Reflections on a Fish Taco
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Reflections on a Fish Taco
Things to know about the food of Baja California
I ate a lot of fish tacos this past month. After spending two weeks in Todos Santos, Mexico, eating like it was my job… because, well, it kinda is, I have many thoughts about the cuisine of Baja. Here are some tips for the next time you are there.
First and foremost, fish and seafood are kings here. If you don’t like to eat them, really why are you going to go to Baja? Not being snarky, but the fruits of the sea are where this peninsula, especially the state of Baja Sur, shines.
If at all possible, avoid tourist traps. This should seem obvious, but consistently the worst places I ate catered to foreigners — and it’s not just American tourists in Baja, by the way. Quite often these places look great. Clean, spiffy, kitschy décor, but the food sucked. Almost always.
(To this end, San Jose del Cabo is a far better place to eat than Cabo San Lucas.)
I hate to call out specific places, but one was so bad I basically couldn’t eat even two tacos: Pacifica Fish Market in Todos Santos. Vile tortillas, weak, undercooked and floppy, greasy batter on the fish that left it soft and oleaginous, warmed-over “grilled” shrimp, and a mountain of shredded cabbage so high you couldn’t see the taco. Oh, and a thick, fatty crema added without asking.
Tortillas in general in Baja Sur are terrible — if you are looking for corn tortillas. I’ve had a few good ones in La Paz, but by and large, you’ll get machine-made, weak, tasteless corn tortillas made from Maseca flour. This is why most places double up on them, so they don’t disintegrate mid-taco.
The exceptions are the flour tortillas. While the flour tortilla I had at Pacifica was wretched, it was the only flour tortilla I have disliked in all of Baja. Generally speaking, the flour tortillas are flavorful, have a nice char on them, and are thin, although not as thin as those in Sonora.
The paradox is that you rarely see fish and seafood tacos on flour tortillas. It happens, but rarely, and mostly in places like Ensenada. Sometimes you can ask for them. I’d suggest it, if only because the flour tortillas are almost always going to be superior.
What you do see are quesadillas using those flour tortillas, often filled with seafood. A shredded, smoked marlin quesadilla is common, and I highly recommend them: I’ve eaten dozens, and even “bad” ones are still good, like this overcooked one at Barracuda Cantina in Pescadero.
The other slightly disappointing thing regarding those fine flour tortillas is that the meat and poultry options in Baja are just OK. In every instance, over a great many meals all over the peninsula, a meat-based thing, like birria or carnitas or carne asada, is going to be better somewhere else in Mexico.
Don’t get me wrong: I’ve had good carne asada in Baja (Tacos Poblano in Todos Santos is an example), and good birria in one place in Ensenada, but in general, meat and poultry aren’t as transcendent in Baja as in other places.
The closest you’ll get to top-notch, non-fish things in Baja are the carne asada, tacos de cabeza (a type of barbacoa using beef heads), and late-night hot dogs. Definitely eat a doggo if you’re bar hopping…
(Oh, side note: I am not including Tijuana in this discussion, because Tijuana is its own thing and has amazing food of all kinds.)
Back to fish tacos.
Always get them batter fried, “capeado.” Because that’s the tradition. Blackened, or grilled, are mainly for gringos. There are two main presentations: Large pieces of fish, where you get one or two per taco, and bits, where you get maybe a half dozen. I prefer large pieces because the fish-to-batter ratio is better.
The best fish tacos come unadorned. Just fish and a tortilla. You then choose your own adventure, adding whatever makes you happy. Usually you’ll see a chipotle or avocado crema, which can be nice used sparingly (not like at Pacifica), shredded cabbage or iceberg lettuce, lots of salsas, hot sauces, pickled jalapenos and onions, and sometimes cilantro.
A fish taco must be crispy. Normally this is not a problem because you’re getting them made by people who make them all day, and have their act together. Taco Fish, on Calle Manuel Marquez de Leon, is an example, as is Tacos Compa Chava, also in Todos Santos. There’s also a Taco Fish in La Paz that’s great, as is Bismarkcito and MC Fisher.
Corn tortillas are the norm for fish tacos, but if you see some nicer flour ones, go for it. It’s a little weird for a Mexican, but no one cares and you’ll likely get a higher quality tortilla.
