New Restaurants Take a Bet on 'Fresh' Approach

This past Saturday, Lucia Villanueva, 31, of South Gate enjoyed her most recent dish, a chicken salad, at the Dragon Loco, a local Chinese restaurant located on 8934 Long Beach Boulevard. The salad was a success with Villanueva. 

“This tastes like home meal,” said Villanueva, who has already attended the Dragon Loco about a dozen times since it first opened on October 2011.  “They do things fresh and you can taste it.”

According to Sam Chang, manager of the Dragon Loco of South Gate, such customer satisfaction validates the overall strategy of the restaurant, which is cooking meals to order with quality ingredients.

“Our specialty is too cook everything fresh,” said Chang, who added that most Chinese restaurants in the area are pre-cooked buffet establishments. “So we cook everything to order.”

The Dragon Loco has seen a consistent increase in its clientele despite the slow economy. The total number of monthly customers continues increase by 10 percent, according to Chang.

“Business is steady,” said Chang, who added that the Dragon Loco’s older Los Angeles location is also doing well.

The trend of food cooked to order coupled with fresh ingredients is on the rise through out the United States. People are hungry for simple dishes with fresh ingredients, and restaurateurs are catering to this.

In fact, “back to basics” and other similar shifts in food preparation, were listed by the National Restaurant Association (NRA), an industry business association, as some of the hottest menu trends in the United States.

Abel De Luna, owner of Luna Tacos & Burritos, at 3070 Firestone Boulevard, admits to also placing a bet on fresh ingredients when he opened his eatery last March.

“The difference between us and other taco shops lies in the way we prepare our food,” insisted De Luna, who believes that his restaurant’s attention to detail will be no match for the several other existing nearby taco shops. “We are not looking to save money with our food, so we will buy the best vegetables and meats.”

First time customer, Hector Iñiguez, 50, was impressed with the food and cited the freshness of the ingredients when asked if he enjoyed his lunch.

“It has a gourmet style to it,” said Iñiguez, as he critiqued his marinated pork quesadilla. “The meat and cheese have a pleasant taste because they are fresh.”

De Luna claims that in the short lifespan of Luna Tacos & Burrito business has been on the rise. Sales in April and May were strong, but things did slow down in June.  However, De Luna is undeterred, because his experience with using quality ingredients has already brought him success.

“I am optimistic,” affirmed De Luna, who has found success with this formula with the 25 year old taco shop that he still owns in Napa Valley. “If we serve good food people will come back and recommend us.” 

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