A Culinary Adventure for (Nearly) Every Palate
If your family is like mine, deciding where to dine out can be a little challenging – with different palates, food cravings and in my case, an affinity for ethnic dishes. With the offerings of seven distinct restaurant menus that can be ordered for dine-in, pick up or delivery, Local Kitchens takes all the back-and-forth banter of choices out of the equation.
A micro food hall concept, this Huntington Beach eatery offers selections from some of SoCal’s most popular dining destinations: Baby’s Badass Burgers, Backyard Bowls, Chica’s Tacos, Sweetfin, SAJJ Mediterranean, Sushirrito and Hanchic. For dessert – Randy’s Donuts, Milk Bar or Afters Ice Cream.
The Bay area founders, who were early employees at the food delivery service DoorDash, recognized a need for local eateries to share their menu with a broader audience and the desire of local diners to sample the delicious dishes previously unavailable in their community.
Because the Local Kitchens staff have been specially trained to prepare each respective eatery’s cuisine using the same ingredients and cooking methods, each menu item looks and tastes exactly as it would if you ordered it at the restaurant’s brick and mortar location. In essence, each of the participating restaurants has a “micro station” within Local Kitchens.
For busy moms like me, ordering on the company’s user-friendly website, via the mobile app or at one of the kiosks in the store makes dinner to go a breeze. Options here range from Mediterranean cuisine and gourmet burgers to my son’s new favorite – the Sushiritto, a sushi burrito that is “modern Japanese with a Latin twist” (who knew?).
Prefer to dine in? The ambiance, defined by industrial-style decor, is laid-back and casual. The showcased eateries prioritize locally sourced and organic ingredients. Because I tend to lean toward ethnic dishes whenever I have the choice, SAJJ Mediterranean was of particular appeal (think steak shawarma, pomegranate chicken and fresh baked pita bread), while my husband nearly always opts for a burger. For him, the difficulty is in deciding between the gourmet offerings of Baby’s Badass Burgers or The Melt.
Our son went right for the aforementioned Sumo Crunch Sushiritto (shrimp tempura, surumi crab, sriracha aioli) while our daughter, the mac-and-cheese aficionado in our family, loved the Melty Mac made with a custom cheese blend, topped with cheddar and toasted bread crumbs.
