Cuisine Scene: Barbecue
From Port to Pike to oil pumps, Long Beach has always been a hardworking town, and hardworking towns value hearty food. What’s heartier and more delicious than barbecue: expertly rubbed, smoked, sauced, and finally, blissfully consumed. We’re talking barbecue, folks! And Long Beach has a lot of terrific, delicious options, located all over the city offering Southern comfort for all tastes and occasions. Have a look.
BBQ with a View
Located at Shoreline Village, on Rainbow Harbor, directly across from the Queen Mary, you’ll find Louisiana Charlies (429 Shoreline Village Dr.), though you’ll probably smell it first. The restaurant came up with a great way to attract guests: planting its meat smokers, cooking everything from Tri Tip to spare ribs to pulled pork – smoked for a glorious 14 hours – on its patio, the aroma beckoning to guests. The restaurant features classic Southern items such as Po Boys as well as great cocktails, but it’s the meat that’ll get you. Just a short paddle across the harbor is the Q Smokehouse (300 S. Pine Ave.), another place that puts the highest value on smoke – the restaurant’s motto is “If it ain’t smokin, we ain’t open.” Q takes pride in offering the freshest ingredients to make its decidedly Southern-leading food, highlighted by its brisket, rubbed with black pepper and brown sugar and smoked, as the restaurant says, “until it’s like butt’a.”
Family Business
Having left its storefront for a food truck, Robert Earl’s BBQ (6050 Atlantic Ave) is huge on reputation and local devotion. The Earl family’s simple, straightforward, meat-centric menu, featuring popular items like ribs and brisket – the latter described as “the stuff of legend” by a local media outlet – as well as its equally legendary Mac & Cheese, are of such soaring quality that Earl’s regularly ranks not only as the top barbecue outfit in Long Beach but in all of LA County.
Then there’s Twins Smokehouse (1555 W. Willow St.), which is indeed run by twin sisters, Jacalun and Joselyn. Their meat offerings are a slow smoked, Louisiana-style passed down to them in their hometown of Natchitoches, Louisiana, and their menu is designed to appeal to “health and humane conscious meat eaters.” The twins have a loyal clientele that come regularly and sometimes from far away, at least one regularly makes the two-hour drive up from San Diego to enjoy their food. All of which just goes to prove what the twins always say: “The smoke ain’t no joke.”
Tablecloth BBQ
The Naples Rib Company (5800 E. Second St.) is a staple in the local food scene, the kind of place often chosen for friendly meetups or business meetings of for families and organizations to gather and eat some delicious food while enjoying the company. That food, sometimes served in shiny buckets that make it easy to grab and then dispose of the bones, is complemented by great bar selections and the kind of atmosphere that makes customers want to linger.
As the name for Beachwood BBQ & Beer suggests, the Long Beach staple located in downtown it is as well known for its beer as its food, the latter of which includes delicious ribs, brisket, chicken, as well as options such as Fried Pickles and Burnt End Chili. Beachwood’s beer, which helped launch Long Beach’s exciting and exceptional craft brew scene, offers a global roster ranging from Scotch Ale to American stout to Belgian-style sours and a whole lot in between.
And Then Some
There are times when you want options. Lucille’s Smokehouse (7411 Carson St.) offers a wide-ranging menu that includes Cauliflower Bites appetizers, BBQ Chicken Salad, lots of sandwiches and burgers and salmon to go along with catfish and gumbo. Of course, there are tons of barbecue classics, including beef and pork ribs, tri-tip, brisket and Alabama Half Chicken, which is marinated in apple cider and Lucille’s own rib spice, slow-smoked and generously topped with tangy Alabama white BBQ sauce.
In the same, delicious vein, Johnny Rebs (4662 Long Beach Blvd.) has grown to have multiple locations buoyed by a menu that not only boasts great tastes but plenty of variety, whether it’s appetizers ranging from the expected – Hush Puppies, Fried Green Tomatoes – to the curiously enticing Frickles (crispy dill chips dusted in cornmeal and served with Ranch Dressing). There’s plenty of pit smoked meat and Southern standbys, including Fried Chicken, Jambalaya, Catfish, etc., along with a meatless menu featuring a Nashville Hot Soy Chicken Sandwich.
In other words – if BBQ is what you’re after, Long Beach has what you’re looking for. And then some.