When I heard that I Luv Ur Buns was closing for good after only a couple of years, it only made…read moresense for me to plan a quick excursion around the area and stop by to bid them adieu. It was a nice addition to the mini food court in Long Beach, but unfortunately, times got tough for them to the point where they had to pull the plug on their operations.
I Luv Ur Buns was one of seven vendors at Steelcraft Long Beach on the southeast corner of Long Beach and Bixby. They had taken over the spot that used to be Waffle Love, and it was such a quick turnaround that on my first visit to Steelcraft Long Beach since the Waffle Love closure, I almost thought they seamlessly rebranded from waffles to bao buns lol.
Signage was posted around the shipping container assigned to I Luv Ur Buns and even a signicade closer to Steelhead Coffee; the signs informed customers that they were closing and that the Sunday preceding Martin Luther King Jr Day would be their last day of business, which also happened to be the same day the LA Rams were playing in the NFC Divisional Round of the playoffs, so I almost thought Steelcraft would be jam-packed. Actually, no it wasn't even that busy, and there were several parking spots available just around Steelcraft.
I definitely wanted to try a bao bun, but not a full dinner, so that left me with the two Global Flavors sections of the menu. One section was titled "Global Flavors on Bao Buns" where you basically get two bao buns. Don't think these bao buns are large by any means; I tried a couple at Sosogu sometime last year, and they're not that big either. They would have been the perfect size for a snack, but I was also curious about the other Global Flavors section, titled "Global Flavors with Rice or Fries". That section only has two line items: Mini Bowls and Loaded Fries. I didn't want fries, but when I asked about a Mini Bowl, I was informed that it was a deconstructed version of a bao bun with a small mound of rice. Wanting a little more variety, I went with the Bao Mi Mini Bowl.
The menu did get a little confusing for me because I had noticed the (V), which usually stands for either vegan or vegetarian. However, they had several non-vegetarian items with (V), and that had me confused at first; like how is a bao bun with grilled pork belly vegetarian?? That's when the cashier, sporting a black nose ring, let me know that it can be ordered with a plant-based option, namely tofu. However, the cashier also mentioned the use of a shared fryer between their plant-based options and their regular options, so if you were strictly vegan, I'd think twice first.
I asked how long the wait would be, and they estimated 10 minutes, which was pretty much spot on. I was given a pager that buzzed when my order was ready, and since there was plenty of space for me to eat, I was given a red tray with an "I Luv Ur Buns" sticker in the middle. The mini bowl was presented on a small tray, like one you'd use when you're giving out samples at a special event. I was also given a fork, which was another reason why I ordered a Mini Bowl over two bao buns as I wanted to keep my hands clean.
Besides the grilled pork belly, the Bao Mi also comes with hoisin sauce, cucumber, jalapeno, onion, and cilantro. All of what I just mentioned tasted pretty good, though not necessarily as good as what I had at Sosogu last year. Then again, the Bao Mi is Vietnamese-style whereas Sosogu is Japanese, but between the two, which are the two cheapest options at $10, the Bao Mi was the most popular alongside their Korean-style, called Seoul on Fire. I'm pretty sure I would have liked Seoul on Fire better as it comes with Bulgogi beef, but the grilled pork belly was pretty good too. Just not as fatty as I would have liked.
However, I didn't like their use of a wrapping paper between the tray and the food. That's because several grains of rice got stuck on the wrapping paper, and it was hard to pluck them off with my fork. As a result, it got kind of messy eating the mini bowl, and I almost thought I'd drop a piece of pork belly in the process! Luckily, I didn't, but I don't think that would be a problem with the bao buns since the bao bun from my mini bowl didn't stick to the wrapping paper at all.
One thing I observed that I thought was kind of cool was witnessing the cashier hand deliver a tray of bao buns to an employee from Elio's Wood Fire Pizza, directly across from I Luv Ur Buns.
I wouldn't say I love I Luv Ur Buns, but it made for a nice quick snack albeit a little pricey for a small bowl. I'm glad I gave them a try before they closed for good, and I made sure to bid them a proper adieu by returning the tray to them. They also had a small tray of I Luv Ur Buns stickers by their order window, so I made sure to pick up a couple as souvenirs.
Thank you I Luv Ur Buns for serving the LBC for the past couple years, and sorry to see you go! Best wishes to Sonya, Mandy, and the rest of the team on their future endeavors.