the best meats in the city, comforting on a nostaglic level, filling but not heavy, and smile-inducing given we have one of our most unique culinary talents slinging the food he wants to sling.

Chef Beeline, as always, has playful tip-of-the-hat moments throughout his new menu.

When Rascal’s Teryaki Grill closed after serving East Long Beach for 15 years near CSULB, there was one major loss lamented. And it was its Chinese salad.

“I love that thing, man,” Chef Beeline said. “So I wanted to bring it back on some level, give people a reminder of where Long Beach food has been and is. And that re-living things you’ve experienced is worthwhile and important.”

Take, for example, his genuinely solid mac salad. Eschewing elbows for broken spaghetti—something he discovered on the North Shore of Oahu and was eager to replicate—his not-too-sweet, creamy ode to the Hawaiian classic could be the best verson in the city. Paired with any of his proteins—but especially his house shrimp—the side is as comforting as the main events.

There’s his support of Yeak, a Cambodian-American series of hot sauces that shows of the man’s love for his own.

And noodles? Thre are plenty of noodles. Fresh egg noodles—with a perfect bite—are slathered in garlic butter. Sweet soy. Ginger. Green onions. Parmesan cheese. They will garner cheers from children and adults alike. Or, for the bit more complex and decadent, go for the Bang Bang noodles. Doused in a garlic-butter cream sauce and topped with perfectly battered’n’fried shrimp, you can ask for any level of spice intensity. The higher you go up, the more they fry the noodles in chili oil before coating them with cream.

With the lunch plate concept, Chinitos evolves from a taqueria to a full-on Long Beach food brand.

Chinitos didn’t just show up—it grew from a family whose love of food runs deep and whose roots are firmly planted in Long Beach. Chef Beeline’s parents once owned a donut shop—“Cambodian: gotta have a donut shop,” he often jokes—and his mom ran a Chinese restaurant. In his own words, Beeline was “born into food,” and Chinitos became the inevitable continuation of that upbringing.

As a proud member of the inaugural class in Long Beach City College’s widely praised culinary program, Beeline sharpened his skills and found clarity in his calling: turning his love of food into a profession. His journey is a testament to the program’s impact and underscores the importance of accessible trade education for young people fresh out of high school.

And while Chinitos technically calls Lakewood home, make no mistake: it’s a Long Beach-born operation through and through. Chef Beeline’s food—from his tacos, some of the most inventive in the region, to his OG plates—reflects that love his home. And with it, the name of Chinitos lives on not through tacos, but just through food itself. And not any food, but Long Beach food.

Chinitos s located at 11130 Del Amo Blvd. in Lakewood.