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A round cracker with shrimp and other seafood piled high, topped with sliced and fanned avocado.
Ceviche mixto tostada at El Submarino.

15 Tart and Punchy Ceviches in NYC

Where to find seafood — shrimp, squid, scallops, and more — steeped in citrusy (and sometimes spicy) marinades

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Ceviche mixto tostada at El Submarino.

It’s generally agreed that ceviche originated in Peru and Ecuador — countries that separately developed the tradition of eating seafood raw after marinating it in citrus along with other ingredients like chiles and onions. Mexico was also not far behind in developing its own types of ceviche, where it is especially popular in Veracruz and in coastal areas of the northwest. This method of preparing seafood produces an opacity that is sometimes referred to as “cooked,” though it’s far different from the denaturation of proteins entailed with heat.

Other cultures have raw seafood traditions, including the crudo of Venice, poke of Hawai’i, kinilaw of the Philippines, and sashimi of Japan, a country that has heavily influenced the ceviches and tiraditos of Peru in a mashup of flavors with Japanese cuisine. Today’s ceviches may have been originally inspired by the escabeches of Spain (also popular in Jamaica), which douse cooked seafood with vinegar and vegetables.

There’s never been a better time to eat ceviches in New York City. We’ve never had so many, not only in Mexican, Peruvian, and Ecuadorian restaurants but in contemporary bistros that have adopted internationalized menus. And ceviches have proven a perfect way to enjoy the freshest local seafood. Here are some of the best places to find it and its close cousins.

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Mission Ceviche

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Offering the Peruvian take on ceviche, Mission grew out of a pair of downtown food-court stalls to become the most ambitious purveyor of the South American version of the raw fish dish in Manhattan — with prices to match. But the tradition is not limited to ceviche with its various raw seafood ingredients, but it also offers Japanese-Peruvian tartares and tiraditos, the latter featuring raw tuna mired in a thick passion-fruit tiger’s milk garnished with flowers.

Rolls of red tuna in a thick orange sauce.
Tuna tiradito at Mission Ceviche.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Peruvian ceviches (or cebiches) differ markedly from Mexican versions with their inclusion of lemon or bitter orange instead of lime juice, and the addition of potatoes, hominy, sweet potatoes, or corn kernels of various — sometimes-colorful — varieties. Kausa is a Hell’s Kitchen restaurant that specializes in Peruvian food, offering seven configurations of ceviche and four of tiradito — here consisting of sliced raw fish bathed in a piquant fruity sauce.

Corn, plantain chips, and purple onions join shrimp and other seafood in an orange fluid in a bowl.
Ceviche mixto at Kausa.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Ruta Oaxaca Mexican Cuisine

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Though this restaurant with its strikingly pink outdoor dining structure specializes in Oaxacan cuisine, the beach theme alone is enough reason to order a ceviche or two. Luckily, founder Jose Castillo Reyes delivers on that promise. One ceviche features shrimp and squid, and crushed red chiles make it spicier than ceviches in Mexican restaurants often are, while heirloom cherry tomatoes add sweetness.

Pale shrimp and squid rings snowed with crushed red pepper with red and yellow cherry tomatoes here and there.
Ceviche at Ruta Oaxaca.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Cielito Astoria

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This Sinaloan restaurant that doubles as a cocktail lounge is a great night spot and also offers the city’s best collection of Golfo de California ceviches, aguachiles, and cocteles, in addition to the expected birria tacos and chilorio. The cooling Mazatlán aguachile is presented in a lava-stone mortar in shades of red or green, featuring shrimp and octopus. In the traditional manner, the dish is served with tortilla chips and soda crackers, with sliced avocado on the side. Nothing goes better with a beer.

A black mortar with jumbled white seafood brimming with lime juice.
Green Mazatlán aguachile at Cielito.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

El Submarino

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Open two years ago on Jackson Heights’s main drag, El Submarino — with a playful logo of a submarine with a handlebar moustache — is one of the most noted Mexican restaurants to specialize in ceviches. In addition to those made with fish, shrimp, and octopus, or a mixture, the ceviche here is additionally served on tostadas; and aguachiles, which are a larger, soupier versions originating in Sinaloa, the home state of chef Alonso Guzman.

A black volcanic stone bowl with shrimp and avocado inside.
El Submarino’s black shrimp aguachile contains soy sauce and is served in a volcanic stone molcajete.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Los Mariscos

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Diverse aguachiles, ceviches mounted on tostadas, and seafood cocktails are on the agenda of this offshoot of Los Tacos No. 1 located in Chelsea Market (with a special door from the outside, so you don’t have to enter the complex). Seafood used in various configuration of these dishes runs to shrimp, fish, squid, octopus, and scallops, and Los Mariscos is a great place to wolf down a ceviche without enduring a sit-down restaurant.

