Mariscos logic: If you possess enough sazón to make one of the best ceviches in Los Angeles, can you also make an incredible paella? If you are Natalie and Maria Curie, the mother-and-daughter team behind the two-decade-old mariscos restaurant in southeast Los Angeles, El Coraloense, the answer is hell’s yes.
On Thursday nights, the family-owned mariscos restaurant—and 2014 TACO MADNESS champions—located next to a liquor store dims its lights, hires a local musician to play classical Spanish guitar, and transforms into The Paella Concept. Instead of their usual chamoy-smothered ceviches tacos de pescado al pastor on the menu, there are patatas bravas, fried cauliflower, and a complimentary glass of wine with your dinner reservation. The price ranges around $59 per person before tax and tip, with additional protein supplements like lobster and secreto (a juicy and delicious, steak-like rare Spanish cut of pork). The menu changes every week. You reserve your spot on their website—one paella pan minimum, which easily feeds two hungry paella-obsessed people.
“I’d never cooked paella professionally before my first contest in 2016,” Natalie says. Her friend suggested she give it a shot and gave her a paella pan. Natalie was initially skeptical about entering, having no paella experience, but she ate all the paellas in L.A. and saw as many videos on Youtube as she could for the two weeks leading up to the competition. Maria, who is naturally always curious and cooking new dishes joined Natalie and learned as much as she could. Her first first-place win was in a paella contest in Orange County. The grand prize changed her cooking-based way of life; it was a free trip to compete in one of the biggest paella competitions in Valencia, Spain, called the Concurso Internacional de Paella Valenciana de Sueca. “We placed in that competition but finally won first place for ‘best international paella in the world’ last year.” In September, we won 2nd best in the World Paella Day Cup. Natalie has documented her paella journey on Instagram.