Speaker 1: The years go by so quickly. It seems like we
Speaker 1: were just talking to my friend Elizabeth bursting about dine
Speaker 1: Out Long Beach. It seems like it it was just
Speaker 1: the other day. But it's been a year. February eighteenth
Speaker 1: through the twenty eighth coming up here, you'll have a
Speaker 1: restaurant and cocktail week of course, presented by Runyon Gazette. Elizabeth.
Speaker 1: How are you, my friend?
Speaker 2: I'm doing good, Neil, Thank you.
Speaker 1: So, okay, let's break down. You're celebrating ten years, right.
Speaker 2: You're correct, I believe it or not.
Speaker 1: Yeah, congratulations, that's awesome.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Now the LBC has come into its own and there
Speaker 1: was a lot, you know, for a long time LA
Speaker 1: had the focus only and then that's grown and continue
Speaker 1: to move south with you know, Orange County and Long
Speaker 1: Beach and Long Beach really has such a great food scene.
Speaker 1: Why don't you break down a little bit about what
Speaker 1: you love about the Long Beach the uniqueness of the
Speaker 1: Long Beach food scene as we talk more about Dine
Speaker 1: Out Long Beach.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, what I love about Long Beach, I mean
Speaker 3: moved here to go to college.
Speaker 2: And I won't say when, but it's been a while.
Speaker 3: But I love Long Beach is you know, it's pockets
Speaker 3: of neighborhoods.
Speaker 2: Right, So you have you know, you know, you have your.
Speaker 3: Seaside communities balmash or Naples. You have Bixby Knoles, which
Speaker 3: is you know, north of the four or five super
Speaker 3: charming cal Heights.
Speaker 2: You have you know, you know, foody.
Speaker 3: Neighborhoods like Cambodia Town, which is you know, just you know,
Speaker 3: if we have the largest population of Cambodians outside of Cambodia.
Speaker 3: So I mean you can imagine the food which is
Speaker 3: down Anaheim Street and Long Beach if you know it.
Speaker 3: So what I love about Lund Beach is I mean
Speaker 3: it does have a diverse selection of restaurants and cuisines
Speaker 3: and price points. You know, it really has come into
Speaker 3: its own in the last ten to fifteen years and
Speaker 3: it's been wonderful.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: They having those cultural pockets like that where groups because
Speaker 1: that happens. Some people come from a country and they
Speaker 1: have their their deep love rightly so of their culture.
Speaker 1: And when other you know, family members, friends or whatever,
Speaker 1: they say, hey come here, it's great and we love
Speaker 1: it here. They tend to move in similar areas and
Speaker 1: we as people who are born here in the States
Speaker 1: get the benefit of people that bring their cultures and
Speaker 1: the beauty of their cultures and the food. So Long Beach,
Speaker 1: like you said, is kind of an eclectic place depending
Speaker 1: on where you land. What are some of the restaurants.
Speaker 1: Are there any new restaurants this year that you wanted
Speaker 1: to highlight because I know restaurants come and go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they do.
Speaker 3: And you know, I was looking over the last ten years,
Speaker 3: like when we first started, and I want to say
Speaker 3: close to probably forty percent have closed.
Speaker 2: You know, it's you know, restaurants, it's been rough. It's
Speaker 2: been rough. You know, we had COVID.
Speaker 3: You know, if you're a steakhouse trying to make something,
Speaker 3: take something out is not steak doesn't travel real well, right,
Speaker 3: nobody wants to pay one hundred bucks for a meal
Speaker 3: and take it home in a syrophone box.
Speaker 2: So you know you had that.
Speaker 3: But you know, but when restaurants, you know, for whatever reason, closed,
Speaker 3: you know, something pops up and takes its place. So
Speaker 3: this year we have our you know, some of our
Speaker 3: longtime restaurants that have been doing dine out Long Beach
Speaker 3: since day one, like Naples Rib Company and Michael's on Naples,
Speaker 3: Buana's Italian Restaurant downtown.
Speaker 2: But we also have some newer restaurants this year.
Speaker 3: So one is Bar Becky, have a really top chef there.
Speaker 2: It's over by the airport.
Speaker 3: Great cocktail scene there, so we're very excited. They opened,
Speaker 3: i want to say, in the last six months, doing
Speaker 3: really well. They're right next to a restaurant called the
Speaker 3: nine to eight and Georgia, so they're all participating in
Speaker 3: dine out Long Beach. So you know, you can do
Speaker 3: a progressive, progressive dinner if you want to start with
Speaker 3: cocktails at one place, meal.
Speaker 2: And then with dessert somewhere else.
Speaker 3: Another restaurant is The Local Current, which is downtown as well.
