Tavern on 2

I don’t spend a lot of time in Long Beach, but I recently became acquainted with the Long Beach USC Alumni Club. Their president kept mentioning Tavern on 2 to me as a great burger place in Long Beach that I needed to check out. They decided to host a fundraiser at Tavern on 2. This was a great opportunity to check out the burgers and hang out with my fellow Trojans. If you haven’t spent much time in Long Beach you might not be familiar with the Belmont Shore area. 2nd Street is a great stretch of restaurants and shops and is within walking distance to the ocean. Tavern on 2 is a small gastropub with a good selection of beer and a menu featuring everything from burgers to breakfast. The staff there is all very friendly and attentive.

On to the burger. Some people got the short rib burger, which looked great, but that wouldn’t be a real comparison. I went with the Black & Blue Burger. The beef is Paso Prime Ranch Beef. The meat was a little charred but not necessarily over cooked. The bun, part of the reason I chose the burger, didn’t have the full pretzel flavor I am usually used to. It really just felt heavy and made the burger filling. The burger was topped with Maytag blue cheese, rosemary candied bacon, horseradish mayo, arugula and tomato. The star of the burger was the horseradish mayo. It was flavorful and the best part of the burger. The arugula and tomato added the pepper and sweet flavors that you really look for in the burger. The blue cheese was a little overwhelming. It is a strong flavor and it kind of took over the flavor of the burger. Bacon can also overwhelm the burger. The bacon flavor did not come through. Overall there seemed to be something off with the overall flavor of the burger. Now that I think about it, I think it is the rosemary in the candied bacon. The burger definitely sounded better on paper then it was in execution. I would love to come back and try the short rib and chorizo burger.