{"id":88882,"date":"2026-05-16T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/?p=88882"},"modified":"2026-05-16T08:58:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T15:58:34","slug":"long-beach-food-club-local-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/eat-see-do-2\/eat\/long-beach-food-club-local-restaurants","title":{"rendered":"Like a book club \u2014 but for food: This Long Beach group builds community by supporting local restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Emmett Weis moved from Oklahoma to Long Beach with his wife three months ago, he found himself feeling very alone. Searching for a way to meet new people, his wife stumbled upon the Long Beach Food Club on Instagram<\/a>, and they decided to give it a try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Food Club describes itself as \u201clike a book club but for restaurants.\u201d In practice, that means every two weeks, founder Sherwin Souzankari chooses a different eatery for the club to explore. He picks the spot from his ever-growing list of restaurants he wants to try or has been suggested to him. Every meetup location must meet certain criteria: It needs to have enough space to accommodate a large group, it has to be in Long Beach, and it can\u2019t be a chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u201cI want to support people that actually live here, have families here, and have been pillars of the community for some time,\u201d Souzankari said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wants the restaurants to be involved in the process as well, and discusses the club meeting there with the owners before deciding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The club “is made for the community, and it’s just for fun,\u201d he said. But he realizes dining choices also affect restaurant owners’ livelihood: \u201cThey dump everything into their businesses, so just to be able to keep their dreams or ambitions going a little further, that\u2019s my entire thing with the club.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sherwin Souzankari, center, founder of the Long Beach Food Club, speaks with attendees during an event at the Thai restaurant Rim Talay in Long Beach on May 9, 2026. Photo by Justin Enriquez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once the restaurant is picked, Souzankari announces the new location on Instagram and invites his followers to join him on a Saturday afternoon to try the food and discuss it. Those who can\u2019t make it to the meetup are encouraged to try the restaurant on their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The club has had nine meetings since starting in January, and Souzankari has seen the group grow steadily. Eighteen people showed up for the first meetup at Hey Brother Baker<\/a>, though Souzankari said most of them were his friends. At more recent events \u2014 like their meetup at Royal Indian Curry House, where the club filled the entire restaurant \u2014 there were 50 people in attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The businesses have been very grateful for the support, Souzankari said, and attendees like Weis and her husband have appreciated the chance to meet new friends over a shared experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Andy Clefff enjoys mee krob at Thai restaurant Rim Talay in Long Beach on May 9, 2026. Photo by Justin Enriquez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At each meeting, Souzankari asks everyone to wear a name tag as a conversation starter. They write their name, of course, and a fun fact that others have to guess the origin of. For example, if someone\u2019s favorite color is red, they would simply write red under their name and everyone else would have to figure out what \u201cred\u201d meant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many pick things that might be a little easier to guess, like their pet\u2019s name or where they grew up, others choose something a little more complex. At the last meeting, Souzankari\u2019s name tag said, \u201c92 is half of 99.\u201d He later revealed that it was a nod to RuneScape, one of his favorite video games from when he was younger. In the game, level 92 is considered the halfway point to level 99 in terms of experience points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Souzankari hopes the club continues to grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCome eat with us,\u201d he invites on its Instagram page: @longbeachfoodclub<\/a>. \u201cNo AI, Not Influencers. Real people connecting through food and supporting Long Beach businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI want to support people that actually live here, have families here, and have been pillars of the community for some time,\u201d founder Sherwin Souzankari said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":88880,"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":[32365],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32346],"class_list":["post-88882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eat","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88882","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\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88882"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88889,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88882\/revisions\/88889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88882"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=88882"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=88882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}