A Novato construction contractor with family roots in Lima has opened a 125-seat restaurant in one of Mill Valley's most storied dining spaces, betting that Peruvian ceviche and Japanese robata can coexist on the same plate. Lima Nikkei, founded by Edwin Sandoval, now occupies 17 Throckmorton Avenue, the address long associated with the restaurant formerly known as El Paseo.
According to the Marin Independent Journal, Sandoval spent 35 years in construction and owns Atlas Construction, work that stretches back to the 1970s when he also worked in his family's restaurants. He moved to Novato in 1982, the paper reports, and eventually returned to the restaurant business to create an opportunity for his grandchildren. That family-first approach extends to who runs the place day to day: his grandson Lukas Sandoval manages the restaurant while studying business at the College of Marin, and Claudia Sandoval handles bookkeeping and marketing, per the same report.
Edwin Sandoval, who is from Lima, Peru, created the menu himself, drawing on nikkei cuisine, the fusion style that emerged after Japanese immigrants began settling in Peru more than a century ago, the Marin Independent Journal notes. Running the kitchen is Wilmer Anaya, also from Lima, who previously worked at La Mar Cebichería Peruana in San Francisco, according to the report.
A Historic Space Gets a New Life
The building at 17 Throckmorton has housed a succession of restaurants since the 1940s, originally opening as a French restaurant in 1947, according to Wikipedia. It later reopened in 2011 as a steakhouse run by musician Sammy Hagar and chef Tyler Florence before Hagar sold it in 2019 to new owners who relaunched it as Paseo: A California Bistro. That iteration, Paseo Bistro, closed in late 2025 after five years in business, according to the Marin Independent Journal, with EnjoyMillValley.com reporting the closure date as December 20, 2025, in the historic El Paseo space.
Sandoval oversaw the renovations himself, sandblasting whitewashed brick back to its original color and refinishing dark-stained wood floors to a lighter shade, the Marin Independent Journal reports. Fifty-six light fixtures were replaced during the overhaul. The result, per the paper, is a main dining room with exposed brick, pale wood furnishings and curved upholstered banquettes, a bar lined with vertical wood slats in a Japanese-inspired style, and a back room that retains its colored glass windows and exposed rafters.
That blend of old bones and new concept arrives as Mill Valley's restaurant scene churns through change. The Third Base newsletter has described the town as being in a moment of transition, noting on its Substack that “we've seen quite a bit of turnover lately, and it's clearer than ever that Mill Valley is in a moment of transition.”
Ceviche, Robata and Tableside Grills
Lima Nikkei's menu leans into both halves of its name. The restaurant offers six ceviches, including a yellowfin tuna version with a citrus-based ají amarillo leche de tigre made from Peruvian yellow chile pepper, finished with wasabi and shredded nori, the Marin Independent Journal reports. An octopus ceviche pairs the seafood with black olive emulsion and chimichurri. Four maki rolls round out the raw bar, including a shrimp tempura roll with avocado, cucumber, fresh fish and cebichera sauce, and a yellowtail roll built with cilantro, jalapeño and yuzu mayo.
On the hot side, the kitchen serves robata skewers of chicken, beef tenderloin, wild salmon, Spanish octopus and mushrooms, brought to the table on miniature Japanese grills, per the report. There's also lomo saltado, the traditional Peruvian stir-fry with Chinese influences, made here with beef tenderloin, onions, tomatoes and soy sauce; udon noodles with salmon, shrimp, edamame and a Peruvian chile curry in coconut milk; and bao de chicharrón featuring crispy pork belly, house pickles and rocoto gochumayo. Other dishes include roasted cauliflower with edamame hummus, anticuchera sauce and huacatay, a Peruvian herb, as well as Hokkaido scallop with aged parmesan foam and garlic breadcrumbs, and Australian wagyu New York strip steak and center-cut filet mignon served with yuca fries, the Marin Independent Journal reports. The restaurant sources its seafood from Four Star Seafood & Provisions in San Francisco and its meat from Allen Brothers, based in Chicago, according to the paper.
Cocktails Built Around Peruvian Ingredients
Lee Bustamante worked with Edwin Sandoval to develop the cocktail menu, the Marin Independent Journal reports. The Paseo Sour combines pisco, matcha, shochu, yuzu and a black sesame syrup, while the Miso Elixir mixes pisco, shochu, sake and a miso bonito cordial and arrives with a sweet potato anticucho on the side. The Amazonian Geisha blends Haku vodka with camu camu, a tart fruit from Peru's rainforest, and ume plum liqueur.
Freelance food writer and restaurant columnist Leanne Battelle contributed the Marin Independent Journal's report on the opening. Lima Nikkei is open 4 to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 4 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays at 17 Throckmorton Avenue, according to the restaurant's own website, which also lists online reservations through OpenTable and a phone line at (415) 384-8197.