A mix of diced seafood on a stiff tortilla platform with avocado on top.
Ceviche mixto tostada at Los Mariscos.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Tacos Güey

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Chef Henry Zamora draws inspiration from the Mexican food of his early upbringing in California’s Salinas Valley, concentrating on exquisitely turned out tacos and ceviches. The latter run to about a half dozen varieties — some typical, others novel. There’s a scallop aguachile in a greenish oil tasting of mint and Australian finger limes, and a cooked surf clam escabeche that takes ceviches back to their possible origins in Spain.

A heap of fish cubes with green leaves sticking out and small orange swatches of gooseberry.
Sea bass ceviche at Tacos Guey
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

The ability of the ceviche formula to adapt to different cultures is nothing short of amazing. Witness this wonderful Indian take on ceviche at Sona from chef Hari Nayak. It features raw pink snapper in a pink broth composed of coconut milk and kokum, which imparts a striking color and intense tartness.

An asymmetrical streaky bowl with a creamy pink fluid and hillock of grayish diced fish.
Pink snapper ceviche at Sona.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

West Village residents know to fill the seats at this Peruvian restaurant’s indoor and outdoor dining spaces for fresh ceviches and tiraditos. There are nearly a dozen ceviche and tiradito options, but folks are most often getting the clasico — made here with fluke, sweet potato, choclo (fat white Peruvian corn kernels), red onion, and spicy leche de tigre. For those who just want a taste, Panca offers a ceviche shot which is the clasico served in two or three bites.

A gray bowl with raw slices of fish and shredded onions, with red peppers on top.
Ceviche clasico at Panca.
Panca

The Leroy House

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Demonstrating how bistros — especially those that partly concentrate on seafood — have also turned to ceviche, Leroy House in the West Village via chef David Werner offers a lively sea bass ceviche that makes an excellent appetizer, where the chunks of fish are interspersed with avocado and fresh serrano peppers, making it spicy in a restrained sort of way. But the signal achievement of this West Village restaurant lies in furnishing the ceviche with freshly fried potato chips rather than tostadas, perfect for dipping and adding an extra level of saltiness.

A hand reaches down to scoop up a spoonful of ceviche, with potato chips in a cup at the side.
Sea bass ceviche at Leroy House
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Oxomoco

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Though nominally concentrating on the food of Oaxaca, with lots of invented and modified Mexican recipes thrown in, Oxomoco always has a ceviche or two on its menu, usually mounted on tostadas. Most recently it was soy-marinated raw tuna pounded and placed on a tostada, with an intense salsa macha — a current fad around town — spread over the top, and altogether one of the best uses of raw tuna in any kind of restaurant.

A crisp tortilla with a layer of liquid red and above that a layer of black with seeds sticking out.
Tuna ceviche tostada at Oxomoco.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Don Ceviche

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“Mr. Ceviche” is a Peruvian counter founded by Lenin Costas in the Essex Market, turning out more Peruvian specialties in a small space than seems possible — and rotisserie chickens, too. The place offers a pair of ceviches, one a leche de tigre (”tiger’s milk”) — mixed seafood immersed in a sour broth that is intended to be drunk afterwards, said to have aphrodisiacal properties. The toasted corn called cancha adds crunch.

A clear plastic cup filled with shrimp and corn nuts in an orange fluid.
Leche de tigre at Don Ceviche.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Palomas BK

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Owner and chef Fabiola Maldonado has made aguachiles an important focus of her menu at Palomas BK. One dish features scallops with cucumbers and avocado in a sharp lime broth, which only makes the raw shellfish, which turns an opaque white, sweeter than if it were fried or grilled. For vegetarians, there’s a version featuring crunchy jicama that develops its own interesting qualities when soaked in the soup, though it poses the question: Can you have a ceviche without any actual seafood? F

A bowl of greenish ceviche with a tortilla chip sticking up on the edge.
Scallop aguachile at Palomas BK.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Falansai

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Chef Eric Tran dips into the Mexican side of his combined Vietnamese-Mexican heritage to come up with a spectacular ceviche on his innovative menu. On a recent occasion, it was tilefish that had been diced and paired with sliced avocado, and served with tostadas and a freshly made orange hot sauce much like that usually served with Peruvian ceviches — it all packs quite a wallop.

