Skip to Content
Long Beach

Where I Eat in Long Beach After Being Out of Town

From sourdough conchas you can't even find in Mexico to so many mom-and-pop-owned dank and delicious Cambodian noodles, to Mexican-inspired tiki and a Roman-style pizza that tastes as excellent as it does in Italy. This is Javier Cabral's Long Beach.

Confession time: Moving to Long Beach straight-up reinvigorated my passion for eating out in my home city. Mainly because living in the middle of L.A.’s Cambodia Town and its universe of dank noodles, beef sticks, and mango salads is a hell of a lot more exhilarating than the wave of post-gentrification restaurants that have opened in Highland Park in the last decade. 

We just passed the year mark since making the big move from the epicenter of Highland Park, and we haven’t looked back. People say Long Beach is far, located about 25 miles from downtown L.A., but far from what?

Cambodia Town sign in Long Beach. Photo by Ulysses Salcido.

We travel to Puerto Vallarta often because that is where my wife is from and where her family lives. When we are there, I eat as many tacos and mariscos as possible, so when I return home to Long Beach, I’m usually voracious for noodles. However, not even throughout my travels in Mexico have I experienced a concha [Mexican sweet bread roll] like the sourdough conchas at Gusto Bread. I am not lying when I say that we moved to Long Beach to be closer to them. To be frank: We want to be part of a community that supports a concha being $5. I’m obsessed with them and usually stockpile them since they freeze very well. Whenever I’m out of town, going to Gusto to re-stock their conchas and rustic bread is a ritual.

Inside Gusto. Photo by Ulysses Salcido.
A cacao concha from Gusto. Photo by Ulysses Salcido.

I’ve been having the time of my life eating through all the noodles in Long Beach, usually for takeout, but sometimes dine-in. We’ve tried over a dozen places, searching for our next thrill in noodle form. We go through our phases of returning to places over and over but lately have found ourselves loyal to Tasty Food To Go, a Cambodian-owned house-turned-restaurant that does Thai and Lao-style noodles. Our go-to order is pad kee mao (spicy basil drunken noodles) with fried tofu, nam tok, panang curry with curry, and a couple of orders of sticky rice. The Cambodian and Lao influence comes through with the addition of fermented bamboo in the noodles. The curries are thick and always made to order, and the beef in the nam tok is tender and ultra-flavorful thanks to the toasted rice powder and a lime dressing that leans on the fish-forward side rather than sweet. The owner, Kelly, just took over the restaurant from her family and knows my name and order. That, in a nutshell, is what Long Beach is all about: community and making time in everyone’s busy schedules to interact. I also kind of like that the establishment is cash only, and my punk-rooted ways perceive that as a political statement against capitalism.

Family-owned Tasty Food 2 Go cooks cooking noodles. Photo by Ulysses Salcido.

When we first moved here, a friend who has a Mexican-inspired tiki concept cleverly named Chuntikis introduced me to Monorom, another Cambodian spot. They have the best beef sticks I’ve had in Long Beach; grilled marinated beef skewers marinated in a super aromatic base of lemongrass, fish sauce, and a bunch of other things bursting with umami. As well as “Student Noodles” which is like pad Thai but not as sweet. They also carry a strong dark Cambodian beer that I really enjoy and is hard to find, Angkor Extra Stout. It goes great with those beef sticks and noodles.

Sadao Salad at Crystal Thai. Photo by Ulysses Salcido.

I’ve been lucky enough to be welcomed by the area’s local expert on Cambodian food and culture, James Tir, who runs the account LBFoodComa on Instagram. Just when I thought I’d thought I’d had all the noodles in town, he blows my mind by introducing me to nom p‘jok at Crystal Thai restaurant, a traditional Cambodian dish of somen noodles in an incredibly delicious turmeric fish broth. It’s refreshing, fortifying, and utterly addictive if you are a fan of turmeric. They also have a great sadao salad made with crispy fried fish and delicious bitter herbs. Note: This place is also cash-only and more of a lunchtime destination.

PIzza at La Parolaccia. Photo by Ulysses Salcido.

If I’m noodled out – which occasionally does happen! – I’m a big fan of the wood-fired, thin-crust pizza that the “Roman Cholo” pizzaiolo at La Parolaccia quietly pumps out every night. It’s a spot that doesn’t get as much hype as other big-name Italian restaurants in town, but the locals know. The family-owned restaurant has been open for nearly two decades and has an hour-long wait every night, mostly by the restaurant’s neighboring residents who walk there from their homes nearby. The Italian American, second-generation dough wizard behind the pizza program goes back to Italy every year to keep learning his craft, and when you take that first bite of their Sofia pizza with fresh burrata, you’ll see why it’s not your average neighborhood pizza.

If you know, you know. That's the Long Beach ethos and I hope it stays that way.


Editors note: L.A. TACO is co-publishing this article with Culinary Backstreets.

In the latest installment of our recurring First Stop feature, we asked Javier Cabral, the Long Beach-based Editor in Chief of L.A. TACO, where his go-to spots are in L.A.s last-standing working-class beachside community. He is the former restaurant scout for Jonathan Gold, the Associate Producer of the Taco Chronicles series on Netflix, and the author of Oaxaca: Home Cooking From the Heart of Mexico” and Asada: The Art of Mexican-Style Grilling.” 

Javier has been having the time of his life tasting through all of the Cambodian, Laotian, Thai, and Vietnamese noodles in Cambodia Town and Little Saigon in Westminster.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from L.A. TACO

Opinion: Why Downtown’s 100-Year-Old Original Pantry Cafe Needs to Stay Open

The Pantry is not a struggling business. There are lines out the door every hour it’s open these days. A lifer there, a dishwasher, has worked there for 45 years. The Riordan Trust has the right to do what it wishes with its property. But maybe the law isn’t all that matters in shaping what makes a city and a culture like Los Angeles what it is.

February 21, 2025

Weekend Eats: Sri Lankan Micheladas, Tinga Masala, Iftar Meals, and the ‘Benihana of Tacos’

Here's where to find "cebada curd" Mexican French toast, a promising new Korean tofu stew, and a feast in Hawaiian Gardens to break your Ramadan fasting.

February 21, 2025

‘Uber With Guns:’ You Can Now Hire An Off-Duty LAPD SWAT Officer As a Personal Bodyguard

Are you a high-profile Angeleno, a nervous healthcare executive, or simply worried about running errands in the city and needing your next ride-share to come with a bit of armed protection? Now, there’s an app for that. 

February 19, 2025

Pasadena Mariscos Restaurant Fights Eviction to Stay Open After Wildfires

Despite working seven days a week as the restaurant’s only employee to pay off back rent going all the way to the pandemic, Mario Velásquez is fighting a court eviction issued just days after the start of nearby wildfires: "How could I just hand over 20 years of my life, a life of hard work and sacrifice?”

February 19, 2025

Why Waving a Mexican Flag at a Protest in the U.S. Is a Form of Resistance

Raising Mexican flags is not an act of anti-Americanism. Quite the opposite—it is an expression of cultural pride, dignity, and resistance in the face of racism and intolerance. In the United States, waving the Mexican flag—or any national flag—can be an act of defiance against oppression, a declaration of one’s humanity and rights in response to relentless denigration by movements like MAGA that seek to marginalize entire communities. Even Trump would agree...

February 18, 2025
See all posts