Tokyo Noir is far more than a speakeasy concept from the crew behind El Barrio. Tucked into a space where one enters through the alley way of the popular 4th Street Mexican restaurant, it brings a SoCal cocktail master back to his game while also letting Chef Ulises Pineda-Alfaro express himself in a more subtle, definitively less bold (in the right way) fashion.
Tokyo Noir is ultimately less about kitsch and more about the people behind it. I assure you: being a Japanese-inspired speakeasy is the least fascinating thing about it. Or, more appropriately, it is the cheap way of going about to describe it. The hospitality veterans bringing Tokyo Noir to life are ultimately figuring out their place in an industry still roller coastering from the pandemic and dreaming of the things that were on the precipice just before lockdown.
And yes, it is also the most exciting cocktail concept to reach Long Beach since Spirited-recognized Baby Gee opened its doors down the street. And yes, it opens today, with seatings only available through Open Table.
At Tokyo Noir, a regional cocktail connoisseur returns from a long break.
Kevin Lee is by no means a stranger to the cocktail game in SoCal. He opened the famed space that is The Wolves in Downtown Los Angeles (where former Long Beach-er Nathan McCullough now leads). And, with it, turned The Wolves into a space that competed with (the now-shuttered) Varnish while reorienting DTLA as the epicenter of the city’s cocktail culture. And this was after his Puzzle Bar in La Mirada opened the this-is-a-cocktail-town? to the idea of culinary drinks.
“This industry is tough. Monetarily? Tough. Energy balancing? Tough,” Kevin said. “When I left the industry, I needed a new way to make money. Got into a new field that paid well… But the industry has always been calling me out. It is something I think everyone in it can relate to.”
Of course, the feeling of being called back doesn’t come without its slight (if not balanced) hint of bitterness. Kevin had lost faith in the industry. At Puzzle, the constant sound of ice being cut by hand was heard. The duty of making his own clear ice was a constant when the ease of having it delivered (if one can afford it) existed. The respect for ice—let alone recipes—was held deeply.
We’re talking a decade ago. Hundreds of hand-carved ice balls going out per night. And this was compounded by Kevin’s love of the season, which inspired him to make everything from scratch. When he says, with a certain sense of emptiness, “I thought that was the future of this industry,” one can easily feel his pain at not seeing this focus on elevation come to fruition.
The result? Tokyo Noir offering Long Beach its best house-made bitters, vermouths, amaros, and more.
When I had first experienced Kevin’s drinks a few months ago, he asked if I liked amaros. Not only did I love amaros, I was a fan of the bitter: Sfumato, Rabarbaro… And with that admission, he poured me a drop of a beautifully dark, aromatic, viscous liquid. Had he not told me it was made by him, I would’ve been fooled into thinking the magical liquid was somehow a better version of Sfumato.
That goes for his blanc vermouth, a beautifully bright, beautifully balanced concoction worthy of sipping on its own with just a wee ice cube. Details like these are abound in the wonderfully compact space—and it echoes the dream of what Chef Ulises and his team had all along.
The idea of an omakase-inspired space in El Barrio was there from day one.
Surely, Tokyo Noir isn’t definitively omakase (though it very well could be in the future, given both Chef Ulises’s interest in doing food in that style and Kevin straight-up doing an omakase-style cocktail serving at the back space of the Wolves known as Le Néant). When Chef Ulises and his crew opened El Barrio, there was always talk of “the back space.” A back area that was deemed to become something—”Something omakase-like,” Chef Ulises would always say. That, for those that knew the Mexican-American chef, made sense: His work with Kyoto-born sushi master Yoya Takahashi has continually influenced the food of Chef Ulises.
And true to his words, the work began on the space, approaching Kevin long ago but tasking him with the tangible reality of it all this year. However, against his initial plans—sticking to a Mexican-influenced space that echoed El Barrio—
The Japanese influence on the space is unquestionable, yes—so is the culinary and artistic.
“When I look at my favorite restaurants and the people I look up to the most—[Chef] Alain Passard or [Chef] Dan Barber—and I just thought it was sad that if you ordered a negroni at an airport, it would basically be the same negroni you’d get at any bar in L.A. You can’t replicate the experience of The French Laundry anywhere else in the world. So why can’t a bar be like that?”
This dedication to excellence permeates Kevin’s career. It is in his own stylized version of the (in)famous three-point hard shake birthed by Kazuo Uyeda. It is subtly letting you know how the sweetness of Campari can be released with that very shake. It’s in his use of California’s wildly beautiful seasons and produce output. It is in the way he talks of the patience behind Japanese bars, which aren’t afraid to hold a patron down with an educating moment in stark contrast to the volume-driven aura of the American bar culture. And, of course, his partnership with Chef Ulises.
While previous menus, burgers and larger dishes culminated in a way that Chef Ulises knew damn well was contradictory to what Tokyo Noir was and could be.
“I come from a Mexican household: My flavors are bold, bold, bold,” he said. “With this, I had to be definitively more subtle—like Kevin’s cocktails. And I’m proud of what we’ve created together.”
At Tokyo Noir, cocktails come first, food second.
Drawn back, simplified but not watered down, the food at Tokyo Noir (featured below) is some of Chef Ulises’s most restrained food (in the best way possible). The confluence of his and Kevin’s talents creates a world where cocktails and food blend seamlessly with one another. But don’t get it twisted: There is no question that, at Tokyo Noir, it is all about the cocktails.
The inaugural cocktails of Long Beach’s newest space are spectacular.
Succulently subtle. Beautifully balanced. Thoroughly thoughtful. Deliciously diligent in execution. This inaugural cocktail menu from Tokyo Noir is a masterclass in restraint, focus, and innovation—and offers Long Beach its most innovative take on cocktails since Gianna Johns of Baby Gee began introducing us to their rotating list of cocktails just under two years ago.
A look at the drinks…
Juice Theory: Puro Potro Blanco | Umeshu | Watermelon | Amaro-fermented tomato
Yuzu Strawberry: Amaras | Japanese rum | Yuzu | Strawberry | Whey
Drunken Tiger: Toki Whisky | Umeshu | Japanese cucumber | Amaro | Korean red pepper | Rhubarb
Astro Boy: Haku vodka | Sweet potato shochu | Bergamot | Calpico | Lemon
Hibiki Old Fashioned: Hibiki | Okinawan rock sugar | House-made nori bitters | Lemon twist
Monochrome: Ki No Bi gin | Empirical plum | Daijinjo | House-made blanc vermouth | Matsutake
Truffle fashioned: Yoichi | Truffle | Okinawan rock sugar | House-made bitters
Kaiju: Japanese rum | Midori | Crème Anglaise | Yuzu
First Love (kakigori): Daiyama shochu | Guava | Grapefruit | Condensed milk
Okinawa Gimlet: Shikuwasa citrus | Oka vodka | Ki No Bi gin | House-made bitters
Stay With Me: Japanese gin | Ginger | Carrot | Blood orange | Whey
And what about those food items?
Small but not dainty. Approachable but not pedestrian. The food at Tokyo Noir pushes Chef Ulises’s talents in a different direction—and the results are beautiful.
Temaki (four varieties): Spicy tuna | Salmon | Fresh water eel | Crab
Okonomi corn dogs: Okonomiyaki sauce | Kurobuta sausage | Kewpie mayo | Mustard
Grilled squid: Sweet soy | Shichimi pepper | Kewpie mayo
Wasabi fries: Wasabi-dusted fries | Wasabi aioli
Wagyu skirt: Yakiniku sauce | Kizami wasabi
Tokyo Noir is located at 1731 E. 4th St. Reservations are required for entry.
