{"id":962,"date":"2018-02-02T10:41:58","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T18:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longbeachize.com\/?p=9693"},"modified":"2018-02-02T10:41:58","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T18:41:58","slug":"long-beach-foodie-update-oc-based-smokehouse-jp23-move-former-nightclub-space-dtlb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/long-beach-foodie-update-oc-based-smokehouse-jp23-move-former-nightclub-space-dtlb","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach Foodie Update: OC-Based Smokehouse JP23 to Move into Former Nightclub Space in DTLB"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love Long Beach and food?\u00a0Click here to scroll through our foodie archives.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Photos courtesy of JP23.<\/em><\/p>\n

Two immediate points to make out with this post: with Robert Earl’s BBQ and Bigmista, don’t come to Long Beach talking about your smokin’ skills unless you properly brought said skills. (Yes, I am definitely dogging on that nightmare known as Dickey’s<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

That’s my first immediate thought when it comes to JP23 Smokehouse, which already has a bro-ed out location (complete with a cover after 10PM) in Downtown Fullerton, coming into DTLB.<\/p>\n

The second point is that it is moving into the old Cohiba space above the 7-11 at the southeast corner of Pine and Broadway and, brother, anything that will get that godawful decal and piles of old mail removed while activating a space is a win no matter how you dice it. (Fun fact: Cohiba used to pour its patrons onto what is now BO-beau’s rooftap\u2014let’s just say it wasn’t the most loved of crowds on weekends.)<\/p>\n

JP23 opened in 2013 and I’ve only had the perturbing honor of visiting it once on quest to discover decent BBQ in Orange County on a pitch for a publication\u2014only to discover a stringy mess of a brisket platter that made Robert Earl shake his head when I told him about years later.<\/p>\n

Of course, they are a pseudo-club: they host ticketed UFC events, charge covers after certain hours, and\u2014though certainly not my cup of tea\u2014have a model that has worked in Fullerton for the most part, despite that positivity going toward its party mode more than its grilling mode.<\/p>\n

But, hey… In all honesty, Long Beach, that was five years ago so here’s to a few things:<\/p>\n