PLAYAS EL SALVADOR RESTAURANT - LONG BEACH

EAT HERE.
Without a doubt, this is one of those local spots in Long Beach you need to eat at. We never got around to eating at this El Salvadoran place before; it's on a pretty rough corner and there's very little info about it... which is usually among reasons that we find many excellent spots. Another little gem, found.  

We walked in and the place was really sparse, it was kinda hard to tell if they were open for business or not. After a moment though we were seated and we quickly got comfortable it.

I've had El Salvadoran food before. Their use of plantains and pineapples gives me a little "tropical" feel, reminds me of home a little bit. This drink above is called Ensalada. It's a chopped up fruits in pineapple juice. Really, really sweet but good if you're into pineapples. I always get it... but need water as a chaser, it's pretty sweet dude.

We started with what I think is a typical breakfast dish in El Salvador. Fried plantains, cream and beans. "Plantanos Fritors com crema y frijoles". I thought his trio made a good combo for any time of the day.

Then the slightly mysterious cabbage salad, like a slaw, I believe is called Curtido. Every time I've had pupusas, it's come with it. Slightly tangy vinegar action with some jalapenos in there too...

...which is eaten with this Pupusa. I had a pork, bean and cheese pupusa. Made from a corn tortilla dough, the woman there was real nice and very proud of her cooking. She welcomed us to watch her cook and the big window to the kitchen shows they got nothing to hide.

Sasha and I actually got to watch her make our dinner, nearly from scratch. She grabbed a bit of tortilla dough and started to go to work on it for each pupusa. This one above is squash and cheese. They're only $2.00 each, so get crazy!

Next, this different type of cabbage salad came out... similar in taste but this one had a little kick more to it, which was brought out to be eaten with the following: 

We finished off our dinner with "Yuca Frita con Chicharron 'o' Fritada", which is fried yuca/cassava and fried pork rinds. This really capped things off well... chicharron here wasn't just fried skin or just fried fat. It was real chunks of fried pork MEAT. The fried yuca was like huge starchy french fries, but 10 times better. The dumb American in me felt compelled to want to put a sauce on yuca but I stopped myself and scooped up the cabbage salad instead.

I don't easily tell you pakajunkies that I highly recommend a spot, wouldn't want you guys to eat anything that sucks and be all like "Nelly don't know what he's talking about"! So I say this with confidence, EAT HERE!

1640 Orange Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90813

(562) 283-3024

*PS - they barely speak any English here but the service is really, really excellent... they went out of their way make sure we got some good grindz!don't worry, the menu is in English too.