Kafe Neo

Kafe Neo calls itself and "American kitchen with Greek soul." I would say it's just that. They have a variety of food that included all sorts of pitas, rice bowls and burgers. I ordered as an appetizer spicy feta fries, which strongly advocate the American Kitchen with Greek soul idea. They were french fries covered in a spicy feta mix and they were delicious. I love feta cheese and the spicy gives it something extra. Since I loved the spicy feta so much, I decided to get a spicy feta and chicken pita as my entree. It also had tomatoes and tzatziki, which is like the greek equivalent of ranch. The tzatziki was really good so I also ordered a side of that to dip pita bread in. Kafe Neo also has a lot of organic and vegetarian food, so it would be a good option for all different palettes. Located at 4th St and Temple, it is pretty centrally located between the Pike and Belmont Shore.

The prices at Kafe Neo were very reasonable. My pita was only $6.50 and the spicy feta fries were only $4.50. Overall, I would say that Kafe Neo is a good place because the menu includes something for everyone. They also have a variety of coffees and teas so it could be a nice place to just relax with a snack and a nice cup of jasmine tea.

May's Thai Kitchen

May's Thai Kitchen is a small restaurant located at the corner of Miramar off of Anaheim in Long Beach. Today when I went in for lunch, I was waited on by May herself. The food was exceptional. Since I was in there for lunch, I was able to order off the amazingly priced lunch menu. I ordered beef with black pepper and garlic. As part of the lunch special, I also had my choice of won ton or spicy mushroom soup, fried or steamed rice and it came with an egg roll as well as a side of pad thai. The pad thai was delicious and pad thai is not my favorite part about Thai food. My beef was exceptional and I wanted to continue eating even after I was stuffed. The amount of food I got was well worth the $8.95 that I paid. Even though I ordered a lunch special, I felt that the rest of the menu was very well priced. It looked like the average entree was about $10.00. Which, for the way the food tasted, I found amazing.

I really like the atmosphere. You can tell that the food that is made is authentic and May made sure my dining experience was great. She was also interacting with all her other customers, which I thought was really nice. It is very small and there were signs promoting the cooking classes she teaches there once a month. I will definitely be going back there and trying some different items on the menu!

Olives Gourmet Grocer

Today I had one of the best deli sandwiches I have ever had. Olives Gourmet Grocer is a deli and grocer that carries gourmet cheeses and meats and even has an olive bar. The sandwich I ordered did not have a name but was filled with hot cured Italian meats, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onions, pepperoncinis, mayonnaise, red wine vinaigrette and olive oil. It was spicy and delicious. Sometimes, the bread on an Italian sandwich is too hard, but this bread was perfect. My sandwich was only $7.29 but I also spent $2.00 on some olives from the olive bar. I would say that the quality of the food was no where near representative of the price. It was amazing and I truly felt it was worth more than the price I paid.

Since it is a grocery store as well, the only seating for the restaurant is located at small tables outside. Since I was there on a nice day, I didn't mind sitting outside and enjoying the atmosphere that accompanies most places on Broadway.

Olives Gourmet Grocers has two locations, one on Broadway and one on 2nd street in Belmont Shore. If you are ever in the mood to cook something fancy, Olives would be the place to go to get fresh ingredients as well some ingredients that you might not find in a normal grocery store. They have a variety of fresh bread and meats as well as side dishes such as whipped yams.