I was in Washington, D.C. a few weeks ago, and made a culinary pilgrimage — as I often have — to Old Ebbitt Grill, which opened in 1856, before the Civil War and the presidency of Abraham Lincoln.
A meal at Old Ebbitt offers a chance to eat dishes from back in the day: oysters Rockefeller, fried deviled eggs, Maine lobster, shepherd’s pie. And the experience filled me with both deeply nostalgic cooking and a sense of history in every bite.
I have a passion for restaurants that have survived the dual tests of time and trends. They’re a window into how we used to live. They connect us with a history of the place, for it’s in these venerables that the past dwells.
When I first moved to Los Angeles, back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, I was amazed by the sheer newness of everything. And saddened to find there was so little reverence for the past. And then, I discovered such still extant great restaurants of yesteryear as El Cholo, Philippe the Original, The Original Pantry (born again after briefly closing), Pink’s, Canter’s, Miceli’s and The Apple Pan — and many that give Long Beach a sense of the history of our Harbor City.
There’s nothing as old, of course, as Fraunces Tavern in New York — which dates back to the 1760s, and where George Washington bid farewell to his troops. And nothing as old as Boston’s Union Oyster House, which has been around since 1826. Daniel Webster would consume six platters of oysters during a sitting there.
Long Beach isn’t nearly that old. But still, our venerables do reflect our past — a time long forgotten, before sushi, before smoked salmon pizza, before much in the way of dietary obsessiveness.
We used to be a nation that ate, and ate very heartily. Thinness was a sign of poverty; girth suggested affluence — an equation that’s completely been flipped on its head. So, when going to the following venerables, make sure you have a good appetite. You’ll be fed — and then some.
The menu at Heritage Family Pantry in Lakewood is a sizable one with an abundance of options for breakfast (served all day), lunch and dinner. (Photo by Merrill Shindler)
Diners enjoy a meal at Jongewaard’s Bake n’ Broil in Long Beach. (SCNG file photo)
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The menu at Heritage Family Pantry in Lakewood is a sizable one with an abundance of options for breakfast (served all day), lunch and dinner. (Photo by Merrill Shindler)
The sheer heft of the menu at Heritage Family Pantry (2601 Carson St., Lakewood; 562-421-1442) speaks of a style of dining that dates back long before the minimalist menus of the moment.
This old-school institution, just north of the airport, demands extra time just to sort through the abundance of options for breakfast (served all day), lunch and dinner. I counted nearly three dozen egg dishes — including five involving eggs with steaks. There’s another five breakfast sandwiches and burritos. More than a dozen dishes “Off the Griddle.” More than a score of sandwiches, with 10 different sides. Ten burgers. And such nostalgic “Classic Favorites” as “old fashioned” pot roast and “old fashioned” meatloaf. One of the 12 desserts is tapioca-and-chocolate pudding — a trip back in time with every spoonful.
The fabled “world famous” Curley’s Café (1999 E. Willow St., Signal Hill; 562-424-0018, https://curleyscafe.com), home of “Fine Foods & Spirits,” a Signal Hill landmark since 1932, isn’t hard to find. Not only is it at the busy intersection of Cherry Avenue and Willow Street, but there’s a small grove of working oil pumps in the parking lot, allowing those who sit on the outdoor patio to watch the pumps go up and down and up and down (ad infinitum) while sipping on a beer and chewing a burger.
But then, with a different football game on every big screen inside Curley’s, sitting outside seems a denial of the secular joy of an autumnal Sunday. Going to Curley’s for the pumps is fine; going to Curley’s for the games is essential.
Curley’s serves locally produced Cimino’s Pepper Sauce — a terrific sauce that’s been around since 1961, found almost exclusively at restaurants and markets in the Long Beach area. It’s our hot sauce. Tabasco is from Louisiana; Cimino’s is from Linden Avenue. Support your local sauce!
Curley’s also serves what may be the best onion rings in all of Long Beach. Heck, they may be the best in Southern California. They’re not so much rings, as they are onion cones — oddly cut onion slices that allow for a lot more batter, and a lot more crisp. I wasn’t going to finish my order, diet and all that. And then, after a crazy amount of crunching and lip smacking, they were all gone. I suspect dousing them with Cimino’s didn’t hurt. These are world-class onion rings.
