A&J Seafood Shack

If you live in Orange County, there are two A&Js you should be aware of: the Irvine-based Taiwanese A&J Restaurant, and Long Beach’s completely unaffiliated Cambodian restaurant, A&J Seafood Shack. While it’s just north of Orange County, A&J Seafood Shack is so impressive that it’s worth the extra drive to try something new.

A&J isn’t kidding when it calls itself a shack – it’s a small box of a restaurant sitting in a parking lot, with only a little more space and curb appeal than two food trucks without tires. You order at a counter, wait for your food, then sit on stool-like chairs at one of several tables. Until you get to the food, the experience is profoundly low in frills.

Then you look over your order and realize the grilled oysters are the biggest, juiciest, and tastiest you’ve ever had, the battered and fried salt and pepper shrimp hits with spice, onion, and ginger notes, and the garlic shrimp are plump and loaded with caramelized garlic flavor. Or try the flat noodles with mixed seafood and meats including Chinese sausage – hey, wasn’t this supposed to be Cambodian? Maybe, maybe not – the seafood dishes alternately draw from recipes served in China, New Orleans, and Hawaii. Regardless of origin, they’re fantastic.