Long Beach Food Scene Week kicks off July 31 and runs through Aug. 9, celebrating our city’s ever-evolving food culture. To uplift our chefs, restaurateurs, managers, bartenders, line cooks, servers, bussers, and everyone else who makes Long Beach hospitality what it is, I will be highlighting specific participants—like this focus on Homareya.
When Homareya opened in Downtown Long Beach, it quietly accomplished something the city had long been missing: it became Long Beach’s first proper izakaya.
Under Kyoto-born Chef Yoya Takahashi, the intimate space is less about flashy rolls or oversized portions and more about capturing the everyday drinking-and-dining culture of Japan through, let’s say, meticulously prepared yakitori, where chicken hearts and livers are threaded onto skewers and slightly charred yet wonderfully soft.
Or pristine seafood, like when a hunk of horse mackerel is showcased in its barest atop seasoned rice or dressed with house-made miso, ginger, sesame oil, citrust, and shiso…