Domenico’s Belmont Shore (5339 E. 2nd St., Long Beach; 562-439-0261, www.domenicosrestaurant.com) takes great pride in “Serving the Shore Since ’54.” And though the menu does have some modernist moments on it (pepperoni mac-and-cheese! kale and spinach salad!), at least some of it is as it was back in the day, when Domenico Spano opened as a pizzeria, one of the first, serving eight pre-set pizzas, and two salads. Also spumoni. And (a bit of history here), “Western Beer” and “Eastern Beer.”
You can check out the early menus, posted on the walls, and on the website; they speak of a style of dining that’s vanished. Even at Domenico’s, where the number of pizza options is many (chicken Alfredo pizza!), as are the number of pastas, salads, soups and so forth. Still, there’s something about the Domenico’s experience that speaks of times gone by, and how much they’re missed.
Yes, Virginia, there really is a Joe Jost — in fact, both a Joe Senior and Joe Junior. And the first Joe Jost, founder of Joe Jost’s, a much-loved saloon on Anaheim Street (2803 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach; 562-439-5446, www.joejosts.com), is immortalized in a long, and heartfelt essay on the joint’s website, where we learn that “Joe was born in a small Hungarian town called Istranfold, now in Yugoslavia. At age 12, he was given a choice of either becoming a priest or getting a job. Off he went to live with an uncle in a nearby village to serve a four-year apprenticeship as a barber. … At age of 16, he sailed into New York Harbor. He never forgot the moment he first gazed upon the Statue of Liberty, a memory he kept close to his heart for his entire lifetime.”
Eventually, he wound up in Southern California, where he opened a shop first on Balboa Island in Newport Beach — and then, in 1924, in Long Beach, where he ran what his teetotaler wife Edith referred to as “the store” — loved for its beer, its sandwiches, its peanuts and, most of all, for its pickled eggs. Which are sold to eat in-house with pretzels, and in large jars to take home. I doubt there’s a restaurant in America that makes better pickled eggs — or sells more of them.
I’ve been to Jongewaard’s Bake n’ Broil (3697 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach; 562-595-0396, www.thebakenbroil.com), which dates back to 1965, so many times over the years for breakfast that it comes as something of a surprise to notice that Jongewaard’s is not just a pancake-and-egg dish joint. Though based on the morning crowds, which spill out onto the patio, it’s easy to perceive Jongewaard’s as one of those many Long Beach eateries that closes in early afternoon, after the egg supply finally runs out.
Rather, Jongewaard’s finally closes at 9 p.m. most nights (8:30 on Sundays). And there’s much to eat there that’s not breakfast. Though I must admit, those banana nut pancakes call out for me to choose them instead.
The sine qua non of lunch or dinner at Jongewaard’s has to be the chicken pot pie — a dish so good, it deserves a descriptive. Perhaps “the iconic chicken pot pie,” or “the legendary chicken pot pie,” or even “the fabled chicken pot pie.” It fits perfectly into the Bake n’ Broil pledge of “Simply good food.”
And for so many of us, it’s a quintessential taste of our childhoods — only better than the Swanson frozen pies we ate back in the day. The food at Jongewaard’s both warms the body, and the soul — and fills the stomach very nicely, too. At prices that seem to be out of an earlier time.
The Queen Mary (1126 Queens Hwy., Long Beach; 562-499-1657, www.queenmary.com/dining) went on its maiden voyage in 1936, and on its final voyage in 1967, when it sailed to Long Beach Harbor, where it’s been berthed ever since as a tourist attraction with a hotel and a number of restaurants.
For my money, Sir Winston’s is a fine place to go for a cocktail, preferably something that would have been consumed on one of the great ship’s journeys across the pond.
The atmosphere — polished wood, flattering lighting, murmured conversations, and lots of photographs of Winston Churchill — inspires one to slip into a classic libation. Perhaps an Old Fashioned, a Rob Roy, a Gibson or a Negroni — all made with care at the bar.
I like the bar at Sir Winston’s, for it’s a refuge from the various parties being held in the large public rooms on the ship — and from the tourists walking the decks, wondering what to do next. For me, the answer was simple: some venerable ambience and something made with gin made me very happy. And perhaps the Dover sole meunière, a dish worthy of royalty, dining in black tie and tails.
Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.