There is a particular kind of restaurant satisfaction that follows you home: the container in the fridge. The lunch you already have figured out. The feeling that the money you spent going out bought you something beyond a pleasant evening.
El Barrio Cantina wants more of that.
The modern Mexican restaurant on 4th Street in the heart of Retro Row is putting renewed emphasis on large, hearty plates—dinners with rice, beans, guacamole, and the very practical ambition of feeding you again tomorrow.
For El Barrio’s team, longtime champions of keeping the Long Beach community fed, the thinking is straightforward.
“Bring back plates where you can have dinner and enough leftovers to go, so you also have lunch the next day,” Chef Uli simply stated. “We can achieve that and still maintain a modern identity.”
Owner Jesse Duron echoes that sentiment, seeing that generosity as entirely compatible with the restaurant’s modern identity.
“Don’t get me wrong: A large portion of our menu is still shareable for those that want that experience,” he said. “But as of lately, it’s been hard to find restaurants that serve large, hearty plates. That’s what we want to provide.”
The emphasis on connection and accessibility has always been a part of El Barrio’s ethos in Long Beach.
El Barrio has been, first and foremost, the city’s long-standing leader in modern Mexican cuisine. It has blended Chef Uli’s dual heritage—his upbringing in SoCal and his family in Mexico proper—to introduce us to glorious creations like birria lasagna and Mexican sushi, served alongside well-made traditional Mexican fare.
Just as importantly, El Barrio has been making the case for feeding people well since its earliest days in the former Ashley’s space. (Cool note: They’ve altered their logo to pay homage to Ashley’s, a Mexican restaurant that operated in their space dating back to the 1950s.)
In October 2024, El Barrio introduced its Recession Menu, reopening for lunch and offering a collection of lower-priced dishes. $5 tostadas. $2.50 tacos. A $14 Wagyu burger with fondue cheese sauce and fries… Those were specific prices from that rollout, but the underlying concern remains familiar as the Recession Menu still lives on: how to make going out feel possible when everyone is watching their spending.
El Barrio later introduced a $25 all-you-can-eat taco offer that included chips and salsa, rice, and beans. (An offering that still stands every Wednesday.) Chef Uli connected the effort to lessons from his mother and to listening to what patrons needed.
The new, larger-format plates blend the traditional with signature El Barrio style.
When I first covered the restaurant in 2021, its menu bounced between Mexican traditions and the wider influences of SoCal, with everything from temaki to a hefty (much-missed) carne asada beef rib served with tortillas and salsas. Generosity was already part of the picture.
That curiosity has continued. Echoing Chef Uli’s Japanese influences that were introduced to the Barrio menu last year, the new menu items carry that same range into its bigger plates: yellowtail collar with red yuzu kosho, cauliflower enchiladas with curry mole, and a molcajete packed with meat, seafood, and cactus.
The new dinner plates extend that thinking into a different part of the menu. With prices ranging from $22 for yellowtail collar to $42 for the mixed grill, value here rests on the whole meal.
A deeper look into the larger plates…
The “Traditional Large Plates” section spells out its baseline generosity: every dish comes with guacamole, refried pinto beans, Mexican rice, and Mexican street corn. It gives old-school vibes with contemporary cooking.
The rib eye fajitas ($36) feature 10 ounces of sliced rib eye with onion, bell pepper, avocado, and flour tortillas. Surf and turf ($36) brings ribeye and shrimp together, while pork carnitas in chile verde ($27) centers on confit pork butt with black beans, queso fresco, guacamole, and corn tortillas.
Then there is the molcajete mixed grill ($42), the most expansive lineup in the section: ribeye, grilled chicken thigh, chorizo, shrimp, grilled nopal, green onion, queso fresco, sliced avocado, and chipotle sauce, with a choice of corn or flour tortillas.
The pollo a la brasa ($25 for a half chicken) is slow spit-roasted and served with house salad, flour tortillas, and lemon garlic sauce. And the yellowtail collar zarandeado ($22) brings Chef Uli’s broader influences into view: wood-fired yellowtail collar adobado with red yuzu kosho and chili oil, served with Sonoran flour tortillas.
The enchiladas and smaller additions get equally substantial treatment at El Barrio.
Every order includes four corn tortillas with crema and queso fresco, plus guacamole, refried pinto beans, Mexican rice, and Mexican street corn. The five versions give that full-plate treatment a broad reach.
Chicken enchiladas suizas ($24) pair shredded chicken with tangy tomatillo sauce. Cauliflower curry mole enchiladas ($24) bring a vegetable filling and warmly spiced curry mole into the lineup. Crab enchiladas ($30) come with a savory seafood roja sauce, while shrimp enchiladas ($28) and carne asada enchiladas ($28) both use the tangy tomatillo sauce.
The smaller additions deserve attention, too. The queso fundido ($15)—one of the best in the city—combines melted cheese, corn, house-made chorizo, and pico de gallo, with flour tortillas or chips (or, if you request it, a mixture of both—and that I do suggest).
And the Baja fish taco ($7)? This masterpiece deserves its own place on the menu. A massive hunk of tempura-battered white fish—with a crunch heard from a restaurant-wife—sits atop a cheese-crisped flour tortilla before being drenched in cabbage slaw, spicy mayo, cilantro crema, and pico de gallo.
And the cocktails continue to grow more cohesively and creatively…
Bar manager Jeff Givens has always understood the assignment at El Barrio. Approachable but well-thought-out. Boozey side-by-side with dangerously downable. Recognizable with hints of the esoteric.
Smokey León ($15): House mezcal | Allspice | Lime | Simple | Bitters
Tropicante ($15): Volcan Blanco | Passion fruit | Guava | Orange juice | Lime
El Pepino ($16): Junípero gin | Gran Malo Tamarind | Cucumber | Lemon
Lychee Lina ($16): Lychee soju | House tequila | Lychee liqueur | Lemon
Saladito ($15): House serrano tequila | Gran Malo Tamarindo | Lime | Jamaica
What else do I need to know?
Together, the additions leave room for several kinds of visits: a taco and a drink, fundido for the table, or a full dinner you have every intention of keeping to yourself.
And for a neighborhood restaurant, that flexibility matters. El Barrio has spent years finding ways to keep people coming through its doors, whether through the Recession Menu, taco specials, or a menu willing to follow Chef Uli’s interests wherever they lead.
This latest turn gives diners another reason to return: a hearty plate, its sides already accounted for, and the prospect of opening the fridge tomorrow to find lunch waiting.
El Barrio Cantina is located at 1731 E. 4th St.
