Holbox owner Gilberto Cetina and his team of more than 75 employees continue to make South Central and mariscos lovers extremely proud by winning yet another prestigious recognition this week: Ranking #42 on North America’s 50 Best Restaurants.
This recognition is as significant as when the nearly nine-year-old, counter-service-only, booze-free mariscos restaurant became the first dedicated Mexican marisquería to win a Michelin star in a South Central food court last year.
However, this is arguably a bigger win because “50 Best” lists are usually reserved for fine dining restaurants, where multi-course menus efficiently run a couple of hundred dollars per person, as opposed to Cetina’s tostadas and tacos, made with heirloom corn and sustainable, line-caught local fish, which each cost less than $20.
"Holbox achieves so much more than I thought it ever would,” Cetina tells L.A. TACO.
The recognition carries extra weight for Cetina. He attended the event in Las Vegas with his parents, who originally immigrated from Yucatán to open Chichén Itza, one of L.A.’s first Yucatecan restaurants in 2001. Growing up, Cetina saw them build a community through food at their Mercado La Paloma restaurant.
Today, Holbox serves as a direct evolution of that community his parents help build.
"I learn from my parents how powerful it is to share your culture through bites of food, and how direct a connection you can make with people that way, Cetina says."
Especially right now, as L.A. continues to deal with ICE’s daily abductions of Brown-skinned people in the city, like just two weeks ago, when federal agents showed up in front of the Mercado La Paloma complex, parking in the lot and attempting to enter, only to be deterred by trained security guards who shut them down and prevented access altogether.
Despite sometimes working 20-hour days when catering gigs land on his lap, Cetina says he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Look, this is validation—proof our work's worth it, chasing what I've always believed our own way because it's important to me as the son of Mexican immigrant and a formerly undocumented immigrant myself," Cetina says.
Specifically, though, this distinction is more satisfying to Cetina knowing that the World's 50 Best voters are made up of one-third chefs and industry folks.
“That's what really matters,” he says.
Cetina says he is impressed with this year’s diversity efforts, especially in the same year that the current administration is dismantling diversity efforts.
"The best of North America is defined by diversity," he notes. "Diversity in cuisines and cultures, in immigrants and ideas."
Voted on by 250 industry experts, this year ranks New York's Atomix as number one. Reflecting on the milestone, Cetina expresses quiet satisfaction with his team.
"I've achieved. We've achieved as a team," he says.
After 25 years in the industry—starting at his parents’ side at Chichen Itza and through the intense rise of Holbox—he considers a shift in pace after this win, finally.
"I think I might be ready to, you know, to slow down a little bit, maybe just for a while," he shares, "but really enjoy the fruits of our labor and focus again, just on our core business and our customers' needs…, “ he says.
“It's a long journey. Man, it's 24 years of grind ... I wouldn't mind a little downtime, but I’m still down to finally bring home that James Beard “Best Chef” award to South Central.”
