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<\/a>And that $7.50 speaks volumes to what owner and chef Chris\u00a0Krajacic is trying to achieve with his second Downtown restaurant. Having opened in the summer of last year<\/a>, The Harbor plays off of his other restaurant, Pier 76, in a very specific way:\u00a0Krajacic’s talent for providing quality food at a price that isn’t gouging one’s pocket. (I still challenge someone to find me the grilled fish platters of Pier’s quality that meet\u2014let alone beat\u2014Pier’s prices.)<\/p>\n At The Harbor, this means getting your choice of non-basic salads\u2014including a parred down ni\u00e7oise that, despite the lack of tuna, is solid\u2014with soups and sandwiches and, perhaps most noteworthy, one of The Harbor’s tri-tip tacos.<\/p>\n These massive folded wonders are some of the most unique tacos in the city and, before my critics scream because\u00a0Krajacic doesn’t make his own tortillas, we’re talking about a\u00a0$7.50 combo<\/em>. (At dinner time, three of them are $14 and, even for an always-hungry chubster like me, I would prefer to split them with someone. Or you can get them dirt cheap on Taco Tuesday\u20142 for $5 last I went.)<\/p>\n Smokey, tender bits of tri-tip shoulder (though\u00a0Krajacic isn’t a formally designated pitmaster, his abilities to handle smoking and barbecuing beef with such consistency shouldn’t be dismissed) are stacked on top of salty french fries, lathered in pickled cabbage slaw, and topped with a not-too-spicy roasted jalape\u00f1o salsa. Layers of smoke, salt, acid, and creaminess create a taco that is as addicting as it is unique.<\/p>\n This isn’t to say The Harbor or Pier 76 are necessarily cheap; what I am saying is that you can have a quality lunch and a beer (day job permitting) for under $15, and that is impressive and inclusive in a time when tacos that are ayyyyight<\/em> are hitting $4 a piece<\/a>. (And, let’s be honest: free games like skee ball and pool make it an adult playground as a bonus.) Even beyond that, the quality of food at the prices being offered, especially during happy hours and specials, are ways for folks to escape the daily drag\u00a0of cooking for themselves and enjoy a bit of respite.<\/p>\n And even if you aren’t seeking relief from spending, The Harbor manages to appeal to practically every sector of eaters. It’s an American menu, through and through, highlighting both\u00a0Krajacic’s talent with land-based proteins\u2014as exemplified in his tri-tip tacos and his stellar Koji-aged hangar steak, which uses the Japanese fungus to speed up the dry-aging process\u2014that seems almost entirely missing from his Pier menu.<\/p>\n Take, for example, his Angry Mussels. Now, for those that haven’t had\u00a0Krajacic\u2019s seafood (or his food in general), the highlight has always been the cleanliness in his approach to food. Eschewing complicated preparation, his plates are simultaneously simple and complex, and this plate is one of the dishes that make\u00a0this talent shine brightest. Jalape\u00f1os and garlic chili emulsion are blended into a white wine broth\u2014think of it as the angry-but-addicting cousin to\u00a0Krajacic’s\u00a0moule frites\u00a0<\/em>at Pier 76\u2014and, with the addition of an earthy, oily manchego cheese, it’s a fiery dish that complements the vibe of The Harbor.<\/p>\n (For those that have yet to experience Pier 76\u2019s tin bucket of moule frites, <\/em>I can assure you that you are missing out on the city’s best mussels and fries: freshly steamed California black mussels atop a pile of fries soaked in a white wine broth and mixed with onions, roasted poblano peppers, and chunks of bacon. It’s a dish worth experiencing continuously.)<\/p>\n For those looking to skip the cleanliness and go for a I’m-hungover-and-I-just-want-comfort-food, the Harbor’s Dirty Bird Loaded Fries are an American take on carne asada fries: smoked chicken tossed with the house chili, a genuinely good, deep maroon concoction of beef chunks and pinto beans, layered with bacon, cilantro, cheese, and a bright orange remoulade that I would suggest asking for an extra side to accompany this already-rich platter.<\/p>\n Whether you’re in search of a little Hair of the Dog or you’re genuinely searching out great cocktails, The Harbor has invested in the talent of David\u00a0Schmidt\u2014one of the guys behind the much-missed Cielo beverage program atop the Breakers in Downtown\u2014and it was worth the investment: smart, fun, dangerously sippable,\u00a0Schmidt’s cocktail program plays with classics\u2014his Coca-Cola Anonymous, his version of a rum and coke, is the best rum and coke you’ll ever have thanks to quality rum (Mount Gay) and a clove-lime mixture that is beautifully tart and earthy\u2014while offering an array of creations that are both tasteful without losing their playfulness.<\/p>\n In all frankness, I should have written about the food at Harbor long before it created its lunch menu but there is something really beautiful to expound upon here: The Harbor\u2014as well as those other Downtown gems, such as\u00a0the divine Ammatol\u00ed<\/a> and the stellar The Ordinarie<\/a>\u2014would have been unable to exist a decade ago in Downtown. Uninspiring sports bars and tacky nightclubs ruled the day, with its normal operating business hours feeling nonexistent with empty streets. The fact that not just a few but several restaurants are able to operate consistently is a testament to Long Beach’s resilience.<\/p>\n The Harbor is located at 130 Pine Ave.<\/em><\/p>\n Brian Addison is a columnist and editor for the Long Beach Post.\u00a0<\/em>Reach him at\u00a0brian@lbpost.com\u00a0or on social media at\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Instagram<\/a>, and\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An all-American menu that spans seafood and land-based proteins makes for one of Downtown’s most delectable lunch menus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":65687,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[127],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","tag-food-review","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=156"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>