Chicago Eats - Restaurant Veneno de Nayarit (Mariscos el Veneno)

Restaurant Veneno de Nayarit

Formerly known as Mariscos el Veneno, Veneno de Nayarit is a Mexican Seafood place (1024 N. Ashland Ave). You won't find the normal types of dishes you might be accustomed to from Mexican restaurants such as carne asada, chicken tacos, or enchiladas; this place is the real deal serving up only seafood. And that's fantastic, we need more places like that in the city. I had been waiting a while to try this place out, and I'm glad I did. It's yet another one of my faaavorite places to go and earns a spot of places I'm not only willing to try again, but a restaurant I can't wait to try again.


Ceviche Tostada

I don't really know what was going on with this, seemed like some sort of crab ceviche. It was pretty good, and given to us when we sat down with our water service. I threw a bunch of the salsa down on this and started crying. More on that below...


Habanero Salsa 

This was probably one of the hottest salsas I had in a while. Seriously. The server told us to be careful when she set this down on our table, but I didn't really heed her warning. I threw a spoonful on my tostada and started eating; it had a great flavor but then the heat announced itself in extraordinary fashion. Eyes were tearing, nose was runny, face got red...yea, it was GOOD. One of my friends wasn't paying attention to any of this going on and literally ate a spoonful in one bite on her tostada...she looked like she was going to pass out. Luckily she never did, but it did take her a good 15 minutes to return to normal. So yea, definitely be careful with this stuff if you go.


Oysters 

These were fairly normal oysters; nothing too special, but not bad either. They were a bit warmer than I expected too, but they didn't kill me since I'm still alive today.


Chapuzon del Mar - Octopus, Shrimp, and Oyster

This dish, as you could probably imagine, had the strongest "seafood" taste of everything we had this night. Still, it was great, and given how easy it was to eat (no shells to remove), it went pretty quick at our table.


Crab Legs Nayarit Style

I really loved these crab legs, although they were pretty difficult to work with since the shell wasn't cracking in the cleanest fashion possible. Good flavor, and a good amount of meat in dem legs.


Prawns Nayarit Style

These prawns were my favorite of the night. Although the underlying sauce was the same, the coating of the prawns (I noted some garlic and some sort of cheese?) really made this the standout of the night. Definitely worth getting when you go.

Verdict: Must Try!