Dining Advice, Tips, Recommendations, and News
PrintSerious Eats Fish Taco Crawl
When in Rome, eat spaghetti, and when in SoCal, inhale the fish tacos. Outsiders may find the beachside tradition gross or confusing, but it’s home between two corn tortillas for locals. Staple components include: diced green cabbage, grilled or breaded white fish (usually Mahi Mahi) and fresh pico de gallo salsa. Within a five-mile radius of my childhood home, covering such beach towns as Laguna Beach, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and Laguna Niguel, the fish taco mecca rests. Whether kitschy Mexican restaurant or mini-mall taco chain, the drill is the same. Wrap 'em with foil and love.
Check out the SoCal stops and superlatives below, each with a unique twist on the fishy mainstay. For the record, this is the first "fish taco" mention on Serious Eats. We're making history, kids!
Taco Surf
“Most Deliciously Understated”
Two grilled corn tortillas, fish (breaded or grilled), cabbage and medium-caliber salsa verde. That’s it. Straight-forward and honest. A Mexican Cantina, it's SoCal’s idea of “sit down” restaurant. Laminated menus with wooden stools covered in bumper stickers. Wall hangings include florescent Corona signs, up-close Surfer Mag shots and crunchy palm fronds. [Scene: Full of mustached Beach Boys-loving dads, still into the happy hour scene.]
Address: 34195 Pacific Coast Hwy, Dana Point, CA
Website: tacosurf.com
Las Golondrinas
“Most South of the Border Authentic”
Too often, crunchy fish tacos are just frozen fish stick’s little bro. I'm a skeptic. But this one is juicy and addicting. Two corn tortillas and cabbage—the way it should be—with a hint of lime-spiked creamy Baja sauce, then a slab of battered fish. Grab plastic cutlery and matching plastic tables outside (there’s four at the most). In high school, we called it “Los Gol” and never missed one-buck Taco Tuesdays. [Scene: Full of nearby workers and students who like “down and dirty” Mexican food.]
Address: 34069 Doheny Park Road, Capistrano Beach, CA
Website: theguide.latimes.com/restaurants/latcl-las-golondrinas-mexican-food-venue
Chronic Taco
“Best Big Fatty Taco”
Follow your server down the line, in typical Chipotle buffet fashion, pointing at salsas (mild to extra hot) and extra gunk (guacamole, shredded cheese, lettuce, cabbage, other veggies). With all the fillings, it’s almost a mini-burrito. Or, giggle, a “fatty,” according to the menu. Choose between “breaded” fish battered in Tecate beer or “grilled,” which is softer and spicier. Either way, they’ll offer you a creamy peach-colored “Baja” sauce (mayo-based). It’s better naked. [Scene: Full of twentysomething hot surfer types]
Address: 34255 Pacific Coast Hwy, Dana Point, CA
Website: eatchronictacos.com
Baja Fish Tacos
“Best Tongue Kick”
Grilled fish tacos have a rap for being blah-blah-bland, but this one is blackened with peppers and offers a karate chop-kick. It doesn’t need much else, but the salsa bar is hard to resist. Near the self-service fountain drinks, reach for itty-bitty plastic cups and stuff them with chopped cilantro, jalapeños and tongue-torching salsas. Flour is their default tortilla— slightly defiant since corn is the classic. [Scene: Full of suburbanite families and couples digging the fast casual with sitdown scene.]
Address: 30242 Crown Valley Pkwy, Laguna Niguel, CA
Website: bajafishtacos.net
Wahoo's Fish Tacos
“Best All-Around Chain”
It’s the Double Arches for SoCal. A local chain with an iconic long-bodied epinomious mascot. They’ll do blackened, unblackened, in a bowl or hugged by a tortilla. With white rice and beans on the side, or without. It’s fresh, fast and solid at all Cali, Colorado, Nevada and Texas locations. [Scene: Full of anyone who just gets life.]
Address: 1133 Pacific Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, CA, and various others
Website: wahoos.com
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21 Comments:
mmmm wahoo's I would give anything to be back in SoCal eating anything from them!
jamiephoto at 2:36PM on 12/28/07
LOVE fish tacos. A relatively new arrival to Pittsburgh's Strip District, the Penn Avenue Fish Company, makes some excellent, if not unorthodox, fish tacos: a combination, I believe, of Mahi-Mahi and salmon meat, sort of diced up like taco meat and cooked with what taste more like traditional taco seasonings, on a crispy shell, with cabbage, tomato, and a tangy/spice sauce on top. Again, quite different from a traditional fish taco, but it's quite good.
Fillippelli the Cook at 2:44PM on 12/28/07
What about San Diego??? You really ought to try the fish tacos at South Beach Bar and Grille in OB (Ocean Beach) http://www.southbeachob.com/. You won't be disappointed...
lmmsdca at 3:33PM on 12/28/07
Yeh, to get the BEST fish tacos and the original, you gotta go to RUBIO's in San Diego - many locations! The guys who started Rubio's brought fish tacos to California. They are the original and the best, IMO. Corn tortillas with cabbage - Rubio's has a fabulous white sauce that just MAKES their tacos. You can get the fish either beer battered or grilled for a healthier option. Rubio's fish tacos are served at the Padre's ballpark - gotta love it! No fish sticks here like at so many others. They are a fast food type restaurant but they offer beer, too.
Diana017 at 3:40PM on 12/28/07
San Diego-- another fish taco mecca, yes! I didn't make that far South but I'll have to check out South Beach next time. Rubio's is another solid chain next to Wahoo's, good point!
Erin Zimmer at 4:33PM on 12/28/07
Oh man... I tried to do this in the SF Mission District and filled up at the first stop. Complete failure of the Mission Mission. :(
missginsu at 5:24PM on 12/28/07
So glad that someone mentioned Rubio's! They are a San Diego icon on the fish taco scene...My mouth's watering just thinking about them!
