An abrupt start...

So my friends and I love food, but not just any old cookie-cutter, corporate chain food... good, authentic food. True to its roots, made with care, passion, and imagination. Sometimes comforting and homey, sometimes artistic and beautiful, hopefully so skilled or revelatory in its fruition that it actually inspires you to want to make it yourself. It seems to me that one of the most wondrous gifts of life is that, beyond merely sustaining ourselves, we want to enjoy and savor our meals. And, for those of us lucky enough, we get to make for ourselves, or go get for ourselves, something pleasurable and satisfying each and every day. It's a never-ending journey, open to limitless experimentation and variation, bound only by each meal's stomach capacity. Why squander it, then, on anything less than a quest of delicious discovery?

I've been fortunate enough to have traveled many places and had some of the best food from all over the globe. However, living in Long Beach, not especially known for its dining establishments, we thought we'd see if we couldn't spotlight some of the best places for specific dishes in our little neighborhood... and enjoy ourselves immensely in the process.