Welcoming back Johnny Rebs’

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES

There’s something sentimental about walking up to Johnny Rebs’ again—the gravel lot grinding its way into your soles, the sight of lunch lines already baking in the sun. But it’s the banner stuck up above the rebuilt façade that hits the hardest: “Welcome Home.”

For Johnny Rebs’, however, “home” isn’t exactly a fixed concept. That’s because the restaurant has never sought a singular Southern taste. Instead, the place subscribes to what eats like the culinary equivalent of states’ rights, flavoring its menu with all that sprawl from Texas to North Carolina. As the restaurant itself says of the South: “It’s more than just a place—it’s a region of the mind, a place in the heart.”

And that’s exactly why the pain was so powerful when an equipment fire ate through the roadhouse last August. But disaster hasn’t changed Johnny Rebs’—a big brass pig is still shuttled around for birthday kisses, the peanut shells still sound the most satisfying crunch. Although the restaurant lost some of its more memorable kitsch to the fire, the retouched interior is as familiar as ever, checkered by all-American gingham and paneled with wood from floor to ceiling.

But if there’s one thing that the restaurant formed out of the fire, it’s a sure sense of timing. Johnny Rebs’, after all, is as close as Long Beach gets to the picnic-table tradition of classic backyard barbecue. So, for many of the regulars at Johnny Rebs’, the restaurant’s recent reopening is the most well-timed Southern comfort, an open invitation to come back home.

Nothing out of the restaurant’s country kitchen satisfies those home-cooked cravings more than its ribs. The baby back pork ribs are perhaps the most pleasing of the bunch, colored such a potent pink from slow smoking that the meat almost seems unnatural. The beef ribs, however, are just as good, trading in the pork’s pink streaks for sheer tenderness—the meat can practically be massaged off the bone. For the gluttons, there’s the combination plate, which allows for a pairing of any two of the restaurant’s smoked eats. But any of those items together is a portion prepared for only the most competitive eaters, the plate all but buried under the stack of bones.

Yet even at a place like Johnny Rebs’, ribs aren’t for everyone. For those who wish their meat to be a bit more dissociated from its origins, there’s the sandwich board. There, the Johnny Rebs’ Special sandwich pulls in most appetites, offering a complete meal of either pulled chicken or pulled pork. Lean as it is (in relativity, anyway), the chicken is a bit dry. But the pork makes a solid sandwich, with twisted strands of meat topped by a handful of slaw. Pulled pork sandwiches sometimes suffer from a lack of texture, hiding tiny shreds of meat in near-soup levels of sauce. Here, the pork is ripped into little ribbons, each strand curled on top of another until there’s enough pork piled up to allow the sauce to flavor, not overpower.

Keeping in line with its pan-Southern hospitality, the restaurant lines the rest of its menu with other familiar favorites. There’s chicken fried steak, pork chops and gravy, even fried green tomatoes. For palates born closer to the bayou, there are also plates of Cajun sausage and fried catfish. Wake up early enough and there’s breakfast, too, ladled out in heavy helpings of grits.

The constant through nearly every meal at Johnny Rebs’ is the sides. Each plate is paired with a choice of two so-called fixins’, which range from black eyed peas and mac and cheese to mashed potatoes and baked beans. The sweet potato fries get most of the menu’s attention, and they’re admittedly good (though a sticky scoop of candied yams would probably do better).

Whatever you choose to welcome back Johnny Rebs’, there’s almost no chance of finishing it. The staff knows that it’s never a question of if you need a box, but rather of when. But at Johnny Rebs’, that isn’t burden—it’s just a chance to take a piece of the place home. And that’s all the restaurant has ever really wanted.

JOHNNY REBS’ 4663 LONG BEACH BLVD | LONG BEACH 90805 | 562.423.7327 | JOHNNYREBS.COM | OPEN SUN-THURS 7AM-9PM | FRI-SAT 7AM-10PM | FOOD FOR TWO, $25-40 | BEER, WINE

Tags: barbeque, Food, johnny rebs, Long Beach, Restaurants, southern