PowWow Pizza-Closed

PowWow Pizza
4085 Atlantic Ave Ste B
Long Beach, CA 90807
562-283-0152

After going to Pizza of Venice, after seeing it on LA Eater's list of the 22 Essential Pizza in LA, I decided to go to another pizza restaurant on the list- PowWow Pizza, in Long Beach.  PowWow makes 11 of the 22 place on that list, that I have gone to!

Apparently the own of PowWow is from Cambodia, and some of the pizza has Cambodian influences.  There is also a Korean, Indian, and a Filipino influenced pizzas on the menu.

PowWow is in corner unit, with a semi circular front counter-where you place your order.  There are regular and high top tables inside, and four tables outside.  They have a pizza oven that is blasting like crazy!  It's a few blocks north of the still open, and apparently thriving Bake and Broil!

One topping medium pizza-$10, with mushrooms.  This was a great pizza!  Plenty of gooey cheese, nice rich flavorful sauce, and a decent amount of mushrooms.  The crust with dense, chewy, and had good flavor.  It held up to all the toppings like a champ!

Service was good. I could see they were busy, not only with customers in the restaurant, but online and phone orders!  The pizza oven was firing the entire time I was there.  The two people working were going non stop filling the orders.  While the guy who took my order didn't give me a time when my pizza was going to be ready- he did apologize for the wait when he brought my pizza to my table.

I would go back to PowWow Pizza any time!

Eat Love

Eat Love

Eat Love was at the Long Beach Vegan District at The Pike when I tried them.  But, I've also seen them at the North Hollywood Vegan Fest- where Lettuce Feast and Veggietize Me both set up!  I've been meaning to try their fried chicken and finally had a chance in Long Beach.

Self Love Bucket, $16- three pieces of chicken and fries, with one sauce- I picked honey mustard.  The chicken is house made with a wheat product.  You get three good sized pieces!  I bet the three pieces were close to 12 oz or more!  The outside is a nice crunchy flavorful batter.  If you used their batter with regular fried chicken, everybody would like it.  Now, inside, texture wise it's very much like chicken.  But, taste wise a bit too salty, and that's the chicken part, not the batter.  It resembles the taste of chicken but, you know it isn't real chicken.  The fries are nothing more than frozen fries from a bag.  While the honey mustard sauce was pretty good, it was only half filled.  They charge $1 for two sauces.

Service.  While friendly, way too slow.  People were waiting 20-30 minutes for their orders! 

I wouldn't go back to Eat Love. 

Michael’s Pizzeria

Michael’s Pizzeria
5616 E 2nd St
Long Beach, CA 90803
562-987-4000

Michael’s Pizzeria opened in 2013, right next door to Michael's on Naples-which is a fine dining restaurant.  Around 2014, I read that Michael's Pizzeria was the #1 pizza place in America.  I found that hard to believe, but wanted to give them a try.  But, I never got around to go to Long Beach.  But, on a cloudy Saturday I was nearby and figured I should finally try it.

Michael's Pizzeria is a like Settebello, in Pasadena, and Desano Pizza Bakery, in East Hollywood, a Neapolitan style pizza.  The pizza are baked in wood burning oven.  They are personal sized, about 10in. 

Margarita Pizza $14, with House-made mozzarella, San Marzano tomato sauce, basil, and extra virgin olive.  The sauce was a bit watery, and bland.  No flavor or seasoning at all.  The basil was charred in a few places, but the mozzarella was very good.  The crust was good, but salty.  The saltiness of the crust made up for the blandness of the tomato sauce.  The price is fair, as they use good quality ingredients, but the execution wasn't there!  They currently have a promotion; every Monday, if you buy any pizza, you get a margarita pizza free!! 

Service, I got my order to go, was good.

I was expecting a lot from Michael's and they didn't deliver.  It's a good version of  Neapolitan style pizza, but not the best! Of the Neapolitan style pizza I've tried within the past 3-5 years, I would rank DeSano #1, Settebello #2, and Michael's a distance third place.

Village Inn Fish & Chips

Village Inn Fish & Chips
6406 E Stearns St
Long Beach, CA 90815
562-430-2977

Village Inn Fish & Chips used to be H. Salt, the fish and chips chain, that was once popular!  My go to place in Long Beach for inexpensive fish and chips is England Fish and Chips.  I wanted to see how Village Inn compares.

A small place with 4 tables.  It's mostly a take out place.  Parking can be tight in the area with a pizza place, and a bar in the complex.

Tuesday special-6 pieces of fish for $8.95.  Regular price-$2.49 per piece.  The fish is Alaskan pollock.  The pieces of frozen pieces of fish, with a medium coat of batter.  It's pretty good, but England is better with a bigger portion.

Jumbo shrimp-$2.25 each.  This was ok.  The shrimp was chewy.  Not as crunchy and a bit oily.  I'm guessing the shrimp went into the fryer when the oil wasn't the correct temperature.

Service is good.  The owner arrived about 25 minutes late.  But, he apologized and added an extra piece of jumbo shrimp.  The fish is cooked to order, so expect at least a 15 minute wait.

Overall Village Inn Fish & Chips is a good alternative to England Fish and Chips, but England is still the best place in Long Beach for fish and chips!

The Pot Holder Cafe

The Pot Holder Cafe
3700 E Broadway
Long Beach, CA 90803
562-433-9305

So, I'm in Long Beach on a Saturday morning and we're trying to find a place to eat that is open.   The Potholder seemed like a good place to try- a nice neighborhood diner.  The sign said closed but the door was open.  They were preparing to open and quite frankly the server didn't seem too happy to see customers walk in about five minutes before they officially opened.

