Our neighbors Bill and Martha were planning to go to have ceviche the other night and invited us to join them. They say they found this place called La Cevicheria on Pico, just off Crenshaw Boulevard and it's really good. They added that it's also kid friendly, knowing we have a teenager with us. We took them up on the invitation, along with our fifteen year old daughter. Along the way, we picked up a bottle of chilled white wine from Vons because the restaurant does not have a liquor license.
Bill drove all of us there. The restaurant is definitely in the ungentrified part of town, in what people call "Arlington Heights", sandwiched between a couple of makeshift storefront Latino evangelical churches with congregations singing away during evening worship. La Cevicheria is a hole in the wall with maybe eight tables in all.
Martha is Mexican by heritage, so she ordered for us: The bloody clams ceviche, aguas chile shrimp, siete mares soup, mussels in butter sauce, and a seafood stew. The food is heavenly. The bloody clams ceviche is marinated in lime juice with a hint of mint and worcestershire sauce. Aguachile de cameron is shrimp in lime juice, with a perfectly blended sauce of pureed chiles and garlic. The stew has fish, clams, octopus, scallops, shrimp with side of rice to put in the stew. I am not sure what is in the stew, but it is simply divine. Siete mares soup is good, although the garlic butter mussels is just a tad over done.
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We met the chef Carolina. She says the restaurant has been around for 12 years. She and her husband are the chefs, and she prepares the sauces every day. The food is a combination of Guatemalan cuisine and some Vera Cruz. I am surprised that the restaurant hasn't expanded to Santa Monica or Malibu, or enjoyed the reputation of other tony seafood places on the Westside. It definitely tastes better than any Mexican seafood restaurant I've been to, other than the seafood shack on Careyitos beach in Costa Alegre, Mexico.
Perhaps its the location that scares some people off. Perhaps it's because the restaurant is just too small. However, I prefer the unpretentious atmosphere and gourmet cuisine of La Cevicheria. I will definitely come back to try their fish tacos and other fish plates next time. They were out of fish the night we visited. Can you imagine?
La Cevicheria
3809 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
323-732-1253
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