Closed: Monterey, Long Beach
The exterior of Monterey, a new American restaurant in Long Beach. (2009) Credit: Jori Klein
So sad; another restaurant departs. This time, it's Monterey, the splashy bilevel California-style restaurant that shook up the Long Beach dining scene when it opened in 2009.
Physically, the columned dining room, done in aqua and sand, was a show-stopper. In a two-star review, Newsday’s Peter Gianotti said of the transformed Corbin & Reynolds space at 20 W. Park Ave.: “It has to be the biggest face-lift since Joan Rivers’ last.”
The opening menu was rife with purple prose and double entendres. An appetizer called “governor mussels" was described as “engorged by tomato, leeks, hot red pepper, fresh basil and California chardonnay finished by a Kennedy citrus butter."
Later menus were more straightforward. For a time, Heather West, winner of season two’s “Hell’s Kitchen,” gave the kitchen celebrity cachet.
What will take Monterey’s place? Stay tuned for updates.
