Bouchees Bistro

So sad to hear that Bouchess has closed and left Smooth’s.

We were driving to Bouchees on Long beach blvd and we noticed that the name is falling apart… how could this be?!? It’s out of business… WHAT!!! I want my mini burgers.:(So then we decided we would go eat at Rock bottom instead, but we had trouble with parking and we didn’t want to pay $ 16 at the Renaissance Hotel so we drove down the street and what do you know… we see Bouchees Bistro re-​located to Pine Ave, next time I won’t rely on my Iphone –_​_​_​_​-​” what an adventure. It’s across the street from Greek’s café & next to the club Sevilla: P
Anyways, we walked inside and it was completely empty. There was one table of 3 guys and this old man all alone on his phone. I was disappointed that it was so empty. Anyways, we came in time for happy hour and I get 3 sliders 1,3,5 with delicious free fries.
My boyfriend got the even #‘s 2,4,6 and we decided to try it all. The wait did take awhile around 20 – 30 minutes since there was one chef, one waiter and one bartender. It was a sad Wednesday, but at least I get 15% off :)
#1 American beef burger with cheddar chees eangus sirloin beef, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, ketchup — mini 3.50
*The meat didn’t have much flavor so lots of ketchup helps!
#2 applewood bacon, chipotle cheeseburgeangus sirloin beef, pepperjack cheese, caramelized onion, smoked jalapeño sauce.
*This was one of my favorite :)
#3 turkey and shiitake mushroom — mini 3.00
turkey tenderloin, roma tomato, red onion, peppercorn dijonnaise
*We didn’t like this one at all. It just tasted right with the shiitake mushroom and the turkey was too chunky and not much flavor.
#4 organic vegetable burger mini 3.00
organic veggies, lettuce, tomato, red onion, mesquite barbecue sauce.
*This was really good. It doesn’t even taste vegetarian (:
#5 ahi tuna and avocado burger — regular 11.00 mini 4.00
seared ground ahi, sliced avocado, baby lettuce leaves, tomato,
spicy chili garlic sauce
*Our least favorite. I don’t think it’s a good combination at all.
#6 pork barbecue «burger” — regular 8.00 mini 3.00
tender slow cooked pork barbecue with, roasted chilies, cotija cheese, pickled red onion
*Everyone loves pull pork and with BBQ sauce, yum! :)
I love mini sliders.
Small burgers, big flavor!

I really wanted to enjoy your dishes Bouchees, I really did.
Downtown Long Beach, a place I haven’t really ventured only until recently. I came here during happy hour and it was through the lent season (which made it even worst). So what did I do to calm down my carnivorous nerves?
–1 order of the Miso Glazed Salmon Filet: A patch of sauteed spinach with a puddle of White wine miso emulsion.
Let’s see the filet, was moist. The sides were slightly burnt. The parsley garnish was pointless. The spinach is probably what saved the dish from being failure, moist and kept the dish together in terms of flavor profile. The emulsion was unsuccessful, I felt like I was eating more peanut sauce (or peanut butter rather) than Miso if anything. After having a lot of miso in Japanese restaurants, shouldn’t there be a slight salty after taste (or was it my imagination)?
Spent about $ 22.00 with tax and tip. It took forever to get my order in (waited over 35 minutes). The bartender apologize for the overtime, but the dish wasn’t worth the wait. Next time I want to try a Salmon and Peanut Butter sandwich, I have no need to look any further. Hopefully your crab cakes are much more satisfying if I ever get to try them in the future. 2.5 but that’s really pushing it for me.

Bouchees? Or Bouche? Probably the 2^nd one.
$ 4 for a small slider of ahi tuna and avocado. Plain taste… not good.
Buffalo wings? Can you say too SPICY? Come on. I’m Thai. i’ve NEVER had overly spicy wings!!!
I would never have gone to this place nor would I ever try this place again. This order was for a work group order!

