Miracle at The Ordinarie has officially returned to Downtown Long Beach, bringing SanTaRex, Christmasaurus, Krampus, lights, booze, and plenty of holiday cheer.
An annual tradition over five years in the running, owners Christy and Jaime Caldwell could very well call themselves the bearer of bringing the holidays to Long Beach. Nearly every inch of its interior space is covered: From retro, reflective red, silver, green, blue, pink, and gold tinsel to white and multi-colored lights to wrapping paper-wrapped frames to presents to nods to “Christmas Vacation” and “A Christmas Story,” it is a happily overwhelming, over-the-top and excessive in every significant way imaginable, including the holiday libations.
With a new no-reservations-accepted-after-3PM policy—”It was the reservations that were truly holding up everything last year,” Christy said, noting that reservations are now only accepted between 11:30AM and 3PM—
Miracle at The Ordinarie is truly a family and communal effort—all led by Mrs. Claus
In the span of just a few days, Christy and Jaime deck out The Ordinarie. And, of course, with help from everyone ranging from Jaime’s parents to trusted patrons to myself and My Dude (of which both of us have happily added the effort to part of our annual holiday traditions).
It is a strategic-meets-creative endeavor where boxes upon boxes are brought in from storage along with any new purchases. And the leader of it all? Jaime. Unquestionably. “Make no mistake,” Christy told me last year, “the real person who makes Miracle look the way it looks is my wife.”
And Jaime has long understood the assignment: Miracle is kitschy as all kooky hell, outright overwhelming, and overwhelmingly over-decorated—and that’s the point. Pure sensory overload with a lack of gravity—but not to the point where it looks outright disorganized. There’s an art to the excessiveness and it has made Miracle at The Ordinarie the par example for holiday bars.
“There really is only one starting point: Getting the framed photos and posters and paintings covered in wrapping paper and getting the lights up,” Jaime said. “After that, it’s picking a specific task and going all in on it. Tinsel. Ornaments. Snowflakes. Table wraps. And then, filling in all the holes.”
Long Beach is becoming a ‘holiday bar Mecca’—and we’re here for it, thanks to The Ordinarie.
In the words of Baby Gee bar co-owner Daniel Flores, The Ordinarie brought in the inspiration to turn Long Beach into a “holiday bar Mecca.” ANd we’re here for it. When it comes to Christmas decorations, it directly inspired Bamboo Club’s annual “Tinsel Club” tradition, Port City Tavern’s own holiday get-down, Broken Spirits Distillery’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” takeover, and Baby Gee’s upcoming holiday blow-out. (More on that soon.)
And with that, the idea of holidays taking over bars began. Take a glance at this year’s onslaught of Halloween-themed cocktail menus alone. The Bamboo Club became the Treble Club. Port City went naughtical horror. The Social List honored some of Hollywood’s definitive monsters. The Stache bar stepped into the spooky season for the first time with its “Nightmare on 4th Street” menu.
Rather than being deterred by some false sense of oversaturation, businesses are owning Long Beach’s love of the holidays. But let’s be honest: no one goes quite as all out as The Ordinarie—which I take as a communal challenge.
Before we get to the boozin’, a reminder: The food at Miracle will be just as awesome.
10,000. That is the number of chicken pot pie bites that were sold during Miracle’s season last year alone—and yes, you can expect that and more from Chef Nick DiEugenio.
What to expect? For small plates: Barely soup. Popovers. Mac’n’cheese. Wings. Loaded fries. Holiday Brussels sprouts. Two salads—one beet, one baby gem. For sandwiches: French dip. Fried chicken sandwich. And the absurdly awesome Ordinarie burger.
And for the mains, a Christmas duck dish decked out with duck confit and an orange-cranberry glaze. It is served with Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, and candied maple bacon walnuts. There’s also a holiday ham dinner that has that same glaze, mashed potatoes, and walnuts.
If you’re feeling sweet, there’s a Gingerbread sundae.
There are two entirely new concoctions coming to Miracle at The Ordinarie this year.
Santa Slide: Whiskey liqueur | Cream sherry | Dark creme de cacao | Dry orange cruaçao | Caramalized orange | Cream | Mole bitters | Orange chocolate
Christmasaurus: Pineapple rum | Mezcal | Velvet falernum | Apricot liqueur | Lime | Coconut milk | Toasted cumin | Coffee and pineapple syrup |} Aromatic bitters
And a look at some of the other drinks (and yes, the decorative mugs are available for purchase).
Looking to buy a mug? Hop on it: They perpetually sell out early each year—though this year, they will have a merchandise counter that allows you to skip the line if you’re not eating or drinking.
The Krampus: Reposado tequila | Oloroso sherry | All-spice dram | Mezcal | Ginger | Hibiscus | Lime | Hellfire bitters
Snowball Old Fashioned: Rye whiskey | Gingerbread | Aromatic & wormwood bitters | Orange essence
Stocking Stuffer: Bourbon | Pedro Ximénez sherry | Amaro | Cinnamon syrup | Iced “hot” chocolate | Aromatic bitters | Marshmallow
Yippee Ki Yay Mother F****r!: Barbados rum | Rhum agricole | Trinidad overproof rum | Ube and coconut orgeat | Acid-adjusted pineapple juice
Crooked Antler: Brandy | Ruby port | Vanilla liqueur | Hazelnut liqueur | Chestnut orgeat | Lapsang tea | Acid-adjusted orange | Aromatic bitters | Nutmeg | Peated whiskey spritz
Rudolph’s Replacement: Vodka | Coffee liqueur | White creme de cacao | Orange curaçao | Chair syrup | Almond milk | Aromatic bitters
The Ordinarie is located at 210 The Promenade N. For more information on Miracle at The Ordinarie, click here.
