Building an institution at Bouchees Bistro at Smooth’s

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
As the economy sputtered and the dollar slumped, even the most well-regarded restaurants struggled, forced to embark on wholesale downscaling. Elaborate seasonal menus morphed into bistro basics; single-item entrees were suddenly gifted two or three sides. But Bouchees Bistro took a step up. The restaurant, [...]

Cat Man Blu boasts bona fide blues with hip-hop roots

PHOTO by MIKE CARREIRO
Cat Man Blu, a Cajun-themed restaurant/blues club located on South Pine Ave., isn’t pretty—and that’s okay, because the blues ain’t pretty. But this authentic downtown Long Beach jukejoint is merely half the story. The second half is Cat Man Blu’s owner, former hip-hop [...]

Is Vault 350 owner Rudy Medina downtown’s next patron saint?

PHOTO by JOHN GILHOOLEY
Rudy Medina sounds like the kind of guy who knows a good thing when he sees it, and at the moment that happens to be his own reflection, which he can barely see at all. Medina is checking himself out—or trying to—in the [...]

The mega-popular Bouchees Bistro is in for a change–chef/owner Tony Zervas announced hours ago via the restaurant’s newsletter that the current Bouchees location (an anchor of City Place) will be turning into a new restaurant called City Tacos. Bouchees, meanwhile, will move into Smooth’s Sports Bar on Pine Avenue to become Bouchees Bistro at Smooth’s. [...]

Donald T. Smith, the man hired to recruit retail downtown, is almost as hard to find as a place to shop on Pine Avenue

PHOTO by SLYADNYEV OLEKSANDR
Finding Donald T. Smith is a lot harder than it probably ought to be. You’d think a guy with a $262,000, one-year contract from the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency [...]

The salad/wrap isn’t a new concept—surely the chicken Caesar wrap has had its day—but presented on the menu at Smooth’s Sports Grille (options include a chicken salad wrap with applewood smoked bacon and avocado and a Cobb salad wrap with chicken, Danish bleu cheese crumbles, bacon, tomato, avocado and hard-boiled egg), it makes for an [...]

Walter Goldfarb: “D + Lirium” compiles 24 mixed-media paintings from Walter Goldfarb, wrapping together a look into his career since 1995.
MOLAA 628 Alamitos Ave, Long Beach 90802. 562.437.1689; molaa.org.
Sunday Funnies: Matt Claybrook hosts jokes on Pine. 8pm.
TACO BEACH 211 Pine Ave, Long Beach 90802. 562.983.1337.