Tried this place for the first time on the night of the Oscars. I guess they were having an Oscar viewing party and as such had an abbreviated menu. I was rather looking forward to the fancy burgers, but that was my fault for not calling ahead. Taste wise, the food was just ok. I thought it was pricey for being mediocre.
It didn’t seem particularly crowded or busy, but the service was SUPER SLOW. Took forever to get drink refills, ketchup, etc. Drinks were refilled with the wrong stuff. Desserts never came. Overall, a disappointment.

Hmmm… this is a tough one. One the one hand I like the food and some of the décor. On the other hand, people here can be rude and I can rarely hear conversation further than 1 person away from me. I guess I’ll focus on the positives though since I hear it improves the outlook of your own life.
Bouchees’ specialty I would say is their slider menu. I love that you can mix and match them because what’s the point of getting 4 sliders when they’re the same thing? You might as well just order one regular sized burger or sandwich and call it a day in my opinion. However, here you can order a tuna burger and a regular burger and some mystical flavored burger and create a taste sensation in your mouth. That’s good.
They also make corn chowder here, which is my all-​time favorite soup. So props for that. And they have a cupcake of the day! These are the reasons I like it here. If only, they’d turn the music down a scosh so I could hear my dinner companions… I’d probably come more often.

Got here early on a Saturday Morning first customers in the door. Group of 6…
Service was okay…
Wait for food was WAY too long we waited at least 30 to 45 minutes for our food to come!
The combo of Parmesan Sweet Potato and Regular Fries came with less Sweet Potato compared to what I would expect.
The best thing overall was the HOMEMADE Ketchup!!!
I got 3 mini burgers: Turkey Tenderloin which was great, Polenta (Vegeterian) and they didn’t have the arugula lettuce as stated so they replaced that, last I got the Ahi Tuna one which was just okay.
Nobody from my group was that impressed with the food.

OMFG! This place USED to be FABULOUS. LOVED their little hole-​in-​the-​wall spot on Long Beach Boulevard. Now, they’re in a sleezy straight SPORTS bar filled with complete WHITE TRASH (and, yes, a few colorful other TRASHY varieties as well … my night had 35 bleach blond sorority girls in the center of the restaurant). WHAT’S UP WITH THAT??? I just don’t get that whole thing at all. So, Smooth’s just added Bouchees burger menu with fries to their TERRIBLE three wine choices and piss-​poor sports bar menu??? I hardly thing that’s a RECIPE for success. WTF!!!
Service was TERRIBLE … 50 minutes to get two mini burgers. You can’t get your own «custom mini» anymore. But, the burgers were still good (I have to admit). The atmosphere totally SUCKS ASS. So, I will not be going back again.

I luckily made it out to this place before the burger on the month, antelope was gone. Tasty lil buggers! All in all, some of the best tasting ground meats on perfect little buns I’ve ever had! They grind their own meat and bake their own bread, and you will totally taste the difference from anywhere else you will ever have a slider! Let’s not to forget to mention that they have the hands down best fries I’ve ever had, and I don’t use those words lightly! I’ll definitely be back for seconds!!!

Shared a couple sliders, combo fries, & lobster mac & cheese. Place is small, but not too small, service was amazing. Now back to the sliders, I ordered tuna slider which had garlic sauce & avocado $ 4, a applewood bacon cheeseburger $ 3.75, an organic meatless patty slider $ 3, hubby had the feature of the month, antelope w/​crispy pancetta, asparagus, honey dijon $ 4. My favorite slider was between the cheeseburger & tuna. The lobster mac $ 7 was ok, glad I tried it bought I wish the cheese they used was more sharp. The fries were tasty, we had the combo mix of garlic parmesan fries & sweet potato, I preferred the garlic parmesan myself. The total bill came out to $ 40 with some change, we also had 2 pints of beer to wash down all this food. Next time I’ll have to create my own sliders, just love that option, gets my creative juices flowin.

