“Long Beach residents and visitors alike are in for a treat as dozens of local restaurants and pop-ups will offer unique over-the-top Burgers and value-priced Burger Offers when the 4th annual Long Beach Burger Week returns July 21-28, 2024.”
“Organized by local non-profit Long Beach Food & Beverage, the organization felt that in addition to encouraging local and surrounding "foodies” to enjoy what the expanding Long Beach culinary community has to offer, events like Burger Week support the local economy and put “butts in seats” of our valued restaurants. Besides... it's summertime and who doesn’t love a good burger?”
“Featured Burgers are value-priced at $5, $10, $15, $20, plus some combos offered at $25. A few of the more unique over-the-top burger offers may include Burger Hand Pies, Pupusa Burgers, Cajun Lobster-topped, IPA Cheese-topped, Bleu Cheese Peppercorn-topped, Pastrami-topped, Chile Verde Burger, and many more unique options. Boasting Metro LA as a sponsor, many restaurants will also be promoting special offers when guests show their Metro LA TAP Card.”
One of the featured restaurants in LBBW is the new ISM Brewing located on The Promenade in Downtown Long Beach. Proprietor Ian McCall along with Executive Chef Alfonso “Fonzy” De Zuniga continue with us previewing their initial Burger Week special, Mahalo Madness, which is a delicious, hand-held delight which takes inspiration from the ISM Culinary Team’s favorite Hawaiian / Japanese Burger spots.
“Mahalo Madness is a 6” square burger patty covered in strips of pork belly, topped with Swiss cheese, grilled oyster mushrooms, grilled onions, grilled pineapple, lettuce, avocado and housemade teriyaki sauce. It’s served between halves of a fresh ciabatta roll.”
In celebration of mass transit (Long Beach is the terminus of the newly renamed A-Line) ISM is also featuring the A-Line Burger created by Chefs Fonzy and Bobby. It’s a 6" square burger patty covered in honey glazed pork belly, topped with arugula, cherry tomatoes, julienned red onion, bleu cheese crumbles, Marcona almonds and fig jam served on ciabatta.
This is Wing Land, founder of Wahoo's Fish Taco, with my brother's Mingo and Ed. When I want to know what's going on in the world of food, I listen to SoCal Restaurant Show on AM830-KLAA, the home of Angel's Baseball. And welcome back, it is the SoCal Restaurant Show, and we're here with you every Saturday morning from 10 AM until 12 noon, right here on AM830-KLAA, the home of Angel's Baseball 2024. It can also catch us on the AM830 Angels app. I'm Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show. Happy to be here, and we're enthusiastically presented each and every week by Melissa's World Variety Produce and West Coast Prime Meats. We're journeying back down to the promenade in Long Beach and picking up our conversation with the team from Isam Brewing, proprietor Ian McCall, and his executive chef Fonzie, who you probably remember from Tuscanso in Costa Mesa. So this is a chef that has serious credentials, and his menu is nothing that is just routine. Gentlemen, welcome back. You are participating for the first time this year in Long Beach Burger Week. It is coming up July 21 through the 28th, where a couple dozen Long Beach restaurants are all doing specialty burgers at a value price for this week. It's a celebration of that great American institution, which is the hamburger. And Ian, I know you jumped into this thing with both feet because you don't do anything just to do it. So Ian, what direction did you give to Chef Fonzie not only to create one burger masterpiece, but you went for two burger masterpieces and then we'll get Chef Fonzie to give us all the details. Yeah, absolutely. So for Burger Week, when I was approached about it, I thought, yeah, we don't do burgers. So if I wanted to do something that was going to be unique, set us apart, you know, Terry told us we could do $5, $10 up to $25 in five dollar increments. I knew we weren't going to do something small and dainty, but how we had to really go for it. We didn't want to make any serious changes in terms of what we're bringing in for our bread, and our Chabatas are just, they're so soft and light and airy. We came up with the idea while we were talking about doing square patties, you know, as a throwback to the retro, the redhead, Mr. Miss Wendy, you can say Wendy's. And I think it turned out super cool. And then as we were starting to talk about what were some of our burger inspirations, the first one we came up with is to have like a tropical teriyaki burger and Sous Chef Bobby and I and Chef were talking about it. And the idea for the first burger, the Mahalo Madness really came out of our love for a small Huntington Beach family institution, Fuji Burger. I'm sure a lot of your listeners have been there, eaten there. I absolutely love it. Me and my family eat there as often as we possibly can. And then to follow it up, the A-land burger was really just a challenge to the kitchen, to Chef Fonzi and Bobby and everybody else involved, to do something different and unique, something that would set us apart and really make our burger and our brewery stand out. Now, Ian, I had the joy of enjoying the Mahalo Madness burger about a week ago, because of course we need to do research for the show. And I think you and Chef Fonzi were really impressed that I actually ate the whole thing, because it is kind of a meal on a plate. It is big, there's a lot of ingredients, there's a lot going on there. But I do recommend it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Bringing Chef Fonzi back into the conversation, Fonzi, you got to give us the food porn description of the Mahalo Madness, because the only thing we've heard so far is, is yes, it is a six inch square patty, and yes, it's on a big Chabata roll. But there's a lot more between the top and bottom of the Chabata than just the six inch square patty. So please take it away. Yes, you know, that collaboration with my sushi of Bobby, you know, was great, and Seemby, HB local, you know, he has that Hawaiian Japanese inspired, you know, taste for it. So he created this pineapple teriyaki that it's like simmering in pineapple and a couple other ingredients, soy sauce and whatnot. And so that sauce takes it to another level. Really, he did a really good job. And you know, with outcomes with some pork belly and some grilled oyster mushrooms and, you know, the whole thing kind of works really well with the grilled onions and that avocado and the lettuce and the Chabata, like Ian said, that our Chabata is so fluffy and nice. And once you're toasted, it's really, really soft. I think the grilled oyster mushrooms really do it, Chef Fonzi. You know, there's, there's a lot going