South of Nick’s, the upscale Mexican offshoot of the much-loved Nick’s Restaurant, is finally set to make its Long Beach debut. Six years after securing the space and four years since formally announcing their renovation of the historic building at 5354 E. 2nd St. in Belmont Shore, South of Nick’s will open on June 22, according to Chief Operating Officer Haley Cox.
It marks the concept’s first expansion into the city, further deepening the company’s ties to Long Beach, where they already operate Nick’s on 2nd in Belmont Shore. Currently, the space is both hiring and training, where future Long Beach employees are now honing their skills at one of South of Nick’s four other locations to prep for June’s big launch
Its first week of operation will focus on dinner service, opening daily at 4PM. The following week, on June 29, the space will open for lunch and dinner. And with it, South of Nick’s turns Belmont Shore into Long Beach’s haven for elevated Mexican cuisine, with the stellar Viaje and Hollywood-birthed Zarape toward its west.
Wait—what is South of Nick’s and how is it tied to Long Beach?
Nick’s Restaurants is now a SoCal restaurant group powerhouse—and those in Long Beach likely know it best from Nick’s on 2nd, the brand’s only Los Angeles County location outside of Manhattan Beach and Pasadena.
Founded in 2008 by restaurateur Nick Nickoloff, Nick’s Laguna Beach quickly became one of Orange County’s defining upscale-casual dining brands.
The original Laguna Beach location laid the groundwork for what would become a steadily expanding Southern California restaurant group, with locations eventually opening across the region, from San Diego to Pasadena.
A major part of the company’s evolution came through Executive Chef Omar Gonzalez, a Michoacán-born chef who joined the company in 2010 before helping develop its Mexican concept, South of Nick’s. Chef Omar’s influence pushed the restaurants toward tighter, highly curated menus focused on consistency, quality ingredients, and layered flavors while maintaining an approachable neighborhood feel.
What can folks expect from South of Nick’s in Long Beach?
Think of South of Nick’s as a “California-centric, more refined interpretation of coastal Mexican dining,” in the words of Haley. Chef Omar, whose Michoacán roots are foundational to the concept’s identity, leads the culinary team behind the space. The restaurant blends regional Mexican inspirations with the ingredient standards, presentation, and flavor profiles Southern Californians have come to expect.
Belmont Shore diners can expect many of the dishes that have become staples for the concept, including seafood enchiladas, shrimp taquitos, sea bass, birria served within tacos, empanadas, and stacked enchiladas, and the restaurant’s signature El Jefe burrito.
Nick’s ties to Long Beach go beyond their South of Nick’s and Nick’s on 2nd locations.
For Nick’s Restaurants, Long Beach was never just another market to expand into. After all, Nick himself has often tied the company’s roots back to his grandfather’s Long Beach coffee shop, Nik’s at Cherry and Wardlow, framing hospitality as a family tradition.
The restaurant’s first Long Beach location, Nick’s on 2nd, opened in 2014 and helped reshape dining culture along the Shore in a very core sense of hospitality: it was quality, and it was consistent. Taking over the former Bono’s space, Nick’s carved out a unique identity at a time when much of Second Street’s nightlife revolved around heavily bar-centric concepts. In all frankness, Nick’s helped introduce a more polished cocktail-and-dining culture to the corridor.
Just a few years later, it became ingrained in the hearts of residents as a slew of closures made Belmont Shore feel unstable. Within two years, the neighborhood saw Thai Gourment, La Strada, Lasher’s, Papalucci’s, Tavern on 2, Magic Lamp, Babette’s Feast, O Gourmet, and Rocket Fizz candy all shutter.
In that sense, Nick’s provided stability for a neighborhood that, at the time and before its current renaissance, was feeling anything but stability. Which is probably why the neighborhood is looking forward to to South of Nick’s.
South of Nick’s will be located at 5354 E. 2nd St. and will formally open on June 22.
