Long Beach's favorite seafood shack

Long Beach is home to the greatest population of Cambodians outside of Cambodia. For years, the community has been a destination for Cambodian porridges, noodles, soups, and stir-fries.
Vannak Tan grew up in a restaurant family in Long Beach, and five years ago, he set out to build on that legacy by opening a 280-square-foot stand, A&J Seafood Shack , where the most popular dish is the garlic shrimp.
Garlic shrimp is one of the most popular dishes at A&J Seafood. Photo by Vannak Tan.
"While vacationing in Hawaii with my wife, I went to visit North Shore in Oahu, which was lined with garlic shrimp trucks," Vannak says on this week’s In the Weeds. "So I stopped by one of them and tried it out, and it was delicious. When I came home, I missed that. I tried to find a place that would serve that, and I couldn't. So my wife said, 'Well, why don't you make it yourself?' I said, 'Well, I'll do just that.' I finally came up with my own recipe that embodied both the Hawaiian flavors and Cambodian flavors. That's how I created our famous garlic shrimp."
Vannak Tan named A&J Seafood after his two children. Photo courtesy of Vannak Tan.