It was the perfect Friday night combo: take-out vegetarian eats from Wok-n-Roll synched with the ultra-violence of The Godfather: Part 2. (Nothing quite like eating peaceful hippie food while watching people die.) Far from your typical sit-down restaurant, Wok-n-Roll is ideal for take-out: It’s a buffet where veggie dishes are prepared fresh-to-order (though the restaurant serves meat-based meals, too). I ordered the aptly named Super Hot Veggie Chicken Woky Bowl, a mix of al dente broccoli, onions, carrots and soy-based mock meat. When my food arrived, glistening underneath all of Wok-n-Roll’s bright neon lights, it was still steaming, fresh from a wok and straight into a take-out container packed so full with soy, rice and veggies it looked ready to burst. At home, I inhaled the first half of the red-pepper-spiced soy meat and found it tender and juicy, yet firm. It was so delectably spicy that I lost feeling in my tongue and had to set it aside during the rest of the movie. But after The Godfather finished whacking every last rat in New York, I devoured the leftover bowl. As a car lit up into flames on the screen, the taste of red pepper still burned deliciously in my mouth.

WOK-N-ROLL 4756 E PACIFIC COAST HWY | LONG BEACH 90804 | 562.597.8783

Tags: Long Beach, SIDES, the godfather, wok-n-roll