Cuisine Scene: Latin American
If South of the Border cuisine suggests only Mexican dishes to you, allow Long Beach’s full menu of restaurants serving Central and South American fare to widen your world view and palate. Check out some of the city’s most exciting, delicious and beloved eateries from this region.
Selva
Selva (4137 Anaheim St.) has made a name for serving amazing Colombian-inspired dishes, and doing it in an atmosphere that feeds a feeling of family, friendship, and community. The majority of Selva’s menu features small plates and shareable entrees served family style. Everything from soft, cheesy buñuelos, juicy beef skewers, an incredible rice and beans dish stewed with pork and, what is becoming its signature, smoked chicken with aji salsa.
AJI PERUVIAN CUISINE
Located just off of Retro Row’s main drag, Aji Peruvian Cuisine (2308 E Fourth St) offers an atmosphere and menu that is both creative and comforting starting, of course, with the ubiquitously delicious Lomo Saltado–sauteed beef served over French fries. There are creative ceviches–the Mercado features sea bass, octopus, shrimp, calamari, fried yucca and more–as well as causas, a chilled potato casserole often featuring seafood. Causa de Camerones starts with chilled potato mash, then tops it with shrimp, salsa golf al Pisco, avocado and shrimp tempura.
HONDURAS KITCHEN
There isn’t a friendlier, more welcoming restaurant in the city. Honduras Kitchen (1909 E Fourth St), located just a block from the epicenter of Retro Row, is known for its fantastic take on the baleada–thick, pillowy flour tortillas stuffed with refried beans, Honduran cream mantequilla and cheese–as well as its San Pedro Sula, a fried plantain slit down the center and stuffed with beef picadillo, cheese and drizzled with Honduran mantequilla.
LA CEIBA
Don’t call this a fusion restaurant. Yes, La Ceiba (400 E Anaheim St) offers Honduran, El Salvadorian and Mexican cuisine, but each is offered traditionally, separately and expertly prepared. If you are confused about which cuisine you’re enjoying, just check out the little paper flag that accompanies most dishes. La Ceiba is especially well known for its comfort food: longaniza and curtiza, tacos made to order as well as its signature offering, delicious and inexpensive pupusas.
CASA CHASKIS
Casa Chaskis (2380 Santa Fe Ave) is a Peruvian restaurant that makes such traditional favorites as lomo saltado–steak sauteed with onions and tomatoes served over deliciously drenched fries–and their much beloved Chaskis Shrimp Scampi, served with a spicy cream sauce. The restaurant boasts an onsite vegetable garden, complete with a functional beehive, where produce like lettuce, kale, broccoli, and onions are grown for use in the kitchen.
EL POLLO IMPERIAL
El Pollo Imperial (5991 Atlantic Ave) manages to welcome newbies to Peruvian cuisine with many traditional favorites like lomo saltado, rotisserie chicken and flavorful and comforting chicken soup, while continuing to entice aficionados with dishes like braised lamb, slow-cooked in cilantro sauce served over light beans, as well as an array of seafood including its Peruvian ceviche, which is simply one of the best around.