What the experts recommend: South American seafood

La Mar Cebicheria Peruana

San Francisco

Peruvian native Gastón Acurio is on a mission to showcase his country’s cuisine to the world, said Michael Bauer in the San Francisco Chronicle. He’s opened outposts across South America, Mexico, and Spain, but this is his first venture in the United States—and judging from the crowds at this idyllic waterside location, it’s a hit. Though Acurio’s menu features all sorts of Peruvian food, the “ceviches and other fish-based appetizers” are the real reason to visit. The South American tradition of marinated seafood gets a quintessential treatment in the ceviche clásico, which features halibut, habanero, and the lime-based sauce known as leche de tigre. The mixto combines octopus, calamari, and mahi-mahi with corn and yams, while the nikei works in ahi, cucumber, avocado, and tamarind. A tasting of four ceviches is “generous enough to share.” Pier 1½, The Embarcadero, at Washington Street, (415) 397-8880

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Desnuda

New York City

Since it first opened in 2008 this Latin American wine bar has been complementing its vintages with cutting-edge ceviche, said Sarah DiGregorio in VillageVoice.com. In the beginning, it had no printed menu­—just a “sushi bar–style cooler,” a makeshift kitchen, and a chef who would invent dishes on the fly. Such delicacies included “bong-smoked” oysters, cooked in a bong bowl loaded with Sichuan peppercorns and enjoyed by picking up the bowl, sucking in the peppercorn smoke, then downing the oyster. Eating there “was like a night in your stoner friend’s basement, if that friend happened to have a cache of fish and incredible knife skills.” The place has since “been tamed a bit,” and serves slightly more traditional fare that’s even listed on an actual printed menu. The ceviche of wild salmon, layered with slivered almonds, orange segments, red onion, and slices of sugar-bruléed sweet potatoes, is “beautifully fresh,” if not quite as acidic as you’d expect. And you can still ask for combinations made to order—as well as try that bong-cooked oyster. 122 E. 7th St., (212) 254-3515

La Cevicheria

Los Angeles

Plenty of places in Los Angeles serve bloody clams, but none can top La Cevicheria’s bloody-clam ceviche, a dish that’s “pungent enough to curl your eyebrows,” said Jonathan Gold in the LA Weekly. Here the chewy, plump bivalves are chopped into “manageable bits” and moistened with chili and citrus, creating a startlingly flavorful seafood cocktail. The bloody-clam creation is one of several ceviches served up at this cheerful six-table midtown spot: There’s a simple shrimp version, a Peruvian one, and a host of classic Mexican variations. The husband-and-wife owners are actually from Guatemala, a country not known for its ceviche. But their Guatemalan-inspired rendition in fact “may be the best single seafood dish” in the neighborhood. A mound of seafood comes layered with citrus, spice, diced tomato, onion, and avocado. It’s a “fresh, enormously complex creation dominated by the taste of fresh mint.” 3809 W. Pico Blvd., (323) 732-1253