By Joe Ruiz
For those craving authentic Mexican seafood, Mariscos 4 Vientos (Four Winds Seafood) is the place to go. The delectable flavors of Mexican seafood can now be experienced closer to home. At Mariscos 4 Vientos, just located ten minutes away from East Los Angeles College, students can come in for a great lunch with friends and family.
The Mexican-influenced menu is immediately tempting. The dishes coming from the kitchen were as bright as confetti. Some of the foods offered here are ceviche, fish tacos and seafood cocktails.
Mariscos 4 Vientos aced their different varieties of ceviche, ranging from fish, shrimp, octopus, abalone and a mix of all in one, known as a “Mixta.” Ceviche is a dish that contains raw seafood marinated in a citrus-based sauce. Lemons and limes are the traditional citrus ingredients in ceviche, which help to bring to life all the flavors. All ceviche dishes are served with tostadas, which are crispy deep-fried tortillas.
A crowd pleaser seems to be ceviche de camarón (shrimp ceviche.) “I’m amazed at the quality of the food here. I love how everything is fresh as if it were cooked at home,” said student Luis Rangel.For those who love spicy food, the aguachiles (spicy lime shrimp) is strongly recommended. Aguachiles are shrimp prepared essentially with hot serrano peppers, fresh crispy cucumber, and purple onion on a shallow pool of lime-juice.
Even though all of the different foods at Mariscos 4 Vientos are delicious and hard to pass on, they are not as tasty as their specialty, tacos de camarón (shrimp tacos). These shrimp tacos are no doubt one of the best. These fried tacos are a specialty of Mariscos 4 Vientos, and really makes this place stand out. Each order comes with two deep fried tacos with a generous amount of shrimp and melted cheese, topped with their house salsa, which is a wonderful mix of chiles and tomatoes, and avocado.
“Mariscos 4 Vientos is affordable, fresh, and most importantly delicious,” said customer Edward Mata. With two locations in East Los Angeles, one on 3332 E. Olympic Blvd, and the other right across the street on Lorena St, it is pretty hard not to see.
Mariscos 4 Vientos is a gold mine and an easy place to love. It isn’t about serving seafood as any other local place. It is about the true Mexican seafood culinary art. They put heart and soul in to their dishes for all customers to enjoy.