{"id":85246,"date":"2025-03-20T13:53:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T20:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=85246"},"modified":"2025-03-20T13:53:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T20:53:57","slug":"chowder-trolley-ss-minnow-the-merchant-bixby-knolls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/chowder-trolley-ss-minnow-the-merchant-bixby-knolls","title":{"rendered":"Chowder on wheels: A trolley dubbed the S.S. Minnow is serving up bread bowls at a Long Beach bakery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you see a miniature San Francisco-style trolley being pulled around the streets of Long Beach, it\u2019s likely filled with chili or chowder and heading to The Merchant bakery and caf\u00e9 in Bixby Knolls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The life of the S.S. Minnow \u2013 named after the \u201cGilligan\u2019s Island\u201d boat \u2014 all started with a scroll through Facebook Marketplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Merchant co-owners Andrea and Mike Gillespie were looking for a way to expand their offerings without opening a second location, Andrea said. They had been hosting evening events on their patio with beer and wine but were also looking for a way to add food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy biggest thing: it has to have a presentation,\u201d Andrea said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The couple discovered the trolley for sale and brought it home last April. A few months later, extensive restoration work began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After sanding the panels, brushing on eight coats of varnish and countless hours of vinyl application, the S.S. Minnow was ready to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trolley first joined The Merchant as a coffee cart last fall, but Mike soon had the idea to serve chili, Andrea said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The menu quickly expanded with bread bowls, baked potatoes and chowder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Chili served in a bread bowl with corn chips from the S.S. Minnow trolley in Long Beach on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At their midweek evening events like trivia and wine nights, the food has been a hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More menu items are on the horizon, Andrea said, including salads and other seasonal items as the weather warms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrea, a baker who graduated from the International Culinary Center in New York, said she\u2019s excited at the chance for her fresh-baked bread to be featured on sandwiches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She operated as a pop-up in Long Beach serving pastries and other baked goods before starting The Merchant in 2017. Then, Mike and Andrea found the location in Bixby Knolls, formerly an antique shop, while walking their dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both had past careers as merchant mariners \u2014 civilians working on commercial vessels \u2014 which led to the caf\u00e9\u2019s name: The Merchant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mike and Andrea Gillespie, owners of The Merchant stand in the doorway of their shop in Long Beach on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When they opened, they did all the baking and coffee roasting in the 600-square-foot storefront. Now, they bake and roast out of a commercial space near Orizaba Park and also wholesale their pastries to Good Time coffee shop on Coronado Avenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each night, leftover pastries are donated to the Long Beach Rescue Mission, Andrea said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small business ownership has suited the Gillespie\u2019s well over the past eight years \u2014 much as it did their respective grandparents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike\u2019s grandfather used to own a print shop in Downey, while Andrea\u2019s grandparents owned a liquor store\/meat market in Los Angeles\u2019 Lincoln Heights neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe it was in our blood to do this at some point,\u201d Andrea said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Merchant, 4121 Long Beach Blvd., is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Friday through Monday. The S.S. Minnow serves food at the caf\u00e9 in the evening on Tuesday through Thursday. You can find an updated arrival schedule <\/i>here.<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Owners of The Merchant bakery and caf\u00e9 in Bixby Knolls were looking for a way to serve heartier fare. Now you can get chili and chowder served in unique style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23521,"featured_media":85232,"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":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32323],"class_list":["post-85246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85246","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\/23521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85246"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85254,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85246\/revisions\/85254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85246"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=85246"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=85246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}