The Factory delivers on its promise

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES

Even before it opened its doors, the Factory positioned itself as everything Long Beach lacked: a farm- and market-driven kitchen, a serious beer bar, a progressive deli and a kid-friendly cooking school. Its outsize ambitions were so stunning that they produced a kind of culinary shock and awe. The Bixby Knolls restaurant-cum-everything conceivably could’ve collapsed under all that promise—delivering on bits and pieces of that potential while mastering nothing—but the Factory has instead fulfilled almost every wide-eyed diner’s hungry fantasies.

That success is evolutionary: awkward counter service and a chalkboard menu have given way to table service and proper paper menus; empty bureaus have been filled with cookbooks and Factory-made pantry items. Over the course of its early months, the restaurant is finally beginning to feel as if it is a true reflection of owner Natalie Gutenkauf’s multifaceted vision.

The underlying philosophy of the Factory is one of local-when-possible dining, and the restaurant follows through as a purveyor of local, organic and sustainable foods. Beef is sourced from grass-fed cattle in Tehachapi; seafood comes from Long Beach Seafood’s sustainable stock; chicken is free-range; and most of the produce is grown by Jimmy Ng of the Growing Experience, the urban gardening project that transformed a vacant lot at the Carmelitos Housing Development into a beautiful and bountiful organic farm.

The resulting dishes include salads contingent on the day’s produce, as well as sandwiches endowed with Long Beach-specific names. Jimmy’s Farm Box, for example, is a salad entirely of greens and vegetables supplied by Ng. It’s completely governed by the Growing Experience’s seasonal shifts and is a perfect embodiment of the Factory’s culinary goals. Sandwiches are a pure expression of locality. Take a bite out of the Atlantic Ave. (fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, roasted butternut squash, grilled zucchini and greens with a verdant herb spread) or the C-17 (slow-roasted chicken and bacon with an arugula mayonnaise) to try the restaurant’s edible odes to Long Beach.

A Spanish influence strangely pervades much of the menu. There’s a loose, creamy paella available with either the typical array of seafood and chorizo or seasonal vegetables. It’s a fine dish, but it aligns more closely with risotto than it does Spanish tradition. There’s also an excellent bocadillo—a simple sandwich of cured jamón Serrano, cheese and roasted peppers—as well as a Spanish cheese platter. It’s all a bit odd at first, but that Iberian influence ultimately works due to smart sourcing from Harbor City’s La Española, an outstanding importer and the only Spanish charcuterie producer in the LA area.

Execution is what unites the Factory’s sometimes-disparate dishes. The Longfellow sandwich, for example, is kind of an Americanized bocadillo of sliced rib eye, le leyenda cheese and roasted peppers. The rib eye is so expertly cooked that the Longfellow is probably the best steak sandwich in town. The pepper-grilled ahi is perfectly tender, as is the roasted chicken breast atop a bed of udon noodles.

Beer and wine are central at the Factory, too. The restaurant’s smart, all-California beer selection is second to none in Long Beach and topped locally only by Beachwood BBQ, one of the preeminent beer bars in all of Southern California. Keep quenched with a changing cast of beers from the Bruery, Bear Republic, Stone Brewing and others. There’s plenty of wine to be poured, but oenophiles might opt instead for the port float, which is fast becoming a Factory signature. It’s an ideal dessert for any adult who longs to sip his or her sweets: vanilla ice cream, cream soda and Sandeman Tawny Port topped with whipped cream and shaved flakes of Lacasa chocolate.

Somewhere in the Factory’s evolution, the restaurant has become a place with almost universal appeal. There’s always room for more growth, but for now the Factory is surely content being an eatery for all: steak-seekers, herbivores, hopheads and devoted Long Beachers.

Still hungry? Visit Miles for more at eatfoodwith.me.

THE FACTORY 4020 ATLANTIC AVE • LONG BEACH 90807 • 562.595.4020 • OPEN TUES-THURS 11AM-11PM, FRI-SAT 11AM-1AM, SUN 10AM-3PM • BEER, WINE • FOOD FOR TWO $20-45 • THEFACTORYLB.COM

Tags: bixby knolls, Food, la espanola, Long Beach, Restaurants, the factory, the growing experience