Joe Jost’s special
Time was when I could pedal over to Joe Jost’s and exchange a handful of dollar bills for a schooner of beer and a Joe’s special—a butterflied hot dog served in between two slices of rye bread with mustard and a pickle. Fortunately, you can still enjoy this simple treat, which, if you [...]

Big Belly Deli
Barely beyond Huntington Beach, Big Belly Deli is a little place that sometimes gets forgotten between Main Street and Balboa. But that’s not to say that the deli doesn’t do a big business—even in the coldest months, the deli reels in beach-going appetites. It’s not hard for a place so small to get [...]

Tiki Island
There’s nothing like the scent of the Alamitos Bay Farmers Market, the aromas of hummus and fresh fruit all combining in a sort of swirl that always seems to add on more to your appetite. But I wasn’t there for the produce alone, so after filling up on fruit samples, feta cheese and tomatoes, [...]

Fuji’s Famous Burger
Fuji’s Famous Burger, a Huntington Beach institution since 1973, specializes in offering fast food given the Fuji’s touch via teriyaki and/or avocado (avocado tacos, teriyaki beef sandwiches, you name it). There’s also Japanese-Hawaiian cuisine (Spam musubi, which is a block of salted rice with Spam on top and dried seaweed wrapped around it), [...]

Laventina’s Big Cheese
A menu from Laventina’s Big Cheese hangs on just about every refrigerator on the Balboa Peninsula, a crucial take-out text for all those weekenders crawling from one bar to another. The restaurant has never put its clientele out of mind, either—the place knows full well that it’s the go-to spot for anyone with [...]

Grill Pressed Eggplant Wrap
Pre-packaged food is usually as appealing as a nice cool glass of Long Beach ocean water, but there are times when a home-cooked meal just isn’t a reality. Still, your stomach sure as hell doesn’t know that Jeeves is on vacation or that your oven broke—it’s hungry, needs to be fed and [...]

Veggie Grill
Veggie Grill’s finest fake meat comes from a proprietary blend. The chillin’ chickin’, says the menu, is the restaurant’s own unique veggie protein, something that the place dares you to taste and believe. And in the time that Veggie Grill has spent across from UC Irvine (nearing two years as we crawl towards the [...]

Fourth Street’s New Ralphs
Months I wandered Fourth Street between Temple and Redondo like a chicken without a head. The Ralphs grocery store that filled my belly and emptied my wallet had gone missing, leaving nothing but a fenced-in parking lot in its place. Then one day, like the Bat Signal, my phone rang. It was [...]

Park Bench Café
Everything about the Park Bench Café is friendly: a simple eatery in the middle of Huntington Central Park (the biggest one in town) that serves easy meals for breakfast, lunch and those hungry times in between. You’re not going to find anything unexpected at the café, but it’s hard to find something you [...]

Belmont Grill
Belmont Grill is impossible to miss, a loud place that occupies the same space on Second Street where Los Alamitos import Paul’s once cooked its burgers. And unless you made a habit out of Paul’s, chances are you won’t be able to tell the two apart—the menu is practically identical, the tiny interior space [...]