Two Latin Menus a First-Timer Can Handle
Mission Ceviche and ABC Cocina sit two blocks apart, one leading with pisco and leche de tigre, the other with tacos and salsa.
📍 Two Blocks, Two Latin Rooms
🐟 Mission Ceviche, the Peruvian Side
Ceviche in traditional leche de tigre and sharp pisco sours anchor the menu, with Nikkei plates such as seafood mixto, yuca fries and lomo saltado running alongside. The dining room is spacious and cool, and the pacing is fast: plates are often cleared before the table has finished discussing them. It opens at noon daily and runs to ten most nights, eleven from Thursday to Saturday.
🌮 ABC Cocina, the Sharing Side
Jean-Georges’ room on East 19th is slower and softer, with family-style appetizers, individual entrees and a vegan and vegetarian selection that includes mushrooms with goat cheese. Portions are small and drinks are expensive, so a first visit works better as a tasting than a feast. It opens at four on Monday and Tuesday and at noon Wednesday to Friday.
🧭 How to Pick Between Them
For a first Latin dinner with a group that wants range, Mission Ceviche has more of it: more plates, more room, more noise. For a two-top where the point is conversation, ABC Cocina’s early seat is the easier call. Both are a few minutes apart on foot, and neither needs a full evening to work.
