Wake up with the Coffee Cup Cafe

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
As anyone who has walked the city streets at midnight knows, Long Beach is a drinker’s town. Whether that means sequined tops and cocktails on Pine Ave. or T-shirts and PBR elsewhere is up to the individual. But the alcoholic experience is universal. And so are [...]

Long Beach Thai Restaurant serves the city

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
To the uninitiated, Long Beach Thai Restaurant sounds almost comically generic, a place named presumably in haste and without much creativity. But in that supremely simple nomenclature is a declaration of populism: Long Beach Thai Restaurant is in fact the Long Beach Thai restaurant, an eatery [...]

Like its neighbor, the World Famous V.I.P. Records, Pee & Gee Fish Market is an institution

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
Pee & Gee Fish Market has been a central Long Beach fixture since 1976, when Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. still had only one name. That’s long enough to become part of the scenery; and in fact, [...]

Havana memories at the Raven’s Nest

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
Before even a single slice of plantain arrives, the Raven’s Nest seems a restaurant conceived in the details. There are enough instruments fastened to the walls to form a mambo ensemble; bread comes to the table stashed in cigar boxes. It’s all a paean to a certain [...]

Sushi Saurus’ cozy makeover

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
As El Niño once again walloped the skies of Long Beach on a recent Friday evening, it appeared no manner of umbrellas, wellies or raincoats could hold up against the torrent. Those of us caught standing at the crosswalk at Laverne and Second St. waiting for the light to [...]

Rajdhani’s artful Indian cooking

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
Of the many buffets scattered throughout Little India—restaurants where idle curries sometimes congeal under heat lamps and blocks of lamb turn tough with time—none approach the exacting elegance of Rajdhani. Here, all-you-can-eat meals aren’t ladled from steam tables but delivered by a whole cast of waiters, their timing and [...]

Gourmet wieners at the Dog House

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
There’s no denying the magnetic, carnal pull of a good sausage. And frankly, it has taken far too long for the ways of the gourmet wiener to filter into the Southland, traveling from national luminary Hot Doug’s in Chicago to Wurstküche in downtown LA and now, finally, [...]

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 [...]

Pho Hong Phat’s singular focus

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
When a restaurant’s scope is bound to just a single specialty, it’s a sign of complete confidence. There’s nothing more brash and bold than eschewing the variety that’s afforded by a full menu for but a few permutations of one dish. It’s also the most dangerous, precarious position [...]

New York by way of Signal Hill at Rocco’s Deli Italiano

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
There’s no dearth of delis around here. Above maybe all other foodstuffs, greater Long Beach loves its cured and smoked meats. But don’t go looking for matzo balls; our deli tradition is mostly an Italian one, evidenced admirably by Angelo’s Italian Deli, [...]