Well, of course 2nd Street in Belmont Shore has a lively outdoor dining scene — long before COVID-19 became a waking nightmare, dining al fresco on 2nd was a well-established ritual.
And now, as outdoor dining has become our defining modus operandi (for the nonce, at least), the fresh air options have grown exponentially, with restaurants pushing out onto the sidewalks, and stretching down the street. Which is the good news. The less good news is that parking is no easier now than it was in the Before Times — and arguably even harder with an increased population heading for the street dining.
Be prepared to drive around for awhile, up and down narrow residential streets, squeezing into spots that would be challenging even in New York — where parking often consists of a hundred moves into a spot with an inch of clearance front and back. In the case of 2nd Street, it’s worth it. Be thankful for automatic steering…and backup cameras…as you head for tasty joints like these:
The name Goyen Sushi & Robata (4905 E. 2nd St., Long Beach; 562-434-5757, goyensushilb.com) translates as “Five Yen” — the donation commonly given at Shinto shrines “with the intention of establishing a good connection with the deity of the shrine.” The point, I guess, is that at Goyen diners establish a good connection with the sushi chefs, masters who assemble a wide range of sushi both simple, and wildly complicated.
Perhaps not as complicated as some, but still, there’s a wide assortment of special rolls made with a lot of parts and pieces. I’ve often wondered how the heck they keep track of them all.
There are more than 40 special rolls on the menu, which should keep any fan of our SoCal take on sushi busy for many visits. Some are familiar, including the Rainbow Roll (a California Roll topped with tuna, salmon, albacore, escolar and shrimp) and the Spider Roll (soft shell crab and crab meat, wrapped with “tempura crunch”). Others come from that strange world of names that don’t always match the roll that carries those names. Like the Love Love Roll, which is a California Roll wrapped in baked salmon and smelt eggs. And the Sunkist Roll, which the name, to the contrary, is not made of orange juice, but of spicy crab and asparagus, with salmon shrimp and avocado.
Why is a roll of spicy tuna and avocado a 911 Roll, and shrimp tempura with spicy tuna and crab meat a Bikini Roll? Darned if I know. And when I’m in the middle of a sushi roll feeding frenzy, I don’t give it much thought.
There are numerous rolls here that are, if not actually unique to Goyen, at least not found in that many sushi bars. Like the LA BBQ Roll — barbecue beef ribs, crab meat, avocado and tempura. And the Chicken Teriyaki Roll, made with crab meat and avocado. Fishless sushi rolls aren’t wrong, but they are rare. They’re a way of thinking outside the box.
Across the street, one of my longtime faves — Saint & Second (4828 E. 2nd St., Long Beach; 562-433-4828, www.saintandsecond.com) — is cranking out the trendy food and the stylish drinks. It’s a bit hard to cubbyhole the food here, for it stands somewhere between gastropub and New American, between eclectic and eccentric. It’s a menu that should make a proper West Coast foodie feel right at home.
The menu is divided into “Smalls,” “Bigs,” “Burgers,” “Flat Breads,” “Soups & Salads” and ‘Sides” — with a box for oysters. And though the “Bigs” are tempting, there are so many “Smalls” that cry out for a taste, you may never get to the 22-ounce rib chop for two (with roasted root veggies and shiitake butter), or the roasted organic chicken with cauliflower puree (with broccolini and fennel).
Instead, if you’re a committed grazer (and aren’t we all?), this is the land of familiar dishes, made with unfamiliar twists — a very creative menu. Consider the hummus, for instance. It’s made with fava beans, rather than garbanzos, flavored with smoked paprika and caperberries. It’s both hummus, and not hummus at the same time. It’s hummus on steroids.
Or how about the grilled prawns, served salted, with the heads still on, with a spicy green chimichurri sauce and a sort of creamed guacamole. It’s a very messy dish; be sure to ask for extra napkins. Ditto the hickory smoked lamb ribs with fried basil, which is so messy to eat, no way that ancho chili glaze was coming off with a napkin.
The options are so many, I wouldn’t know how to choose between an appetizer of southern-fried quail and pozole clams, between duck meatballs with shishito peppers and marrow bones with mushroom and olive tapenade, and between lobster & Dungeness crab cakes and a crab, corn and coconut soup.
