Long Beach is getting a Latino restaurant week. It starts Sunday

With tastes spanning three continents and over a half-dozen countries, Latino Restaurant Week Long Beach City kicks off Sunday and runs through Oct. 5.

This weeklong event celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month and features 18 local Latino-owned eateries offering food and drink specials.

Roberto Carlos Lemus and José Díaz Romero put together the first-of-its-kind local event meant to celebrate an array of Latino cuisine.

“We respect every single restaurant week — there’s a few taco festivals in Long Beach. I love my tacos, but Latinos eat pupusas. They eat ceviche. They eat Honduran food, Venezuelan food,” Lemus said.

The event is presented by Affluent Hispanic Philanthropies , powered by Exquisitamante and produced by Branding is Social Inc. Lemus and Romero are behind all three of those companies and reached out to over 100 restaurants through social media to participate.

Each restaurant’s story and the owners behind the food are featured on the website for Latino Restaurant Week Long Beach City.

Among the participating restaurants is Tarantella on Fourth Street , an Italian/Mediterranean fusion restaurant founded by a trio of Mexican chefs.

Chef Carlos Canales gave all credit for the special menu items to fellow chef Cornelio Ramos, who he has worked with for the past 30 years training under multiple master Italian chefs. You can find Tarantella’s unique offerings below along with special menu items from the 17 other participating restaurants:

• Ají Peruvian Cuisine: The husband and wife duo behind the Fourth Street eatery is offering a three-course menu for $49 per person. It includes four appetizer choices for the first course, four entree choices for the second course and three dessert choices for the third course.

• Alli Kaphiy by Mikihuna : This new brick-and-mortar opening soon in Bixby Knolls is offering a sandwich sliders flight for $14. Each flight comes with a pork chicharron sandwich, roasted chicken sandwich and slow-roasted marinated turkey sandwich with Peruvian fixings plus a drink of your choice.

• Chile Verde Mexican Food: At its two locations on East Willow Street and East Seventh Street, you can grab a wet burrito plate or a torta for the discounted price of $10 each. All combination plates also come with a free Jarrito soda.

• Confidential Coffee: The Latina-owned café on West Sixth Street is offering three unique drinks for $7 each: a dairy-free horchata cold brew, a champurrado latte and a cajeta latte.

• Desperado Cafe Mexican Food: Located on Seventh Street and Cherry Avenue, the eatery owned by Chef Jorge Navarro and Alba Danely offers an array of traditional Mexican dishes. Their special menu for Latino Restaurant Week is still pending.

• El Barrio Cantina: Four menu items are available for $12 to $20 along with the ELBC Margarita for $12. You can get birria lasagna or carnitas for $20, chile relleno de marlin for $18 or taquitos de papa for $12 from this Retro Row restaurant.

• El Paisa Colombian Restaurant: On Orange Street, this Colombian eatery is offering a $20 meal that includes grilled steak, fried eggs, corn cake, pork skin, sausage, fried sweet plantain, rice, beans, avocado and a can of soda.

• Fior Di Latte Cheese Shop: Located inside the LBX hangar, the Latino-owned cheese shop is offering a variety of specialty cheeses and meats, including a Spanish-style slow-aged ham and tangy goat cheeses stuffed with Mexican-style Cajeta.

• Honduras’ Kitchen: On East Fourth Street, Honduras’ Kitchen has three food offerings ranging from $8.50 to $18.50 and two drink offerings for $5.50 or $13.50. One of the unique offerings is a whole plantain stuffed with ground beef and topped with Honduran cream.

• La Chancla Mexican Grill: A family-owned Mexican restaurant on Cherry Avenue has three taco trio offerings for $12.99 along with agua frescas for $3.75. You can even get a free churro when you mention the restaurant in your social media post.

• Nova Bakery: The Venezuelan, family-owned bakery on Seventh Street is offering a deal for $14.99 that includes a pastelito, empanada, two tequeños (Venezuelan cheese sticks) and a medium chicha drink (similar to horchata).

• Panini’s Handcrafted Sandwiches: The Signal Hill establishment is offering a breakfast meal for $12 and a lunch meal for $15. Breakfast includes a breakfast burrito with your choice of protein, a side of sauteed potatoes, fruit salad and a house coffee or freshly squeezed juice. Lunch includes your panini of choice (excluding breakfast paninis), a single side option and a fountain drink of choice.

• Ruta 15: This ceviche bar and Mexican kitchen on Seventh Street, which we featured in July , is offering two unique appetizers for $18 and two main course options, a catch of the day fish in olive oil for $32 and mole tenderloin for $42. Its dessert offering for $14 is Colorin Colorado, a freshly baked corn cake with a trio of specialty ice cream flavors: beet-raspberry, spinach-mint-avocado and rompope.

• Sushi Nikkei: At its locations in Bixby Knolls and Belmont Shore, this Peruvian-style sushi restaurant is offering a special menu for two for $82 featuring tuna tacos, grilled scallops, tiradito Nikkei and two orders of any specialty roll.

• Tarantella on Fourth : This Retro Row eatery is offering manicotti di mais ($27) – a pasta dish in butter lemon sage sauce topped with elements traditionally used in the Mexican dish esquites. The restaurant also has agnello di tamarindo ($44) – lamb chops grilled in tamarindo sauce served with sauteed spinach and mashed potatoes.

• Telefèric Barcelona: The latest addition to the 2nd & PCH outdoor mall, which we featured last week , is offering a fixed menu for $55 per person which features four tapas-style appetizers, a paella and nutella churros for dessert.

• Zook’s Kitchen: Down near Junipero Beach, this Guatemalan-owned pop-up offers a variety of açaí bowls and smoothies. The special menu items for Latino Restaurant Week are still pending.

• Ubuntu Café: Available for dine in at their Belmont Heights and Downtown Long Beach locations, this Brazilian-owned restaurant is offering two dishes for $28 each: lobster tamales and corn agnolotti.

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