New Restaurant Alert: San Damian Brings Enrique Olvera's Mariscos to Venice

New Restaurant Alert! Another new restaurant lands in Los Angeles, and here is your first look.

The chef behind one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world just planted a flag on Abbot Kinney. San Damian opened June 4 at 1025 Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice, bringing Enrique Olvera's Casamata group, the team behind Pujol in Mexico City, Cosme in New York, and Damian downtown, to the Westside with a contemporary marisqueria built around Pacific Coast seafood, as reported by Westside Current.

Executive chef Chuy Cervantes, who has cooked with Olvera's group since 2014 and runs the kitchen at Damian in the Arts District, leads the roughly 70 seat room, which takes over the former Atla Venice space. "It's a lot of what we've been building since we opened in 2020 downtown," Cervantes told the Los Angeles Times. "[It's] a lot of the same ethos and ideas, and I'm hoping to bring that out to the Venice community."

Now keep in mind we are going to reach out to San Damian and discuss a feature... Stay Tuned!!

What we hear you should order

The menu runs from the raw bar to the fire. Standouts to consider:

• Tostada de Atun: tuna with leeks, brown butter, and shiro dashi

• Tlayuda: fish chorizo and sea snail in xni pec

• Aguachile: poached shrimp, lemon cucumber, sal de gusano

• Kanpachi al Pastor: with pineapple butter, straight off the fire

• Ceviche: vermilion rockfish with sea urchin and pico de gallo

• From the bar: a Paloma built on guava tepache, and house tepaches in pina-shiso and guava-hibiscus

Fresh tortillas come from the same in-house masa program as Damian, and the beverage list leans agave spirits and Mexican wines. The room was redone in lighter woods and natural materials to match the coastal setting.

The Details

San Damian is at 1025 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice. Dinner Wednesday and Thursday 5 to 9 PM, Friday and Saturday 5 to 10 PM, and Sunday 3 to 8 PM, closed Monday and Tuesday, with reservations on Resy.

Follow along at @sandamianla, and see the rest of this month's new restaurants in Los Angeles in our July roundup.

This is a New Restaurant Alert: a first look at a notable new arrival, not a review. We will be reaching out to the team at San Damian for an up close and personal FJM feature.

I hope you're hungry. - Matthew Tropp | FJM.