"We all eat, and it would be a sad waste of opportunity to eat badly."
-Anna Thomas
Whether you're a student swamped with assignments, a working professional with hardly any spare time, or just a proud homebody, a disinclination for going out shouldn't limit your ability to eat well. This guide is for those of us who stay in but don't want to eat in.
One of the most important things that a business can do to ensure
success is to fill a niche that no one else fills. In this sense, Big
E Pizza ought to be one of the most successful delivery places in
Long Beach, especially considering that it's home to two sizable
universities. The food's not incredible, the prices are relatively
high, and the menu is pretty standard fare for delivery. What
separates Big E Pizza from the rest of the pack is its incredibly
flexible delivery hours. If you're ever feeling a mite peckish late
at night, long after all the other places have closed, Big E's will
be there to satisfy that your stomach's light nagging with a full-on,
12 inch sandwich or a full pasta meal; because of the fiendishly
priced menu prices, you'll *have* to order quite a bit to hit that
minimum $11 delivery order.
For the sake of thoroughness in my evaluation, (and not because I
am a shameful glutton) I ordered two main courses and a desert. The baked ziti was decent, Italian sausage sprinkled generously over a
melted layer of mozzarella cheese, with a rich mixture of ricotta,
tomatoes, and penne underneath. Rich and filling, as it should be, and it came with a side salad and garlic bread.
The 6 inch turkey sub looks a little unimpressive but there's enough
mayo underneath to keep it interesting, despite an over-reliance on
lettuce to pad out the thickness. The chocolate cake was more of a mousse and definitely store-bought, though when it's 2am and you need a sweet fix, store-bought isn't necessarily a bad thing.
If you need food late, you can't go wrong with Big E's. If you need food any time else, there are better bets.
Big E Pizza is located at 3225 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Signal Hill, CA
For orders, call (562) 498-8788
Pizza X Two should be the most popular pizza delivery place in Long Beach for one reason: the price. Their $3 one-topping pan pizza and soda combo is almost a full meal unto itself, and with no minimum order price for delivery, it's a near-unbeatable deal for the moderately hungry. Yes, the delivery fee ($2.50) is a sizable amount, though it's less than you would pay at a chain, like Pizza Hut or Domino's.
I ordered a black olive and pepperoni pizza, one of my go-to combos. The tomato sauce was robust, not too sour or salty, and decent. Unlike many other pizza places, thankfully, the weight of the toppings did not grossly outweigh the cheese that held it together, so there was almost no topping-slide (you think of a better name) which can ruin the entire experience. The crust was light and fluffy, with just the right amount of crunch. The dough, on the other hand, was thin and wobbly, with the appearance of wet cardboard. The taste was fine, but I never quite shook the feeling that a slice could fall apart at any moment.
I also ordered a dozen hot wings ($7.25) because I felt guilty getting a delivery guy out here with only a $4 order (that's how they get you). By the time they arrived, the wings had gone soggy and a little dry in places. They were slathered in your average sweat-inducing hot sauce and served with a stingy packet of ranch dressing. I can't really recommend the wings, but at the same time, I can't advise you to stay away either. At these prices though, I'm not expecting linen napkins and gold foil. Pizza X Two is filling, cheap, and reasonably tasty. Good traits to have for the budget-minded diner.
Pizza X Two is located at 2211 E. 7th St., Long Beach, CA.
For orders, call (562) 314-4539
At first glance, Chicken Dijon doesn't look like a particularly sound bet. The price alone would drive away most, with a whopping $12 minimum order and a $1.50 delivery fee on top of tip and tax and all that other good stuff. Looking through the menu, the items aren't modestly priced either. $10 for a salad? $4 for a side of hummus? I understand that this is Greek food, not exactly common around these parts, but ordering from this place could potentially break quite a few banks.
So when my food arrived, I was ready to be indignant. It's unfair of me to judge a place before I've had a chance to eat their food, but the damage to my wallet filled me with an indescribable desire to be cruelly snarky. I was chomping at the bit to tear apart overpriced, mediocre food.
I ordered the House Salad, which was described only as their most
popular dish. To put it bluntly, it was a bed of romaine lettuce with
warm rice mixed in, drenched in some house blend of olive oil, vinegar,
garlic, and other things I couldn't possibly start to guess at, served
with bits of chicken and croutons. It was absolutely wonderful. The
richness of the rice, mixed with the light tang of the dressing created a
fabulous savory flavor, held back from excess by crisp lettuce. The
chicken was overcooked and dry, yes, but it hardly took away from the
the rest of the dish. Exquisitely balanced though it may be, the House
Salad is not for people looking for a quick, light bite. It was a meal
unto itself. I also ordered a side of falafels, served with a sharp tzatziki sauce and a throat-burningly sweet order of baklava. If you can afford it, try this place at least once.
Ordering in is all well and good, but how does one find new and exciting places to order from? The traditional means of reading the Food section of a local newspaper or following a well-known foodie blog aren't ideal, as these publications are predominantly targeted at people who go out to eat. For the sedentarily-minded, there are a few services that are directly or indirectly geared at them.
Yelp is one of the largest local search websites on the internet, running the gamut from flowers, to plumbers, to everything in between. Though not directly targeted at those searching for food delivery, the site does denote restaurants that offer delivery. Yelp can be used as a very rough directory, like a very general listing of local establishments. Do take note, though, that Yelp has often been accused of letting restaurant owners artificially inflate ratings by posting fake reviews.
With presence in over 300 cities and 400 college campuses, Grubhub is now one of the largest online food ordering companies in the the country. Grubhub offers accurate and generally up-to-date information on most, but not all, food delivery and pickup services in your area. It is an entirely free service, making its money off of charging the restaurants directly. It has also acquired or merged with almost every single one of its major competitors. A fun note: Every four deliveries or so, Grubhub allows users to play a game of chance, sometimes leading to a free coupon or voucher, and other times just to an amusing Youtube video.
