[dropcap size=big]F[/dropcap]or Edgar Baca, it all started with a cooler full of his homemade Sinaloan-style enchiladas at Nobu Malibu.
“Los trabajadores también tienen que comer (the cooks also have to eat),” he tells me in his distinctive Sinaloan accent, now made famous in Narcos Mexico. “I started from my home kitchen, taking orders for traditional Mexican dishes that the rest of my coworkers at Nobu craved: chiles rellenos, ceviches, taquitos, and more. Then, those orders started being for people like Pepe Aguilar, Marco Antonio Solis, and Carlos Vela. Now I have this restaurant.”
Mariscos y Sushi Los Tomateros looks like any other Mexican sushi restaurant in southeast Los Angeles; though one hidden in a side street near Tweedy Boulevard. Its logo hints of Baca's past: a tomato, the prideful state crop of Sinaloa, some chopsticks, and the name of Baca’s hometown's famous baseball team in the Pacific Mexican League—Los Tomateros de Culiacán. The menu has the Sinaloan mariscos and sushi classics, boasting things like aguachile and empanadas de camarón on one side of the menu, and Mexican sushi classics like Mar y Tierra (surf and turf) rolls loaded with cream cheese and other crispy things.
Nonetheless, there are a couple of dishes that hint of the fascinating story behind this unassuming Mexican seafood restaurant: “Yellowtail Yusu” and “Camaronés en la Roca,” the paisa-fied names of two namesake dishes that pioneering sushi chef and founder of the Nobu empire Matsuhisa has credited as “making his career.” That’s because Baca’s has been the busboy for Nobu's Malibu location for nearly the last 15 years, and like many other sushi chefs around the country, he has taken inspiration from his boss for his Mexican sushi menu. Albeit, approximately 34 miles away from Nobu for his fellow working-class Latino neighbors in Lynwood, and for less than half the price.