Speaker 2: It's a new restaurant in the Marriotte at Ocean and Pine.
Speaker 3: They're doing a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu, so you know,
Speaker 3: pick your pick your day part and very reasonable. We
Speaker 3: also have the so it's been getting a lot of attention.
Speaker 2: Is that the Breaker's Hotel reopened?
Speaker 3: Oh yes, so, I mean just they redid that from
Speaker 3: top to bottom. That's got that has a great history.
Speaker 3: It's an icon landmark in Long Beach. Elizabeth Taylor and
Speaker 3: Nikki Hilton spent their wedding night there in nineteen fifty
Speaker 3: because it was his dad's hotel. But their restaurant, their
Speaker 3: Italian restaurant, is participating.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: It's you know, it's a shiny new toy in town.
Speaker 3: So if anyone's thinking of dining there, I get on.
Speaker 2: It, make a reservation quickly.
Speaker 3: So those are a few of the new restaurants participating
Speaker 3: and again all different price points, all different cuisines, all
Speaker 3: different experiences.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I hate to hear about places closing, and we've
Speaker 1: heard all too much about that and we continue to
Speaker 1: get hit even here in Los Angeles with the fires
Speaker 1: as well recently have caused problems because people aren't going
Speaker 1: out to those areas unfortunately. But I do love hearing
Speaker 1: when places open, you know, it gives hope that there's
Speaker 1: new places for people to connect with and to you know,
Speaker 1: fall in love with all over it again in an area.
Speaker 1: You know, I live in an area in Los Angeles
Speaker 1: that has restaurant turnover and then has some landmark places
Speaker 1: that have been around for a while. Thanks for hanging
Speaker 1: out today where you're talking with my buddy Elizabeth Borstein
Speaker 1: about dine out long Beach celebrating ten Delicious years. Restaurant
Speaker 1: and Cocktail Week February eighteenth through the twenty eighth coming
Speaker 1: up this week, presented by Grunion Gazette. You can eat
Speaker 1: meat and repeat going through the restaurants. It's a great
Speaker 1: list of restaurants, which is exciting. But I also want
Speaker 1: to and we'll get into that in a moment. I
Speaker 1: want to focus on dine out Help Out on Monday,
Speaker 1: February twenty fourth. What's that about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we always do.
Speaker 3: During Dine Out Long Beach a a charity component and
Speaker 3: we call it Past the Plate. So we've done it
Speaker 3: different variations. It looks different each year. But this year,
Speaker 3: because of wildfires, are nonprofit Partner Restaurants Care, which is
Speaker 3: the nonprofit arm of the California Restaurant Association. They have
Speaker 3: an LA Fire Fund and it's for restaurants to help
Speaker 3: their own so any restaurant tours, it is a great program.
Speaker 3: Any restaurant tours or employees that work for restaurants affected
Speaker 3: by the wildfires, whether they lost the restaurant, lost their home,
Speaker 3: are displaced, out of work, whatever that we are raising
Speaker 3: money for that group. Because Neil, as you know, restaurants
Speaker 3: are always the first to donate gift cards for school
Speaker 3: office know everything, donate food for a charity event.
Speaker 2: So this one is helping their own get back on
Speaker 2: their feet.
Speaker 3: You know, we lost some really good restaurants with these
Speaker 3: wild buyers. But not only that, there's people that you know,
Speaker 3: the restaurants closed for fire damage.
Speaker 2: They don't have a job, but they still have their bills.
Speaker 3: So on February twenty fifth, most of the restaurants participating
Speaker 3: in Dine Out Long Beach and you can go to
Speaker 3: our website Dineoutlongbeach dot com. It's right on the landing
Speaker 3: page on who's giving back. Everyone's giving back a minimum
Speaker 3: of ten percent. Because restaurants are generous, many are giving
Speaker 3: back more for the restaurants closed on Monday, and that's
Speaker 3: Michael's on Naples and Vino e Kutina, they are going
Speaker 3: to do it on Tuesday because they're not open on Monday.
Speaker 3: Stella Autois one of our sponsors, they'll be giving back
Speaker 3: as well. So yeah, so it's a big effort for
Speaker 3: restaurants to help you know, their restaurant friends over in
Speaker 3: the Palisades and uh, you know Alta, Dina and Malibu.
Speaker 1: So restaurants helping restaurants, you will not find a more
Speaker 1: generous group of humans. There's something, of course, it's the
Speaker 1: hospitality industry. But I'm always blown away how much like
Speaker 1: chefs busting their hump every single day and then any
Speaker 1: time off they have is always doing charity work. It
Speaker 1: blows my mind.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and they you know, a lot of people don't
Speaker 3: realize this. You know, we have seen prices increase in restaurants,
Speaker 3: but we've seen it increase in the grocery store, so
Speaker 3: there's a correlation. But the margins are really small for restaurants,
Speaker 3: and you.
