Third location now open!

Pantano’s Kitchen of Long Beach

18 East Park Avenue

Long Beach

(516) 442-4665

www.PantanoFoods.com

Only a restaurant-caterer with vast experience could pull off an enormous menu and still manage to serve every item freshly with consistent quality. Such is the case with Pantano’s Kitchen of Long Beach, the newest of three locations. Hewlett and Seaford house the other two sites.

This is a kick back and feed-your-family type of place … totally casual … at any time. Paper and plastic will make up your table setting, but don’t let that fool you. Leave yourself time, as the most difficult part of dining at Pantano’s is choosing. Options are endless and in many cases, quite creative. And, with the exception of two specialty salads and one Panini, each item on the menu is under $10. Beverages (bottled water, soda, etc.) bear Pantano’s label. Eat in, take it home, or have it delivered. You cannot go wrong.

We started out with crab cake sliders — mini crab cakes with fresh slaw inside a soft bun, topped with a pickle slice. Each slider is $2.95, and other variations are Buffalo chicken, pulled pork, and Philly cheese. Plump chicken-filled General Tso’s dumplings sautéed in brown sauce were served on a bed of Asian slaw. Appetizers include Kung Pow calamari, mesquite chicken Quesadilla rolls, fried ravioli, coconut shrimp, and on and on.

The Long Beach Salad ($12.95) was a generous mix of baby greens, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, dried cranberries, crumbled goat cheese, and cubes of pan-seared teriyaki tuna steak, with Mandarin ginger dressing on the side. More than two-dozen salads grace the menu, including add-ons. There’s also a Build-Your-Own-Salad option; choose the type of lettuce, then from maybe 50 ingredients, and finally, a dressing.

Paninis are huge, served with homemade pasta salad, chips or fries. The Fransisco was scrumptious — chicken cutlet, breaded eggplant and melted mozzarella on crunchy grilled Panini bread, sided with a tub of warm vodka sauce for dipping. More than 20 other choices are available, including skirt steak with roasted red peppers and gorgonzola cheese for only $10.95. Impressive!