A black bowl with white cubes of fish and slivers of avocado in a milky fluid.
Tilefish ceviche at Falansai.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

La Valentina

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New York City should be jealous of the range and excellence of New Jersey’s Mexican restaurants and La Valentina in Long Branch is a case in point. Occupying a former department store on the main drag, with a supermarket in front and charming, cave-like restaurant in back, the menu is mind-boggling in its range of southern and northern Mexican dishes. The aguachile verde is served in typical fashion, diced shrimp and cucumber in a fiery and drinkable green marinade served with soda crackers and avocado in a beer schooner.

A beer glass filled with thick green liquid, with individually wrapped soda crackers on the side.
Aguachile verde at La Valentina.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Mission Ceviche

Offering the Peruvian take on ceviche, Mission grew out of a pair of downtown food-court stalls to become the most ambitious purveyor of the South American version of the raw fish dish in Manhattan — with prices to match. But the tradition is not limited to ceviche with its various raw seafood ingredients, but it also offers Japanese-Peruvian tartares and tiraditos, the latter featuring raw tuna mired in a thick passion-fruit tiger’s milk garnished with flowers.

Rolls of red tuna in a thick orange sauce.
Tuna tiradito at Mission Ceviche.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Kausa

Peruvian ceviches (or cebiches) differ markedly from Mexican versions with their inclusion of lemon or bitter orange instead of lime juice, and the addition of potatoes, hominy, sweet potatoes, or corn kernels of various — sometimes-colorful — varieties. Kausa is a Hell’s Kitchen restaurant that specializes in Peruvian food, offering seven configurations of ceviche and four of tiradito — here consisting of sliced raw fish bathed in a piquant fruity sauce.

Corn, plantain chips, and purple onions join shrimp and other seafood in an orange fluid in a bowl.
Ceviche mixto at Kausa.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Ruta Oaxaca Mexican Cuisine

Though this restaurant with its strikingly pink outdoor dining structure specializes in Oaxacan cuisine, the beach theme alone is enough reason to order a ceviche or two. Luckily, founder Jose Castillo Reyes delivers on that promise. One ceviche features shrimp and squid, and crushed red chiles make it spicier than ceviches in Mexican restaurants often are, while heirloom cherry tomatoes add sweetness.

Pale shrimp and squid rings snowed with crushed red pepper with red and yellow cherry tomatoes here and there.
Ceviche at Ruta Oaxaca.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Cielito Astoria

This Sinaloan restaurant that doubles as a cocktail lounge is a great night spot and also offers the city’s best collection of Golfo de California ceviches, aguachiles, and cocteles, in addition to the expected birria tacos and chilorio. The cooling Mazatlán aguachile is presented in a lava-stone mortar in shades of red or green, featuring shrimp and octopus. In the traditional manner, the dish is served with tortilla chips and soda crackers, with sliced avocado on the side. Nothing goes better with a beer.

A black mortar with jumbled white seafood brimming with lime juice.
Green Mazatlán aguachile at Cielito.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

El Submarino

Open two years ago on Jackson Heights’s main drag, El Submarino — with a playful logo of a submarine with a handlebar moustache — is one of the most noted Mexican restaurants to specialize in ceviches. In addition to those made with fish, shrimp, and octopus, or a mixture, the ceviche here is additionally served on tostadas; and aguachiles, which are a larger, soupier versions originating in Sinaloa, the home state of chef Alonso Guzman.

A black volcanic stone bowl with shrimp and avocado inside.
El Submarino’s black shrimp aguachile contains soy sauce and is served in a volcanic stone molcajete.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Los Mariscos

Diverse aguachiles, ceviches mounted on tostadas, and seafood cocktails are on the agenda of this offshoot of Los Tacos No. 1 located in Chelsea Market (with a special door from the outside, so you don’t have to enter the complex). Seafood used in various configuration of these dishes runs to shrimp, fish, squid, octopus, and scallops, and Los Mariscos is a great place to wolf down a ceviche without enduring a sit-down restaurant.

A mix of diced seafood on a stiff tortilla platform with avocado on top.
Ceviche mixto tostada at Los Mariscos.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Tacos Güey

Chef Henry Zamora draws inspiration from the Mexican food of his early upbringing in California’s Salinas Valley, concentrating on exquisitely turned out tacos and ceviches. The latter run to about a half dozen varieties — some typical, others novel. There’s a scallop aguachile in a greenish oil tasting of mint and Australian finger limes, and a cooked surf clam escabeche that takes ceviches back to their possible origins in Spain.