Also, try Tin Fish in downtown San Diego-- they have HUGE fish tacos and are super tasty to boot. Also within walking distance of PETCO Park and the Convention Center for any tourist types. They also have a great selection of beers on tap...
I remember what it was like trying to convince my Midwestern husband to eat a fish taco. Unpleasant would be putting it nicely. Thankfully, he CRAVES them now, so I don't have to eat alone anymore. ^__^
Lorena at 6:32PM on 12/28/07
If you're ever in Houston, make sure to try Berryhill's fish tacos. They're the originals here in Houston and they're deeeelish. :)
sheeats at 8:15PM on 12/28/07
Being a SoCal native, it had never occurred to me that fish tacos weren't an experience that most people had. I still remember introducing my boyfriend, a Chicago native, to Wahoo's fish tacos several years ago and he still thanks me to this day.
charmon at 11:01PM on 12/28/07
And we love them here in sunny Colorado, too.
Wineandwheels.com at 11:44PM on 12/28/07
Fillipelli - I will have to go and try those fish tacos, they sound great. It's nice to see another Pittsburgher on SE!
Littlebluesiren at 11:46PM on 12/28/07
I have to second Tin Fish in SD too. We eat there everytime we're in town for the ComicCon.
Amandarama at 12:24PM on 12/29/07
La Sirena in Laguna Beach on Mermaid Street. Authentic, fresh, all sustainable ingredients.
amakat at 12:46PM on 12/29/07
Good job! You nailed several of the best.
We eat at Wahoo's all the time. It never disappoints. But I take issue with the double-arches comparison. It's a counter service place, not fast food. They have lots of stuff besides fish tacos, including vegetarian items and meat, and all of it is super fresh, relatively healthful and very tasty. Try the chicken tortilla soup. MMMMmmmmmm...
Too bad you missed Taco Mesa, an OC micro chain that wins awards all the time for its counter-service eateries. I actually prefer the fish tacos at Wahoo's, but Taco Mesa's food is creative (it's got a California edge to it), and it's a lot closer to my house, so we go there, too.
Also good is Taco Loco in Laguna Beach. A true dive staffed with borderline service, but it's really tasty, open late, and practically on the beach. So how can you go wrong?
P.S., I'm so glad you didn't list Rubio's -- although it was once an excellent Baja-style fish taco (the fried kind you get in Ensenada), it's been many, many years since they were anything close to being good. Sadly, it's grown into a huge chain serving tiny pieces of poor quality fish that are mostly breading. And it's expensive for what you get. Too bad.
:-(
LoCo at 5:57PM on 12/29/07
The list is great! Totally made me reminisce about my younger days. Awesome.
growingupeating.blogspot.com
xirabien at 9:57PM on 12/29/07
Just got back from SoCal and had excellent fish tacos in East LA at a place called Baja Taco Ensenada. For $4.50 you got 2 crispy golden halibut tacos w/ shredded cabbage and crema, rice, breans and a drink of your choice (I opted for the delicious Horchata). An unbelievable deal.
raw60 at 1:09PM on 12/30/07
I love La Sirena, and actually my friend from high school worked there! Whoa, I'm impressed, amakat. You are a true Lagunian.
Taco Loco, of course. Their "special" brownies and blackened mushroom-tofu burgers are classic Taco Loco things, but the fish tacos, eh. They actually didn't do it for me. But they did have neat fillings like lobster and swordfish.
Erin Zimmer at 1:34PM on 12/30/07
I was a vegetarian (eating the occasional fish) when i moved to LA and one day I discovered fish tacos. I spent the next 2 months eating exclusively fish tacos from every place i could find that made them. Being a new yorker, I had never heard of fish tacos, it was a very exciting time for me.
My favorites are Wahoo's and the Ahi burrito from Poquito mas...
Makes me miss LA again, you just can't get that kind of Mexican food in NYC.
xanra at 2:25PM on 12/30/07
Glad to see San Diego represented in the comments. We're closer to Mexico, and definitely closer to the fresh fish (we fish for yellowtail and albacore right off the Coronado Islands every year, and the Dorado (Mahi-Mahi) make it to San Diego first when the water temperature is warm).
Some great spots mentioned in the comments above - South Beach is really good, but I always go for some of their other dishes - like wahoo, thresher shark, or mahi-mahi platters.
Bay Park Fish Company is very good, as well as Taco Surf in Pacific Beach, Las Olas in Cardiff by the Sea, and the Del Mar Brigantine.
However, in my humble opinion, the best fish tacos that I've had in a U.S. restaurant are from Mariscos Mazatlan in Chula Vista (south San Diego County). This is the fish taco that you dream of!
That said, we have a house about 30 KM south of San Felipe in Baja. San Felipe is where Ralph Rubio of the Rubio's chain got the inspiration for his business. There are numerous taco stands that serve up great fish tacos there. You just need to be vigilant about food safety, but I've eaten many times at a couple of stands where all the asaderos are in town (by the arch), and the fish tacos are phenomenal!
arman52 at 9:06PM on 12/30/07
well believe it or not, here in albany new york there is an amazing taco joint called BROS TACOS, fresh tortillas made every day, they make both baja fried fish and grilled fish tacos, two types of shrimp tacos, carne asada, chicken, etc, their site is brostacos.com
JWWWW at 8:20AM on 12/31/07
Loco, I agree with you about Taco mesa, they make some of the best and really healthy mexican food around. It took me a little while to get used to the whole fish taco thing, I am a 9 year transplant from NY but now I love em to death!
I am very happy to see baja fish tacos on the list, they are awesome, I eat there once a week.
jscarpetta at 1:03PM on 01/04/08