Anyways, The Potholder is a big place that has the last three units of the building and by the time we left almost all the seats were taken.  So it's a popular neighborhood diner.

Frankie's Special; two eggs over hard, two strips of bacon, two pancakes, $5.95.  I'm really not a breakfast person.  I to eat out for lunch and dinner instead of breakfast.  But, when I do go for breakfast, it's my usual eggs and bacon and maybe some toast or pancakes.

I always get my eggs over hard, I hate runny eggs.  These eggs were cooked pretty well.  The yolk or the white were cooked, maybe slightly overcooked, but that's fine.  The eggs did lack salt, which is a basic seasoning.  The bacon was the standard bacon you get from the supermarket, nothing special or great about it.  But, the bacon was slightly undercooked.

But, the pancakes were awesome!  They were cooked perfectly-light, fluffy with a nice sweetness to them.

Service was below average.  While the orders came out quickly and we didn't lack for anything, the lady who maybe the owner or manager wasn't too friendly.  Like I said she wasn't too happy we came in five minutes before they opened.  If they didn't want customers coming in, maybe they should lock the damn door!!  If they want customers they need to be nicer to customers and cook the food better-overcooked eggs that lacked salt and slightly undercooked eggs?  Come on now.

I wouldn't go back to The Potholder, unfriendly service and poorly cooked food, though the pancakes were great, isn't a recipe for a return visit.

La Creperie Café

La Creperie Café 

130 Pine Ave
Long Beach, CA 90802

562-437-8648

What an interesting contrast; a Hooters restaurant turned into La Creperie Cafe!  Yes, that's what happened in Long Beach, when Hooters moved from Pine Ave to The Pike area.  This is actually the second La Creperie Café in Long Beach, the first being in the Belmont Shore area.  They are copying the model of George's Greek Cafe who opened another location on Pine Ave. in addition to the George's Greek Cafe in Belmont Shore.  I have heard good things about La Creperie Cafe and decided to give them a try.

La Creperie Cafe is very elegantly decorated restaurant, with it's high ceilings, beautiful chandeliers, and dim lighting this makes for a romantic dining spot. 

Dipollo crepe, $10.95: Fresh wild mushrooms, herbs de provence and mozzarella with chicken in a sherry cream sauce.  There are all kinds of crepes on the menu and I decided on the dipollo.  The crepe itself was good with a nice firm yet light texture.  The mushrooms were cooked perfectly.  But, everything else was lacking.  The chicken was too dry and tough, the sauce was bland, just adding some salt would have improved the flavor.  I wasn't impressed.

Service was pretty good.  Our server was very helpful and nice, though he was slow to refill drinks.

I was disappointed in La Creperie Café.  I was expecting more flavor and got bland, overcooked food.  I won't go back.

At Last Cafe-Closed

At Last Cafe
204 Orange Ave
Long Beach
562-437-4837

At Last I have tried At Last Cafe!! I first knew about At Last Cafe shortly after they opened in 2008 and it's been on my list of places to try. But, I still didn't go try it. I've heard good things about At Last Cafe and I was looking forward to having dinner here with a friend I haven't seen in over two years.

When At Last Cafe opened, it was a very small restaurant and you needed reservations. But, they recently expanded and while I would still suggest reservations, you maybe able to walk in and get a table without waiting too long. But, parking in the area is a tough to find. There is only street parking and it's a crowded neighborhood.

Green Goddess Salad, $5.75, avocado, cucumber, and herb dressing. This salad was awesome!! This was a mixed green salad that was very fresh and the dressing was out of this world. A light buttermilk type dressing with good flavor. A huge portion that makes it perfect as an entree salad. Luckily my friend and I split this salad, otherwise I wouldn't have room for the entree.

3 Cheese mac and cheese, $8.75. I had heard lots of great things about their mac and cheese. While the macaroni was cooked perfectly, I thought this was bland and they were pretty stingy with the cheese. Some parts of the macaroni was just the pasta, very little to no cheese. Sure, it's a big portion, but not worth the price and didn't come close to living up to the hype.

Stir Fried Fresh Vegetables, $8, broccoli, squash, eggplant, spinach.

I hate egg plant and I asked the server what kind of vegetables came in this dish. He mentioned squash and broccoli. Then I asked "Is there eggplant?" He said no. Well out comes my dish and it's filled with broccoli, squash, a few leaves of spinach, and EGG PLANT!! If my friend didn't love eggplant, I would have sent this back. My friend ate most of the eggplant. The veggies I ate were well cooked and seasoning in a soy sauce. They were a bit undercooked, they could have cooked for about 2-3 more minutes. This dish was ok, but if you take out the eggplant, this was a pretty small portion.

Service was good, except for the fact that the server didn't know the menu and what comes in the stir fried veggie dish. I asked the server if there was any eggplant in my stir fired veggie entree and he said no. But, in fact there was a ton of eggplant. I don't really care if they don't know the answer when I ask. But, they should go and find out the answer. Isn't it pretty easy to go to the kitchen and ask the chef what comes in a certain dish? What if somebody had a food allergy? Not to eggplants, but nuts or something else that could seriously injury or even cause death?

I was looking forward to my trip to At Last Cafe but I was underwhelmed. The green goddess salad was my favorite by far. The other two items I ordered missed the mark or was just ok. While the prices are good and the portions are big, I won't be going back to At Last Cafe. Very overrated!!