Organization
Battambong BBQ
Battambong BBQ is a Cambodian-owned barbecue pop-up in Long Beach, California. The chef Chad Phuong started it in September 2020 and calls his food Texas-style barbecue with Cambodian flavors.[1] He named it after Battambang, the Cambodian province where he was born, using the spelling Battambong.[1] Because he is always at his smoker in a cowboy hat, he is known as the Cambodian Cowboy.[2][3]
The chef
After the Khmer Rouge took power, Phuong fled as a child, walking out of Cambodia to a camp for refugees at the Thai border. He reached Long Beach in the early 1980s.[4][2] Later he worked at a beef processing plant in the small Texas town of Hereford. He took up backyard barbecue with friends there, and over five years in the state he learned to smoke meat the Texas way.[1][2]
For 20 years Phuong also had a hospital career as a surgical technician.[1] He ran pop-up crawfish boils under the name Cambodian Cajun Crawfish and is also known as Battambong Bob and the Crawfish Guy. He makes Cambodian Cuisine, a line of sauces, seasonings and condiments sold at Cambodian markets in Long Beach.[4][1] "I feel a responsibility to keep my culture alive through food," he told OC Weekly in 2018.[4]
The pop-up
Battambong BBQ opened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many small restaurants were closing. Phuong reached an agreement with the Cambodian-owned Kim Sun Kitchen to cook in its parking lot at 5449 Cherry Avenue in North Long Beach, and the pop-up often sold out before closing time.[1] By 2022 it also appeared at the Bixby Knolls Farmers Market, Ten Mile Brewing and Trademark Brewing, and Phuong posted the schedule on social media.[2]
Smoked brisket sells the most. Instead of coleslaw, the meats come with pickled cabbage and cucumber, and the corn is cooked with coconut milk, sea salt and chives.[1] Some meats are marinated with Cambodian pepper.[2]
Cambodian New Year
Phuong was a prominent part of Long Beach's Cambodian New Year celebrations in 2026.[3] Ten Mile Brewing first asked him to set up when a booked food truck cancelled. In 2026 the brewery held its fifth Cambodian New Year kick-off with him, with pizzas topped with his Cambodian sausage, pork belly and lemongrass chicken and a collaboration beer, Battambong Lager. He has also curated a New Year festival at Trademark Brewing for several years. In 2026 Trademark released Mekong Blonde, a blonde ale brewed with him using rice from his home town in Cambodia and kaffir from his backyard tree, used like a dry hop.[3]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Signal Tribune, Texas barbecue meets Cambodian flavor at North Long Beach pop-up (September 2021)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Spectrum News 1, The Cambodian Cowboy serves up unique Texas-Cambodian fusion barbecue (October 2022)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Longbeachize, These Battambong BBQ-hosted parties will be your guide to celebrating Cambodian New Year (March 2026)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 OC Weekly, Cambodian chef Chad Phuong aims to launch a food truck (July 2018)