L.A.’s mariscos game is up there with those of the biggest cities in Mexico.
We have it all:
Sonoran-style tostadas, stacked high with aguachile en salsa negra and served by a former minor league pitcher in Lynwood. Young coconut “mariscocos” in the streets of Compton, overflowing with pen shell clams and Pacific Ocean shrimp. And more than our share of perfectly flaky whole-fish pescado zarandeado around L.A. County.
In the last decade, we've eaten at modern Mexican restaurants that celebrate a contemporary approach to mariscos, like Ceviche Project in Silver Lake, Loreto in Frogtown, and fine dining restaurants like Damian, which put a creative spin on different seafood dishes.
The rise continues at Ruta 15, a mariscos-only restaurant that quietly opened three months ago in a part of Long Beach's Seventh Street flanked by Cambodiatown and north Junipero Beach. With its appearance, Long Beach finally has its own modern Mexican seafood restaurant where you can pop in for a surf-and-turf aguachile and michelada made with hard-to-find Negra Modelo on tap.
"The goal was to offer the same kind of seafood you find along the beaches in [Mexico's] Ruta 15 highway," says Cesar Sanchez, the chef and one of the partners behind the concept.
Ruta 15 is one of Mexico's main transportation arteries, spanning from Mexico City and ending in Sonora in northern Mexico, meandering through Michoacán, Jalisco, Nayarit, and Sinaloa in between.
If you've taken any day trips in Mexico, the inspiration for a restaurant like this makes a lot of sense. But what truly distinguishes Ruta 15 from its competition is the fact that Sanchez moved from his hometown in Tijuana to Los Angeles specifically to execute the concept.
He is classically trained in Baja's respected Culinary Art School and worked around hotels and restaurants like Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlán.
His flavor memory, full of bright, acidic, and punchy sensations, is evident everywhere on the menu. It also presents never-before-seen pescatarian versions of meat-intensive, regional staples, like a northern Mexican discada, usually simmering with red meats, only made here with smoked tuna, shrimp, and octopus instead of ham, weenies, and chorizo.
Another dish, like his refreshingly spicy aguachile made with an emulsified salsa and crispy pork belly chicharrón, illustrates a surf-and-turf flexibility one now sees in destination seafood restaurants across Mexico.
However, Ruta 15's star attraction, especially for fish-hungry lovers familiar with Mexico City, is Sanchez's own tribute to Gabriela Cámara's iconic red-and-green-salsa-smothered whole pescado a la talla. However, Sanchez serves his version with chochoyotes (masa dumplings) instead of tortillas.
The Michoacán-raised owner of Ruta 15, who also owns La Taquería next door, tells L.A. TACO that he prefers to stay anonymous, referring to himself simply as "Mr. Guerrero."
In an email interview, he tells us, "I've nurtured the dream of owning a restaurant and it was a pivotal moment for me to support chef Cesar Sanchez with this concept." The owner traces his love for Long Beach to being a graduate of CSULB.
Despite its short time in business, the restaurant already has long waits on weekends, thanks to heavy marketing by influencers on their social accounts. Mr. Guerrero informs L.A. TACO via email that he is also already eyeing an expansion to other locations.
1436 E. 7th St. Long Beach, CA 90813