There’s a fondness for pork here — in the double-cut heritage pork chop, the pork banh mi sandwich with Sriracha mayo, the pork belly flat bread with kimchi and mozzarella. It’s a combination you don’t run into every day. But then, Saint & Second is filled with dishes and tastes and swigs not found every day. Or any day, for that matter — except here.
And then, there’s a restaurant that never ceases to attract a crowd happy to dine in the open air. Simmzy’s (5271 E. 2nd St., Long Beach; 562-439-5590, www.simmzys.com) is where I go for the fabled Simmzy’s Burger, a pile of Angus beef, smoked onions (nice touch!), lettuce, tomato, cheddar and a nice garlicky aioli. You can dress the burger up with applewood smoked bacon, avocado, and roast shiitake mushrooms flavored with balsamic vinegar — which the mushrooms absorb like a sponge.
There’s an alternative burger topped with candied bacon and blue cheese as well, along with “frizzled shallots.” You know there’s a Big Deal Chef at work here; no cook would ever think of using “frizzled shallots.”
There are no turkey burgers, no veggie burgers. Which is good, for snoot that I am, I don’t consider those to be “burgers.” For me, they’re sandwiches in the shape of burgers.
Speaking of sandwiches, there are a bunch, including a “spice & vinegar” pulled pork panini topped with more of those tasty smoked onions; a chicken, bacon and avo hoagie; and a “Not Your Mama’s” tuna sandwich, made with ahi tuna poached in olive oil — an ingredient as foreign to my mother as undercooked vegetables.
Beyond that, the menu is functional but fun. There’s an order of chicken wings that are more Asian than Buffalonian, served with a bleu cheese dressing I found myself scooping up with a spoon, and eating like pudding. (I’ve got a bleu cheese thang. I can’t get enough of the stuff. It will probably be the doom of me.)
There’s a thick, honest chili (the menu calls it “Awesome Chili”; but then, the menu is fond of descriptives) that’s made of beef and pork (thank goodness no turkey!), along with amber ale, cheddar, sour cream and a sprinkling of Fritos. The Fritos stay crunchy long enough to consume them.
There’s a chubby bratwurst called (what else?) The Brat, served with a sweetish mustard, roasted red peppers and, natch, those smoked onions. And if you’re in the mood for something serious, there’s a grilled top sirloin with a shiitake mushroom cream sauce and fries.
I don’t know that Simmzy’s is where I’d go for a steak. But if you need one, it’s there. Interestingly, the Fritos (served in a bag) also appear as a side — a curious mixed bag that includes an order of spinach, some market greens, shoestring fries with some aioli sauce for dipping. There’s another bleu cheese concoction, called a Blue Cheese Haystack — fries jumbled with garlic and bleu cheese. So indulgent. And so good. And so tasty as the ocean breezes waft down Second!
And then, there’s George’s Greek Café (5216 2nd. St., Long Beach; 562-433-1755, www.georgesgreekcafe.com), where on a recent warm Saturday night, the tables were filled with couples gazing deep into each other’s eyes, and with groups enjoying a bottle or three of Greek wines like Amethystos and Hatzimichalis — wines that are easier to drink than they are to pronounce. And, of course, there’s me, drinking a glass of Kourtakis Retsina, which friends and family are only too glad to point out tastes impressively like Pine-Sol.
The restaurant began with father George Loizides, who’s been in the business for half a century. His son Demitri has followed in his footsteps for three decades. The menu tells us, “Demitri cooks exactly like his Mom, Rodou. He uses no shortcuts, exhibiting the greatest care and experience in preparing fresh, delicious, tender and healthy food for your enjoyment…”
I don’t have a Greek mother. But if I did, I bet she’d have cooked a meal very much like the “kleftico” family style dinner served every Friday night — a feast of hummus and tzatziki dips, flaming saganaki cheese, Greek village salad, beef and lamb gyro, chicken souvlakia, pastitsio — and also the signature item, a slow roasted lamb kleftico (lamb cooked to the very edge of existence). You’ve heard the expression “melts in your mouth”? Trust me — it does.
And there’s baklava for dessert. All of which goes so well with retsina. Or just about any other Greek wine as well.
Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.
