Former Taco María line cook opens Nikkei seafood spot in Huntington Beach

A former Boston Market on Golden West Street doesn’t immediately scream Nikkei sushi. But Christian Chan saw something else.

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Chan, a mere 28 years of age, has lived in Huntington Beach for roughly a decade. Before that, his family lived near Gardena, where his father, Jorge Chan, operated El Rocoto, then Cerritos, home to the family’s second location. When the former chain became available, the younger Chan saw room for something of his own.

The result is Rocoto Pesca Bar, a year-old Peruvian seafood spot that Chan is now sharpening with a stronger emphasis on Nikkei sushi, cocktails and a description that tells diners what awaits inside — namely, Peruvian seafood and sushi.

“I want my customers to really understand my concept,” said Chan.

Said concept starts in Peru but doesn’t end there. Nikkei originally refers to the Japanese diaspora and their descendants. In Peru, it also came to describe a culinary tradition born after Japanese immigration began in 1899, when more than 700 immigrants arrived aboard the Sakura Maru. Over generations, Japanese ingredients and techniques worked their way into Peruvian cooking, especially with seafood. Precise sashimi-style cuts, shorter ceviche marinades and ingredients like shoyu became part of a cuisine that was neither strictly Japanese nor traditionally Peruvian.

For Chan, such history is also familial. His family hails from the South American country, and he said relatives on his mother’s side were involved with Edo, a Peruvian-Japanese eatery located in Lima. An uncle from Edo, along with Chan and his cousin, Koichi, helped develop Rocoto Pesca Bar’s new Nikkei offerings.

“Nikkei is basically Japanese and Peruvian,” he said. “We wanted to introduce Japanese and Peruvian with a little bit of French technique.”

Chan’s own cooking resume adds yet another layer. His father, a Cordon Bleu graduate who spent more than 30 years in the restaurant business, was his earliest influence. “My biggest influence is my dad,” he revealed. “I always saw my dad cooking when I was a young kid.”

Chan remembers watching him cook as a child, then eventually working alongside him despite some paternal resistance. “My dad said, ‘No, I don’t want you to be in the restaurant business. It’s tough,’” recalled Chan.

Thankfully, he ignored that advice. “I said, ‘No, I don’t mind it. I like this job.’”

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After working for his father, one of Chan’s first restaurant jobs was at Taco María, Carlos Salgado’s acclaimed Costa Mesa spot where Chan worked as a cook. Taco María, which opened its brick-and-mortar location in 2013 and later earned a Michelin star, became one of Orange County’s defining chef-driven restaurants before closing in 2023.

Chan stayed there until the pandemic, soaking up the sort of discipline that now shows up at Rocoto Pesca Bar, although the menu here moves in a different direction. He also trained at Le Cordon Bleu, adding another influence to a restaurant that already moves between Peru and Japan.

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The current menu makes that collision clear. Ceviches and tiraditos share space with hamachi, uni, ponzu and shoyu; a cause tartare pairs bluefin tuna and shrimp with avocado, sweet potato and ají amarillo leche de tigre. Chaufa, Peru’s Chinese-influenced fried rice, arrives loaded with scallop, octopus, shrimp and calamari. And more familiar Peruvian standards, including lomo saltado, ají de gallina and chupe de camarones, remain in the mix.

And then there’s the bar.

Chan, who also works as a mixologist, gleaned inspiration from his cousin, a former employee at Los Angeles cocktail bar Thunderbolt, as well as cocktail world figure Dave Arnold. “I was very intrigued by the cocktail program over there,” he said. Rocoto’s drinks lean into clarification, carbonation and ingredients that echo the kitchen, with pisco (a high-proof grape brandy), chicha (a beverage derived from corn), quinoa, plantain and even leche de tigre appearing behind the bar.

Chan admits that the dining room may look more expensive than it is, something that has occasionally intimidated first-time customers. Building that tension – polished room, serious technique, relatively approachable prices — is deliberate.

For Chan, the challenge now is simply convincing more Huntington Beach diners and denizens to walk through the door.

“The toughest part for me is getting the word out,” he admitted. “I wanted to try something cool, something different for the community — for Huntington Beach, for it being Surf City.”

Hours: Tuesday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 pm; Saturday from 12:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday from 12:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

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Find it: 16972 Goldenwest St, Huntington Beach, rocotopescabar.com, 657-200-9629