Long Beach isn't exactly known for farm-to-table restaurants; however, recently, the food scene in Long Beach has been blossoming into something not just bigger and better, but also into something a bit more sustainable.
Chez Bacchus is a wine-driven, farm-to-table restaurant that has settled itself nicely into the former 4th & Olive space.
Chez Bacchus is a Greek name for the god of wine and pleasure, and it hopes to strike a pleasurable balance, offering diners a taste of luxury while also reminding them that unrestrained excess can have extremely harmful long-term effects on restaurants and the overall food ecosystem.
The chef and co-owner Christopher Meehan says that he wants the restaurant's menu to “marry ultra-seasonal cooking with more nostalgic and classical restaurant elements, like tableside flourishes and white tablecloths.”
"Sustainability is paramount," says Meehan when talking about his dishes. He focuses on only using local ingredients from farms, such as heirloom seed lines and regenerative farming practices.
Additionally, the meat dishes rely on free-range animals fed with sustainable farming byproducts, and fish are rotated based on seasonal availability.
Sustainability with seafood is important, and Meehan's goal is to work with locally caught fish whenever possible. "As soon as halibut is in season, we're going to have halibut on the menu," adds principal owner John Hansen. Additionally, servers will be able to tell diners the exact time their fish was pulled from the ocean.