El Trebol Mariscos is a new Mexican mom-and-pop in Pacific Beach.
\nTranslating as “the clover seafood” in English, the new establishment, at 2015 Garnet Ave., No. 102, is a hybrid of styles. The name derives from the fact that the owner\u2019s birthday is March 16, the day before St. Patrick\u2019s Day.
\n“I tried to create a restaurant and a sports bar,” said business owner Sergio Vivaurri. “It\u2019s like being in Mexico without crossing the border.”
\nA native of Tijuana, Vivaurri said Mexican food at El Trebol is the “real” thing.
\n“If you\u2019ve gone to Ensenada and had a fish taco, it\u2019s the same taste; we use the same ingredients,” he said. “I want to be as Mexican as possible,” he added. “I don\u2019t want to sell something advertised as Mexican and not taste like Mexican. That\u2019s the difference between me and the others. All the recipes and ingredients and everything come from Mexico.”
\nEl Trebol opened May 1 in a retail space that was formerly a barbecue place. Opening a restaurant was a radical departure for Vivaurri, who previously was in the used car business.
\n“It started as an experiment,” he said. “My friends encouraged me to open it.”
\nVivaurri noted the original concept was to have a food truck. But after talking it over, he and his associates opted instead to create a new kind of restaurant to “try and make a difference” as well as to expose people to “natural Mexican” cuisine.
\nThe restaurateur said it took him about a month to remodel the space working long hours, with he and his friends doing all the remodeling themselves.
\nThe restaurant\u2019s d\u00e9cor, too, is an interesting admixture of Baja and beachy. There\u2019s a huge fish aquarium, a centerpiece, in the rear.
\n“I like fishes; it\u2019s kind of relaxing,” Vivaurri said.
\nEl Trebol\u2019s menu features fish, shrimp, scallops and other seafood. There are about a dozen different taco choices.
\n“An item with bacon, shrimp and fish is one of our top sellers,” Vivaurri said. “Another top seller is tuna.”
\nThe menu also includes about a half dozen types of burritos as well as flautas and sopes.
\n“Chips and salsa are complimentary; we don\u2019t charge for it,” Vivaurri said, claiming his prices are “the lowest on the market.”
\nA taco plate is in the $4-$5 range. Ceviche, which just won an award at Fat Fish as the people\u2019s choice in PB, is $3.50.
\nOf his fish taco plate, Vivaurri said, “You eat two and you\u2019re full.”
\nRestaurant-sports bar hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
\nVivaurri said he got a fair amount of business from tourists during the busy summer season. But his bread-and-butter clientele are locals, adding that played into his choice of d\u00e9cor.
\n“I didn\u2019t want to be too fancy, but I wanted to be an upscale seafood place,” he said, pointing out that\u2019s why he has trendy furniture that is not plastic.
\nEl Trebol started with four employees. That number has grown to 10. Vivaurri pointed out he\u2019s just one of the gang.
\n“If you come in here, you\u2019ll see me washing dishes or waiting on tables,” he said, adding, “Some people don\u2019t even know that I\u2019m the owner.”
\nWill there ever be a chain of El Trebols?
\n“If we ever do, we\u2019re going to have the same good service and treat everybody the same,” Vivaurri said. “Service, that\u2019s the most important part. That makes the difference.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
El Trebol Mariscos is a new Mexican mom-and-pop in Pacific Beach. Translating as “the clover seafood” in English, the new establishment, at 2015 Garnet Ave., No. 102, is a hybrid of styles. The name derives from the fact that the owner\u2019s birthday is March 16, the day before St. Patrick\u2019s Day. “I tried to create […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":276592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"El Trebol Mariscos is the \u2018real\u2019 thing in PB","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}