La Mar Cebicheria - 9/4/2016

La Mar Cebicheria Peruana is located on the water's edge, just steps away from San Francisco's historic Ferry Building on Pier 1½, on San Francisco's Embarcadero. The man behind La Mar is Peruvian celebrity chef Gastón Acurio, and ambassador of Peruvian cuisine who helped establish Peruvian cuisine and offers typical Peruvian meals in a modern and attractive style.  He owns and operates 44 international restaurants in several countries and is the author of several books.  In Peru he is the host of his own television program and contributes to a few magazines.

If you never have Peruvian cuisine it is best described as eclectic and includes indigenous as well as Spanish, Italian, German and Asian influences. 

Don't be fooled by the plain and modest exterior store front!  As soon as you open the door La Mar hides a gorgeous interior with plentiful of indoor seating as well as comfortable outdoor seating with views of the boats along the docks.

The interior is huge with a total of 11,000 square feet: 8,000 square feet inside and another 3,000 square feet outdoors on a patio fronting San Francisco Bay.

The restaurant can hold up to 250 guests.

Open concept kitchen located in the middle of the restaurant so everyone can see all the activities in the kitchen.

Another View of the Kitchen.

This the interior patio with view of boats dockings on the waterfront.

Exterior Patio.... Gorgeous view of the bay.

Tall cylinder vases filled with beautiful tropical flowers.

Our waiter Jee (on the left) is a very good waiter.  He really knows the menu and has a very bubbly personality.

Here one of the kitchen staff member is arranging a bunch of buckets with fried potatoes chips

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We were seated in a really nice private area with a view of the waterfront.   The room is really spacious but it is also very comfortable, it almost felt like home.

As soon as we put in our order, we get a bucket of the crunchiest in-house plantain, sweet potato, and potato chips served with two dipping sauce made with Peruvian chilies.

Empanadas sampler, a tasting of 4 empanadas: beef, shrimp, chicken, vegetarian

Cebiche mixto Catch of the day, shrimps, calamari, octopus, in rocoto leche de tigre

In case your are wondering about the spelling of Cebiche! In Peruvian spelling, 'cebiche' is spelled with a 'b' and not a 'v' as Ceviche (Spanish).

Cebiche is the national dish of Peru and a staple at the restaurant. La Mar prepares its cebiche with sustainably-caught fish and shellfish.

 Cebiche tasting is a combination of 3 cebiches:

 1-Classico:Catch of the day in a classic leche de tigre with red onion, Habanero, corn, sweet potatoes, 2-Mixto: catch of the day, shrimps, calamari, octopus, in rocoto leche de tiger, 3-Nikei: Ahi tuna, red onion, Japanese cucumber ,daikon, avocado, nori, in a tamarind leche de tigre

Ahi tuna Crudo

 Cebiche Pulpo: Spanish octopus in jalapeno pepper and avocado leche de tigre

Tirado la mar Hawaiian white tuna, chalaca, cancha in aji amarillo leche de tigre

Such a feast to the eye!

2 bottles of Kistler Chardonnay chilling in an ice bucket

Appetizers are served...

Sopa seca Squid ink pasta with mussels, clams, shrimp, calamari and vegetable stew in Peruvian aji

Delicious and very tasty!

This the special of the evening!  Since there are 12 of us, Jee, our waiter recommended we order the fish so we can share it family style.

The fish was very fresh, the flesh is sweet and very tasty, cooked properly and served with a delectable side of quinoa/fried rice.

Plancha marina Prawns, octopus, calamari, salmon, Portobello mushrooms, aji panca, and pisco sauce.

Delicious sizzling platter.

Also the special of the evening is 5+ pound braised beef served family style

Dinner is served!

View of the bay bridge at night as we were walking to our car..

Filed under: Restaurants