Really what hasn’t been said about these burgers? They’ve pretty much been described to death. What does make Bouchees stand out though is their sauce which is what brings their food all together.
I have to say that due to the quality of cooking and the richness of flavors; I do eat them and lose just a bit of reality that I am eating a «burger». This happens because there are a wide ranging amount of flavors from sweet and savory to tangy to smokey, where these well cooked burgers can surprise you with how much flavor they have. We did have a special antelope burger that was a softer meat than beef and seasoned very well with a bit of peppery earthy flavor, though I thought it might of been a bit salty; the honey dijon did mute the saltiness a bit and gave it a bit of tang. Interesting and tasty burger.
I also do love their cupcakes here. It might not be the most well baked, where sometimes certain parts of the top can be a bit hard, but the flavoring they put in and the rich creamy frostings are really to die for. Better than most of the fancy well known cupcakes.
The quality is still there having tried this place about a year apart. I thought the mini buns were a bit harder than I remember, but not a big deal. While they have a great taste profile, that can work against them for people maybe looking for a hearty traditional burger. A must try though.

My friends are complaining that my reviews become mini-​chapters of my life story and so this one will be as straightforward as possible (Ur…don’t wanna make you sick to your stomach).
Bouchees bistro was a place we had in mind to go to after reading the other reviews here on Unilocal.It’s pretty close to the Aquarium of the Pacific which is good because checking that place out works up an appetite.
I had their special of the week which was a goat cheese burger and I gotta say it was neither terrible nor was it amazing so at $ 10 dollars I wasn’t complaining but I also wasn’t leaving me wondering why MyFOX LA hasn’t been dubbed the culinary authority of all foods in LA.
I thought I was in the mood for some beef after looking at the aquatic life all day but perhaps I was hankering for some seafood instead because the other special of the week… the Lobster Mac N’ Cheese was impressive. It was served piping hot and was a good amount of spicy too. Plus, the lobster bits made for an interesting and tasting variation to mac n’ cheese. At around $ 9 it was worth it.
You can’t have just entrees when reviews rave about the fries at bouchees. I thought the best way to get the most out of it was to combo the fries with sweet potato and regular and you get a nice amount at $ 4. Maybe it was just that order but the fries were SALTY. (Ur, if you’re reading this on Twitter, that’s for you) To channel Kanye West, I’m not trying to be a hater giving the fries salty looks, but those fries were pretty salty.
Service at bouchees was fantastic and the staff are all extremely helpful and friendly which was nice when you’re tired from the Aquarium and have a drive back to LA ahead of you.
The seafood was good but the burger was just okay. But, Bouchees is known for their famous sliders and burgers and apparently MyFOX LA rated it the Best American in LA of 2008. But in the words of wisdom from Fergie that’s «so two thousand and late.» Maybe I’ll have to go back and try the sliders next time instead.

I came here a few weeks ago with my fellow Unilocaler, Ellen C, and found it to be pretty good. Given my extreme bias against this whole revival of the sliders concept, I was glad to see that this restaurant had the option of both– either mini sliders or the full sized versions. of the same burgers! That was definitely a cool concept, and you can also choose to create your own burgers or sliders with different meats, toppings, sauces, and vegetables.
I don’t remember exactly what I got– I think one of the sliders was one with bacon, lettuce, caramelized onion, and chipotle mayo with a ground beef patty, and that was quite good. For sliders, this place definitely ranks about 4 stars due to the fact you can customize your burgers. The mix of potato and sweet potato Parmesan fries were also very tasty, and highly recommended. I like this place but would probably not go back again just because it is quite far.

Thanks to Winston G., visited this place after the Long Beach Aquarium (only 1 mile away!).
Make your own sliders with choice of meat (angus beef, turkey, and veggie), with own sauce, sides (ie: garlic pickles, lettuce, caramelized onions, red onions, etc.), choice of cheese, and $ 1 for more luxurious toppings (ie: bacon). Around $ 3.50 to $ 3.75 for each slider. They also have 4 pre-​made burgers that you can order. You can also order a regular sized burger, but would definitely recommend the sliders so you can try out all the different toppings and choices. Waiter recommended 3 sliders per person, however, I was extremely full with 2. We also got the combo fries (sweet potato and regular fries) which were sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and had a pasta-​like ketchup sauce that they gave you. I think the fries are okay, nothing spectacular. Tried the pomegranate green tea iced tea and tastes like regular tea. Nothing special.
Service was spectacular and attentive. Parking at the meters, 25 cents for 15 minutes, 2 hour max.
I would come back here again if I were in the area, but wouldn’t drive all the way here just to try it.

