Those who know me know I love food.  Not just food for the sake of food, but rather for the taste.  When Kate moved out here in January of 1999, my friends Mark, Bobby, and I decided to compile a list of all the various food joints we had to take her, to help her enjoy her new home in the Los Angeles / Orange County area.  The following are some of our favorite places to dine, as well as a few comments on why I like 'em.  Eventually, I'll try to get the actual addresses here so they're easier for you, the reader, to track them down.

Belmont Burger (Corner of 4th and Ximeno in Long Beach).  This place is one of the numerous eateries poppin' up in my neighborhood.  Excellent burgers, wonderful fried zucchini.  Very cheap.  Good place to go to get a lot of food for under $8.00

 

Legends (2nd Street in Long Beach).  Legends is a wonderful hangout.  They've got a wonderful atmosphere of brick walls and wood paneling (much of their wood paneling and brass rails came from an old church that was torn down in Long Beach shortly before Legends was constructed) with hundreds of framed and signed photographs of celebrities of a wide variety of sports.  They've got approximately 9 big screen TV's, with no fewer than 3 different sporting events being shown at any given time.  But the real reason for going is for their wings.  Hot DAMN are those things good.  We're still trying to figure out what they put in them, but they're tasty.  We've had meals consisting of the wings alone, and were quite satisfied.

Pink's Hot Dogs (Melrose and La Brea in Hollywood).  Pink's is an institution.  A hot dog stand visited by numerous celebrities, it is literally a little shack on the corner.  It is the Krispy Kreme of hot dog stands.  People wait in line for about twenty minutes for one of their chili-smothered delicacies.  My personal favorite is the hot dog with chili, cheese, mustard, and sauerkraut..  Sounds gross, tastes great.  'Nother interesting tidbit about Pinks:  Their chili is sort of an atomic orange color.  It's only a few minutes from Hollywood Boulevard as well as Sunset Boulevard, so if you're ever up there seeing the sights, it's well worth going a few minutes out of your way to visit Pinks.

Philly's Best (Fountain Valley).  A lil' bit of Philadelphia in SoCal.  The owner has the Amoroso rolls flown in fresh from Philadelphia each day.  They serve the traditional Philly Cheesesteaks (and they're big!), as well as varous twists on the classic.  They also serve various beverages indiginous to the Philly area.

Tommy's (Various locations throughout Los Angeles).  Another LA tradition.  Tommys is the chili burger that goes a long way for your two bucks.  It sticks with you for several days.  You really feel the food.  But it's just so darned good, it's well worth the day or two of sluggishness.  The things are just plain messy.  But if you're dyin' of hunger, and don't have a lot of money, Tommy's is the place.  We usually get more than enough food for two for under five dollars.

Deli News (Los Altos Shopping Center in Long Beach).  This place is a recent discovery of ours.  They make a variety of foods from sandwiches to salads to pastas to pizza.  You get a lot of excellent food, for approximately five dollars for the higher-end pasta dishes (I'm partial to the angel hair with chicken and vegetables myself).  Very friendly service, and relatively quick.  I have yet to see this place without a fair amount of diners in it.

Francelli's (4th and Redondo in Long Beach).  Nice little hole-in-the-wall italian restaurant with a lot of charm.  It's in a relatively old brick building, with large plate glass windows and a relatively classic looking red neon sign.  Again, very friendly service, quite tasty food, and while the prices are a little higher than some of the above mentioned locations, still quite reasonable for what you are getting.  They usually have a special on their lasagna, which I highly recommend.

Johnny Reb's (Long Beach Blvd. near Bixby in Long Beach).  Southern roadhouse.  I really don't need to say more, but I shall.  Johnny Reb's seems out of place in Long Beach.  It's a long wooden shack, with a painted corrugated tin sign.  They're always packed, which is almost always a good sign.  The service is friendly, which I guess is to be expected from a southern-style eatery.  Their fare is strictly southern:  Barbecue (lots of it), fried foods from catfish to green tomatoes and okra (neither one of which I had tried before eating here.  Now I get 'em every time), drinks out of jelly jars, and peanuts on the floor.  Mmmmm-mmm.

Hof's Hut (Various locations throughout the Long Beach area).  A huge selection of foods, primarily American and Italian.  Great sandwiches and burgers (I rather fancy the Beefeater:  Sliced beef and swiss cheese in parmesan encrusted sourdough.  Get that with some hash browns, Tabasco, and some of their honey mustard sauce and you got yourself a meal.)  Hofs is open quite late, one or two are even twenty four hours.

Sonic (Lemon, just off Orangethorpe in Anaheim).  Much to Kate's dismay, this is the only one within driving distance of us.  Back in her hometown of Yukon, OK, they were more common than McDonald's.  Sonic is a drive-in.  Y'know...one of those ones where you drive up, roll your window down, order through a speaker, the server comes out on skates, and hangs your tray on your car door.  The main reasons I go are their cheddar-peppers and their cherry limeades.  Both are quite tasty.  They've also got a number of good burgers, hot dogs, shakes, and sundaes.  We need one closer to Long Beach though, dangit!!!  It's hard to drive 40 minutes for dinner sometimes!!!