‘That first bite is everything’: Stellar seafood at Miches and Ceviches

I could blame it on the hot August day and the fact that a cool, salty breeze from Monterey Bay floated through my car as I drove along East Cliff Drive, but the truth is that there’s never a time when I’m not craving seafood — or Mexican food. Thankfully, in the Pleasure Point neighborhood, that itch is now easily scratched. Popular seafood-focused food truck Miches and Ceviches has a new brick-and-mortar location on the ocean end of 41st Avenue, just a few blocks away from the Hook surf spot inside Off the Hook deli.

Although the seating is limited to a couple of outside tables, don’t let the size of this little café fool you — its menu of fresh, made-to-order ceviches, aguachiles, tostadas and tacos offers huge flavors. Miches and Ceviches boasts the kind of menu where there is no wrong answer — each ceviche and aguachile is guaranteed to offer bright flavors from fresh lime juice, crunchy herbs and nose-tingling peppers balanced with the silky textures of fresh raw fish barely cooked in citrus. Choosing whether you’d like negro, verde or rojo sauce comes down to personal preference and heat tolerance; for the latter, I recommend quenching your thirst with a homemade cucumber-lime agua fresca with tangy homemade chamoy rim dip.

But before I’m back for that, I’ll be back for the tacos de camaron ($18.75). The order comes with three large tacos filled with sweet shrimp, gooey cheese and roasted chiles, then topped with crunchy purple cabbage and creamy avocado. Importantly, the tortilla is skillfully griddled so that it’s soft enough to take a big bite without shattering the taco shell, but crispy enough to offer a satisfying texture. That might sound overly technical, but with tacos, structural integrity is key — nothing kills the vibe like a tortilla that collapses and forces you to eat your taco with a fork.

Near the end of 41st Avenue in Pleasure Point, Miches and Ceviches serves up its fare from inside Off the Hook deli.

(Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz)

I wasn’t surprised when Perla Pineda, who owns Miches and Ceviches with her husband, Sergio Ferreira, told me that everything is made to order; it’s clear from the moment you take the first bite. “That first bite is everything to me,” Pineda says.

Pineda and Ferreira started Miches and Ceviches at the end of 2019 by selling homemade ceviches and michelada mix out of their Watsonville home, and launched the food truck in November 2020. At the new café, they emphasize high-quality ingredients prepared fresh every day and “made with love.”

Ceviche is a dish close to Pineda’s heart. She grew up in a large family, and her mother is from coastal city Nayarit in Mexico. Fresh seafood and ceviche were always a part of her family’s celebrations. “Every time we got together, ceviche was part of our gatherings,” she says. “It defines family and unity.”

743 41st Ave., Santa Cruz; 831-421-2247. michesandceviches.co.

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