on there, but the flavors are all compatible and it knells together well. So, believe me, no ordinary burger. And of course, you got to have pineapple. So, you know, just it all makes sense. Now, Ian, before we go back to Chef Fonzi to talk about what's in the A-line burger, just for the uninitiated, what is the A-line? Yeah. So, the A-line formerly called the Blue Line is one of the lines of the LA metro train system. And the Blue Line, now called the A-line, it actually, it ends like a half a block behind our restaurant in downtown Long Beach. So, you could take the A-line from Union Station or from anywhere in LA directly to Long Beach. The Metro is going to be a huge supporter of the Long Beach Burger Week this year. And that's where Terry and the entire group behind Long Beach Burger Week decided to do a burger specifically for the A-line. So, ours is just called A-line deism. I wanted to keep it real simple. Let people know how they can come and find our burger. Take the A-line deism because of the tie-in with the Blue Line or the former Blue Line. The only requests that we received for this burger was to utilize blue cheese. And so, Fonz, you'll tell you all about it. It does have blue cheese. I think we have a really fun and unique take on a "blue cheese burger." Well, you know, there's people have, you know, kind of a mixed reaction to blue cheese. There's the love it category, which definitely is me. And then there is can't stand it. So, you know, it's interesting the division of opinion there. But in terms of melted blue cheese on a burger, you definitely have my full attention. So, Fonzie, take it away. Yes, sir. Well, you know, like you said, you have the lovers and the haters. So, we shot different ideas about it and whatnot. And we just decided to take a playful take on a charity board. So, there's blue cheese in it. However, we ended up having a little salad, something simple, something classic, salad with onions, cherry tomatoes, and the blue cheese as well. But we also incorporated some marcona almond dust in it to be playful with it. And then you have that thick jam spread on the bun itself. So, that's something simple, not too overpowering on the blue cheese and not too little where you don't taste it. But the burger patty is the same. It's the same thing. Just so we have a frame of reference. And I mean, who doesn't love marcona almond? So, when you chop those up and have that marcona almond dust that's part of all of that. So, you kind of get that almond flavor that's part of this with the blue cheese. I mean, I like the idea of, yeah, you're doing a riff on a charcuterie board, but it's between a top and a bottom of chipata. You know, and I like the thinking there, Chef. The thick jam really goes a long way, too, to taming some of those higher blue cheese notes. Yeah, and I also forgot, aside from the thick jam spread on it, we are also adding the same smoked pork belly, but we're doing a honey glaze on top. So, you have a little bit more of sweetness going out with that blue cheese so it balances out really well. Chef Fonzie, who doesn't love pork belly on a burger, I mean, you're adding protein to protein and, you know, it's definitely elevating everything. So, you know, definitely appreciate this. You know, Ian, I really appreciate the fact is is a new business in Long Beach with the brewery and the restaurant that an event like Long Beach Burger Week comes along. And from your point of view, it's not what's the least I can do to participate in this. It's what can we do to really extend ourselves to stand out and make a statement. I mean, that's kind of always the way you've been, but it's just definitely something to recognize because is we will all agree there's nothing tougher right now than the restaurant business. And it gives us all pause. I think it's the same in the beer industry. If I just owned a brewery, as it is in the restaurant industry, people have been going out and they've been drinking and they've been eating for years, for decades. And we've seen all the hype and all the, whatever it is, the circus. People are really, they want something new. They want to see something new, something different, something unique. And that's what we're looking to get them. We're looking to give them classic takes on fantastic American beer, but at the same time, world-class beer in downtown Long Beach. And then the same thing with food. We want fun, new takes on on Mexican food or Americanized Mexican food. It's elevated pub food that is fun for everybody. Absolutely. And reasonably priced because everybody is looking for value these days. And you know, you definitely understand why. Now, when you walk into Ismian now, something that catches your attention is there is a rack of wine barrels. What's going on there? Yeah. So a few months ago, we brought in a couple of different, not wine barrels, they're whiskey barrels. We brought in a few different whiskey barrels. I went ahead, we have six right now. I got three different brands. So we have a couple of Weller barrels, Blanton's barrels, and some wild turkeys. We are aging Imperial Stout, hopefully for our one-year anniversary, which should be coming up. I'm playing with the dates right now. I'm hoping the beginning of December. In hard to believe. I know. It's definitely flown by. Definitely a fast year. Now, as we need to say goodbye, one more time about where you are on the promenade in Long Beach, parking, because if people don't come by the A line, which is actually a good recommendation, you know, they're always worried. Where do you park? And of course, the website. Yeah, so you'll find us online at www.ismism.beer, like the tasty beverage. There's no.com. So just ism.beer. In person, come and visit us at our at our brew pub. It's 210 East Third Street, Sweet A in Long Beach. Free parking, three hours validated parking is in the loft parking structure directly behind our building. If you it's super easy to use, or there are two-hour public spots there as well. Go to our Instagram. It's just at @ismbrewing, ISM brewing. Super easy to find us. All the information is on there as well. Ian have a great Long Beach burger week. Again, that is going to be coming up. And be sure to try the mahalo madness along the way. I don't think he'll be disappointed, particularly if you like that Midley of Flavors. And to both Ian and Chef Fonzi, thanks for making the effort to come in and also to bring the services. We definitely appreciate that. You are listening to the SoCal restaurant show. Yes, when we return, as promised, it is Chef Andrew Grulle of the Calico Fish House. We're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Proters and West Coast Prime Meats. We'll be right back.
