A Mexican seafood specialist known for his mind-bendingly spicy dishes has landed his first brick-and-mortar location after years of drawing crowds to his backyard and food truck.
Mariscos el Aguachiles 8 has moved into a fixed space at 3130 Alum Rock Ave. in San Jose. There, owner José “Pepe” Rodríguez and his team serve their namesake aguachiles — silky raw shrimp in an intensely spicy lime-chile juice — alongside raw oysters, ceviche tostadas and campechanas, whose glass goblets overflow with a chilled medley of seafood.
Mariscos el Aguachiles 8 is among the Bay Area’s few standout Mexican marisquerías. Other aguachile purveyors include the nearby Mariscos el Charco, a Sinaloa-style outfit harnessing the blaze of red chiltepines. Earlier this year, Las Guerreras opened a ceviche bar featuring Guerrero-style offerings, such as a chilled octopus in cream, inside the Swan’s Market building in Old Oakland.
Rodríguez draws on his upbringing on the Michoacán coast, where his grandmother and an uncle taught him how to prepare shrimp cocktails and ceviches. People familiar with the intricacies of Mexican coastal cuisine are often surprised to hear of his background, as his dishes are more closely associated with the states of Nayarit and Sinaloa. (Michoacán is better known for hearty fare like carnitas and corundas, pyramid-shaped tamales topped with cream and a tomato sauce.) “Someone once asked me if I am from Mazatlán (in Sinaloa),” Rodríguez said. “I told him that I’ve never even been there.”…