RESTAURANTS : LETTERS : TREASURES OF THE MEXICAN DEEP

Not long ago, you’d have to tour Mexico to find a good huachinango Veracruzana or Mazatlan-style parillada de mariscos. Lately, though, local taquerias are swiftly being transformed into marisquerias (shellfish specialists). The competition is building fiercely.

There’s more to this than ceviche and crab enchiladas. Nowhere will you find such a grand diversity of shellfish; most places offer at least six varieties of seafood cocktails. And while many marisquerias offer a standard menu of seafood stews, crisply fried whole fish and assorted lobster and shrimp dishes, the subtle flavor combinations of the Yucatecan kitchen and the Spanish-influenced style of the east coast are increasingly starting to show up.

It’s not easy to successfully shift gears from carnitas and burritos to fish stews and grills. Nevertheless, all of the following restaurants have avoided the pitfalls--and they are fine places in which to taste previously unexplored Mexican seafood specialties.

Burt Galvez, the man who started the El Pollo Loco chain (now owned by Denny’s) has a new venture--Pescado Mojado. This fast-food emporium is making Mexican seafood affordable to a large market.

Where else can you get a half dozen oysters on the half shell--shucked to order at that--for $4.49? These are served with plenty of limes, fresh salsa and hot sauce. A half of a ripe avocado is served stuffed with tangy ceviche for only $2.19. Ostiones a la Popeye (oysters Rockefeller) are becoming as popular here as in Mexico City. Seafood brochettes come sizzling off the grill, and cocktails, seafood tostadas, and salads rival those in more expensive restaurants.

Steamed clams are offered too and the caldo levantate Lazaro is rumored to cure hangovers, if not raise the dead. It’s a hearty bowl of clean-flavored seafood broth filled with shrimp and chunks of fish.

Pescado Mojado, 1701 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 413-8712. Open daily 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; open Friday and Saturday 10 a.m.-11 p.m. A second Pescado Mojado will soon open at 6608 Pacific Blvd., Huntington Park, (213) 581-9862.

Mariscos La Paz, with its charming seaside panoramas, recreates a patch of regional Mexico. The six-month-old restaurant already has a huge following; this may be because the Briseno family owned a food stand in Mexico followed by a popular catering truck here. Many customers have been eating their food for years.

The Michoacan-style offerings are utterly simple. Cocteles, be they octopus, shrimp or other seafood, are served in a sauce made of the cooking liquid mixed with fresh cilantro, onion and lime juice; the taste just sparkles. Order one “with everything,” and they’ll sprinkle in a little catsup and hot sauce. Campechana, an expression applied variously to gasoline, drinks or food, means a blend of certain things--it is surely the best cocktail of all. Mountains of saltines are the traditional accompaniment . Too bad they’ve replaced the traditional ice cream sundae glasses with tall paper cups.

Be prepared to ask a few questions, for the menu posted over the serving area is neither bilingual nor quite complete. I ordered an exquisitely flavored ceviche tostada ($1.25), only to see everyone digging into even more delicious-looking shrimp-topped ceviche tostadas. “Well, you have to ask for the shrimp,” I was informed, “they’re extra.” They are also perfectly cooked. Small sweet oysters come on the half shell and, though not listed on the menu, in a cocktail too.

Pick up the tongs and help yourself to chicharones en escabeche (pickled pork rind), pickled carrot slices, radishes or hot peppers from big glass jars on the counter; order horchata or tamarindo to drink. After the seafood sample succulent barbacoa and carnitas in tacos.

The best time to go is on weekend afternoons or evenings when mariachis unplug the jukebox and play for the throng.

Mariscos La Paz, 1227 N. Avalon Blvd., Wilmington, (213) 834-6567. Open daily 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

Oscar Iturralde named his restaurant La Paz (a west coast resort) “because it reminds Americans of a Mexican seaside vacation.” The food, however, is definitely southeast Mexican.

A few coats of dark paint have transformed a modest storefront in a shopping center into an intimate, sophisticated space. Heavy cloths drape the tables; fresh flowers add color.

The kitchen relies on Mayan rather than Aztec traditions. Iturralde started cooking Yucatan-style seafood at the age of 7 in his father’s Cozumel restaurant. He marinates his fish in Seville orange juice, adds the zing of garlic, achiote, saffron, and epazote, then grills it to a turn. He slices octopus, tosses it with a ricado (spice paste) of achiote and garlic, then sautes it in olive oil for a delicious pulpo a la Yucateca. Mounds of garlic-infused potato slices sumptuously topped with melted cheese accompany many dishes.

