As we emerge like grumpy bears from a year-long hibernation, blinking in the light of day, we’ve found that restaurants of every hue and cry have emerged along with us, ready to feed us foods we’ve had before — and those we haven’t as well. Some are high profile, like Michael Mina’s The Bungalow at 2nd and PCH. But most are small, perhaps a bit quirky, and more than a little welcome.
Consider, for starters, the fine “Cooking from the Soul” served by the relentlessly cheerful Chef Nora Tatum at her In the Kitchen (900 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach, 562-676-4106) — an affable street corner big food destination with a notably simple menu of impressively delicious food. As it says on the brief menu, “Come by for your plate of homemade soul food!” And Chef Nora knows.
She was born in Texas, and raised in South Central, giving her cooking an edge of abundant goodness — she can’t resist putting a little extra on your plate to make sure no one leaves In the Kitchen hungry, and that the food travels very well, with more to eat even after you’ve finished what seems a reasonable portion. Assuming, that is, that you don’t inhale every bite out of the sheer joy of being back in the world.
Show up for lunch, and the choices are at their simplest — a chunky, juicy, irresistible cheeseburger, along with fried catfish and fried chicken. Always fried chicken, the cuisine’s defining dish! It’s served with fries and a drink included in the price! (Which in the case of the fried chicken is all of $9.95!)
And this is good fried chicken, world-class, crunchy like a giant chicken-shaped potato chip, with a batter well worth eating, and the calories be damned! (We’ve been living on frozen food from Trader Joe’s for long enough, thank you!) The chicken within is impossibly moist. If you accept that fried chicken is the bellwether dish, this one rings that bell.
Dinner is more complex — slightly. The fried catfish is back, as is the fried chicken — though it’s also available as smothered chicken, robed in a gravy that’s thick and worth licking off the plate. There are pork chops as well, both fried and smothered. There are oxtails — which for those of us who grew up in families where bones were cooked until shreds of meat fell away, very familiar. There’s a veggie platter of three sides, and cornbread.
And those sides are worth going to In the Kitchen all by themselves: spuds mashed with lots of garlic, corn, green beans, rice, collard greens, candied yams, black-eyed peas, cabbage and — yes! — “chik n mac”!
Desserts run to such pleasures as banana pudding and peach cobbler. In this kitchen, you eat good — with the taste of love in every bite
What we’ve got in the cooking of Pancho’s Vegan Tacos (1837 E. 7th St., Long Beach; 562-908-0083, www.vegantacos.net) is the taste of absolutely no meat in any bite. This is the first SoCal branch of a mini-chain with two outlets in Las Vegas, and another coming soon to Austin, Texas. It’s part of a growing trend toward offering meatless versions of classically meaty dishes. And though it’s far from new — meatless Chinese restaurants have been around forever, along with meatless Thai, with a growing world of vegan Italian, and lots of animal protein free Mexican cooking — these are cuisines in which vegetables easily substitute for meat.
But when I say it’s a growing trend, I refer to the exponential increase in vegan restaurants, in many cases a result of the wide acceptance of Beyond Meat and Impossible Meat on the menus. Meatless living through science! And in this case, through flavor as well. Because, except for the use of vegan protein, the menu here isn’t just a Mexican menu…it’s a large Mexican menu.
The meat substitutes, for the record, are a wheat-based carne asada, al pastor and chorizo; a soy-based “Chik-End”; carnitas made with jackfruit; and sundry uses of mushroom “meat” and cactus “meat.” Mostly, you’ll notice the difference in the textures. The tastes can match, but texture is a bit off. Give the food techs time, they’ll get it right.
Meanwhile, the menu rambles through six Mexican breakfasts, a couple of nacho options, four burritos, six tortas, two tostadas, six tacos, four enchiladas, two quesadillas, half a dozen platters, and five appetizers. In case that’s not enough, there are heavily topped french fries, burgers and hot dogs. “GF”s appear everywhere for gluten-free dishes.
Prices are low — and even lower on Taco Tuesday, Nacho Wednesday, Tostada Thursday, Burrito Friday, Sope Saturday and Chilaquiles Sunday. And Monday? It’s Meatless Monday. But then, isn’t every day?
Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.
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In the Kitchen and Pancho’s Vegan Tacos are a tasty pairing in Long Beach - Long Beach Press Telegram
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