{"id":79411,"date":"2023-11-07T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?post_type=newspack_nl_cpt&p=79411"},"modified":"2023-11-06T17:02:54","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T01:02:54","slug":"this-one-will-keep-the-vampires-away","status":"publish","type":"newspack_nl_cpt","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/newsletter\/this-one-will-keep-the-vampires-away","title":{"rendered":"This one will keep the vampires away"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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Long Beach Eats<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Weekly tips from the Long Beach Post’s food reporter on what to eat and where to score sweet deals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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FOOD<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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MUSIC<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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ART<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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INSTAGRAM<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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YOUTUBE<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019ll get this off my chest early \u2014 this will be a biased newsletter. I went somewhere I\u2019ve been to just under a million times before and I know I love it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, I went to Zankou Chicken<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Zankou Chicken’s Chicken Tarna wrap with chicken, tomatoes, and toum on fresh pita. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Long Beach got its first Zankou location<\/a> and I\u2019m not going to take credit for that, but I will say I think God knew I\u2019d miss it when I moved to cover this city from Orange County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I practically grew up at Zankou\u2019s Anaheim location. The LA-based chain has gained a cult following over the years. It\u2019s popped up in a music video<\/a>, and the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm even paid homage<\/a>. It was one of the few restaurants my parents, who are Lebanese<\/strong>, would actually go eat at. Ironically, when I was younger my mom would have described me as a picky eater, and I never ate big quantities at once, often picking at a few bites of my mom\u2019s home-cooked meal and complaining until she finally let me unglue my butt from the dining room table. But with Zankou, I was always happy to keep scarfing food down until my stomach felt like bursting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s fair to say their most popular items are their rotisserie chicken, wraps, and perhaps most of all their toum. Toum<\/strong> is a garlic paste that\u2019s become so trendy it\u2019s even at Trader Joe\u2019s now. Ten years ago, I used to yell at my mom for sending me to school with chicken wrapped in pita smothered in that pungent, creamy paste. Now I\u2019m watching TikTokers eat it on keto bread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Zankou\u2019s is hard to beat. All the other food you\u2019ll order is basically a more socially acceptable vehicle than a spoon for shoving toum in your mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But their other stuff is great too. On this occasion, I went with a 1\/2 chicken platter, which comes with hummus, fresh tomatoes and pickles. The hummus, like the toum, is made from scratch with simple ingredients. In between bites of toum-dunked chicken I like to switch things up with some hummus-dunked chicken<\/strong>. I took my coworker, Thomas, who had never had Zankou before. Both Zankou co-owner Vartkes Iskenderian and I recommended Thomas grab a Chicken Tarna wrap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His verdict: He\u2019d eat there again, high praise if you know Thomas<\/strong> personally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A 1\/2 Chicken Plate with hummus, pickled veggies, chilies and tomato. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And finally, and most impressively, their prices remain affordable and consistent. My 1\/2 chicken plate came in at $15.99 and Thomas\u2019s sandwich was $9.49. I\u2019ll fondly remember the good ole days when extra cups of toum didn\u2019t cost you 60 cents<\/strong>, but it\u2019ll be my little secret that truthfully I\u2019d pay much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out the grand opening festivities here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zankou Chicken is at 2590 N Lakewood Blvd. <\/em>Directions<\/em><\/a> | <\/em>Website<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dishes on my to-try list<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n