Mariscos Chiltepín Is Slinging Ghost-Pepper-Spiked Aguachile in Vernon | Eater LA
"Chef Francisco Leal — one of Los Angeles’s most talented seafood specialists who helped develop the menu at Del Mar Ostionería and who trained in Sinaloa before spending 17 years at Pizzeta — began selling mariscos in Vernon in September 2019 and quietly returned to that sidewalk operation in June 2023, preparing Sinaloan-style shellfish and seafood towers and serving some of the city's best barra fría dishes with intensely spicy ceviches and aguachiles. He set up under a long blue pop-up canopy covering a row of plastic folding tables with black printed tablecloths and works out of an ice chest (a second ice chest is lined with sliced vegetables and fruit for his barra fría menu), pulling fresh Mexican shrimp, firm callo de hacha (pen shell clams), cooked octopus from Nayarit, and cured snook (callo de robalo) for ceviches, tostadas, seafood cocktails, and aguachiles; on Tuesdays and Thursdays he gets live chocolate (also called chocolata) clams and Kumiai oysters from Baja California, and the chocolatas and oysters topped with sturgeon caviar are secret menu items not to be missed. “About 90 percent of my seafood comes from Mexico, such as Sinaloa and Sonora,” says Leal, who sources from Pacific Fresh Fish Company in Downtown LA. Start with a spicy callo de robalo shooter, where cold-brining enhances the flavor and luster of the snook, and pair it with a Corona Non-Alcoholic, a michelada made with the same beer, or a virgin margarita. The ceviche mitotero combines cooked and lime-cured shrimp, octopus, and callo de lobina tossed in a Clamato-based mixture that includes lime juice, ground chile chiltepín, and salsa negra—“It’s an umami bomb.” The tuna ceviche is formed into a low-rise tower with diced cucumber, red onion, and mango covered with a fan of sliced avocado and finished with Masago Arare (rice pearls) and salsa negra, while kani crab tostadas come topped with fried leeks and microgreens—a nod to a Japanese cuisine course Leal took in culinary school. The theme is the ultra-powerful chile chiltepín, and as Leal puts it, “Here, I don’t have to hold back on the heat, which is more the way we like it in Mexico.” His aguachiles are the most punishing and interesting: salsas include a savory smoked salsa, a toasty peanut salsa, and sweeter mango or strawberry salsas, all with chile chiltepín, and he’ll even offer the daredevil option—“You want extra spicy? How about chiltepín with ghost pepper?” he says—resulting in near‑neon‑orange plates where the chiltepín’s sharp heat gives way to ghost‑pepper fire. Diners can order a duo or trio of aguachiles to sample the salsas; if you take the spiciest aguachile with chiltepín and ghost pepper, the charcoal, tamarind pulp, and black salt–infused lemonade can provide relief (though acid can amplify the burn, so “better to wait out the nuclear levels of spice and take a sip when the chiles reach their half-life”). “I like to be on the streets here in Vernon,” Leal says, and the stand — open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week — channels the flavors and techniques of Culiacán and Los Mochis in a gritty industrial setting." - Bill Esparza
