Pulling into the parking lot for the grandly named Bixby Village Plaza, you’ll notice eateries with names like Ike’s Love & Sandwiches, Hiccups Asian Kitchen and East Coast Bagel Café.
Which is why walking through the entrance to the Luna Bistro & Café, tucked away in a corner of the Plaza, comes as more than a surprise. It’s filled with hanging greenery, dozens of basket-shaped lamps, framed art, alcoves with tchotchkes, a statue of a dancing woman in front of the bottles behind the bar … and even a stage for nighttime entertainers.
This is not what bistros and/or cafes in medium-sized mini-malls usually look like. But then, as I’ve found over the years, our mall cuisine can be packed with surprises.
Legendary Nouvelle Southwestern chef John Sedlar had his first fame with Saint Estephe, which sat next to a Ralphs in a Manhattan Beach shopping mall. There’s a branch of Eataly in Westfield Century City, easily one of the best Italian restaurants in Los Angeles, and also a great place to go shopping for prosciutto and parmigiano.
Those were (in the case of Saint Estephe), and are (in the case of Eataly) “destination restaurants.” By contrast, Luna Bistro & Café is a good neighborhood eatery, a fine place for Bixby Village folk to go — rather than risking the daunting parking along nearby 2nd Street in Belmont Shore. And the bar folks here invest a lot of time and effort assembling a complexity of ingredients in their cocktails. Enough for drinkers to make this a destination for imbibing.
One evening I sat at the bar, watching in wonder as the barkeep made a Flower Girl — mixing Beyond Brand Vodka, St. Germaine Elderflower Liqueur, crème de mûre (blackberry), herbal simple syrup, passion fruit tea, and lemon. I asked her if an elbow-bender can really taste the difference that bespoke ingredients are supposed to make … or if they can taste all those ingredients at all. She paused, then replied that she would notice the difference. And that made her get the drinks right.
On a busy night, with orders coming in as fast as musical notes from the stage, I don’t know how they do it.
The dining area at Luna Bistro & Cafe in Long Beach is nicely decorated. (Photo by Merrill Shindler)
Luna Bistro & Cafe in Long Beach serves eclectic Californian cuisine, plus Mexican and Italian food, and also a variety of bar favorites. (Photo by Merrill Shindler)
Carnitas sliders with guac and salsa at Luna Bistro & Cafe in Long Beach (Photo by Merrill Shindler)
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The dining area at Luna Bistro & Cafe in Long Beach is nicely decorated. (Photo by Merrill Shindler)
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By contrast, the dishes on the menu — creative as some of them are — largely stick to the straight and, if not narrow, at least recognizable. There’s a good assortment of starters — essentially bar snacks: Mini smashburger sliders with both grilled onions and crispy onion strings. Carnitas sliders with guac and salsa. Wings three ways (salt and pepper, spicy Diavola and creamy parmesan). Eggplant parmesan bites. Crispy salmon bites. “Naughty” string potato fries tossed with crunchy bacon.
There’s also a Taco Lovers selection: two good-sized tacos per order, served with rice and beans (grilled ranchera steak on tortillas coated with melted cheese, carnitas a la plancha, shrimp in garlic butter, tempura shrimp, Baja fish). Like I said, bar snacks.
And the snacking theme continues with the Burgers & Sandwiches: A smashburger; both Cali Chick and pesto mozzarella chicken sandwiches; crispy shrimp avocado and Asian shrimp sandwiches; and an eggplant burger — which may be meatless, but it’s not vegan — topped with melted mozzarella.
It’s with the Mains and the Pasta Creations that we finally move away from the utensil-free world of bar snacks — which I prefer with any of the 10 draft beers (for two dollars more, they can be turned into Micheladas). Dishes that are reliable without surprising: fish-and-chips or shrimp-and-chips. Shrimp fried rice. Carnitas and steak. Salmon al pastor or blackened lemon-honey salmon.
They sure do like their “signature” garlic cream sauce; it’s on two of the pastas, one of the steaks and one of the chicken dishes. It’s also on an order of chicken wings. It’s a good utility sauce … I’m surprised it’s not sold in bottles for takeout.
If anything is unexpected at Luna, it’s the section of fancy Coffee Creations — four breakfast cereal based cold brews like Cocoa Moon Rocks (yup, made with Cocoa Puffs!), and Cinnamon Mars Crunch (with Cinnamon Toast Crunch). Three shaken espressos, including the Toasted Marshmallow, with caramel syrup and, of course, toasted marshmallows. There’s vanilla wafer crumble in the Bananas and Cream.
The menu says they’re not all available “after brunch hours.” My idea of a fancy brunch drink is cappuccino. I’m a simple man … in an increasingly sugary world. Or in the case of Luna Bistro & Café … a very sweet destination in a mall.
Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.
Luna Bistro & Cafe
Rating: 2.5 stars
Address: Bixby Village Plaza, 5755 Pacific Coast Hwy., Long Beach
Information: 562-313-9313; www.lunabistrocafe.com
Cuisine: Eclectic Californian, mixing Mexican with Italian, with American bar food
When: Lunch and dinner, every day
Prices: About $35 per person; reservations helpful
On the menu: 11 Starters ($11-$20), 5 Tacos ($18-$19), 12 Mains ($19-$30), 2 Salads ($15-$19), 4 Pastas ($19-$27), 6 Burgers & Sandwiches ($17-$18)
Credit cards: MC, V
What the stars mean: 4 (World class! Worth a trip from anywhere!), 3 (Most excellent, even exceptional. Worth a trip from anywhere in Southern California.), 2 (A good place to go for a meal. Worth a trip from anywhere in the neighborhood.) 1 (If you’re hungry, and it’s nearby, but don’t get stuck in traffic going.) 0 (Honestly, not worth writing about.)
Dining and Cooking