The portions are immense and people line up nightly for Oscar’s $25 all-you-can-eatseafood special. It is much more than anyone can eat. Heaped platters of seafood appetizers, including shrimp, abalone and octopus, satisfy the most ravenous. Next a choice of soup or salad--tortilla and black bean soup is a symphony of riches--precedes whole marinated grilled snapper and a platter of small lobster tails lightly topped with melted cheese and garnished with vegetables, rice and those wonderful garlic potatoes.

There is also an array of seafood tacos and enchiladas served with traditional Yucatecan black beans flavored with epazote.

La Paz, 20461 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, (818) 883-4761. Open Sunday-Thursday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Reservations taken Friday and Saturday.

Family-owned Mariscos Tampico, long a favorite in the Latino community, is opening a third restaurant in a Wilshire Boulevard high-rise opposite MacArthur Park. The new restaurant is reaching for a mainstream clientele and offers a full bar and lovely salt-water aquariums. But I miss the traditional live mariachis of the other locations.

Tampico’s food typifies Mexican east coast style. Dishes are mildly seasoned--the Spanish kitchen is the force here--and accompanied by plain rice and fried potatoes.

The renowned crabs of Tampico inspired the restaurant’s name and its specialty-- jaiba rellena (stuffed crab). A whole crab shell is filled with a subtle salpicon of shredded crab meat heaped in the center. This tastes best with a bite of plain crab meat extracted from the legs (a nutcracker is provided) and a generous squeeze of lemon.

In another specialty, langosta a mi manera, pieces of Pacific lobster tail in the shell luxuriate in a buttery orange-juice sauce scented lightly with bay leaves. The dish resembles an Oriental stir-fry with its garnish of crisp vegetable wedges. Much of the menu invites discovery: Oysters on the half shell are offered five ways, there are four varieties of ceviche and an intriguing dish called frog-leg brochette.

Mariscos Tampico, 5624 S. Atlantic Blvd., Maywood, (213) 562-0233. Open Monday-Thursday 10 a.m.-11 p.m.; Friday-Sunday 10 a.m.-midnight. Also at 3355 Whittier Blvd., East Los Angeles, (213) 262-0996 and 2400 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 487-5710.

A multitude of Siete Mares restaurants dot Southern California. Those spelled 7 Mares or El Siete Mares, or Siete Mares should not be confused with El 7 Mares. The latter, a small, family-owned chain, is most aggressive these days. It’s a familiar story. Father starts restaurant; children expand the business. Nine years after the original El 7 Mares opened, the family operates four restaurants, two coctelerias, a retail fish market and restaurant distribution business.

Their two immaculately white coctelerias are converted burger stands with illustrated menus painted on the exteriors; caracol-- conch cocktail--is depicted larger than life on the Brooklyn Avenue stand. A dazzling assortment of cocktails will seduce jaded palates. The tacos filled with strips of battered and deep fried fish topped with shredded cabbage, sour cream and two salsas are tremendously popular; they are sold only at the stands.

The menu at the restaurants is pan-Mexican. Familiar pescado frito (whole crispy fried fish) is flavored with garlic--unfortunately not fresh--or you can order it smothered in peppers and onions. Parrillada de mariscos, inspired by the Mazatlan restaurant Mamucas, is a mixed seafood grill that includes a whole lobster and oysters Rockefeller.

Bowls of chopped fresh cilantro and white onion are always on the table along with mounds of lemon slices. The restaurant makes great skinny French fries and an exotic cocktail sauce based on shrimp broth, tomato sauce and orange juice. Some of the little touches, like the cinnamon flavoring in the coffee, are thoughtful. But there are also less appealing traits-- canned vegetables mixed into the rice and crab stuffed with surimi.

El 7 Mares, 6307 Whittier Blvd., Montebello, (213) 725-8504; also at 2118 N. Broadway, Lincoln Heights, (213) 226-9287; 3914 Whittier Blvd., East Los Angeles, (213) 267-8667; 105 West 3rd St., downtown Los Angeles, (213) 625-9311. Coctelerias: 2200 N. Broadway, Lincoln Heights, (213) 225-2684 and 2735 Brooklyn Ave., Boyle Heights, (213) 267-8667. Hours for all stores: Monday-Thursday 9 a.m.-midnight; Friday-Sunday 9 a.m.-4 a.m.

