Kafe Neo in Long Beach: Good Calamari, Great Chicken Kebab and Interesting Falafel

I'm a big fan of Greek food, but have always found it hard to find good Greek food in LA. I first found Cafe Santorini in Pasadena that had very good grilled squid. Now I found a pretty good place in Long Beach called Kafe Neo. Behold the perfectly fried calamari!


I liked the lightly battered calamari and the only beef was that it wasn't as seasoned as it could be. In a way, this is good because everybody under the sun tends to over-salt things. And I'm assuming it was to dip it one of two sauces it came with, a aioli-like sauce and red marinara sauce that were a bit on the bland side. I also wished they had a grilled version available but still, it was good.

We also had the appetizer sampler that included dips like kalamata olive tapenade, roasted red peppers, hummus, tzatziki and an interesting addition of spicy feta in dip form.

I had hoped the feta would be spicier but it was pretty mild for a "spicy" label albeit different.

The spicy feta made another appearance, this time with none other than french fries. It was interesting but not sure I'd get it again. I mean, it's hard to go wrong with french fries, but it wasn't an ideal match. Plus, the feta could be spicier, but now I'm repeating myself...

I got the Horta, which is a hot salad of dandelion green sauteed with a motherload of garlic, lemon and topped with some crumbled feta cheese. I got chicken kebab on the side. The garlicky greens were really refreshing thanks to the tanginess from the citrus. I also liked that the feta wasn't the super salty kind most Greek restaurants here use. The chicken was also very juicy and charred just right on the edges from the flame-broil or grill. But I didn't get to eat much of my main meal because I had munched on the following starters.

Yes, spanakopitas galore! I had one but these weren't my favorite thing we had. Again, it's hard to go wrong with fried phyllo dough filled with spinach and feta. They were crispy but maybe it was their oddly large size that we had to cut into pieces to share that threw us off. They weren't bad but I've definitely had better.

I also had a falafel shared by a lunch companion that was very interesting. The flavor was good but what fascinated me was that when cut in half, I could see the whole chickpeas that hadn't been ground. What I liked was that it tasted freshly assembled and fried, as if it were made to order. I'm guessing the beautiful green color comes from parsley. I really enjoyed this what to me tasted like an unusual falafel. I'm not sure it went best with tzatziki sauce but I could always ask for a spicy sauce next time I go.

I got the fresh lemonade that I thought was too sweet. It would be good diluted with some spritz or plain water.

I also liked the space -- bright and airy, with a great outdoor patio. Perfect for breezy and sunny SoCal weather.

Open Sesame: Get the Juicy Chicken Kebab, Skip the Fried Potatoes

I had been convinced for the longest time that Sunnin in West LA with an outpost in Long Beach (turns out the LBC one was the OG Sunnin, I later learned) had the best Lebanese food in LA. When I went to Open Sesame in Long Beach (there are two locations right next to each other on Second Street and one other in South Bay), I didn't expect it to be on par with Sunnin but it was.

The chicken kebab (called chicken tawook) was ridiculously juicy, just like at Sunnin, which itself had expanded from a tiny hole-in-the-wall to a larger nicer restaurant across the street on Westwood Blvd.

The romaine lettuce salad with a refreshing lemony dressing and some dill weed? Check, although it went a bit heavy on the feta cheese that I could do without. Baba ghannouj that tastes like garlicky, smoky eggplant that's so creamy that you have to have a dollop of it at every bite? Check. This chicken kabob plate also came with these mild pickled peppers.

The chicken was also perfectly charred despite its uber juiciness on the inside.

I must say, however, that there were things that still made Sunnin better for me. On another visit, I tried the fried potatoes that are deep fried and then smothered in cilantro, garlic, roasted chili and lemon juice. These potatoes were uninspiring. I missed Sunnin's fried potatoes, that are seriously more flavorful than this version.

I also tried kabssa, a lamb rice dish recommended by our server, but this one also disappointed. The lamb was bland and didn't taste that fresh. The rice had a lot going on with green bell peppers, onions, carrots, raisins, spices, as well as sprinkled with pine nuts and almonds. I liked the varied textures of crunchy and soft, but ultimately the flavors didn't blend well together for me.

Next time, I'll stick to the chicken tawook. I haven't tried kafta, ground meat patties mixed with herbs and spices that is one of favorite dishes at Sunnin. I'm a bit apprehensive to go outside of the chicken zone here but I'll give it a shot.

It's definitely healthier eating although it also seemed a bit pricier than I remembered Sunnin to be. Ah, time to pay good ol' Sunnin a visit.

Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ: Ask for Newly Made Baby Back Ribs

My litmus test for all barbecue joints has to be the baby back ribs. I happen to be a rib fiend, but that's besides the point. So I shared an order of the combination rib and brisket with sides of potato salad and collard greens.

I liked the ribs. They were well cooked, with just a hint of sauce. I wasn't crazy about the various BBQ sauces on the table, and after trying a few, I decided I liked the original sauce the best.


The brisket, however, was simply inedible. It was like cardboard -- dry and unappetizing. So we sent it back and asked them to give us more ribs. Curiously, the second batch of ribs were a lot better. They were more tender, warmer, and freshly charred at the edges -- as if they had just come off the grill or smoker.

The potato salad was fine, nothing special, but the collard greens were really disappointing. They were limp and tasted like they'd been stewing on the stove for days. Not good.

I really enjoyed the second batch of ribs, which is what I'll stick to next time I go there. But not sure about some of the other stuff.

Congregration Ale House in LBC: Great Beer Selection and Juicy Burger

As many of you know, I love burgers. So when I perused the menu at this beer heaven, Congregation Ale House in Long Beach, it was a no-brainer. It was called a grilled rib-eye and cheddar burger. I confess my expectations weren't super high, only because I've been disappointed at other pubs many times before (York comes to mind. Village Idiot may be an exception).



This burger was very good. The patty was cooked medium rare just the way I like it -- slightly bloody but charred on the edges from the grilling. The works, including roasted tomatoes, grilled onions, arugula mixed greens and rosemary garlic mayo (although couldn't taste the garlic much), all blended together well. The bun was a ciabatta-type bread, which was not bad but I guess I just prefer a brioche bun with my burger.

The fries, both potatoes and sweet potato fries, were crispy, a bit on the oily side, but ok. I didn't love the dips they came with but maybe I should just try other ones as it offers a wide variety.

Speaking of variety, the beer selection is awesome. I, of course, had an IPA with my burger and the name escapes me. But part of the fun is trying new kinds of beer. The world is your oyster. Our group tried everything from a chocolate-flavored stout (sounds better than it tastes) and some pale ales that were very refreshing, to a "beer sangria" that mixed different kinds of beer to interesting results.

It got a bit hectic and crowded on a Friday night but worth a visit if you're a beer (and burger) person.

Myung Dong Kal Guk Su: Get the Dumpling

I was so happy to find a decent Korean place near Long Beach, which I've been spending a lot of time in lately. Myung Dong Kal Guk Su in Lakewood has one of the best mandu, or dumpling, I've had in LA. I was ecstatic because I've always had a hard time finding a dumpling I liked even though mandu is one of my favorite things to eat. Myung Dong is a chain of restaurants with locations in Koreatown and Tustin, although I've never been to any of these locations. It specializes in kal guk su, literally translating to knife noodles because the noodles are hand-made and cut with knives.

Why did I love the dumpling? It had pork and scallions, all seasoned with some garlic, salt and likely some sesame oil and sesame seeds. It's usually next to impossible to find pork mandu that doesn't smell porky in a bad way, so I was pleasantly surprised to find these to be delicious morsels of un-smelly goodness.


The namesake kal guk su -- handmade noodles in a thick chicken (and probably dried anchovy) broth topped with sliced zucchini, onions, potatoes and optional spicy seasoning -- was good but not as good as my Koreatown favorite, Madang Gooksu.

Ditto for the kong guk su -- noodles with a broth made from ground soy beans. Add some salt and it makes for a refreshing summer noodle dish. Even though it's not summer, I'm such a fan that I decided to try this rendition. The restaurant offered hecho noodles made from a kind of seaweed that's good for you. And it added some black sesame seeds to the broth so the color had a tinge of black sesame. It came with the standard sliced cucumbers and half a tomato.

The broth wasn't nearly as flavorful as Madang Gooksu's version, which I've waited in line for on some of the hottest days of the year.

Now on to the all-important kimchi review. The place offered two kinds -- white kimchi and keotjeori, which is napa cabbage kimchi that hasn't been fermented for as long as the regular kimchi we're most familiar with. Because of that, it has a more raw taste. I usually like this kind of kimchi but this one was too garlicky even for me.


The other kimchi was a white napa cabbage kimchi that is so called because it isn't red from the red pepper flakes usually added. So it's basically pickled cabbage. It was mild and good.

This place also has bibim guk su, the same seaweed noodles smothered in a sweet and spicy red sauce and topped with cucumbers.

I'll return to try some other soups offered, such as ttukmanduguk, dumpling soup with rice cakes and hanchihoe guk su, a delicacy noodle dish with sashimi smothered in a spicy sauce.

In the meantime, I enjoyed the extra order of mandu I got to go. I'll definitely be returning for more of those.