Eater food itinerary newsletter

View on web October 14, 2026 A few weeks ago, Noah Galuten invited me on a birthday crawl through a bunch of California surfside dives. I couldn’t go, but I did convince him to write about it for Eater and Punch. What he shares here is more than a guide, but a salty argument for this very distinct, loosely nautical, sadly unsung bar genre. Lesley Suter Steal my Food Itinerary: A SoCal Beach Dive Bar Crawl BY NOAH GALUTEN Do birthdays matter? Not really. But they are, at the very least, an excuse to do something you might not usually do as a middle-aged father of two. On this most recent occasion, my birthday was a reason to drag an assortment of friendship flotsam across the Los Angeles coastline, working our way down through a selection of Southern California beach dive bars. (It also marks the second time I’ve used my assignments for Punch to rationalize, or maybe subsidize, a birthday bar crawl.) I truly believe that these old, salt-crusted pubs are an essential, last-remaining stronghold of our regional culture, and that they demand both our respect and our money. This crawl took place on a Saturday in September, filled with drinks and snacks (but mostly bites of bar burgers), working our way from Santa Monica to Manhattan Beach before wandering inland for dinner in Torrance, home to some of the best Japanese food in the United States. The plan was to start relatively early, enjoying as much sunlit ocean breeze as we could, while also allowing me to get a normal amount of sleep at the end of the night before waking up at traditional dad hours. The great thing about a bar crawl is that it allows people to jump on and off as they see fit. I’m also a sucker for a brisk itinerary, moving quickly from place to place: the key is to not care who shows up when and where, simply telling someone to add the necessary ETAs to the group chat as applicable. Stop 1: Chez Jay — Santa Monica — 3:25pm Opened in 1959, and a roughly 8-minute walk from the beach, Chez Jay has remained a staple and a refuge in a city that has been rapidly pricing out old neighborhood bars and restaurants. It is a place to drink a martini or a beer, where the only rules are that you “take no pictures, and throw your peanut shells on the floor.” (I broke one of the rules.) The kitchen was not open yet, but the peanuts were plentiful and the pours were heavy. The red booths and red checkerboard tablecloths evoke an old Italian restaurant, though it is certainly more of a steak-and-seafood kind of place to have dinner. It started strong, with six people showing up, including my dad and stepmom. Photo credit: Noah Galuten Stop 2: Hinano Cafe — Venice Beach — 4:38 p.m. Hinano Cafe has been operating on a busy stretch of Venice Beach since 1962. This perpetually packed place has become an iconic surfer hang serving beer and burgers (no full liquor license here) — and like a true surfer bar, it serves breakfast from 8 a.m. until noon. Our group swelled with more friends at our second location, where pitchers of beer were poured in a standing-room-only setting, alongside board-short-wearing day drinkers who were far too young and attractive for us to stay any longer than it took for this gaggle of graying dads to order and split a hamburger. At $12.50, this perfectly acceptable bar burger on a sesame seed bun was a pleasant enough edible intermezzo. I’d prefer to come back again at another time, like maybe 1975. Photo credit: Noah Galuten Stop 3: Prince O’ Whales — Playa del Rey — 5:30 p.m. We had now crossed to the other side of the marina — something of a traffic dividing line in Los Angeles County — and settled into a perfect little three-bar-crawl that exists on a 0.2-mile stretch of this hidden, working-class LA beach community. The sun was starting to drop and the ocean breeze was relaxing our shoulders (although that also may have just been the drinks). We sauntered into Prince O’ Whales, which has been serving drinks under this name for over five