Those hankering for limey ceviche, shucked oysters with salsa bruja and other delights from coastal Mexico will find it in the newly expanded Las Guerreras in Old Oakland.

Run by the mother-daughter team of Ofelia Barajas and Reyna Maldonado, and previously called La Guerrera’s Kitchen, the restaurant has been a tenant of Oakland’s Swan’s Market for years. But it recently built a 1,400 square-foot cevicheria to prepare a whole menu of seafood under the name Las Guerreras.

“We’ve been working on our cevicheria for a year and a half now,” Maldonado announced on Instagram. “This isn’t just any seafood spot. Our ceviche recipes come straight from our Abuelita (great-grandmother) Lala, who owned a cevicheria on the coast of Zihuatanejo. We’re honoring our roots by sharing the flavors that raised us!”

Mother and daughter hail from Guerrero, a Mexican state on the Pacific coast between Michoacan and Oaxaca. Barajas was previously a tamale vendor in the Mission District who, after a stint at the nonprofit food incubator La Cocina, opened a brick and mortar in Fruitvale. She and Maldonado later moved to Swan’s Market where they quickly made a name for themselves with Guerrerense dishes using hand-ground corn, which earned them the moniker of “maiz warriors.”

That lovingly made corn will still be on the menu, as will brunch with its popular chilaquiles verdes — but also so much more, with many things sourced from local vendors like Berkeley’s Monterey Fish Market. The cevicheria is planning to serve five varieties of ceviche daily, such as Acapulco-style octopus with pickled chile, poached shrimp-mango with jalapeno sauce, California halibut with coconut milk and East Coast crab with chipotle mayo. There will be vegan options available, and everything is spooned up with housemade plantain chips, flour chicharrones or saltine crackers.

Fresh oysters come topped with the spicy-vinegar salsa bruja and jalapeno salsa brava, onion and lime. They’re also plopped into shooters with a “madre miche mix,” to which you can add a shot of agave wine. The aguachiles include Bay scallop and Mexican blue shrimp, mixed with avocado and served with house corn chips. And cocteles, those heavy glass mugs piled high with tomato-cocktail sauce and chilled seafood, can be made with a daunting mix of shrimp, octopus and fresh oysters.

There are a couple of warm plates, like a butterflied and grilled red snapper topped with red and green sauces and accompanied with black beans and arugula salad (market price) and a shrimp stew with chayote squash, epazote and warm tortillas. For dessert, there’s the sweet-and-moist cornbread pan de elote, coyotas (flaky-crust pastry with fruit jelly) and even horchata ice cream from Oakland’s cult-favorite De la Creamery.

Details >> Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday at 907 Washington St., Oakland; laguerreraskitchen.com.

Chic cocktail bar Loretta in downtown Menlo Park

With vibey lighting, hours extending past 11 p.m. and a cocktail menu that changes with the seasons, Menlo Park has a new addition to its downtown that could help the city start to shake off its “Menlo Dark” moniker.

That addition is Loretta, the brainchild of owner Ali Elsafy, who has run the neighboring restaurant, Bistro Vida, since 1998. When a little over a year and a half ago, the adjacent space at 639 Santa Cruz Ave. — then a furniture store — became available, Elsafy thought converting it into a bar would be a slam dunk.

It wasn’t, of course. But the permits have been lined up, the interior designed and menu crafted. And Loretta — a younger, more playful sister to Vida — has opened.

Loretta’s location was once home to Magoo’s Pizza Parlor, where a band called the Warlocks — who later became the Grateful Dead — played their first gig. To honor that history, Elsafy’s made an effort to pay homage to Deadhead lore. You’ll hear Grateful Dead albums on vinyl each Wednesday, with DJs spinning lounge tunes other evenings.

The bar will be open until 11:30 p.m. at first — after March, it will stay open until 1:30 a.m. — and he’s hoping the late hours will draw post-concert visitors from the Guild, Menlo Park’s nonprofit live music venue. Currently, few places are open late within the city. “It’s really needed,” he says.

The bar offers seasonal cocktails, wine, beer and mocktails, plus a selection of bar bites and snacks prepared next door at Bistro Vida.

The opening date, originally planned for Jan. 15, was pushed back to early February, Elsafy says, to give staff members from Los Angeles time to travel home to support family amid the devastating wildfires there.

Details >> 639 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park.

Mountain View gets Nick the Greek #80

Nick the Greek has hit the big 8-0.

That’s number of restaurants, not years.

That location opened this month along Mountain View’s restaurant row, Castro Street, with the chain’s array of fast-casual Greek-Mediterranean favorites: beef/lamb, chicken and pork belly gyros; chicken and pork souvlaki; falafel pitas; fries topped with feta cheese; salads and avgolemono soup; and for dessert, loukoumades and baklava.

Franchisees Jack Ajluni and Denny Voutos own and operate this location.

The fast-casual Greek chain was founded in 2014 by three San Jose cousins — Big Nick, Little Nick and Baby Nick Tsigaris — and acquired by YTG Enterprises in 2022. Besides California, the brand can now be found in Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Kansas.

Details >> Open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and until 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday at 298 Castro St., Mountain View; www.nickthegreek.com

Send restaurant news tips to Linda Zavoral at lzavoral@bayareanewsgroup.com, Kate Bradshaw at kbradshaw@bayareanewsgroup.com or John Metcalfe at jmetcalfe@bayareanewsgroup.com.