Cerviches Gone Wild

The fertile waters of the Caribbean Sea provide exquisitely fresh fish, a bounty perhaps best translated on the plate through ceviche. Or sometimes you don’t even need a plate, like when Rick and Chef Juan Pablo Loza make a ceviche of freshly caught lobster on a boat in the Sian Ka’an nature reserve. At Catch, the Thompson Hotel’s swanky rooftop restaurant in Playa del Carmen, Chef Pedro Abascal teaches us to make a Peruvian-inspired mandarin, carrot, habanero and ginger ceviche with leche de tigre broth. Then, it’s off to nearby Axiote with Chef Xavier Perez Stone, who shows Rick how to make outrageously good coconut-shrimp ceviche. A delightful ferry ride brings Rick to picturesque Isla Mujeres, where young Chef Diego Lopez builds an absolute stunner of a dish, a ceviche of pargo with an herby green “mojito” broth. At Rick’s new Chicago restaurant, Lena Brava, he makes a deceptively simple aguachile in a cocktail shaker and teaches us to make a “Bloody Maria” coctel.