Chef Gilberto Cetina is sourcing incredible seafood and turning it into the best mariscos in town.
The 2d course of the try out menu come up with a dramatic presentation atHolbox , Chef Gilberto Cetina ’s arresting modern marisqueria inMercado La Paloma . You sit at the newly expanded counter in front of their dry - aging fridge in the large market manse , eye to oculus with gorgeous whole fish hanging upside down as South LA local anesthetic , USC students , and proletarian from the next door DMV data file past you , just a few foot from the registry where you’re able to otherwise order à la carte . You keep an eye on Cetina and his team as they do work the stark naked prevention , dexterously shucking oysters and slicing fish . The saucer arrives , a tight lump of ceviche made with local white seabass , two dollops of avocado salsa , and a slab of Santa Barbara sea urchin layered into the burry over-embellished husk of the urchin itself , plate on a bottom of frosting .
But the dish aerial is perhaps not signify to be as dramatic as it was a few weeks ago when , upon have her scale , my wife dead pass on over and rack my weapon system in hushed alarm . “ It ’s go , ” she whisper . I express mirth , retrieve it was a trick of the breeze from the overhead devotee that keep breeze circulating in the high - ceilinged storage warehouse that holds the market , but she was n’t kidding . She pointed at her plate , where one nongregarious burgundy prickle on the undersurface of her urchin shell wriggled in a little arc . serve it to say the seafood at Holbox is exceedingly unused .
The accent is always on sourcing for Cetina , getting the freshest sea creatures from the confining waters possible . “ Sourcing is one of the things that I expend the most time on , ” Cetina said . “ I imagine it ’s the most authoritative project we have in our kitchen , build kinship with farmers . ” Now he ’s on a regular basis get Pisces the Fishes fromOmega Azulin Baja , ocean urchin and more fromSea Stephanie , and shrimp fromTransparentSeaand letting the snap dictate what they swear out for any give taste menu .
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The carte du jour ’s first course of action is always a selection of bivalves , whatever is fresh . In late summertime , that might mean an huitre with minuscule tonic of smoked trout roe and cucumber , another oyster topped with urchin and a tinge of smoky salsa , or a wide-eyed ceviche of geoduck with a spot of avocado crema . The ethos is clear from the first bite : gravid seafood with creative presentations , but always rooted in Mexican culinary tradition .
Sourcing was n’t always well-fixed , Cetina said . He had a hard metre catch the good stuff in the former going , principally because people were a minuscule skeptical about the construct . He tells a story about visiting producer during his research and development form , telling them , “ Here ’s a list of product I ’m looking for ; I want bristly lobster for a lobster taco . And they would ask , ‘ What form of food is it ? ’ And I would tell them it ’s Mexican seafood , it ’s mariscos . And now , they would say , ‘ Oh , you know what ? We also have frozen Australian lobster tails . ’ ”
Now he ’s incur all form of ingredients that are generally considered fancy , like local abalone , ocean urchin , spot prawns , bluefin tuna , whatever is best and freshest that day . But it has also elevate some interesting questions about perception — many of those ingredients are strange to find in mariscos and are more commonly consociate with gamey - remnant Asian preparations , bluefin in sushi , or ear-shell at Chinese celebration . Cetina and his team want to be careful to keep knockout clearly in the Mexican tradition to show that these ingredients belong to in their culinary art . Moreover , Cetina said , “ All those element are native to Mexico . We have slur prawns and ocean urchins in Baja California , but they ’re just never think of as Mexican element , which is a ignominy . ”
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In one line of the tasting menu that has become a mainstay , Cetina lays a ceviche of bluefin tuna on a tostada raspada with a few dots of sharp chile de arbol and peanut salsa on top . The Opuntia tuna is adorable , tender , and full-bodied , treated with as much precision and care as you will find anywhere irrespective of cuisine , but , as Cetina recite it , it ’s almost beside the point . “ The fact is , it almost play backup to the tostada , ” he say . “ Our focus is really more on the tostada because that ’s such a traditional Mexican thing , ” he continues , “ and with the ceviche , it ’s bluefin because that ’s what ’s biting justly now on the Channel Islands … we do n’t shy away from it because it ’s one of the iconic ingredients of Japanese cuisine , but we do attempt to introduce it very much in the context of use of Mexican food for thought . ”
The tostada raspada is suitable of the attending , too . Making the tostadas is an involved process that is most common in Jalisco , and Cetina allege it charter quite a bit of research and development to nail down . They fix one side of a tortilla , then scrape up the raw masa off the other side , dry out it , and afterwards fry it . That leaves it thin and crispy , raspy on one side in a way that plays perfectly against the luscious tuna on top . No matter what was layered on top of the tostada , though , you would never mistake this for anything other than a remarkable Mexican dish .
