Phnom Penh is one of the best Cambodian restaurants in Long Beach, and one of our favorite spots in the whole city. Open Tuesday through Sunday from 7am-3pm, this tiny place specializes mostly in breakfast dishes like rice porridge and meat pies, but it’s their house special noodle soup with pork bone broth that we’ll brave even the foggiest of mornings to eat. You can choose between rice or egg noodles, but we prefer doing a mix of both.

The Bake N Broil is a Long Beach institution. They’ve been open in Bixby Knolls since 1965, serving diner food and incredible pies and cakes. Although there will probably be a wait when you arrive, you can grab a seat at the counter when one opens up. The menu is huge, but you the smart ones go straight for the chicken pot pie. It’s comes with your choice of soup or salad, and though it might seem counterintuitive to get soup with a chicken pot pie, definitely get the French Onion.

A&J is a tiny to-go window in a small strip mall parking lot about a mile away from Phnom Penh Noodle Shack, which happens to be run by the same family. As much as we like that spot for noodle soup, this place is our go-to for all things seafood: salt & pepper shrimp, grilled oysters, and fresh spring rolls. You’ll technically be sitting outside on the wraparound patio facing a huge intersection, but you'll feel like you're steps from the sea. Our top pick is the crispy salmon.

Selva is an excellent, slightly upscale Colombian restaurant near the Traffic Circle that’s ideal for group meals where you want to share as many small plates as possible. We love their family-style dishes like the market fish, which varies each day but always comes seared and crispy and served with a bright onion-tomato sofrito. It's the appetizers and sides, however, that should be covering your whole table.

Long Beach's Cambodia Town is loaded with tremendous places to eat, but if you’re looking for the best entry point, make Sophy’s your first stop. The family-run restaurant has been in the neighborhood for 20+ years, and has a big menu filled with Cambodian staples. There are always at least a few groups seated in the big leather booths sharing Cambodian Khmer noodles and scooping hot and sour soup from a cauldron.

Little Coyote is our go-to pizza spot in Long Beach, and one of the top pizzerias around LA. They've got two locations in Long Beach, but we prefer the one on the Eastside for its casual dining room and massive outdoor patio set-up. Their pies are an ode to the classic New York-style slice, but with a more flavorful crust and a variety of topping combos. But the pizza we'd gladly travel across town for is the light and airy white pie.

Heritage is a relatively casual tasting menu restaurant inside of a converted house that offers a seven-course meal for $110. There’s typically no wait for a table for two here, though you probably should book ahead if you plan on coming with a group. The rotating menu typically involves things like aged duck, perfectly charred octopus, and a creamy fruit-topped pavlova.

Speak Cheezy is our favorite pizza place in Long Beach that isn’t named Little Coyote. Their crust is a gorgeous cross between sourdough and New York-style, with a brittle crispness along the bottom and those leopard-spotted ends we know and love. The greatest pie in the house is the LBC, a classic cheese pizza topped with fennel sausage, pepperoni cups, and cute little dollops of ricotta for a bit of creaminess.

The Latin cafe in Bixby Knolls has a soft neon-lit glow that feels romantic, friends playing Yahtzee under a spinning disco ball, and rotating DJs spinning soul music next to a wall of natural wine. Drop by during the daytime for a coffee date or go the dinner route with small plates like burrata, marinated olives, and tuna aguachile. This place doesn’t take reservations, but you’ll likely never have to wait more than a few minutes for a seat.

When it comes to old-school Mexican restaurants in Long Beach, people might point you to sports bar-ish Los Compadres, late-night hang El Sauz, or fusion-y Enrique’s near the Marina. But our money is on Rivera’s, a homey, family-run place on East 7th that has been open since the ‘90s. We love the retro wood-paneled dining room, glowing string lights on the ceiling, and the odes to Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo covering the walls.