Unlikely Blend of Hawaiian and Creole

At a social function 17 years ago, Hawaii-born Cynthia Chang was heading for the exit. It was late and she was tired. But through the boisterous conversations that go on in the early morning hours of a party drifted a few words that caught her attention.

“I was almost to the door,” she recalls, “when above all the racket, I happened to hear someone talking about stuffed crab and stuffed shrimp. That fascinated me.”

She struck up a conversation with the speaker, Louisiana-born Joe Tinson. That led to a friendship, some business dealings, a romance, a wedding and, in 1993, a restaurant--the Kreole Kitchen in Long Beach, which serves the unlikely combination of Creole and Hawaiian food.

Tinson grew up in the heart of New Orleans on the Creole food his mother cooked for her eight children. “She made things I wouldn’t even think about making here,” says Tinson, referring to her various preparations of turtle and wild rabbit.

After coming to Los Angeles, Tinson worked for 33 years as a butcher before opening the Kreole Kitchen with his wife and sister-in-law. The three decided to open a Cajun-Hawaiian restaurant for the simple reason that Joe’s family liked Cynthia’s cooking and Cynthia’s family liked Joe’s cooking.

Located on the corner of a small mini-mall, the Kreole Kitchen is a rather plain place. The real decor is the heaping plates of Creole and Hawaiian specials served at extremely low prices. Three changing main courses are offered every day. Diners can select one entree ($4.50), two ($6.50) or all three ($8.50). On Thursdays, for example, for $8.50, a customer can have a smothered or breaded pork chop, a smothered chicken breast and some shrimp and crab etouffee , which is rice with shrimp and crab meat topped with gravy. In addition, diners get two side orders, such as macaroni and cheese, candied yams, red beans or collard greens.

The biggest seller, available daily, is the New Orleans gumbo ($5.50 to $9), full of shrimp, hot beef sausage, crab and chicken. A favorite from the Hawaiian portion of the menu is Aunt Ellen’s teriyaki fried chicken.

The Kreole Kitchen is at 2620 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach. (310) 492-9998. Open Monday through Thursday 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.