It's hard to believe, but it's been two years since My Ceviche opened on South Beach, giving us affordable, chef-driven seafood. My Ceviche's Brickell location, turned one this past March. It seems in the blink of an eye, our ceviche and burrito babies have grown up.
How do you celebrate a ceviche place's birthday? With a card, of course.
See also: My Ceviche to Open in South Miami
Today, April 2, bring a birthday card to either My Ceviche location and you'll receive the present -- in the form of a burrito. My Ceviche is asking you to be creative, so we suggest hand made cards, poetry, and painted macaroni mosaics. In fact, we think this is the perfect opportunity to get creative with all that leftover day-glo paint and beads from Ultra.
The offer is good all day at either location and cannot be combined with any other promotion or offer. This offer is valid for eat-in only. Limit one burrito per customer. Other restrictions may apply.
We asked the man behind the seafood, Sam Gorenstein, about the challenges he's faced opening My Ceviche, when his South Miami location will open, and how mascot, Finn, wants to celebrate his birthday.
New Times: You took a gamble starting MyCeviche and going on your own with your partner, Roger Duarte. What were the greatest challenges and the biggest payoff?
Sam Gorenstein: The greatest challenge was that we were a completely novel idea not only in Miami, but in the United States, so we didn't know how the community would react to us. We weren't sure whether people would like this fast-casual concept, or if we would be well-received.
The biggest payoff (and biggest sigh of relief) was that people love it! It's rewarding to see our customers so excited when they visit our restaurants, or when they are on their way to lay out on the beach and they take ceviche from our tiny South Beach window to-go.
What did you learn since opening My Ceviche?
The biggest lesson for me was redeveloping my personal style of cooking; I've always worked in upscale restaurants. But working with what I know and the type of food I grew up with, I started serving up more easy-going, approachable food. The lesson for everyone else was that for food to be good, it doesn't have to be plated on fine Chinaware -- and we're eternally grateful to all those people who embraced our laid-back attitude when we opened in South Beach 2 years ago!
What are your plans? More My Ceviches? Something else?
We're still young and still developing our brand, so we're focusing on expanding My Ceviche for now. We're the first fast-casual restaurant to serve up ceviche and we want to bring it to the masses. This year, we've got our eyes set on New York City and Los Angeles... watch out!
If you (or My Ceviche) could have anything for its birthday -- what would it be?
Our mascot, Finn, would probably just want everyone to come celebrate with him and eat, maybe with a candle on a burrito. My birthday just passed (the big three-o), and for the last two years, I've spent my birthday opening a new location. This year it's a belated birthday gift, with South Miami set to open early summer. I just want more and more to open, hopefully another four or five this year. Not that I want my birthday to come so often because I like my youth, but I definitely am not against getting a birthday gift in the form of a new restaurant every three or four months!
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