Although he’s the son of Chinese immigrants, starting a bar with Chinese decor wasn’t Leonard Chan’s original plan for Midnight Oil, the new restaurant and lounge he just opened at Long Beach Boulevard and Third Street in Downtown Long Beach.
Originally, Chan said, he wanted to open an Izakaya concept specializing in Japanese fare, but when he learned from Tokyo Noir bar director Kevin Lee that an Izakaya restaurant was in the works nearby from chef Yoya Takahashi, Chan switched gears to an “apothecary-themed” bar serving a variety of shareable Chinese dishes — better known as dim sum.
Offerings served on compostable pressed bamboo plates range from $5 for four sesame balls to $17 for a shareable shrimp-fried rice plate.
Dim sum offerings include pork and shrimp shumai, har gow shrimp dumplings, barbecue char sui pork buns, pan-fried radish cake along with pork ribs with black bean sauce.
Shareable options include Taiwanese popcorn chicken, mushroom salad and shishito peppers, among others. If you’re looking for added spice, you can ask for homemade chili oil for an extra 50 cents.
Chan has had a hand in opening over 10 bars and restaurants, mostly in Orange County where he grew up, but he said Long Beach holds a special place in his heart.
He met his fiancée at Steelcraft about eight years ago and the couple moved near the legendary Long Beach bar Joe Jost’s in September 2023.
Chan said he had been looking to open something in Long Beach and when he saw the building that used to house the bar Rosemallows become available, he knew it was time.
It wasn’t hard to convince his collaborator, Peter Ross, to open the bar with him. Ross was born and raised in Long Beach and had known Chan for years after meeting him while working at El Segundo Brewing Company.
Ross, with 21 years of hospitality experience, was looking for a new venture and moved back to Long Beach from the Bay Area to open the bar he now co-owns with Chan.
Ross developed the cocktail menu, which features the unique Fried Rice cocktail – described on the menu as a savory pineapple punch with an umami kick.
Less adventurous choices include the Persimmon & Apples, a twist on a Japanese highball, and the Strawberry Way – made with Campari, sweet vermouth, strawberry and verjus.
Ross and Chan decided to use the 25 taps already in place from Rosemallows. Fourteen of the cocktails on the menu come served out of a tap, four with forced carbonation.
Chan tested the concept just over a year prior at a bar he started in Tustin.
“It turned out to work pretty well. The cocktails are always consistent,” Chan said.
The pair is also working on two other bar concepts contained within Midnight Oil. A tiki bar hidden behind a wall at the end of the bar is open now as Roadkill, with a theme Chan referred to as “trailer park tropical.”
Within a few weeks, the tiki bar will transition to a “Creature from the Black Lagoon” theme with decor and drinks based on the 1954 black-and-white horror film.
On the Long Beach Boulevard side of the building, they are constructing a third bar space that Chan said will resemble an opium den.
That bar will also offer food, with more emphasis on small bowls of noodles and skewers, Chan said, adding that it’s a concept he has “been sitting on for about seven years.”
A quarter of the menu will be “tweaks from family recipes,” Chan said.
Despite having most of his bars in Orange County, Chan said the encouragement he’s received so far in Long Beach has been overwhelming.
“There’s just been this groundswell of support,” Chan said. “I’ve never seen this in the 17 years that I’ve been doing this.”
Midnight Oil, 255 Long Beach Blvd., is open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 4:30 p.m. to midnight.