The Weekly Bite: Cesar’s Bistro in Long Beach, CA

We’d love to learn the story behind Cesar’s Bistro .
We are a Colombian couple that with our family have been in the restaurant industry for more than 20 years in Colombia. Cesar, my husband, is an executive chef graduated from the Mausi Sebbes culinary arts school in Buenos Aires Argentina, with more than 10 years of experience in restaurants in Brasil, Peru and his own catering company in Colombia. And I have a master degree in Business Management and also I Have been involved for over 10 years in my family own restaurants chain in Colombia. We had traveled to the USA many times, we have been to many different cities and in one of those trips we visited this area and we found there was not a restaurant that offered this type of cuisine that essentially comes from our own culture. So, one day Cesar made the decision to come and open our first restaurant and I supported him on his project, since January of the 2.014 we have been working non-stop to make our business a successful one. After a very busy year looking for the location and building it, we finally opened doors on December 2nd of the 2.014. Our concept is basically to offer a different and very fresh homemade food, bringing here with it some of the flavors that in our home country we can enjoy every single day. This has been an amazing journey full of learning, great experiences, wonderful people that we have met along the way. Every day our work team and both of us do our best and work so hard to make the Cesar’s Bistro gastronomic experience an amazing one to all of our customers and friends. We are so grateful for all the support that we have received during these 2 years and 5 months. We are looking to expand our business soon.

Successfully running a restaurant is extremely difficult. Tell us about some of the challenges you’ve had to overcome.
We believe that the things that come easy, go out the same way. We know that the hard and honest work at the end pays off, we know the sacrifice that the restaurant business demands every single day, but most importantly we love what we do. Chef Cesar feels passion cooking and serving every plate, I feel passion taking care of every customer that comes to us to enjoy our gastronomic experience that at the end involves: the food, the service and the ambiance.
We think the biggest challenge has been to get the word out about our business. It is the time that people that come very often to the shopping center where we are located have not seen us in more than two years and they are neighbors, whose are potentially frequent customers. Nowadays we are working so hard on this, because we are absolutely sure that the gastronomic experience that we offer is a great one.

Is there something unique or interesting about Cesar’s Bistro that our readers should know about?
This is a family owned business and operated as well, so our customers most of time time not to say all the time see us at the restaurant. And we think they appreciate the fact that the owner is asking you how is everything that the Chef comes out from the kitchen to personally check how are the customers enjoying the food and they feel special when they see how are being treated and the fact that we can help or solve any issue immediately.
We think that the fact that every of our dishes is made to order, makes a huge difference, when a customer feels like eating homemade food prepared with love and the freshest ingredients or like cooked by mom, that makes all the difference, specially nowadays when the lifestyle and the market offers everything ready to eat full of unknown ingredients and so many other things not to good for the human health.
Chef Cesar is often creating new dishes to surprise our customers, depending on the season, that could be every week or every month, but they will always find something new and special in every visit.

Most Popular Items

The BEST Empanadas
We are very known for the Empanadas! We pride ourserlves to make the Best Empanadas. We offer 5 flavors: Beef and potato, Tropical: Pineapple, ham & cheese, Sausage & Potato, Veggie: Spinach, corn, onion, mushrooms and cheese, Chicken: shredded chicken, potato, caramelized onions & cheese.
We always have a promotion: buy one dozen for only $34+ tax and get 2 FREE Empanadas. Mix & Match our 5 flavors.
Lomo Saltado

Delicious sauteed beef mixed with rustic potatoes, red onion, tomato and parsley. Served with steamed white rice.
*We could make it Gluten free by specific request.

Grilled Salmon

Grilled salmon served over a pineapple sauce reduced on white wine, topped with guacamole, mirepoix of corn, tomato and celery, and tostones. Served with arugula salad, crunchy Caribbean plantains and steamed white rice. Add a shrimp skewer.
Dietary: Gluten-free

Gaucho Chicken

Two thighs of chicken marinate on a delicious chimichurri homemade sauce and garlic and onions mojo. Served with house salad and rustic potatoes.

Wagyu Kobe Beef Burger

1/2 pound wagyu kobe beef, bacon, melted American cheese, tomatoes, arugula, crispy lettuce, grilled onions, ketchup, served on a corn cake (arepa) bun. Your choice of rustic potatoes, cup of soup or salad.
Dietary: Gluten-free

Veggie Calentao

Sauteed steamed and seasoned rice, red beans, garbanzo beans, corn, carrot, celery, onions and parsley. Served with crushed Caribbean plantains and your choice of cup of soup, salad or rustic potatoes. Add 2 eggs any style.

Dietary: Vegetarian

Chicken Salad

Grilled chicken breast lightly breaded, selection of lettuce, arugula, apple, cherry tomatoes, celery, avocado, sesame seeds, croutons, parmesan cheese, and the dressing of your choice*.

Crown Cookie

Handmade chocolate chip cookie (cupcake size) filled with dulce de leche, served hot with vanilla ice cream.Parking Advice:
There is a private Free parking lot for our customers

Happy Hour:
Happy Hour
Monday thru Friday: Happy Hour 2pm to 6pm
2×1 House wine and Sangria (Glass or carafe), Coors Light Beer and Cocktails (Margarita, Piña Colada and Mai Tai)
Also, selected appetizers at special price.

Saturday and Sunday: Happy Hour 10am to 2pm
2×1 Mimosas

Mondays and Wednesdays: No corkage Fee.

Tuesdays and Thursdays: 50% Off on Bottle of wine (South American wines, Argentinians and Chileans)

Average Entre Cost:$12 – $17

Address: 6240 E Pacific Coast Highway. Long Beach, CA. 90803
Cross street: Loynes Drive

Phone:562-494-1000

Website: www.cesarsbistro.com

Social Media links

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cesarsbistro/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cesarsbistro/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cesars-bistro-long-beach
• Other: https://www.cesarsbistro.com

Image credits:
The only one that need to be credited is the Veggie Calentao, the dish that has two over easy eggs on top, we took it from Facebook where our customer Rochelle posted it.
The rest of the images were taken by us, so you guys could credit us as the owners of the restaurant.