What's next from Mexico City's Enrique Olvera? A new mariscos restaurant in Venice - BERITAJA

Enrique Olvera, the celebrated Mexico City cook down restaurants specified arsenic Pujol successful CDMX and Cosme successful New York, is readying to unfastened a modern marisqueria successful Venice this summertime pinch a paper of ceviches, food tacos, cocktails and caller tortillas.

San Damián will unfastened successful the erstwhile Atla abstraction aft about 2 years of vacancy and will beryllium led by Olvera’s squad from Damián successful downtown L.A., 1 of the city’s 101 champion restaurants.

“It’s a batch of what we’ve been building since we opened successful 2020 downtown,” said Damián executive cook Chuy Cervantes, who will besides oversee the Westside offshoot. “[It’s] a batch of the aforesaid ethos and ideas, and I’m hoping to bring that retired to the Venice community.”

Olvera and his edifice group Casamata launched Atla’s Venice outpost successful 2023 aft introducing it successful New York City successful 2017. The L.A. location closed successful 2024.

On Thursday morning, Atla announced it would adjacent its original New York location too, posting to societal media that “the clip has travel to reinvent ourselves.”

In an email statement, Olvera told The Times that Atla’s all-day conception was not the correct fresh for Venice, and that the months of vacancy were basal to find the correct successor.

“We took our clip processing the concept,” he said, “and wanted to find the correct partners.”

Chef Chuy Cervantes practices plating a seafood tlayuda successful beforehand of San Damián’s launch.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Ultimately, Olvera looked to his ain group and said that fixed the affirmative reception of Damián and its tandem Arts District taqueria, Ditroit, he tapped Cervantes, who has worked pinch the edifice group since 2014. Olvera said they dream to unfastened their latest collaboration successful June.

Inspired by the proximity to Venice Beach, they brainstormed an L.A. ode to the Pacific Coast’s mariscos culture, drafting from a scope of regions including Baja, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Acapulco, Ensenada and the California coast.

The task will besides beryllium overseen by Damián wide head Carlos Garcia.

Cervantes said it was ever the Damián team’s volition to beryllium much seafood-focused, but erstwhile they settled into the Arts District’s much business vicinity and felt a propulsion toward the cuisine and communities of Boyle Heights, their much coastal plans took a backseat to becoming “a much masa-focused restaurant.” With San Damián, they scheme to recognize that original goal.

The aforesaid molino and masa programme that powers Damián and Ditroit will besides proviso San Damián pinch caller masa, tortillas and tostadas, but they‘ll beryllium utilized for items for illustration a seafood tlayuda topped pinch house-made tuna chorizo and slivers of oversea snails. Another caller dish, the ceviche Californiano, is simply a ceviche made wholly pinch the state’s ingredients: food from the California coast, spot prawns, spiny lobster aliases uni from Santa Barbara and vegetables from the Santa Monica farmers’ market.

San Damián will service a mini rotation of tacos, possibly much traditional, Cervantes said, than what could beryllium recovered astatine Ditroit: a classical Baja-style food taco and an al pastor taco.

A seafood tlayuda, made pinch tuna chorizo and oversea snails, will beryllium served astatine forthcoming Venice edifice San Damián.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

“I don’t want that to beryllium the about challenging portion of the menu,” he said. “I want that to beryllium your comfort. I want that to beryllium your go-to, moreover if you conscionable want to travel successful for a taco and a beer. I want that to beryllium ace disposable to everyone.”

The barroom program, while still successful development, is group to impact agave spirits and Mexican wines, pinch galore originated from the Valle de Guadalupe. The chefs dream that the space, which seats about 70, will harken a beachside infinitesimal afloat of earthy light, plates of agleam seafood and cold, frosty drinks.

“I deliberation L.A. benignant of has its ain consciousness to it, arsenic acold arsenic those flavors are concerned,” Cervantes said of the city’s ain breadth of mariscos restaurants. “I’m trying to pinpoint what that is exactly, uncovering those similarities wrong the different marisquerias here. San Damián is benignant of for illustration my constituent of view, and highlighting those influences that I’ve had here. I’m ace inspired by them and the activity that they do.”

San Damián is slated to unfastened this summertime astatine 1025 Abbot Kinney Blvd. successful Venice.