The sauce that is used on these burgers is aMMmMaaZZzzZZiNG! It’s what makes all the difference between them. And I love how they have the option for us to order a mini because that way we get to try different things.
I was lazy to build my own burger so I just ordered the pre-​designed mini burgers. I decided on only getting three to start off with, and at first I was thinking it wouldn’t be enough since I was starving, but I was wrong, it was more than enough food. I ordered:
A combo of the sweet potato and parmesan and herb french fries — soooo bomb! Even their ketchup is good!
#2 Applewood Bacon, Chipotle Cheeseburger — mini 3.75
angus sirloin beef, pepperjack cheese, caramelized onion, smoked jalapeño sauce.
#3 Turkey and Shiitake Mushroom — mini 3.00
turkey tenderloin, roma tomato, red onion, peppercorn dijonnaise.
#5 Ahi Tuna and Avocado Burger — mini 4.00
Seared ground ahi, sliced avocado, baby lettuce leaves, tomato,
spicy chili garlic sauce.
And they were all equally delicious, I’m glad I ordered different ones because I was able to try the different meats, cheese, toppings, and sauces that came with it. (The boyfriend on the other hand, built his own mini burgers, ordered the exact same mini burgers with the exact same toppings, the exact same cheese, but just with different sauces — HOW BORING! lol Variety is key).
I’m only giving it four stars since it took awhile until we finally got our food and parking sucks! Come with quarters because all that this place is surrounded are parking meters.

Was at bouchee’s this past Sunday and ended up experiencing the WORST case of food poisoning I’ve ever had. I had to call in sick to work on Monday because I was still feeling horrible. My bf also got food poisoning the following day. Was it from bouchee’s? Who knows? You be the judge.
This is what we ordered:
Me: — sauteed wild mushrooms and vegetable medley
– regular sized veggie burger with lettuce, shiitake mushrooms, and garlic pickles
Boyfriend: — Monthly special elk burger
We both split the parmesan french fries.
Everything tasted really good, but there’s no way I will be back anytime soon.

This is the other place I am very excited about in Long Beach recently (see previous review for reference). When you walk in you almost feel like it should not be in Long Beach but it is. There are pictures of famous people around the perimeter with the bar straight ahead and about 10 metal tables for 2 or 4 people. The best part of this place is the dessert. What can I say? The first time I went was because I heard they had gelato in a fresh baked cookie sandwich (different every day). AMAZING!
We did come for happy hour. They have a pre-​set dish of 3 mini burgers and fries for $ 9. It’s a great way to taste different burgers but off the normal menu you can also pick the mini versions of each. I personally like the regular burger best but the turkey was damn good!
This place is also an attribute to Long Beach going through some major changes, attracting top chefs, new concepts, and ultimately a city that has both the trendy and the artsy while keeping its identity, its dive bars, and all the local mom & pop shops we all have grown to love!