As for seafood, the same unadorned principle applies, but you will very often see the mariscos served simply seared on the plancha. You then add what you like.
Seafood is very regional, too. It was hard to find the chocolate clams — so named for their shell color, not their flavor — in Todos Santos, but they are everywhere in La Paz. Similarly, patas de mula, a reddish cockle, are common in Ensenada, but not in Baja Sur.
Scallops, too. In Todos Santos, little bay scallops were everywhere, but the big callos de hacha so common in places like San Felipe or La Paz, were non-existent.
Crab is around, but you have to look for it. I’ve eaten amazing spider crabs in a town called Popotla, in the north, but usually you will find typical picked crabmeat tostadas in the south. Both are worth your time.
A word on lobsters: Yes, they are famous in Baja. They are also scorchingly expensive. Plan on the equivalent of $30 US dollars for an order. I rarely eat them because of this, and because they are typical spiny lobsters, which, to this East Coast boy, aren’t as good as Maine lobsters. Interestingly, both the California spiny lobster and the Caribbean spiny live in Baja Sur, as well as slipper lobsters. If you can find these, get them — they are much tastier than the regular spinies, if weird-looking.
Conversely, I’ve never had bad octopus in Baja. Ever. Order it whenever you see it, in any form. My favorite is on a tostada.
As for finfish, the high king of fish in Baja is the totoaba. It’s a drum, a cousin of the California white seabass, and is amazing. Fatty, but not greasy, firm but not like sturgeon or swordfish, it’s a primo fish that has been farmed in the Sea of Cortez for years because, well, the wild ones got fished out.
You see totoaba a lot in Sea of Cortez towns like San Felipe (where there’s a farm), or Loreto, but I also found two places in the tiny mountain town of El Triunfo that offered totoaba several ways on their menus. Both are good, but I want to call out Toto Frito. And no, not everything is fried there, as the name might suggest, but they do fry things very, very well. Like these totoaba collars.
You will see grilled whole fish, fried whole fish (or fillets) all over the peninsula, and they’re good. But pretty much everywhere you will see the Triumvirate of Cold Fish Dishes, ceviche, tiradito and aguachile.
Tiradito is the “newest” and most obscure, being a Peruvian dish that hinges on sashimi-grade fish and a yellow pepper sauce; aji amarillo. Think Latin sashimi.
Aguachile is essentially instant ceviche, so shrimp or fish laid out with an acidic sauce that is “cooking” it as you sit down to eat it. It’s always spicy and often has chiltepin chiles as a garnish. Picoso!
Ceviche most of you know, and there are many styles in Baja, ranging from a basic ceviche that is, more or less, pico de gallo with fish or seafood, to mixes using Clamato or V8, to more fanciful ideas. Up north in Ensenada, you see a style where they run the fish through a grinder before marinating it in the acidic sauce, and this makes for neater eating on a tostada.
Stepping away from fish and seafood, the only other foods I’ve found in Baja that are truly unique and special are the ice creams and ices, or nieves. It gets really hot in Baja in summer, and hell, even the winters are warmish. So a “chico” cup of an ice or ice cream really hits the spot.
By far the coolest nieve is made from pitahaya, the fruit of those giant cardon cactus you see all over the place; no, they’re not saguaros. They are bright red and have lots of teeny seeds in them, which are edible. If you see them, order them.
But there are lots of flavors to choose from, ranging from normal to very Mexican, like pine nuts and coconut, mezcal and tequila, “burnt” milk and guava, papaya and mamey. If you’re in Baja in summer, make this a daily habit.
One final piece of advice: Skip the main courses and fill up on small plates. Consistently, throughout Baja, I have been happier with a selection of small plates than with the larger mains. Not sure why this is, but they seem more compact, with tighter flavors and presentations. They’re also easier to share.
Got questions? Happy to answer in the comments.
Reflections on a Fish Taco
Thank you for the article, although I probably won’t go to baha. My experience has only been in Progresso have eaten at all the restaurants there. Covid hit them hard and we lost so many good places to eat and drink. Keep up the good work 😎
Very entertaining article, as usual. I've never been to Baha, but have visited other places in Mexico. So I was a little surprised by the nieves - you had no ill effects?