Long Beach, CA?

Heading to Long Beach next weekend for a 5-day conference. Any recommended spots? (keeping in mind that our group will be somewhat travel-restricted since we won't have a car) An acquaintance recommended a place called Sushi Studio. It's supposedly a Thai/sushi fusion joint, which should be... interesting...

Long beach is tough. I can't think of even one recommendation there. If you can access a car for at least one night. Both Westminster and garden Grove are relatively close and offer some unique Vietnamese options. There are a couple of threads on each of those places in the following threads which have some Orange County discussion..

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... estminster

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... estminster

I recall the convention center being right downtown, but that makes me want to recommend "Acres of Books", a packed-to-the-gills used book store, rather than restaurants. If you like chains, you have your pick. Two notable ones: a California chain which actually serves very good food is Islands (55 S Pine Ave) and there's a Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles (730 E Broadway) nearby. Do not be deceived by the array of places pretending to be Tommy's. (I recall a Tomy's at least.) They are piggybacking on the success of the other chain.

Also, you're near the Blue Line there. It won't get you anywhere better (if I remember correctly), but it opens up your options somewhat.

If you're going to be near the convention center, a solid steakhouse is 555 East. It's not ethnic or anything, but it may be just what you need for a convention.

555 East
555 E. Ocean Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90802
(562) 437-0626

If you don't mind a bit of a trip, you can take the blue line at either the 1st St. or Transit Mall stop and take it all the way to the terminus at Metro Center, change to the purple line for one stop to MacArthur Park and bingo, you're in pastrami heaven at Langer's, the best deli in L.A.

Langer's
704 S. Alvarado
Los Angeles, CA 90057
(213) 483-8050
http://www.langersdeli.com

Just got back from Long Beach. Lots of options across the street from Convention Center. Mostly fast food types. Dublin Pub for beer and burgers.

If you can make it to E. Second Street, off Livingston (about 10 minutes from downtown) there are wonderful ethnic restaurants. I ate at a Lebanese place called Sunnin (5110 E Second/562-433-9000). What it lacks in atmosphere, it more than makes up for in food quality and low price.
This is just one of numerous ethnic places on Second.

I am going to be in Long Beach for the conference beginning of next week as well.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a place for a business lunch around the convention center? No car. Also, anyplace within walking distance for dinner is greatly appreciated.

Fancy meeting someone else who's going there for the same conference! If you need a foodie friend while you're there, drop me a PM! I'm going to need to be very well fed to take in all those talks

puppy and bone, hmmm... should get along quite well.

In my one visit to the Long Beach CC, I tried unsuccessfully to find one decent meal in 5 days. I wish you better luck.

It looks like this post will miss your trip, but at least let me go on record.

I lived in Long Beach CA for 5 years before moving to Chi town just over a year ago. First, the downtown long beach area is transitional and there are once you get past 5th street (5 or 6 blocks from Ocean) there isn't much to do. Once you get past 8th street, things get pretty dicey and get worse. However, if you are downtown and don't go anywhere you have to eat at Taco Beach (great fish taco's) and George's Greek Deli (Greek salads and really good lamb chops) on Pine Ave. Most other restaurants on Pine come and go and typically don't shine.

ALso, look for a great wine store called Vin de Pay's - everything is under $15 and Tom, the owner, is a great guy and will help you. Most every restaurant in CA allows corkage and has a small fee, even if they sell wine. Don't be shy to take your own bottle (you may want to call ahead, but again, nearly all do)

Find the bus that takes you to Belmont Shore, a beach comunity suburb of Long Beach. Get off on Second Street and walk up and down the quiet little community where I used to live. You are about 3 blocks off of the ocean at this point and the neighboorhood is 100% million dollar homes with a downtown strip. I recommend Sushi-Saurus (Sushi), Taco Surf (similar to Taco Beach), La Crepiere (Crepe's and french food.)

Other great restaurants are further south on Second Street on Naples Island (a man made island with canal's framing million dollar beach mansions between million dollar yachts - you can go on a Gondolier ride here too) which include Kelly's (the classic, old timey steak house) and Sushi of Naples (one of my favorite sushi spots in America) and Morey's wine bar (a wine shop with a tapas restaurant in back really.) North in Belmont Heights (still on Second street) is Osteria Parluccia which is a great Italian joint.

I REALLY recommend you get out from downtown and hit the places in the paragraph above if you can, but again, it looks like this post will miss your trip anyway!

SO, at minimum, let me know if you hit any of the places I recommended, and let this post be a testament to any Chicagoian going to Long Beach CA!

Unfortunately I didn't hit any of the places you mentioned. I didn't realize our schedule would be quite so tight, and we basically ended up eating in the vicinity of the convention centre every day. The companions I was eating with also put quite a dent in my foodie habits

Here are some of the more notable places we tried while we were there:

Sharky's Woodfired Mexican Grill - At the Pike across from the convention centre. Like a Chipotle or Burrito Beach. No better, no worse. However, they did have a rather nice "salad bar" of different salsas and hot sauces which is always a plus at a fast-food joint.

Islands - The rec for this place served me well. Ate here twice. Burger was a highlight. The meat itself was fairly bland but the jalapeno/black pepper crust was damn tasty! The little fried onion strings on the burger were some of the best I've had anywhere.

Alegria Cocina - Tapas bar on Pine Ave. Would have gone back to eat here. Big fan of their humitas chilenas, which is a tamale with sauteed shrimp in a corn/cayenne creamy sauce. Also a nice rendition of tortilla soup and their seafood paella was above average.

The Grill at the Westin Long Beach - Too tired to venture out, so dined at the hotel restaurant one night. Maple/brown sugar glazed pork loin was very good, given the limitations of the extremely lean pork. Seared ahi tuna crusted with white/black sesame seeds was less impressive. It just didn't stand out in any way. A lemongrass/curry/kefir lime on shrimp appetizer was very good with bold, strong, flavours.


All in all, I ate well enough to survive, but I will certainly be attending less talks and renting a car if I ever go back

Yeah, the pike area is the main tourist drag. Islands and Sharkey's are chains local to SoCal. Island burgers are pretty good I will admit.

Cocina Allegro, right on Pine across from The Madison (I think) is a pretty decent tapas place.

One place, which is a chain (disclaimer) I didn't mention was The Yard House. The original restaurant is in Long Beach right near the the Pike. In fact, I know the owners. Since there is one in Glenview, I realized this is a good Long Beach - Chicago tie in.

Thanks for the memories!