Chinitos Tacos Verified listing

It is safe to say that Chinitos Tacos—the Cambodian-American-owned taco shop headed by Chef Beeline Krouch—is about as Long Beach as it gets. And in all frankness, there has been a continual frustration on my end, as both a writer and steward for the food community, by the lack of love Chinitos gets (even after multiple inclusions from me on my underrated restaurants lists and a glowing feature in the Los Angeles Times by the much-missed Patricia Escárcega all the way back in 2019).

It could very well be his location: Lakewood, love it or hate it, is different; as in much quieter and much slower. While the patronage is loyal, Krouch finds himself closing early—effectively shutting down his dream of being the late-night-go-to taco joint—and not really feeling much love from Long Beach.

The blunt reality is that while Chinitos might be in Lakewood, it is one-hundred-percent birthed out of Long Beach: Krouch, a Long Beach native, has been serving up some of the region’s most distinct, lavishly layered tacos with his melding of Cambodian and Southeast Asian flavors with Mexican grub, where rounds of melted cheese—burnt to a brown, crêpe-thin crisp—act as taco shells and lemongrass and Chinese 5 spice blend into meats.

And it’s about damn time we remind the city of his story and why Chinitos is a particularly special cog in the Long Beach Food Scene.

Photos and written by Brian Addison.

For Brian Addison's full profile on Chinitos Tacos, click here.