Though the menu at Mariscos Can Cun is only half devoted to seafood, a glance around assured me that this is the reason people come here. After downing a seafood cocktail, patrons tackle the caldo, digging succulent tidbits from a cavernous bowl overflowing with clams and shrimps while crab legs drape dramatically over the edge. Its robust broth, deeply flavored with bay leaves, doesn’t mask the individual tastes of moist halibut pieces, octopus, squid and tender scallops. Slices of carrot and cabbage complete the repast-in-a-bowl. I sopped up every last drop of broth with warm tortillas.

Several meat and seafood combinations such as the Vallarta Special--jumbo grilled shrimp with carne asada-- or El Colonol (spicy green salsa and shrimp enchilada served with carne asada) are a bit like surf and turf. But all are done with subtlety and a light hand; there’s skill in this kitchen.

Mariscos Can Cun, 9545 3/4 Telegraph Road, Pico Rivera, (213) 949-8123. Also 11233 Washington Blvd., Whittier, (213) 692-6611. Open daily 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

The inventive mariscos at Lucy’s are unconventional. Stuffed baby squid come filled with a mixture of crunchy tomatillos, peas and onions held together with melted cheese and napped with a light tomato sauce. Plenty of tortillas, beans, chips and fresh, lively salsa and guacamole compensate for the pedestrian fries and salad.

Lucy’s also has the time-honored assembly of cocktails, oysters, fish stews and traditional whole fried fish and lobster dishes. Raw callo de hacha, (scallop) with generous avocado pieces, glistens beneath a translucent cocktail sauce. Tender, perfectly grilled shrimp come mojo de ajo style in garlicky butter. Best of all, Lucy’s entrees average $6.98, making them one of the better marisco bargains in town.

Lucy’s Mariscos, 1922 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 828-5003. Open Monday-Thursday 9 a.m.-11 p.m.; Friday-Sunday 9 a.m.-midnight.

Casa Blanca was one of the first Mexican seafood places to go mainstream. The ambiance, a fanciful and festive blend of cultures, has waiters wearing Moroccan dress while a woman pats out tortillas in the center of the dining room and wandering mariachis offer serenades. The dishes are equally fanciful, but the food is good and moderately priced.

Consider camarones Yvonne sauced with garlic butter, tomatoes and tequila and delightfully served in a coconut shell. Calamari steaks come seven different ways (in garlic butter, topped with crab and shrimp, etc.) A few items, however, are flawed: Pescado Ingrid--snapper fillets stuffed with nopalitos and shrimp in a creamy sauce and wrapped up in a banana leaf--combined flavors and textures that simply didn’t work. But the room is filled with gaiety and the menu with promise.

Casa Blanca, 220 Lincoln Blvd., Venice (213) 392-5751. Open Monday-Saturday 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Bahia Caporales is a place to watch. This three-and-a-half-year-old restaurant recently opened branches all over the county. All four menus are the same and curiously, the same kitchens can produce stunning dishes while others--at $10 a meal--don’t measure up to a good pizza or burger. They call themselves “The King of Mariscos ,” but the menu is half-filled with meat dishes. They might also call themselves king of camarones, for the menu offers shrimp cooked ten different ways as well as in cocktails and caldos .

Camarones Costa Azul, fat shrimp stuffed with queso blanco , wrapped in bacon and fried were as good as they sounded. The accompaniments-- soup, rice, fried potatoes-- didn’t add sparkle though the vegetables were fresh and the soup homemade.

We tried lobster nortena, a machaca not seen on many menus. The lobster was simmered in mild chili sauce and shredded. Though not exciting by itself, when it was spooned into warm corn tortillas and sprinkled with lots of lime juice and cilantro, it rivaled the creations at trendy Rebecca’s. Guacamole and a simple cheese enchilada were perfect complements.

The ambiance at the restaurants ranges from comfortable booths and functional Formica tables with a mariachi trio playing in the evenings (Beverly Boulevard) to the converted Chinese restaurant on Pico Boulevard with tablecloths, waterfalls, full bar with exotic tropical drinks and a full mariachi band entertaining Thursday through Sunday evenings.

Bahia Caporales, 630 S. Atlantic Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 262-9496. Also at 4430 W. Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 665-9228; 6124 Pico Blvd. (at La Cienega), (213) 655-9721; 3821 Magnolia Blvd., Burbank, (818) 842-7845; All are open for lunch and dinner daily although hours vary slightly.