![]() ![]() Photo by Javier Cabral.īaca is filled with philosophical lessons about the value of hard work. Sushi boy mexico how to#It’s the only way a lot of us know how to function.”Ī server at Mariscos y Sushi Los Tomateros holding Camarones a La Cucaracha. It’s not something that happens overnight, so we gotta keep at it. (If you don’t dream, you wake up.) This whole industry is fueled by the hustle and dreams of people like myself. “We have a saying in Spanish, “ El que no sueña, despierta. “I owe it all to my drive of always rising above the rest and coming up as an immigrant, God willing,” Baca finishes. Off-menu scallop dish of the day at Mariscos y Sushi Los Tomateros. He follows the same Peruvian approach to raw seafood-using copious amounts of chiles and acid-that made Nobu famous in the first place but using chiltepin chiles from Sinaloa instead of aji chiles from Peru. The omakase -style surprise dish ended up being a raw scallop dish that was somewhere between an aguachile and a tiradito. When I approve, he leaves to the kitchen and returns. ![]() He instructs me to poke the bag so that I can see the scallops are firm and therefore fresh, instead of squishy and most likely previously frozen. He informs me that proudly sources it from Mexico. Sushi boy mexico full#On the Sunday afternoon that I was there, when I ask if he has callo de hacha (scallop, which is a status food for many Sinaloans) on the menu, he runs to the kitchen to grab a Ziploc full of bulging fat bivalves. Like any other great sushi chef at a counter, Baca is also willing to make you something off the menu using the fresh fish of the day. ‘I owe it all to my drive of always rising above the rest and coming up as an immigrant, God willing.’ His empanadas de camarón are flaky and tender in the kind of style you would find along Mexico’s Pacific coast. The slices of sashimi on his plate are pristine. He uses the same rice variety as Nobu and the same technique to cook it. For starters, the rice in his Mexican sushi is perfectly chewy and not the soggy mess that is the norm at other Mexican sushi restaurants. It’s been a big sacrifice, but here we are still.”īaca’s story is inspiring, but more importantly, his sazón is outstanding. “I don’t have any investors or many other resources for my restaurant it’s all been my money after saving up. I get back home from my shifts at Nobu at 2 AM, wake up at 9 AM the following day to open Los Tomateros, and spend sometimes four hours in traffic each day,” Baca tells me very matter of factly. “I’ve been working two shifts every weekday for the last 14 years. Edgar Baca, owner, and chef of Mariscos y Sushi Los Tomateros. ![]() Albeit, approximately 34 miles away from Nobu for his fellow working-class Latino neighbors in Lynwood, and for less than half the price. Nonetheless, there are a couple of dishes that hint of the fascinating story behind this unassuming Mexican seafood restaurant: “Yellowtail Yusu ” and “Camaronés en la Roca,” the paisa-fied names of two namesake dishes that pioneering sushi chef and founder of the Nobu empire Matsuhisa has credited as “making his career.” That’s because Baca’s has been the busboy for Nobu’s Malibu location for nearly the last 15 years, and like many other sushi chefs around the country, he has taken inspiration from his boss for his Mexican sushi menu. Tuna with Jalapeño Roll at Mariscos y Sushi Los Tomateros. The menu has the Sinaloan mariscos and sushi classics, boasting things like aguachile and empanadas de camarón on one side of the menu, and Mexican sushi classics like Mar y Tierra (surf and turf) rolls loaded with cream cheese and other crispy things. Its logo hints of Baca’s past: a tomato, the prideful state crop of Sinaloa, some chopsticks, and the name of Baca’s hometown’s famous baseball team in the Pacific Mexican League-Los Tomateros de Culiacán. Mariscos y Sushi Los Tomateros looks like any other Mexican sushi restaurant in southeast Los Angeles though one hidden in a side street near Tweedy Boulevard. ![]() Then, those orders started being for people like Pepe Aguilar, Marco Antonio Solis, and Carlos Vela. “I started from my home kitchen, taking orders for traditional Mexican dishes that the rest of my coworkers at Nobu craved: chiles rellenos, ceviches, taquitos, and more. “ Los trabajadores también tienen que comer (the cooks also have to eat),” he tells me in his distinctive Sinaloan accent, now made famous in Narcos Mexico. F or Edgar Baca, it all started with a cooler full of his homemade Sinaloan-style enchiladas at Nobu Malibu. ![]()
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