Phnom Penh Noodle Shack Has Served the Best Soup in Long Beach for 37 Years | Eater LA

"At 5 a.m. on Cherry Avenue in Long Beach’s Cambodia Town, the scent of pork wafts from an unassuming one-story building that has been a comfort to the local Cambodian community since opening in 1985. I find a small, warm space lined with photos of Cambodia and the Tan family, a limited menu that keeps waits short, and a loyal lunchtime crowd made up of neighborhood regulars, Cal State Long Beach students, and curious tourists. The signature pork noodle soup is built on a family broth—pork and beef bones, vegetables, and aromatics simmered for three hours with some of the previous day’s soup added for depth—kept bubbling each morning by rotating siblings. The house special, Phnom Penh noodles, features a variety of pork parts (sliced meat, ground meat, stomach, and liver) plus shrimp; diners choose rice or egg noodles (or a combo) and a protein, and can have the broth ladled over the noodles or served separately with a large pork bone. Rice porridge is another comforting specialty, and regulars pair bowls with light, airy Chinese doughnuts for dipping. The restaurant grew out of a small 500-square-foot shop with six tables and two cooks, remained family-run through expansions in 2000 (when it was renamed Phnom Penh Noodle) and 2012 (when “Shack” was added), and is regarded as one of Long Beach’s original Cambodian restaurants focused on keeping the family’s soup tradition alive." - Eater