Mariscos Chente

🇲🇽 NAYARIT, MÉXICO / FREE FRIDAY FAVORITES: With "El Original" recently added on Google Maps, this longtime fave is still hitting high notes even for the saturated mariscos market of Los Angeles.

🇲🇽 MÉXICO (Nayarit)
📍 10020 S. Inglewood Avenue, Inglewood, South Bay
🅿️ Small private parking lot
🥤 No Alcohol (but maybe BYOB if you are nice)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mariscos Chente was the very first article published on Eat the World Los Angeles back when it started in 2018. It only seemed appropriate to make it the first Friday post here on Substack, which will be featuring old favorites that are still going strong and worth visiting/returning to.

FREE FRIDAY FAVORITES is a series of articles that revisit some choice restaurants featured on eattheworldla.com over the years. These will never be behind the paywall, but will update information as necessary and will always be about meals that are worth returning for again.

You can walk here from the airport, and in a pinch you would do just that. Before moving to Los Angeles, it used to be a brilliant first stop, as it is conveniently located close to most of the car rental agencies. They invite you to bring your own beer, and that really is the perfect way to enjoy seafood and get yourself into the Nayarit beach mentality.

Nayarit is a coastal state between Jalisco and Sinaloa and is best known for its delicious seafood. The Nayarit-style seafood selection here is on many city best lists; worth coming to even when your origin is farther than LAX. This brilliantly fresh aguachile ($16, below) was thoroughly spicy and tart, perfect.

This mojarra frita ($16, above) seemed like it was caught just before arrival. Squirt some lime. Upon stepping outside, will it be onto Playa Sayulita?

Green sauce is housemade and great, but ask for their wonderful pico de gallo (below) if it goes well with your orders, or even just to snack on intermittently if you need some spice relief.

Once the aguachile is devoured.

As expected from that wonderful aguachile, the ceviches here are also top notch. The ceviche mixto ($18, above) uses shrimp so fresh they barely need the lime bath cooking, some octopus, and imitation crab. This is also full of zesty crunch from the diced cucumber and onion and do stir often to get plenty of their delicious green salsa in every bite.

While technically the creation of their neighbors to the north, camarones culichis ($18, below) are given the nickname of folks from Culiacán, Sinaloa's capital city. Mariscos Chente knocks this dish out of the park, sauteed shrimp that are in a creamy bath of crema and cheese made very slightly spicy from poblano peppers. There may be no better rendition in the entire city.

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