{"id":401149,"date":"2026-07-16T19:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/401149\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T19:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:41:14","slug":"l-a-s-first-handmade-colombian-pastas-are-topped-with-octopus-and-picanha-in-long-beach-l-a-taco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/401149\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A.’s First Handmade Colombian Pastas Are Topped with Octopus and Picanha in Long Beach ~ L.A. TACO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saucy, soupy pasta dishes are the unsung heroes of the saz\u00f3n-gilded world of Latin American cooking. Across Mexico, you\u2019ll always get a sopa de fideo or coditos (elbow pasta) in a tomato-heavy chicken broth as your first course if eating comida corrida. La Casita Mexicana still offers that whenever you order a main course at their restaurant in Bell.<\/p>\n

In El Salvador, it\u2019s common to add a handful of pasta<\/a> to Sopa de Gallina, as verified with our resident Salvi, Karina Soriano. However, the further south you go through South America, the less the average Los Angeles diner knows. That\u2019s where the brilliance of Cali, Colombia-born Carlos Jurado comes in to pull off a whole concept dedicated to the overlooked Latino pasta variations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Handmade pasta always cuts deep, but add the saz\u00f3n of Latin America, and you have something even more unforgettable that L.A. has never seen before. At least not on the level that Jurado is doing two days a week at his weekly \u201cFuego Lento\u201d pop-up at his Long Beach restaurant, Selva<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Recommended\"pastaPasta Criollo: Smoked picahna, hogao, yeasted butter, caldo de pollo with handmade carecce lungo. Photo by Javier Cabral for L.A. TACO. <\/p>\n

\u201cPasta was one of the first things that made me love food,\u201d Jurado tells L.A. TACO about this concept he\u2019s wanted to do for years. \u201cIt just became a fixation that I tried to fine-tune and was ready now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inspired by a pesto pasta he had at Christy\u2019s, which used to be in this same location, he first started offering dishes like plantain gnocchi as a special. But now it\u2019s the only menu he offers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. His saz\u00f3n-boosted pastas are a way to keep his customers satisfied for less, on both ends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a heaping bowl filled with tender casarecce, yeasted butter, smoked and then grilled picanha, and melded with a jidory chicken stock-enriched sauce for $28. The pesto for his tallarines is made with basil, hoja santa, smoked cashews, and Colombian queso fresco.<\/p>\n

\"CurrentSmoked and seared picanha in aj\u00ed merken and panela vinegar. Photo by Javier Cabral for L.A. TACO. <\/p>\n

If you\u2019re pescatarian, you can order any of Fuego Lento\u2019s four pastas and pay an extra $32 for three meaty octopus tentacles on top. For the time being, Jurado sources all his handmade pasta from Nonna Mercato,<\/a> but he hopes to make it from scratch himself one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s helping with food costs, too,\u201d he admits. In a time when restaurants are seeing their food costs and overhead soar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Regarding the brothiness of each pasta, Jurado admits that it isn’t as traditional but more out of selfishness. \u201cI just hate dry pasta and want you to have enough sauce or broth all the way to the last bite,” he says.<\/p>\n

\"pastaTallarines a La Huancaina: Aj\u00ed amarillo, queso fresco, crema, caldo de pollo with handmade espagheti. Photo by Javier Cabral for L.A. TACO. <\/p>\n

Eventually, Juarado will be adding wok-fried pasta that tastes like wok hei, too, which is more Peruvian. \u201cThey\u2019re our neighbors after all,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

At just one month in, the concept is proving to be a success, with mostly locals coming in for a plate. In Long Beach, when most noodle shops close early, it\u2019s one hell of a supper when finished with traditional dulce de leche-dipped Colombian obleas (wafers) for dessert and an anise aguardiente.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fuego Lento at Selva ~ 4137 E. Anaheim St. Long Beach, CA 90804<\/p>\n

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