Wednesday, 29 October 2008

• Parker's Lighthouse

  435 Shoreline Village Dr.
  Long Beach, CA 90802
  562-432-6500
  http://www.selectrestaurants.com/parkerslight

  There are a number of beautiful beaches around Los Angeles and one of them is Long Beach.  Considered a quieter beach compared to Venice City Beach and Santa Monica, Long Beach is far from the busy West Hollywood and Beverly Hills areas.  The day was hot under the sun but the water was cold.  Just imagine the coldest swimming pool you've ever been in and that's how cold it was.

  Once again we had flown in to Los Angeles in the morning and a lot had happened so we decided to grab a late lunch.  I didn't know the area well and I wasn't going to spend time going online or looking at a map so we did the old fashion thing of just driving around.  Thankfully, close to our hotel was Long Beach and close to it was a seafood restaurant.  If you're either on the West or East coast, I recommend seafood!

  

  Parking was easy to find in the shopping area with parking costing $1 with validation.

  

  The restaurant is large and nicely decorated interior.  The circular shape and numerous large windows allowed a lot of sun to come in.  It was a nice warm day so we just had to take advantage of it and get a table in the patio:

  

  It's low season in Los Angeles and late for lunch so the restaurant wasn't too busy.

  Strawberry Lemonade:

  

  A mix of sweet and sour.  The strawberry syrup is at the bottom, probably to make the drink look nice but I prefer uniform tasting drinks.

  Parker's Sampler - lobster taquitos, crabcake with chipotle aioli, panko shrimp, and calamari (clockwise from bottom):

  

  The taquitos weren't very good.  I didn't realize they had lobster in it until I checked the menu online to write this review.  The crab cake was small with mostly fish.  Panko shrimp is more like the usual fried shrimp but the panko batter is hard.  The shrimp inside was a good size and crispy however.  The calamari was chewy, soft, and moist.  The batter was good for it.  I would have liked them using the same batter for the calamari on the shrimp.  It's a good selection of their popular appetizer but at $19, it's on the expensive side.

  Clam Chowder:

  

  This was one of the few times I actually got clam in every scoop of soup I had.  There is just so much clam in here.  The soup was thick and just a tad too salty.  I was very impressed.  At $6, it's a must try if you like clam chowder like me.

  The patio has a great view of the waterfront, lighthouse, Queen Mary, and the ocean.  The food was alright but the clam chowder stood out for me.  Service was very friendly but on the slow side even with the light amount of customers.  It's a decent restaurant but it's nothing special so I wouldn't bother intentionally coming to Long Beach to try this restaurant but if you're in the area then it's worth a visit.

  Eric Tummy Points: 3.5 out of 5

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