Few New York restaurateurs have built a following as quickly, or as quietly, as Giovanni Cervantes and Tania Apolinar. Their first project, Taqueria Ramirez in Greenpoint, earned a 9.1 rating from The Infatuation, whose critic wrote that the tiny counter was “serving some of the city’s best tacos”. This week brought confirmation of their most personal turn yet: El Camarón Peludo, a Mexican seafood and wine bar at 20 Cornelia Street in the West Village, which The Infatuation’s fall guide, updated on September 14, lists as opening September 16.
An empire built one taco at a time
The trajectory has been steady. After Taqueria Ramirez came Carnitas Ramirez, devoted, as Time Out put it, to “all things pork”. On June 11, 2026, the opening day of the World Cup, Cervantes and Apolinar officially opened Socceria, a fútbol-focused cantina at 46 Norman Avenue in Greenpoint, with local partners Josh Borock and John Hilmes, according to Edible Brooklyn. Each project has stayed close to the food of Mexico City, a shared obsession Cervantes described plainly to What Now New York: “We both share the same interest in food, particularly food from Mexico City.”
The seafood bar
El Camarón Peludo takes over the former Silver Apricot space and, as What Now New York reported in May, was planned as a roughly 25-seat room built mostly around the bar. The couple developed the concept with Carlos Barrera, a Mexico City-born chef with whom Cervantes had collaborated on pop-ups over the past year. Eater New York, in its September 10 preview of the season’s openings, describes the result as “a wine-first, seafood-second approach”, pairing Mexican and Spanish seafood preparations with Champagne.
The menu has been tested in public. At earlier pop-ups the team served michelada oysters, camarones zarandeados and tuna tostadas, according to The Infatuation, and an August 30 preview at Bar Susanne in Williamsburg featured aguachile negro and pescadilla, Time Out reported.
“There’s a huge scene of Mexican seafood that we were really, really interested in and wanting to explore.” — Giovanni Cervantes, to What Now New York
Restraint as a philosophy
What distinguishes the new room from the taquerias is its pace. Cervantes has framed El Camarón Peludo as a chance to concentrate on drinks and presentation while keeping the mood casual. “We want to let the product speak for itself and put that forward as the center of the experience,” he told What Now New York. The wine list, as outlined then, leans toward light and refreshing bottles, with a particular spotlight on bubbles and natural wines. Cervantes was characteristically unpretentious about the goal, describing wines that are simply “crushable.”
That instinct is what has made the Ramirez projects resonate. Mexico City’s street food arrived in Brooklyn without apology or embellishment; now its coastal counterpart, with lime-bright aguachiles and chilled glasses, lands on Cornelia Street. For a couple who began with a ten-person taco counter, it is a measured, confident next chapter rather than a reinvention.
Opening dates can shift in the final days, so diners should confirm hours directly before visiting.
See all sources
- NYC’s Most Exciting Fall Restaurant Openings, The Infatuation, 2026-09-14
- The most anticipated restaurant openings in NY this fall, part 2, Eater New York, 2026-09-10
- Taqueria Ramirez Founder Opening Seafood Spot in the West Village, What Now New York, 2026-05-29
- The Carnitas Ramirez team is previewing their latest seafood restaurant this weekend, Time Out New York, 2026-08-25
- Socceria: A New Futbol-Themed Cantina from the Taqueria Ramirez Team, Edible Brooklyn, 2026-06-18
- Taqueria Ramirez – Review – Greenpoint, The Infatuation, 2022-01-18
- El Camarón Peludo – Review – West Village, The Infatuation, 2026-09-04
Lead image: illustrative photo by Filipp Romanovski on Unsplash.
