Longbeachize

Long Beach Greek Week will lead into the Long Beach Greek Festival 2026, as is Labor Day weekend tradition for over 75 years. The week—running from Aug. 31 through Sept. 4—will feature a slew of Greek- or Greek-American-owned restaurants with specials before leading up to the festival tradition. And the fest, you ask? You’ll smell it and hear it before you see it. Charcoal smoke curls into the sky. Music playing loudly. Lamb sizzling over open flames. People happily yelling over one another.

Long Beach’s proper Irish pub, The Auld Dubliner in DTLB, has been named the best Irish pub in the state of California by MSN—and one of the best in the nation. Joining a list that ranks the best in every state in the nation, Auld Dub owner David Copley had nothing but the most fitting, succinct answer. “I am so damn happy about this,” he said.

Five years ago, Ashley Monconduit opened SnoCorner as a deeply personal ode to New Orleans snoball culture, her Long Beach upbringing, and the generations of family history held within a tiny building across from Poly High School. On Saturday, Aug. 29, that bright, tricolored sweet shop will officially celebrate its fifth anniversary—and, in signature SnoCorner fashion, the party is less about simply marking another year than about inviting Long Beach to patiently pause. Giddily gather.

The closing of Bar Becky was many things: Infuriating. Heartbreaking. Another sobering reminder of how brutally difficult it is to operate an independent, chef-driven restaurant—particularly when landlords, leases and unrelenting occupancy costs enter the equation. But it was never the end of Chef Johnathan Benvenuti in Long Beach.

The second annual Long Beach Grand Prix Fixe officially kicked off this week at Partake Collective in DTLB with two wildly different culinary battles—and with them, brought its first two winners. Chef César Sánchez of Ruta 15 defeated Chef Eric Samaniego of the soon-to-reopen Bungalow Kitchen on Monday, Aug. 24. The following evening, Chef Danny Le of Chez Bacchus bested Chef Eduardo Chang of Sushi Nikkei. Both chefs will now advance to the semifinals, taking place Monday, Sept. 7, and Tuesday, Sept.

Ellie’s in Alamitos Beach. Ginger’s directly next door. Jolie on Coronado Island in San Diego. And now, Chef Jason Witzl—along with an incredible crew that includes partner Molly Sirody and Chef Patrick Claytor, formerly of Heritage and Olive & Rose—is ready to introduce Gigi’s. And they’re taking over a space that the community has long desired to have activated. The former Picarelli’s space in East Long Beach. Photo by Mikael Enevoldsen. For years, the hulking, conspicuously empty space at 6204 E.

Missed out on Brian Addison’s Favorite Things of past? We got you covered—just click here. Too many years back, I wrote a very self-indulgent listicle that was about so-called “essential” Long Beach dishes; dishes that I loved and could depend on as long as that place existed—and I wrote it because there’s something so elemental and useful about a specific great dish at a specific place.

What began with a home oyster knife, a love of New Orleans, and one wonderfully tiny truck is becoming something much larger: Loquat Oysters is taking up residency inside RetRoll Sushi at the Art Theatre on 4th Street. Beginning Sunday, Sept. 6, Long Beach locals Lucky and Liz Huon will take over the RetRoll space every Sunday through Tuesday, serving the raw, dressed, fried and charcoal-grilled oysters that have earned Loquat an intensely loyal following.

Dolores—Chef Luis Navarro and Brenda Rivera’s reimagining of its previous iteration, The Social List—really is the comfort zone of 4th Street. And its brunch menu, an international affair that reflects the traditions of Californian breakfast, is no exception. “There are some people doing really great things,” Chef Luis said. “But Dolores really is about comfort food. We want you to seek the familiar in the hopes of getting it. That’s the direction we opted to go.” Dolores on 4th Street in Long Beach.

Praise the Beef Gods: Burger Bash is returning to Long Beach. Come Sunday, Sept. 13, the city’s biggest burger competition invades the Selva parking lot with a stacked lineup of competitors. Chef Carlos Jurado of Selva, partnering with me at Longbeachize and James Tir (aka LBFoodComa), has opted to take on the humble and mighty burger yet again for a friendly, Long Beach-only burger competition.