7x7: Ceviche at La Mar Cebichería Peruana

Another winning recommendation from 7x7!

After our cocktail and pork imbibing spree at the Ferry Building, Eva & I walked a little ways down the Embarcadero to La Mar Cebichería Peruana, which is on the 7x7 list for their ceviche. I figure this would be as good a time to try it as any, and boy, I’m glad we did!

The place was pretty busy but we snagged a couple seats at the bar and ordered a tasting of five La Mar leche de tigre (lime juice and peppers) ceviche shots and some anticuchos de corazón. I was cocktailed out and just stuck to water, but the Pisco-based drinks sounded wonderful and the sip I tried of Eva’s was really tasty. I’d come back and try more, sometime. When I’ve recovered from last night. The bartender was friendly and nice, especially for as busy as they were back there.

The ceviche (cebiche in Peru) was the item 7x7 called out, so we decided on the sampler shots of the cebiche chifa (Mahi Mahi in sesame leche de tigre), cebiche clásico (halibut and red onions in habanero pepper leche de tigre), cebiche nikei (Ahi Tuna in tamarind leche de tigre) and cebiche crudo (shrimp, sea urchin and scallops in sea urchin leche de tigre). They were all a bit salty, except the sea urchin, but from what I could see the leche de tigre in the full sized dishes was not the main component, so the salty factor would likely be less. They were all good and quite different tasting. I really liked the salty sweet flavor of the tamarind and the red-onion infused, just spicy enough habanero. I would like to come back to try the full size portion, to see if the salt is less noticeable. I’m pretty picky about saltiness, but in this case I was able to get over it; it was tasty and the salt didn’t overpower the other flavors.

The standout dish, though, was the anticuchos de corazón, which is grilled beef heart marinated in ají panca with potatoes, peruvian corn and rocoto spicy sauce. Beef hearts. Don't be squeamish, because you should experience of the wonderfulness of this Peruvian specialty! It was really, really good. Tender, tasty, very authentic while still seeming totally modern. Lovely. I have all kinds of cheesy heart jokes I could be making, but I won’t. Don’t say I never do anything for you.

I think this place is a lovely addition to the waterfront. It’s not especially cheap, but not as spendy a some of the places in the area (cough, waterbar, cough).

Note: to be fair, waterbar has bowed to recession-era economics and is offering a limited 3-course prix fixe menu for $40.