A heap of fish cubes with green leaves sticking out and small orange swatches of gooseberry.
Sea bass ceviche at Tacos Guey
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Sona

The ability of the ceviche formula to adapt to different cultures is nothing short of amazing. Witness this wonderful Indian take on ceviche at Sona from chef Hari Nayak. It features raw pink snapper in a pink broth composed of coconut milk and kokum, which imparts a striking color and intense tartness.

An asymmetrical streaky bowl with a creamy pink fluid and hillock of grayish diced fish.
Pink snapper ceviche at Sona.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Panca

West Village residents know to fill the seats at this Peruvian restaurant’s indoor and outdoor dining spaces for fresh ceviches and tiraditos. There are nearly a dozen ceviche and tiradito options, but folks are most often getting the clasico — made here with fluke, sweet potato, choclo (fat white Peruvian corn kernels), red onion, and spicy leche de tigre. For those who just want a taste, Panca offers a ceviche shot which is the clasico served in two or three bites.

A gray bowl with raw slices of fish and shredded onions, with red peppers on top.
Ceviche clasico at Panca.
Panca

The Leroy House

Demonstrating how bistros — especially those that partly concentrate on seafood — have also turned to ceviche, Leroy House in the West Village via chef David Werner offers a lively sea bass ceviche that makes an excellent appetizer, where the chunks of fish are interspersed with avocado and fresh serrano peppers, making it spicy in a restrained sort of way. But the signal achievement of this West Village restaurant lies in furnishing the ceviche with freshly fried potato chips rather than tostadas, perfect for dipping and adding an extra level of saltiness.

A hand reaches down to scoop up a spoonful of ceviche, with potato chips in a cup at the side.
Sea bass ceviche at Leroy House
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Oxomoco

Though nominally concentrating on the food of Oaxaca, with lots of invented and modified Mexican recipes thrown in, Oxomoco always has a ceviche or two on its menu, usually mounted on tostadas. Most recently it was soy-marinated raw tuna pounded and placed on a tostada, with an intense salsa macha — a current fad around town — spread over the top, and altogether one of the best uses of raw tuna in any kind of restaurant.

A crisp tortilla with a layer of liquid red and above that a layer of black with seeds sticking out.
Tuna ceviche tostada at Oxomoco.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Don Ceviche

“Mr. Ceviche” is a Peruvian counter founded by Lenin Costas in the Essex Market, turning out more Peruvian specialties in a small space than seems possible — and rotisserie chickens, too. The place offers a pair of ceviches, one a leche de tigre (”tiger’s milk”) — mixed seafood immersed in a sour broth that is intended to be drunk afterwards, said to have aphrodisiacal properties. The toasted corn called cancha adds crunch.

A clear plastic cup filled with shrimp and corn nuts in an orange fluid.
Leche de tigre at Don Ceviche.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Palomas BK

Owner and chef Fabiola Maldonado has made aguachiles an important focus of her menu at Palomas BK. One dish features scallops with cucumbers and avocado in a sharp lime broth, which only makes the raw shellfish, which turns an opaque white, sweeter than if it were fried or grilled. For vegetarians, there’s a version featuring crunchy jicama that develops its own interesting qualities when soaked in the soup, though it poses the question: Can you have a ceviche without any actual seafood? F

A bowl of greenish ceviche with a tortilla chip sticking up on the edge.
Scallop aguachile at Palomas BK.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Falansai

Chef Eric Tran dips into the Mexican side of his combined Vietnamese-Mexican heritage to come up with a spectacular ceviche on his innovative menu. On a recent occasion, it was tilefish that had been diced and paired with sliced avocado, and served with tostadas and a freshly made orange hot sauce much like that usually served with Peruvian ceviches — it all packs quite a wallop.

A black bowl with white cubes of fish and slivers of avocado in a milky fluid.
Tilefish ceviche at Falansai.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

La Valentina

New York City should be jealous of the range and excellence of New Jersey’s Mexican restaurants and La Valentina in Long Branch is a case in point. Occupying a former department store on the main drag, with a supermarket in front and charming, cave-like restaurant in back, the menu is mind-boggling in its range of southern and northern Mexican dishes. The aguachile verde is served in typical fashion, diced shrimp and cucumber in a fiery and drinkable green marinade served with soda crackers and avocado in a beer schooner.

A beer glass filled with thick green liquid, with individually wrapped soda crackers on the side.
Aguachile verde at La Valentina.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

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