A Baja-influenced seafood bounty at Venice’s San Damián, the new marisquería sibling to Damián in the Arts District, could not have come at a better moment. Just as the beach enclave grows even more irresistible during warmer months, Enrique Olvera and
his team, including chef Chuy Cervantes, have opened what may be Los Angeles’s hit restaurant of the season. Inside hasn’t changed much since the Atla days (everything still creamy, beachy, and spare), but new wall accents and an encompassing palo santo scent make the space feel refreshed. The menu, tight and judiciously curated, focuses entirely on seafood but for a handful of dishes (salsa macha–shellacked pollo frito, carne asada, and an epazote quesadilla among them). You are here for fish, though, and should concentrate fully on the lightning-flash ceviches, tostadas, and seafood mains.
What to order
- My favorite from the barra fría section could be the tostada de cangrejo, a staple from Ensenada piled with razor-thin avocado and creamy crab salad. One of these is fine for two people; if it’s a table of four, get this and the tostada de atún to kick off the evening.
- If there’s ever aguachile on a menu, order it: it will likely be one of the most satisfying dishes of the night. Here, San Damián’s shrimp rendition, nested with cucumber and dusted with worm salt, delivers a cooling umami punch. Prawns al ajillo make a worthy companion for a bigger group: the grilled, head-on prawns lie prone in a row to pick up with supple, palm-sized corn tortillas.
- Of the mains, kanpachi al pastor (an homage to Damián’s duck al pastor) captured my imagination — a true treat since I gave up eating pork more than a year ago. Achiote-painted kanpachi gets supported by creamy pineapple butter (the Dole Whip nostalgia will ignite) and shaved half-moon slivers of pineapple so thin you can see through them like a silk nightgown.
- Tableside presentation comes into play with the flautas de papa: a team member will douse the massively long rolled tacos with zig-zags of creme fraiche and salsa verde. Inside, find tender Weiser Farms potatoes, because this is Venice, of course.
- The simplest dessert easily became my favorite: fresas con crema, strawberries submerged in weightless chantilly cream, come in a regal glass chalice that will please the Venice elite. Churro lovers should go for San Damián’s halo crown–shaped rendition, which comes with chocolate sauce for dipping.
The crowd
Venice’s Rivian-driving upper class: millennial moms wearing Sézane and toting babies in Artipoppe carriers; tech bro dads who show their ankles under cuffed denim or khaki; younger couples on date night wondering if the wealthy but dissociative Westside parents sitting around them are their future. True seafood lovers also stream in — those who have followed Olvera for decades, and those who just need their mariscos fix as soon as possible.
Insider tip
The drinks menu doesn’t have a strong non-alcoholic cocktail component but the bartender may make you a zero-proof margarita if you ask nicely. Homemade tepache in flavors like pineapple-shiso and guava-hibiscus round out the options.
