The Ordinarie has long been one of the staples of The Promenade in Downtown Long Beach—and its newest menu reflects that dedication to high quality and great aura. But even more, the space’s adherence to exploring what American food and hospitality mean make it a space that is far more than a restaurant.
And it is about time that Long Beach treats it for what it is: An inherently American pub. It can be through the space’s tireless examination of the role of cocktails in American history. Or how fast food can be elevated and even reimagined for a late night menu.
But for what it is worth, the continual exploration of what the ideals of American hospitality and food mean assures us that The Ordinarie is, well, very un-ordinary.
The Ordinarie—Long Beach’s finest iteration of what could be called an American pub in truest sense—has long been attached to a very old school concept. And that is what people throughout the colonies called an ordinarie, a legally-required space in which residents could be provided sustenance and a place to talk about the going-ons of their community.
The Ordinarie’s concept is simultaneously heady and simple—much like the concept of the United States
With that history, The Ordinarie as a restaurant has long been dedicated to a very curious food ideal. And that is that of the American food diaspora, should it even be appropriate to call it such thing. But the very complexity of that notion—the food of a country built by Black slaves and bolstered by immigrants—makes it difficult to define American food, especially as it has largely stolen from others to garner its own identity. This is something Chef Nick DiEugenio has previously iterated aloud when discussing The Ordinarie.
This round, very little has changed but what The Ordinarie represents as a restaurant remains, for Chef Nick, almost dream-like. After all, the chef spent his childhood literally exploring the vastness of the country. His parents were the authors of cookbooks that focused on American cities—leaving him to inspiration about how one can approach a kitchen.
As he gets older, reflection on what this means comes into focus. With each new menu he creates, he understands there is a serendipitous nature to him landing at The Ordinarie.
“I spent my early career with some stellar chefs and we were running away from American food,” Nick said, laughing. “And it makes sense now. It feels like it was all meant to come back to this. Because when I was fine tuning my career in the kitchen, there was a constant lingering question as a White American chef. Do I have a distinct voice? Do I have culture? Is there anything more heterodox that I can achieve? So I feel a sense of pride in finally feeling like I have a distinct take on American food.”
A distinct take on American food: The Ordinarie’s newest menu
The county fair. Southern barbecue. Soul food. Our proximity to the wonders of Mexican cuisine. These are but a few influences that Chef Nick—and his underrated kitchen sidekick, Chef Clayton Peters, who came on after Shady Grove Foods shuttered—have concocted.
There’s a blackened Cornish hen doused in a proprietary blend created by Clayton that is doused in Alabama white BBQ sauce. Combining the two’s shared experience in barbecue, this plate is an ode to the South. A barley succotash with corn, slathered in that dreamy-meets-lemony-meets-horseradish white sauce. It’s an ode to one of the most distinct but esoteric sauces birthed out of the South.
With a not-so-subtle nod to how Mexico has influenced our entire food culture, Chef Nick has a play on a huarache, dubbed the Southwestern flatbread. A massive, oblong base of blue corn acts as a plate for quesillo and green chorizo.
There’s fried avocado fries, served with an aioli that has a ton of North American chiles charred in it, giving it this rather pretty charcoal color. They go perfectly with the corn ribs, halved-and-quartered cobs that turn into veggie ribs with an avocado mousse dipping sauce.
Chef Nick’s take on deviled eggs—where mustard and vinegar are melded with pork fat for the filling—are about as creamy as they come. Topped with a thick bit of bacon, it its acidic, salty, and creamy—certainly one of the city’s best versions.
There’s a stellar fish’n’chips dish which, dare I commit heresy, could rival The Auld Dubliner as the finest version in the city. A hunk of Alaskan cod—as opposed to haddock—is doused in a beer batter that Nick and Clayton had consulted a fellow chef who is admittedly hardcore about what fish and chips should be. The result? A decidedly solid take is as beautifully light as it is, well, fish-and-chips-y.
Ultimately, it is a menu that is accessible—while simultaneously honoring food history and looking forward
In that vein, the menu is a saucy one, where each sauce—like the delectably smooth cajun cream sauce that comes with the blackened salmon—can be criss-crossed with other plates quite happily. The heavy dill tzatziki that comes with the fish and chips? Could easily sub as a ranch, where thick crème fraîche acts as a base. Dip your fries. Dip your fried avocado. Slather your corn in it. Same with the charred chile aioli. Or the avocado mousse.
And ultimately, this ability to so easily explore dishes makes it one of the restaurant’s strongest yet.
“I was able to come back to a food that is so important to me,” Chef Nick said. “It was until I had the palette that The Ordinarie handed me—y’know, this sort of blank American canvas—that I realized how I truly spoke culinarily. And with Clayton having a larger say in this menu—he was instrumental in creating our late night menu—I feel like we’re ironing out what American food really is.”
In this sense, it lets owner and consummate barman Christy Caldwell’s original vision come through. To create a space which is decidedly American in vibe and sustenance; that honors our best qualities when it comes to hospitality and generosity.
The Ordinarie is located at 210 The Promenade N. They will be participating in Long Beach Food Scene Week, coming August 9 through August 18.
