New vendors slated to join the lineup in 2019 at the Long Beach Exchange (LBX), a retail, dining and lifestyle plaza that opened earlier this year at 4069 N. Lakewood Blvd., told the Signal Tribune this week that they are excited about the opportunity to join a site that is seeking to become a premiere destination in the city.
Wahoo’s Fish Taco, Plancha Latin Kitchen, Jay Bird’s Nashville Hot Chicken and Silverlake Ramen are four eateries that will debut at the LBX in the first half of next year.
Jordan Kruk, a public-relations representative for LBX, connected the Signal Tribune with representatives from Wahoo’s Fish Taco, Plancha Latin Kitchen and Jay Bird’s Nashville Hot Chicken. Silverlake Ramen reps did not respond by press time.
Jay Bird’s Nashville Hot Chicken
Jay Bird’s Nashville Hot Chicken, with a opening time of early 2019, is a “first of its kind” hot-chicken restaurant that specializes in authentic and homemade Nashville recipes.
The brainchild of Jay Bogsinske and Heinrich Stasiuk, the chicken joint will offer its staple poultry at different portions, including quarter-wing, half-wing, breast-wing combos and quarter-bird, half-bird, whole-bird variations.
Branen Fitzgerald, director of marketing and brand strategies at Wild Thyme Group, said Jay Bird’s trademark will be to offer five levels of heat for chicken, starting from “plain” and ending with “damn hot.”
A chicken sandwich, french fries and hot chicken-and-waffle plates on Saturdays and Sundays are among the planned, but not finalized items on the menu, Fitzgerald said.
“We’re really eager to get to launch day and opening day and let people experience what is just really good, classic fried chicken with some levels of spiciness that might blow some people away,” he told the Signal Tribune in a phone interview Dec. 11.
Fitzgerald said Bogsinske always had a love for fried chicken. In addition to his experience at renowned restaurants such as Hamptons and St. Marc Pub-Cafe, Bogsinske, a Chicago native, has traveled the world to develop his culinary skills and implement his craft in areas in Southern California and Phoenix.
“For [Jay’s] family, it was a weekly tradition to serve fried chicken,” Fitzgerald said. “He had the opportunity to learn from his grandmother the exact recipe that they always used. Combining that with his experience of traveling the world as a chef and working in different cuisines, […] it’s really giving us the opportunity to present craft chicken, just really good craft food that’s reminiscent of homestyle cooking.”
Fitzgerald said Jay Bird’s will find its home inside LBX’s planned food hall, The Hangar, a 17,000-square-foot structure that will house 14 small, artisan food vendors and boutique retailers, according to LBX’s website at longbeachexchange-lbx.com.
“The owners were totally in love with it,” he said. “That’s kind of how it transpired. […] It was really about right timing and right placement.”
Aside from offering its staple spiciness to differentiate itself from local fried-chicken restaurants, such as Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles– one of Fitzgerald’s favorites– Jay Bird’s will offer “organic, hormone-free or 100-percent natural or cage-free” options for chicken.
“We really wanted to present that craft and homestyle cooking with the best products that we can provide,” he said.
Plancha Latin Kitchen
Described by Christina Fumia, vice president of communications and marketing at Plancha Latin Kitchen, as a mix of Urban Plate and Javier’s, the restaurant seeks to provide an ambiance akin to “rustic wood, raw iron and pops of colors from Latin America.”
Over a year in the making, the concept of Plancha Latin Kitchen came together with a group of five to six people, Fumia said. Authentic Latin America cuisine is something that is missing in the region, she added.
“You know, you can go to a Cuban restaurant, you can go to a Spanish restaurant, you can find an Argentinian restaurant, but you don’t very often find authentic Latin cuisine in a fast, casual, plush setting,” she said. “So, it was something that we thought was very cool. So, as we started exploring this, we decided this concept has legs and this wasn’t just going to be the first location. But with the first location, we wanted to make sure it was going to be a great location. So, we did a whole bunch of research, and we landed on LBX because we are very familiar […] with the success that they’ve had.”
Similar to the vendors at Steelcraft, the eatery will be located inside a shipping container, a vessel Fumia estimated would be a 3,300-square-foot space. Inside, customers should expect to find specialty chefs cooking traditional dishes on the plancha, the Latin-staple cast iron that is used for cooking.
“So, when you walk in, there’s a open kitchen,” she said. “You’ll be able to see things cooked on the plancha, and we’re going to have a live herb wall when you walk in that the chef is going to use. So, a live greenery wall with all the herbs that we need to make everything in-house from scratch. We also will have beer, wine and sangria, as well as agua frescas.”
On the menu will be arepas, cubanos– authentic Cuban sandwiches– empanadas, build-your-own bowls, Ropa Vieja, Chipotle-rubbed cauliflower steak and more. Fumia said that, although the restaurant does not bill itself as a vegan or vegetarian establishment, a lot of the dishes lend themselves to be veggie-friendly, calling it a “happy accident.”
Much like Jay Bird’s, Plancha Latin Kitchen will be the first of its kind. The eatery is set to open June 2019, according to Fumia.
Wahoo’s Fish Taco
Scheduled for a mid-March opening, Wahoo’s Fish Tacos has been serving clients in its casual, fast-food setting for three decades, having opened in 1988 in Costa Mesa.
The eatery boasts locations in California, Colorado, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Japan, according to LBX.
Ed Lee, a co-founder of Wahoo’s Fish Tacos, has been working in the business with his brothers Waing and Mingo for 30 years.
“So, I’ve been here for a long time,” Lee joked. “[…] It’s been amazing that we’ve doing this for 30 years as a family. We still have our battles, but it’s just so amazing that we’re working together.”
Lee said he found the concept of LBX “fun.”
“The daytime population there is just outstanding,” he said. “Long Beach has come a long way when it comes to residency. Before we even signed the lease, we drove around the site for a couple days to look at what’s happening, what’s the trend and who’s been around. We noticed just how much people shop.”
On the menu at Wahoo’s is a variety of taco, burrito, enchilada and plate options. Protein customizations include chicken, pork, steak, fish, shrimp, tofu, flounder and salmon.
In 2019, Lee’s goals, in addition to a successful LBX opening, is getting more stores open in the Orange County area. Lee also mentioned that a location in Los Alamitos recently opened.
“We like Long Beach, so we want to be part of that community,” he said. “We’re doing well, especially here in Southern California. It’s exciting to open up another store.”
