With brunch, Ruta 15 solidifies itself as one of Long Beach's best restaurants

Ruta 15, Long Beach’s finest purveyor of mariscos proper, has unveiled its newly minted weekend brunch. And like its ballad to the ocean on its regular menu, their brunch is a definitively Ruta 15 brunch.

Tlacoyos covered with two poached eggs and Zarandeado-style shrimp slathered in a rich, guajillo-meets-chipotle sauce. Sopes drenched in poblano sauce, topped with roasted corn and poblano peppers, and filled with black beans and eggs. Chilaquiles topped with a flat iron steak and served with potatoes and eggs or masa triangles, outright stuffed with cheese before being fried…

It is a menu that comes with the weight Chef César Sánchez has placed on himself. Given the greatness of both the neighboring Taqueria Brand and Ruta 15’s firm place as the city’s consummate mariscos joint, he is proving to be one of the city’s finest in Mexican cuisine. And this brunch menu? It does not fail.

Ruta 15’s brunch menu melds Mexican tradition with American brunch sensibility—including some of the city’s finest pancakes.

There’s something truly beautiful about Chef César’s tlacoyo. And it is a larger reflection of the chef’s daily reverie for the mighty cuisine of Mexico. A dish heralded as part of Mexico’s indigenous culture, it starts with a stretched, oval-like disc of corn masa. For Ruta’s version, it is topped with a smear of refried black beans and cheese. The cheese is browned, crumbled queso fresco is added, a swipe of crema, and perfectly cooked shrimp, Zarandeado-style, each one finished above super-hot coals to achieve a smoky char.

There’s some of the finest chilaquiles in the city. There’s a whole array of sauces one can choose from. Creamy chipotle. A roasted onion and tomato sauce. Creamy poblano sauce. Grilled jalapeño sauce. Smoky red enchilada sauce. Classic Chile verde. A habanero sauce… And it can come with a flat iron steak (under the space’s Desayuno de la Ruta dish) or divorciados (with your chilaquiles in a salsa verde on one side and a salsa roja on the other). Chef César even offers stuffed chilaquiles, where fresh masa is stuffed with cheese, formed into a triangle, fried, and slathered in sauce.

But then there are the pancakes. Like his tamal de elote cakes. Sweet corn is mixed into a batter and put on a griddle with a sweet corn tamal in its center. Or a play on carrot cake. Shreds of carrot and bits of walnuts meld with cinnamon and a cream cheese frosting.

It’s one of the city’s most distinct, warmly welcoming brunches.

Why Ruta 15 is such an important cog to the Long Beach food scene.

Long Beach has had its handful of mariscos spots—with, to be frank, some of the best spots being Instagram-based, like the much-missed, why-did-you-leave? El Pelicano Loco, or straight up birthed out of garages, like Mariscos El Garage. None have ever quite achieved what Ruta 15 has.

Sitting unassumingly along Anaheim, the restaurant feels like a revelation: a place where the coastal traditions of Sinaloa, Jalisco, and Nayarit—along with the love of seafood the entirety of Mexico holds—collide with the kind of technique and intention that usually lands on white tablecloths rather than high-top tables surrounded by Pepe Aguilar on the speakers. Chef César is reminding diners—particularly non-Mexican ones—just how complex, bright, and expressive the cuisine can be when handled by someone who, in all honesty, reveres it. Just glance at his duo of grilled fish—one painted green, the other red—that is a direct ode to Gabriela Cámara’s legendary pescado a la talla.

There’s an almost architectural discipline to the menu, yet nothing ever loses the soulfulness or swagger that defines Pacific Mexican seafood. Chef César cooks with the hand of a technician and the heart of someone deeply tied to the traditions he’s elevating.

And in a city whose seafood scene is better known for (some of the best) fish-and-chips and sushi counters than high-caliber Mexican coastal cuisine, Ruta 15 feels like a shift. I don’t say this lightly. Ruta 15 isn’t just another seafood restaurant. It’s a statement about what mariscos can be in this city when someone as talented and committed as Chef César Sánchez is at the helm. And places like Holbox redefine what mariscos are on a regional level.

A look at some of the highlights from Ruta 15’s brunch menu…

Conclusively Ruta in spirit. Tinged with the Stateside love of brunch. This is but a small slice of what the space offers. So you’ll have to explore more because I need to explore more.