And the constituent are n’t the only thing out of the ordinary for a mariscos joint — even offering a taste menu is a rarity . Cetina said that Holbox was initially intended to be something pocket-size and perhaps transient , a fun little ceviche bar extension phone ofChichen Itza , the Yucatán - style eating house stall in the market , which his family also possess . But as he began playing with the carte du jour at Holbox , run specials and make for with unusual mariscos , regular customers started enquire him to whip up a bunch of his favorites for them , whatever he felt like serving . Word scatter , and dead , it was a taste menu . thing grow easy , two diner one night , four another , but now it ’s blow up into a bona fide hitting , sold out for months in improvement .
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There ’s good reason for that , of course — it ’s a really special meal . The balance of creativity with classic , proficient lulu construction with conversant Mexican preparations is a powerful combining . The Taco de Jaiba is another perfect microcosm of the bill of fare , a greaser filled with house - smoked yellowtail , Dungeness crabmeat , and locally made queso oaxaca , a smoky and fertile wetback that is topped with a stunning salsa macha that ’s been infused with Cancer the Crab butter for a hot , saline sharpness .
The menu is always composed of four cold-blooded dishes followed by four hot dishful , each taking a more or less familiar format . There are ceviches , tostadas , and tacos . Perhaps you will get a tetela , the Oaxacan overgorge trilateral of masa , filled here with an gross kanpachi liver and black dome , pass with grilled shrimp and dressed with a bright salsa verde made from chili and lettuce . There is likely to be a tamal , made from Yucatán - style masa colada , soft and savoury and topped with abalone and abalone liver sauce . Lobster is a fastness , too — local or from Maine , not the frozen Australian stuff — grill over mesquite so that it ’s gently smoky , accompanied by boodle stuffed with spiced house - made fish sausage and resting on a complex and vivid mole amarillo .
The blend of nostalgia and gewgaw , the superb recontextualization of gamy - death component into mariscos , and the volume of the flavors unite to make the repast genuinely affecting . On the utterly nerdy nutrient forumFood talking Central , posters report becoming misty - eyed and intimately crying at dinner party and noticing their neighbour at the modest rejoinder deplume up , too . bill on the same forum also found a review onYelpin which teardrop were shed . It is quite a meal , and even if you do n’t cry yourself , you will probably go forth with one of the respectable dinners of the yr .
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Over the last few years , Holbox has grow into an iconic LA eatery , a mariscos tasting menu at a counter in a warehouse market that sense like it could only ever be here . It was hypothecate to be an experiment , a trial run to see if it was deserving extend into a full - on marisqueria somewhere else — specifically somewhere where they could get a liquor license . But now it ’s not going anywhere , root as firmly in the residential district as the card is settle down in Mexican cuisine .
Cetina and his family have been at the mart since it opened in 2001 , operating Chichen Itza and then Holbox . “ The fact that it ’s a community space , that 90 % of my stave live in this biotic community , the fact that it ’s a unparalleled post to come have a repast , ” Cetina said it all contributes to their decision to stay in the space instead of relocate or boom . “ The realism is that if Holbox was in a different space , the food would be the same , ” he say , “ This is the best we can do . We do n’t tone anything down because we ’re in this casual mercado . ” That much is clear , and guests have responded to Cetina and his squad ’s persevering , originative , alone work . With reservations , with honour , and with their tears .
