La Cevicheria
Permanently Closed
Guatemalan ceviche, seafood stews, fish tacos, blood clams
Guatemalan ceviche, seafood stews, fish tacos, blood clams
"As you might guess from the ocean blue paint job and nautical knick-knacks on the walls, this compact Mid-City restaurant does a spectacular variety of seafood dishes pulled from all over Latin America: fried fish tacos, Mexican and Peruvian ceviches, and a silky Caribbean seafood stew with squid and mussels. Our favorite, though, is the unique Guatemalan-style ceviche with blood clams tossed in an inky black sauce of lime, mint, and Worcestershire. The clams are fresh and flavorful, the tostadas are crisp, and the Jarritos you’re sipping on is ice-cold (no beer here, sadly). Dab on some of their super-spicy homemade hot sauce, served in a mustard-yellow squeeze bottle, if you dare. Cash only" - sylvio martins, garrett snyder, brant cox
"The joys of Guatemalan seafood are at La Cevicheria on Pico Boulevard. Look around after sitting down — first-timers will likely see most tables of regulars eating the ceviche with blood clams dressed in citrus, tomato, avocado, and mint." - Rebecca Roland, Eater Staff
"La Cevicheria is a tiny shop on Pico that serves fantastic Guatemalan ceviche. The dining room is packed with people on their lunch breaks eating shrimp, crab, and snapper marinated in lime juice with onions and avocado, as well as blood clams that are juicy, briny, and delicious. You’ll probably have to spend some time hovering over other people’s tables while you wait for a place to sit, but this fish is worth it." - kat hong, brant cox, sylvio martins
"The secret to loving LA is finding your spots. Your Coffee Shop, Your Bar, Your Hiking Trail, Your Grocery Store, Your Holistic Salon. They’re the places that make you feel at home, whether you were born here or just arrived last month, with a curated Instagram account and head full of influencer dreams. Either way, there’s a pretty good chance you’re still searching for Your Ceviche Spot. Well, look no further, because we’ve got it: La Cevicheria. For proof, head over to this tiny, eight-table spot on Pico, and order what you see every other person eating: The chapín ceviche. It’s Guatemalan-style - less common than Mexican or Peruvian (which they also serve) - made with finely chopped seafood, onions, tomatoes, and avocado, then tossed with lime juice and mint. It’s incredibly fresh, goes great with the handmade crispy tortillas, and is an excellent example of the sort of spicy, simple-yet-complex seafood they serve here. So are the conchas negras (bloody clams). They’re not literally bloody, but rather dark-colored, half-dollar-sized clams that taste entirely different from any other shellfish - almost as if they’ve been stewed in beef stock. They’re best when doused in lime and dabbed with some of the super-spicy homemade hot sauce in the mustard-colored bottle at your table. photo credit: Jakob Layman Another dish that is absolutely worth your time is the fish taco platter. The tacos are lightly breaded, Ensenada-style, and served in a corn tortilla with cabbage, avocado, and a spicy crema. You get two for $6, and they’re an essential order when you’re here with someone else. So is the fish burrito, assembled with fried pollack, house-stewed pinto beans, avocado, and rice, stuffed inside a truly perfect and chewy flour tortilla. If there’s anything more comforting in this part of Mid-City, we haven’t found it yet. Are there misses here? Sure. For such a huge menu, there’s an lot you can skip. The cocteles tend to taste pretty bland compared to the killer chapín ceviche, in particular the Vuelve A La Vida, a mixed-seafood coctel with abalone, concha negra, crab, and shrimp that all sort of blends together into an under-seasoned seafood stew. And the Peruvian-style mixed ceviche lacks the depth of flavor as the much more complex chapín. The thing is, at one of Your Spots, you don’t need every single dish to be fantastic. You don’t go to Your Cocktail Spot for the burger, after all. What you’re looking for is consistency, a list of five or six things you always order - and that’s exactly what you get here. And that’s why La Cevicheria is always going to be one of Our Spots. Food Rundown photo credit: Jakob Layman Fish Burrito Less glamorous than the ubiquitous fish tacos, this whitefish, avocado, rice, and pinto bean-stuffed burrito might be our favorite thing here. photo credit: Jakob Layman Fish Tacos But that doesn’t mean these excellent, Baja-style tacos shouldn’t be on your table, either. They’re different enough that it won’t feel like overload. photo credit: Jakob Layman Conchas Negras There’s no nice way of saying it: Compared to oysters, these guys are pretty unglamorous. But they’re also great, hearty little mollusks that are excellent when hit with a healthy squeeze of fresh lime. photo credit: Jakob Layman Chapín Ceviche Mint is not the first thing we’d think to put in a ceviche with chopped octopus, shrimp, and crab. But that’s why we’re not chefs. Because this is the best ceviche on the menu, and maybe the best in the city. photo credit: Jakob Layman Caribeña Mariscada The Caribeña is our favorite of the stews - this creamy, spicy mariscada is a cure to all hangovers, headaches, and heartbreaks (probably). photo credit: Jakob Layman Peruano Mixto Ceviche You won’t be mad about ordering this Peruvian-style ceviche with aji peppers, it’ll just taste a bit bland next to the chapín that should also be on your table." - Brett Keating
"Julio Orellana doesn’t consider his celebrated Byzantine-Latino Quarter seafood spot Guatemalan, but the soul of the restaurant resides in an overflowing goblet of blood clams and their liquor seasoned with onions, cilantro, mint, avocado and tomato with a squeeze of lime and a splash of tomato juice that’s 100 percent Chapín." - Bill Esparza
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