Pints’ BBQ Chicken Flatbread. Photos by Brian Addison.
The space hidden in the shopping center at the Iron Triangle, tucked into the very southeast corner at 5755 Pacific Coast Highway, has long been a revolving door.
A pizzeria whose name has long been lost to the annals of Alzheimer’s. Remember Buon Gusto Trattoria? Neither do we. Pete’s at the Beach was mainly a joint for uninspired and exhausted grad students, such as myself back in the day, to drink cheap pitchers of beer that resembled hop-flavored water. And the Beach Club, attempting to dissociate from Pete’s, ended up becoming much like it, with its only redeeming value being the off-the-hook awesomeness that was its karaoke host, The Chocolate Bunny aka Crazy Shed aka KJ Shed (who sadly vacated the space for greener pastures filled with more musical carrots).
This probably explains why bartender Eric Pacheco, the man who has experienced the entirety of the location’s many incarnations, is ecstatic about what will hopefully be the space’s final and longest-lasting embodiment, Pints. He had long urged previous owners to move beyond the boring, fizzy yellow liquids of macrobrews and go into the craft scene.
“This new concept… It’s been a blessing,” Pacheco. “We have better food, better beer and it’s nice to finally say, ‘So long!’ to the days where all you hear is, ‘Can I have a Bud Light?’ It’s awesome that I can create my own cocktails or experiment and my bosses believe in it.”
Pacheco’s bosses are young couple and owners Dana and Robert Risher, a pair that you can easily point out as sports-loving but not fanatic, tasteful but not arrogant. They’re the kind of people who certainly won’t judge you for ordering a Stella but will tactfully suggest you go for something along the line of a Pivo Pils. They’re the kind of people that will let Pacheco serve a Pear Collins, a dangerously addictive blend of Absolut Pear, muddled cucumber, lemon juice, simple syrup and soda water.
“There are pretentious gastropubs where you don’t feel comfortable asking the bartender to put on a game, let alone watching one,” Dana said. “We wanted to create a place for sports fans that appreciate great grub and great brews.”
Hence Pints, a welcomed addition to not just the neighborhood where such a joint is sorely needed but Long Beach as whole. This is particularly evident given Legends, the Belmont Shore sports bar staple that went through a massive rebuild after burning, ultimately failed in delivering high quality food or beers.
The Pint Burger: a California angus patty, smoked aged gouda, bacon, arugula, and garlic aioli.
Don’t be overwhelmed by the massive amount of blinding blue paint that adorns the walls from top to bottom—“It’s a work in progress,” joked Robert—because the sports palace is home to an accessible bottle list, a great bar and tap set, and genuinely great food courtesy of Executive Chef Craig Orrell.
The bottle list, minus a handful of bombers, has not a single bottle reaching the $10 mark and runs from classics like Delirium Tremens and Ruination to much more refreshing picks like Modern Times’ Fortunate Islands and SKA’s Modus Hoperandi. For the bombers, you have seven excellent large format bottles: The Bruery’s Autumn Maple Ale and Mischief, Mother Earth’s Cali Creamin’, Stone’s 18th Anniversary Ale and Arrogant Bastard, Lost Abbey’s Judgement Day, and Wandering Angus’s Bloom Cider.
The gastropub also welcomed the first Karl Strauss cask to be tapped in Long Beach by way of the brewery’s hefty Wreck Alley Imperial Chocolate Stout, which they served in an equally hefty 10oz glass with a Reese’s peanut butter cup on the side.
Come December 2, the restaurant will have its first tap takeover by way of Oskar Blues Brewery, featuring a six-course beer dinner.
Which brings us to Pints’ true star; that is, Orrell’s menu.
The food lover by way of Yorba Linda is not your typical chef that hides behind the comfort of the wall that divides his kitchen from the patrons. The gregarious, affable chef loves to sit down with guests and talk football or smoked aged gouda—his killer cheese choice for the restaurant’s headlining burger that runs about $200 a wheel.
Orrell is no stranger to the culinary arts, having been involved with massive food endeavors like helping launch Slater’s 50/50, building quick-serve gourmet pizza The Pizza Press from the ground up (which probably explains the man’s incredibly delicious flatbread crust), and serving as an Assistant Chef at Disneyland (which for us, seems like a nightmare). But it is here that he has a free range to explore—and he takes advantage of it.
“Every weekend, I’ve been using the Santa Maria barbecue on the patio,” Orrell said. “Whatever I can get my hands on from local purveyors, I throw on the grill and invite people to enjoy some great tri-tip or ribs… I just like to give people good food that they can easily relate to.”
Take, for example, their BBQ Chicken Flatbread [pictured top], quite possibly the best BBQC pizza I’ve ever had: served on a phenomenally buttery thin crust, the sauceless flatbread is topped with great chicken, a smidgen of mozzarella, shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano, pickled red onions, a few sprinklings of cilantro, and a perfect drizzling of tangy, not overwhelmingly sweet BBQ sauce rather than a dousing.
Or his LBC burger [pictured above, right], an In-N-Out burger taken to new heights: a pure California angus patty shoved between Melrose Bakery brioche and filled with a slice of tomato, green leaf lettuce, onion, cheddar, and a mildly Sriracha-flavored mayo spread.
Or his wings—dubbed Chicken Lollipops [pictured above] because he French-cuts them, providing you easily pick up the delicious balls of meat without the need for a pile of napkins—offered with sauces ranging from green coconut curry to your classic buffalo’n’bleu cheese.
It’s great, get-down food that you want with beer—but elevated.
Even the regulars, who (like Pacheco) have continually visited the space as it has evolved because it has become their neighborhood bar, have welcomed the change, with Orrell noting that they not only love the food but even Ommegang’s Rare Vos rather than asking where the Shock Top is. Orrell, along with Pachecho and the Rishers, have of course catered to the patrons who have made their business stay alive during its infancy. This, however, does not mean the Rishers do not have grander plans.
The room to your immediate right when you enter will be the area you’ll want to be in should you not want the plethora of TV screens in your face and prefer a little different types of sports action–that is, watching a kitchen come alive. A giant glass wall will divide the space, providing diners a glimpse into Orrell’s world while also having the possibility of bar service.
“Ultimately, we’re just here to cater to Long Beach,” Orrell said. “You have a suggestion? Tell me. You want something on the menu? Tell me. We’re here to work with you—otherwise, we won’t succeed.”
I have a suggestion: give me two Pint Burgers next time instead of one.
Pints is located at 5755 E. Pacific Coast Highway at the trisection of PCH, Bellflower, and 7th St.
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