Low key, small, mini burger café. Love the mini burger concept and some were good, but overall didn’t live up to my expectations. Mac and cheese however, is the star here!
Cost to worth it ratio: 4.5 (For $ 3.25 a mini burger and $ 3.50 for that mac a cheese, it can’t be beat)
Highlights:
— Environment: I never know what to expect in the OC – dive surfer spot with all in swimsuits to upscale I need to have a catwoman tight short dress on to fit in… This was chill and a welcome surprise. The website presented it as trendy upscale, but in person it wasn’t trying to be anything it was not and reminded me of a museum coffee shop. There were a few simple tables and a counter area with stools facing the open diner-​type kitchen.
— Mac and cheese: I came for the mini burgers and feel in love with this instead. It’s been a few weeks and I’m still thinking about it. This mini container houses pasta shells in a sauce that is creamy but not too heavy and not gooey, all topped with light bread crumbs. The temperature we got it at was perfect – oh so warm but not burning the roof of my mouth hot. It’s definitely on my top 3 mac and cheese list and could possibly hit the top spot if they used a sharper cheddar.
— Burgers: gourmet in the toppings if you want to go that route. Like that you can have em mini or regular sized. Mini affords us the option to try more, so we went that route and ordered the #1−5 plus the crab cake one to share. Pics:
– Turkey: surprisingly my favorite one. Turkey can often be on the dry side, but this was very moist. Flavors inside let the natural turkey flavor shine but not go bland.
All buns were soft and warm. Here were my fave insides:
– Ahi: thick piece cooked well – seared outside, rare inside. Great with the avocado.
– Cheeseburger: good, tasty, peppery meat.
— Fries: like the option of the combo of regular herb and sweet potato. I love sweet potato fries and these had some crispy bits I really love. ;-)
— Wine list: limited wines by the glass and some half bottles, but I thought it was cool that they had it all so points for them.
— Not just burgers: besides the above, they have soups, salads, and mini-​ninis (baby paninis) too
Lowlights (my flip side to highlights):
— Crabcake: very fishy and smelly – what you hope to avoid when ordering a crabcake.
— Beef meat: one of our burgers had a little bone/​grisly dot in it that I had to spit out.
— Goop on pickles: we asked for a side of pickles and upon reaching for the circular chips, we noticed some goop on them. Probably just some of the sauces they had, but unappetizing none the less so those went untouched.
— Veggie: I could go either way on this – mushed bean mix with Mexican flavors in it. Put it on low list cause compared to the others, it wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t order it again.
— Chicken chowder: I know many liked this, but I found it nothing special and a bit salty. Liked the strips of bacon in it, however.
— Root beer: a brand I have never seen which was fun, but had a BIG bite to it. I dig root beer, but this was too licoricy for my taste.
— Ketchup: I usually dig homemade ketchups, but this one not so much. It was ultra-​tangy with Indian spices that didn’t meld well with the fries.
— Red velvet cupcake: I was looking forward to this, as I enjoy this southern treat, but these tasted like they were from box and extremely dry. The lemon frosting as well didn’t work for me. Pics:
Mini burger wise, it’s a toss up, as I had high expectations and liked some burgers and some not so much. I would come back, however, solely for the mac and cheese so I might as well try a few more burgers with it. ;-)

Burger eating contest?! Oh you know I’m in!
And that’s how it started. Bouchees Bistro advertised on Unilocal that they were having an eating contest. So I entered and amazingly, I won! First place was a $ 300 gift card to the restaurant. Here are some choice pics from the event:
The $ 300 gift card was a cool prize but Long Beach is a bit far for me. As luck would have it, Tony (the head chef and/​or manager/​owner?) emailed me asking if I would trade in the gift certificate for an eight course burger dinner for myself and some friends. Sweet! I was in. So after a month’s time, he had the menu together and a date was set.
Our party of six arrived at 6pm and gorged ourselves for about two hours. It was a burger lovers gourmet dream:
Seared ahi and avocado with root veggie chips. Served with sake. Very tender diced fish, super soft bun and amazing veggie chips.
Sirloin burger, applewood bacon, gruyère cheese, and a quail egg with truffle hash browns. Served with meantime coffee porter. While porters are not my favorite kind of beer, it did match well with the breakfast theme of this burger. The hash browns were some of the best I’ve ever had.
Veal scaloppini with asparagus ring. Served with Riesling. Two super thin slices of veal with simple garnishes, it was very nice. The asparagus ring was a great idea but came out a little too mushy.
Surf’n’turf, beef tenderloin and lobster medallions/​tomato tarragon emulsion with micro green salad. Served with pinot noir. I thought the beef was cooked perfectly and went quite well with the lobster. The lobster may have been cooked a few seconds too long but mine was pretty tender. The pinot noir was a tad too strong for this course.
Colorado lamb, roasted shallots, turnip confit, purple mustard with mac n cheese. Served with cabernet. This was probably my favorite of the night. The lamb was perfectly seasoned and was incredibly juicy. I had to steal a few extra bites from my friends. The single bite of mac n cheese was amazing.
Carnitas, roasted poblano pepper, cotija cheese, with black beans. Served with michelada (corona and tomato juice). The carnitas was super tender and juicy and had just the right level of spice. The tomato juice/​beer drink was the perfect thing to wash it all down with.
Two angus patties, peppercorn aioli, arugula, maytag bleu, garlic pickles, and shallot rings. With parmesan herb fires and the best damn port and fig milkshake ever. This was the last savory course and it was a killer. I was pretty full by now (I was finishing all my burgers) and I was only able to get in a few bites of this but it was damn fine.
Nutella and banana panini with vanilla bean gelato. Served with frizante. This dessert was amazing! I could eat it every day. The sweet wine went perfectly with it and it had just the right amount of Nutella.
My only real complaint was that, this was too much food for a normal person! But I’m anything but normal. They are going to offer up this menu again on September 22^nd. If you love burgers, I suggest you go. For more info, visit their site,