Speaker 2: Know, but they're the first to raise their hand when
Speaker 2: you know, if they're asked.
Speaker 3: I you know, I've had to do it for my
Speaker 3: kids school, for different charities I'm involved with. I've never
Speaker 3: been turned down by a restaurant. You know, they're always
Speaker 3: willing to help.
Speaker 2: So this time they're going to help their own. But
Speaker 2: just to be clear, they've also been helping along the
Speaker 2: way too.
Speaker 3: A lot of these restaurants have already done benefits for
Speaker 3: oh yeah, yeah, yeah, for the American Red Class.
Speaker 2: This one will go.
Speaker 3: Like I said, to restaurants, care all the proceeds raised
Speaker 3: from that and it's the nonprofit arm of their California
Speaker 3: Restaurant Association.
Speaker 1: One thing that I want to point out is ease
Speaker 1: of use for people who have not been to the website.
Speaker 1: If you want to find out more, go to Dine
Speaker 1: Out Longbeach dot com. Dine Out Longbeach dot com really
Speaker 1: cool the way it's set up. It's got a user
Speaker 1: interface that's super simple. You can search the restaurants, or
Speaker 1: you can search a neighborhood or a cuisine style that
Speaker 1: you like, and it makes it very easy for you
Speaker 1: to kind of say, you know what, I want to
Speaker 1: go out and I want to check out Signal Hill
Speaker 1: or you know, Heartwell Park or something, and you can
Speaker 1: put that in there and it will tell you which
Speaker 1: restaurants that are participating in Dine Out Long Beach this
Speaker 1: year are in that area. So we have just a
Speaker 1: couple of minutes here, Elizabeth, what are some things that
Speaker 1: you want to focus on? Is I know you have
Speaker 1: cocktails tied into it this year. How what's the best
Speaker 1: way for people to participate in Dine Out Long.
Speaker 2: Beach And, like you said, go to their website.
Speaker 3: You don't have to you know, certain restaurants, it's probably
Speaker 3: best if you make a reserve just the nature. You know,
Speaker 3: like I said, like the Breakers, it's the hot new
Speaker 3: kid in town, so probably you were going.
Speaker 2: To want to make a reservation there.
Speaker 3: But you know, restaurant week, restaurant cocktail Week, you don't need.
Speaker 2: Any tickets or anything like that.
Speaker 3: You just go to the restaurant ask for their dine
Speaker 3: out long beach menu.
Speaker 2: You know, you don't have to also order off that menu.
Speaker 3: If you get there and you're like, you know what,
Speaker 3: I like what they have on the regular menu, order that.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Really it's a way to try a new restaurants, get out.
Speaker 2: Of your comfort zone a little bit, try something new.
Speaker 3: Support our restaurants, you know, we want them to stick around,
Speaker 3: and you know, and the best way to kind of
Speaker 3: find out what's going on is go to the website
Speaker 3: and again you can search by cuisine, by neighborhood. You know,
Speaker 3: all the menus are posted on there, so you can
Speaker 3: see what their dine out menu is. But again, if
Speaker 3: it's something where you're like, well, I want to go
Speaker 3: to the restaurant, but I'm not sure I want this
Speaker 3: particular menu, just go and have the regular menu you know,
Speaker 3: they're just glad.
Speaker 2: To have you in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and supporting restaurants. I always say, don't complain to
Speaker 1: me when these things go away, because they got to
Speaker 1: support them. And the good thing is, you know what,
Speaker 1: if you like Lucille's Smokehouse Barbecue, which I do, and
Speaker 1: you want to just take advantage and it's one of
Speaker 1: your favorites, you want to just take advantage of a
Speaker 1: discount or something that they're doing for dine out Long
Speaker 1: Beach great, but I also recommend going and saying, hey,
Speaker 1: you know what, we've never ever been to Naples Rib
Speaker 1: Company or something. Let's try that during this week and
Speaker 1: dine out Long Beach so that we can try something new,
Speaker 1: a little bit of both and maybe mix it up.
Speaker 1: Go out a couple of times during you know, the week,
Speaker 1: and enjoy it days. And now you're talking. That's the
Speaker 1: way to do it, all right. Dine Out Longbeach dot com.
Speaker 1: Dine Out Longbeach dot com. It is starting this coming
Speaker 1: week February eighteenth through the twenty eighth. Meat Eat Repeat
Speaker 1: presented by Grunian Gazette Dineoutlongbeach dot com. Elizabeth, thanks so much,
Speaker 1: good to talk to you.
Speaker 2: Always a pleasure to me.
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you soon, all right, my friend