Los Angeles’s Most Beloved Mexican Seafood Restaurant Opens in Hermosa Beach

Los Angeles’s first family of Nayarit-style mariscos, Coni’Seafood, heads to the coast with a third outpost that opens in Hermosa Beach on Friday, October 31. Years after spying the ideal location, second-generation owner Conchita “Connie” Cossio will take over the former El Encanto space just steps away from the beach. The latest marisquería joins the original restaurant in Inglewood and the Del Rey location owned and operated by Connie’s daughter, Bianca Córdova, which have been widely celebrated for its zesty barra fría (cold bar), spicy barra caliente (hot bar), and famously buttery pescado zarandeado recipes created by founder, Vicente “Chente” Cossio.

Born and raised in Acaponeta, Nayarit, Vicente Cossio arrived in the United States in 1968, settling in the South Bay. During the 1970s and early 1980s, he worked in restaurants like Manhattan Beach steakhouse and local institution the Bay 90’s in a variety of positions including line cook. Having honed his culinary skills in local restaurants, Vicente longed to bring Los Angeles a taste of botaneros, the thatch-roofed seafood and beer bars that serve free aguachiles, ceviche de camarón, camarones a la diabla, and deep-fried Constantino fish with the purchase of a cubeta (bucket of beers) in and around Acaponeta. Mariscos Chente’s opened as an Inglewood backyard popup in 1987, slinging regional Mexican seafood inspired by the botaneros but given a more polished presentation, a skill Vicente picked up in the line kitchen.

A peek inside the new Coni’Seafood in Hermosa Beach. Wonho Frank Lee

By 1998, Mariscos Chente’s had outgrown the pop-up space and moved into a standalone restaurant, where Connie began to take an interest in the business. “My dad put us all to work to keep us from going out,” Connie quips. Although Connie began working for her father as a server, she swiftly ascended to lead cook and his right hand at the flagship restaurant. Vicente handed over the reins to his daughter in 2005, implicitly tasking her with keeping the family recipes alive. She rebranded the restaurant as Coni’Seafood in 2018, the same year she opened the Del Rey location now owned by her daughter, Bianca Córdova. Under Connie’s direction, Coni’Seafood has been listed on the Los Angeles Times’ 101 Best Restaurants list, appeared on various television shows such as Leguizamo Does America, and has appeared as a Michelin Recommended restaurant, among many other accolades. As a chef, Connie competed on Food Network’s Chopped in 2023.

Coni’Seafood Hermosa Beach lives in a cozy tavern with darkly stained wooden booths, oak-glazed floor panels, and patterned ceiling tiles with room for 80 guests; the space feels like a classic American seafood restaurant. The exterior has a brick facade lined with accordion windows that run the length of the restaurant. Its location in a plaza that has a parking garage makes it convenient for those who have to commute.

The full Coni’Seafood menu will be available from the barra fría, barra caliente, and grill, the latter of which will employ a gas-powered lava stone charbroiler for grilling pescado zarandeado. Among the selection of ceviches are the botanero staples that the Cossio family is known for such as their aguachile, a dish that showcases high-quality imported Mexican shrimp from Sinaloa and Nayarit arranged in a crown and bathed in a tart and spicy broth of blended and strained chile jalapeño, lime juice, and salt. Ceviche de camarón sees raw, chopped shrimp in a lime-driven puree of chile jalapeño, then tossed with a medley of red onion, cucumber, and tomato, and seasoned with salt and pepper. The ceviche marinero bursts with sweetness and umami from diced mangoes and salsa negra, a savory blend of spiced Worcestershire, Maggi, and soy sauce.

Ceviche marinero with Maggi seasoning and mango.

Ceviche de camarón. Wonho Frank Lee

Grilled tacos de marlín, its smoked marlin filling cradled in a corn tortilla, includes melted cheese — an ideal entry into the hot bar. Other classics include boozy camarones a la borracha made with tequila, smoky, spicy camarones al diabla, and camarones culichis in a creamy jalapeño sauce. Camarones a la pimienta, an original dish created by Vicente, gives a peppery riff on Mexican garlic shrimp inspired by his time in the Bay 90’s kitchen. The richness of these guisados comes from lots of butter, a practice Vicente learned in the 1970s when French cuisine dominated American fine dining.

Most Coni’Seafood fans know that the pescado zarandeado is the star of the slate of oceanic delights. Whole butterflied robalo, or snook, easily pulls apart with a pinch from a corn tortilla, after which it can be dressed with red onions marinated in soy sauce and lime juice, plus the house salsa verde to add some kick.

Connie, who lives in the South Bay, always wanted to open a location close to home. As the Mexican seafood pillar started by Vicente Cossio turns 38 this year, the Hermosa Beach outpost marks a new chapter in the restaurant’s history. “I got into the kitchen because I was attracted to the passion that my dad had for cooking, and it is important to continue his legacy,” she says.

Coni’Seafood is open Monday through Thursday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., 934 Hermosa Avenue, 1st Floor, Hermosa Beach, CA.