Great Asian food is an artful experience at this Long Beach restaurant – Press Telegram

Some of the artwork on display recently at Compound in Long Beach was illuminating. (Photo by Merrill Shindler)

There is a great and very tasty tradition of art museums with restaurants that serve food that’s arguably even more colorful than the works found hanging in the galleries themselves.

In New York, the food available at MOMA is so good, I would sometimes go for lunch, with just a perfunctory glance at the art. In DC — Land of Many Museums — the chow served at the Museum of African-American History is a tour of the past several hundred years, served from food stations that divide the cuisine according to the when and what and where. High above the Santa Monica Mountains, The Getty gives you a meal with a dazzling view that stretches to the ocean — and seemingly all the way to Hawaii!

And then, there’s Union @ Compound — a restaurant concealed on an equally hidden side street in Long Beach’s Zaferia neighborhood. It surprises from your first bite, and fills your world with art from the moment you pass through the front gate.

It’s a largely nondescript building, notable solely for a neon sign that declares, “You belong here.” There are interior galleries. And there are outdoor art works. If there’s a singular unifying theme, it’s that in every direction, there’s something to look at, to contemplate, to wonder about. There’s gravel on the ground. There’s metal on the buildings.

More Merrill: Where to find the best BBQ in the Long Beach area

There’s a large space with warehouse wooden beams overhead. There’s concrete on the floors. There are angular, colorful works you look into that seem to send you plummeting into a dizzyingly hidden universe. There’s an info card about a Community Market, with the heading “Chaos to Cosmos.”

And if that all befuddles, in the back of the gallery, there’s an industrial looking bar that serves cocktails with names like The Mirrorball (Wheatley vodka with Lo-Fi sweet vermouth and celery bitters), The Doctor’s Order (coconut washed 1776 bourbon and Szechuan pepper cinnamon syrup), and both The Slow Burn and The Superbloom with seven ingredients each.

I had a glass of the Boomtown Nose Job IPA — as much for the name as the fact that, like art, I like my beverages comprehensible. (I do wish they had a cocktail called a Hockney. Just because.)

And then, there’s the food. It’s the creation of Eugene Santiago, chef and founder of the Southeast Asian fusion pop-up Baryo. And by fusion, I mean FUSION in all caps and boldface! There’s Middle Eastern Tahini Chili Dressing. There’s Spanish papas bravas made with cassava and crème fraîche. The Little Gem salad has a Southeast Asian fish sauce dressing. The roasted kale sprouts come with five spice pork belly and maple butternut squash. And yes, there’s a hamburger — with American cheese!