Dough Still Rises to Top at Bake n’ Broil

One day in 1965, while making rounds in his bread delivery truck, Roger Jongewaard saw a for sale sign at one of his stops. It turned out to be the last delivery he ever made. Later that day, he bought the old hamburger place and renamed it Jongewaard’s Bake n’ Broil.

Jongewaard’s has been a fixture in the Bixby Knolls neighborhood of Long Beach ever since.

It didn’t take Jongewaard long to decide to buy the place because he knew that his wife, Carol, was a superb baker. Although the couple no longer oversee the restaurant’s day-to-day operations, Carol’s recipes continue to pack the restaurant every day from morning to night.

A majority of the clientele are senior citizens from the Bixby Knolls and California Heights neighborhoods. In true neighborhood restaurant fashion, most customers don’t bother with the menu, ordering “the usual” or checking out the daily chalkboard specials.

One item that is almost always scribbled on the board is pot roast ($6.95). The tender meat is lightly seasoned, then slowly simmered in an onion soup base. Like all entrees here, it comes with soup and salad, rice or baked potato, vegetables--and ice cream. Another popular dish is chicken-fried steak ($6.95), a peppered cube steak dipped in flour and egg, grilled and topped with sausage gravy. An old standby, macaroni and cheese ($5.95), is given a boost with the addition of chunks of baked ham.

Among the sandwich selections, roast beef ($5.55) consists of several slices of top round, Cheddar cheese and tomatoes on grilled sourdough. The California chicken sandwich ($6.25) is a boneless broiled breast topped with jack cheese, avocado and tomato on a French roll.

Bake n’ Broil is also known for its array of pies, ranging from apple to the more elaborate lemon lush (cream cheese pecan crust with an intense lemon filling and a sour cream topping).

Bake n’ Broil is at 3697 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach. Open 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday . (310) 595-0396.