Ceviche means summer: These are the best in the Bay Area

Spicy and sour, fiery or vegan, here are the most dazzling of the raw seafood dish

A good ceviche can be like a religious experience with the power to make you believe in intelligent design.

I’ll admit that I have a bias for the spicy and sour flavor combo of raw marinated seafood, also known as ceviche. I especially adore aguachiles, the fiery Mexican variant of raw shrimp marinated in lime and chiles.

Of course, not all ceviches are made the same way. Some have no heat while others enter the deepest depths of hell, but they share a dedication to balance. That’s especially true with Peruvian ceviche, or cebiche, which is often a delicate dance with textural pops of corn and potato starch.

Those tart, hot zaps of ceviche are ideal in the summer. Now that the Bay Area is warming up, I’m craving those flavors, so I went on a quest to find dazzling versions.

Finding great ceviche in the Bay Area, however, is harder than you might expect — a surprise considering the region has easy access to highquality fish and produce. Straight up, I’ve had some of the worst ceviches of my life here, but also some of the best. This list includes dumbfoundingly spicy aguachiles from San Jose, graceful Peruvian ceviches from Oakland and San Francisco, and a few surprises. These are my favorite ceviches in the Bay Area.

Mariscos El Aguachile 8

Mariscos El Aguachile, a seafood truck in San Jose that parks at a gas station, will recalibrate your idea of spicy. I visited the truck on a sweltering San Jose day and thought I could take the spiciest of the 12 levels. Boy, was I wrong. Owner Jose “Pepe” Rodriguez talked me down and encouraged me to try the third level. I soon realized why. The campechana aguachile verde ($40) — a mix of octopus, scallops, cooked and raw shrimp — was humbling. Rodriguez is like a pepper maestro, harmonizing its pain-inducing qualities with acrobatic acidity and seasoning. It hurts but you can’t stop eating it, even after your eyes and nose are leaking. The truck doesn’t have a menu but the base order, which easily feeds two, starts with shrimp ($30) and the price increases as you add more seafood. Make sure to try the red, made with chile de arbol, and the black aguachiles, made with scorched chiles.

1111 N. Capitol Ave., San Jose. Check instagram.com/mariscos_ elaguachiles8 for exact hours.

Mariscos El Charco

Mariscos El Charco brings the tantalizing heat of Sinaloan seafood to the streets of East San Jose. The bright turquoise truck distinguishes itself from other marisquerias by its exclusive use of highly combustible chiltepin, a small but mighty pepper. It’s featured prominently in the fish or shrimp ceviche tostadas ($6), sneaked into scallop aguachile plates ($19) and sprinkled over cups of mixed seafood ($23). Spicy is the way to go; I promise it’s worth the suffering. While chiltepin isn’t the spiciest pepper on the market, it packs a powerful but flavorful wallop that fades relatively quickly. You can enjoy your scintillating mariscos at one of the truck’s canopy-shaded tables.

1925-A Alum Rock Ave., San

Jose. 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. MondayThursday, 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday-Sunday. instagram.com/ mariscos_el_charco/

Pucquio

The most elegant Peruvian cebiches ($22) in the Bay Area live at Pucquio in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood. You can’t order incorrectly here: the rockfish cebiche’s acidity is electrically charged with Aji limo peppers; the Trucha marries trout with heat with rocoto peppers; and the fragrant Mosaico features ginger and celery in the citrus marinade. Each one is artfully composed on the plate, blanketed in various frilly, leafy seaweeds. The restaurant may be modestly sized, with a cozy parklet, but the flavors stand tall.

5337 College Ave., Oakland. 5:30-9:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday.

5-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. pucquio.com or 510-658-7378

Dos Raicez

Mexican food pop-up Dos Raicez makes an incredible ceviche tostada ($10) that’s full of fun textures. Resting over a fried corn disk are tender chunks of yellowtail tuna, creamy avocado mousse, crisp jicama and smoky salsa macha. The latter adds so much body to the equation, its boldness balanced by the spice, acidity and salt. The tostada is part of the daily menu at Tahona Mercado in San Francisco; otherwise you can find the pop-up at breweries like Gilman Brewing Co. in Berkeley.

Tahona Market: 1168 Leavenworth St., San Francisco. 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Check instagram. com/dosraicez for pop-up details.

La Mar Cocina Peruana

It’s not often that you find a touristy spot that’s actually good, but Peruvian restaurant La Mar on San Francisco’s Embarcadero is one of those rare gems. Opened in 2008, La Mar has a stunning location with scenic waterfront views and a long list of cebiches. For a comprehensive glimpse of the restaurant’s expertise, try the cebiche tasting ($44), which comes with three different styles. The strongest is the Limeño, a piquant collection of marine life like white fish, shrimp and octopus, laced with lime juice, rocoto peppers and habaneros. Make sure to try the tiraditos, too — raw, simply marinated seafood.

Pier 1½ The Embarcadero North, San Francisco. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-9 p.m. SundayThursday, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-9:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday. lamarsf.com or 415-397-8880

Mariscos Costa Alegre

With three locations sprinkled across San Jose, Mariscos Costa Alegre is one of the Bay Area’s most formidable marisquerias. Each visitor gets a cup of potently spiced seafood broth to sip before the ceviche arrives.

Aguachiles is one of Costa Alegre’s strengths. The aguachile tricolor ($21) displays the spectrum of the dish, with each color corresponding to the type of chile employed. The classic green reaches for serrano peppers, red features chile de arbol, and black uses a mix of chiles tatemados (flame roasted). The spice levels are on equal footing, spicy enough to hurt but balanced enough to go back for more.

855 N. 13th St., San Jose. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday; 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday. mariscoscostaalegre. com

Honorable mention Parche

It always feels like a party at modern Colombian restaurant Parche in Oakland. This spot has several ceviches on offer, but the most interesting (and unconventional) one is made with pork belly. Dubbed the “ceviche” de chicharron, it features crisp pork bathed in sweet and sour citrus juice — poured table side, to preserve its texture. This take on the ceviche adds extra richness to the genre and deserves credit for creativity.

2295 Broadway, Oakland. 5-9:30 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 5-10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday. parcheoak.com or 510-922-9687

Vegan Hood Chefs

I didn’t expect to be so into the “ceviche” ($15) from the Vegan Hood Chefs food truck, which mostly parks in San Francisco. Instead of fish, the pop-up uses grilled watermelon, which is sweet and slightly smoky. It is sweeter than your average ceviche but the bouncy texture is pretty spoton, and it comes with standard accouterments like cucumbers, cilantro, peppers and avocado. It could use a little more heat and acid, but I commend it nonetheless.

Check instagram.com/ theveganhoodchefs/ for truck location.

Cesar Hernandez/The Chronicle Tri-colored aguachiles from Mariscos Costa Alegre, which has three locations across San Jose.

Cesar Hernandez/The Chronicle Ahi tostada from Dos Raicez at Tahona Market in San Francisco.

Cesar Hernandez/The Chronicle Campechana (mix) aguachile verde from Mariscos El Aguachile 8 in San Jose.

Cesar Hernandez/The Chronicle Raw, spicy shrimp aguachile tostada from Mariscos El Charco in San Jose.

Stephen Lam/The Chronicle Cebiche Mixto from Pucquio in Oakland.

Cesar Hernandez/The Chronicle Salmon and scallop tiradito at La Mar in S.F.

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle The “ceviche” de chicharron at Parche in Oakland.

Cesar Hernandez/The Chronicle Grilled watermelon ceviche from Vegan Hood Chefs.