The weeklong celebration of local Cambodian businesses is now run by the United Cambodian Community.
Cambodian restaurants, pop-ups and caterers are in the culinary limelight during the first week of June, as Long Beach ushers in its second annual Cambodian Restaurant Week from June 2-9.
Over a dozen authentic eateries will showcase their fried chicken wings, boba teas, rice porridge, pork chitterlings, bao buns and noodle soups to the broader community. Most restaurants will have special deals throughout the week, with some offering tiered menu options ranging from $5 to $20 to encourage newbies to take the dive into Cambodian cuisine.
In a city with roughly 20,000 Cambodian residents — the largest Cambodian population outside of Cambodia itself — scarcity is not the issue with the cultural cuisine scene. The biggest obstacle is visibility and attracting new customers, which is what Cambodian Restaurant Week hopes to help these small businesses accomplish.
“The bottom line is to support small businesses,” said Sayon Syprasoeuth, program director with the United Cambodian Community. The nonprofit is running this year’s event for the first time after purchasing the rights for it from Long Beach Food and Beverage, which is a financial supporter of the event.
Syprasoeuth said the decision was easy to take on the project, despite the cost of promotion and the work that goes into getting restaurants to participate.
It’s slightly outside of the nonprofit’s regular focuses, which include mental health workshops, youth workforce development, pathways to citizenship and enrollment assistance for social programs; but Syprasoeuth said the timing was right to take on the event.
“What better way to bring people together than through food and culture sharing and connection around eating and sharing Cambodian food,” Syprasoeuth said.
Cambodian Restaurant Week falls under the nonprofit’s economic development goals, since most if not all of the participating businesses are family-owned and survive through word of mouth. The weeklong celebration has the underlying objective to get people to try foods they’ve never tasted before, and hopefully find a new culinary delight.
“It really warms my heart when I see the Latino community go and eat Cambodian food … and to see African American[s] and other folks that are not Cambodian eating in there it’s like, ‘Oh I can see our work taking effect and it’s great,’” Syprasoeuth said.
The weeklong promotional event follows on the heels of Black Restaurant Week, also created and sold by Long Beach Food and Beverage. Participants in Black Restaurant Week have told the Signal Tribune that their businesses see a large increase in revenue during and after the event, which is what Cambodian Restaurant Week hopes to accomplish for its community as well.
Participating restaurants include:
- Owl Owl Thai Lao Street Food
- PS Fast Food 168 Restaurant
- Meet Up Boba Teahouse & Cafe
- Rice String Noodle Shack
- New Pho Long Beach
- Noah Cajun Shrimp
- Foreign Xchange
- PV Girl Phnom Penh Street Food
- I Luv Ur Buns
- Cali Tea
- Little La Lune Cuisine
- Mealsdotkom Meal Prep
- Phnom Penh Noodle Shack
- Sophy’s Cambodia Town Food & Music
- Battambong BBQ
- Shlap Muan
Cambodian Restaurant Week will kick off with a family friendly pop-up at the F&M Bank parking lot (3140 E Anaheim St.) on June 2 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Residents can attend the kick-off for free, participate in raffles, take a community survey and enjoy food from five businesses while shopping from local vendors.
This article was updated on June 3 to correct Sayon Syprasoeuth’s title from Executive Director to Program Director. The Signal Tribune regrets this error.