Coming to Long Beach sometimes would meant that a compromise would need to be made.
It’s hard to convince anyone to come down to the Marketplace plaza unless you’re looking for a bargain at Walmart. The area around downtown Long Beach had revitalized a bit in the recent years with more upscale shops that replaced the run down empty spaces of the seedy side of the town.
So it was a breath of fresh of air to see a very nice looking bistro opened up on this side of the town. It’s not frequented often, even by some of my companions who lived in the Long Beach area.
I can see how there was no wait service originally. It seemed like when you walk in to the place, there’s a cash register with a staff getting ready to take orders. However, I think they changed the format of the restaurant with table napkins and silverwares with a very nice looking glass for water.
Here is the interesting concept I noticed they offered on their menu. A lot of the reviews mentioned mini burgers and smaller portions of the item listed in the menu. This reminds me of either a tasting menu or tasting sample you can choose before getting the real mccoy.
The idea which was straightforward was that you can choose the smaller burgers and sandwiches in a cute miniature version of the original that will set you back anywhere from $ 2.50-$ 5.50 each. It is like you taste a nibble of your companion’s plate to compare the dishes and next time you will know what to order. Tasting Menu is popular with many of the restaurants because you want to try a taste of everything or a lot of things where you can get the feeling if you like the taste of the food or not.
It works great for me because I definitely have a strong feeling on what to order from this place.
Some of my highlights of what was in store for me:
*Jumbo Crab Lump Sandwich:
. This was my sandwich or burger of the night. This was the most satisfying item I had as it was fabulous to stuff to a crab cake in a bun within two or three bites. It was fresh and hot off the grill and should be eaten right away.
*American Beef Burger with Cheddar Cheese :
. This is the most seasoned burger I had for the night. I think of all the dishes I would ordered for a gourmet burger at full size would be this one. Burgers are very contemporary and a classic that often can be easily made without a regards. This one took some care to it.
I also ordered two other burgers like an Apple Bacon, Chipotle Cheeseburger and a Turkey burger. All four of these mini would go well with the garlic Parmessan fries
. Very well seasoned and worth getting it on the side.
They also have some wonder milk shakes that goes well the burger. It would be a shame not to include that with the meal. The one big thing that goes great with an All-​American meal like this would be the dessert and nothing says it better than an awesome Peanut Butter Oatmeal Gelato Ice cream sandwich:
.
If you were not full before, this will test the stretchy pants you forgot to wear. I heard the cupcakes were excellent here also as the chef made the frosting with his own unique recipe. That cupcake wowed the entire table.
I like the service at this place. Even if we have a good number of people in our table, our waitress pretty much worked all the tables that day and still wound up catering to everyone’s need. On a slow night, it’s still pretty good job considering she manned the register and wait on every table.
The place at least put some imagination on what to do with a burger with some unique twist. Getting the mini on all the burgers, sandwich, and soup is a good idea to get the people to try out many items on dish. The whole purpose was to sell and in a way on that I would wind up spending more by ordering a bunch of the minis than I would have if I only one full size burger. That was a brilliant strategy in my mind.
I would definitely come back to this very inviting place and try out the rest of the mini items. I have more fun doing it this way than just ordering one thing on the plate.
The only thing that is needed to be supersize would be the ice cream sandwich. That will bust the gut!