Fish Tacos

I recently got an urge for some real fish tacos and I used some fresh Mahi Mahi,some shredded cabbage and ranch dressing with a little bit of salsa mixed in.Can you say hell yeah!

I've been sucessful too with tilapia-----seems to have an affinity for the fish taco fixin's. Fish tacos are great!

With the tilapia, I usually just hit it with a little cayenne and then pan-fry it for a few minutes. I'm with jellybear on the shortcuts----ranch dressing with a little Tapatio Hot Sauce (ok, so I put in more than a little.....) mixed in does great. Shredded cabbage a little chopped onion and a beer and I'm a happy camper!

The way I figured out to do it, after eating them in San Felipe, Baja California, where they supposedly were invented...is to take something like pacific red snapper, aka Rock cod, dip it in a beer batter, fry it and then into a warm corn tortilla it goes along with very finely shredded cabbage and mayo thinned with lime juice, a dash of your favorite hot sauce, and a squeeze of lime. In Mexico they use Valentina hot sauce...can be found in Mexican groc. stores, In California you can find fish tacos at a quite decent chain called Rubios. There are several others around...In the San Diego area is a chain called Fins, in Sacramento you'll find Pescados.

Dearfolk,
We used to have a Mexican eatery here that specialized in seafood, but it closed down. They served some righteous fish tacos while they were open.
Now up the street from where they were located is an El Salvadorean restaurant. I've gotta try it and get back to y'all on that one.
My favorite taco is probably tongue, when I find a place that has such a thing. "Reckon that cow won't do no more mooin'," as Grandma Carlton would intone.
Giving Y'all The Low Down, Ort. Carlton in Athens, Georgia.

I'd never had fish tacos until my girlfriend (now my wife) and I went to Cabo San Lucas a few years ago. First place we went to (a place in the marina called Captain Tony's) did a batter dipped thing which was very good. But they were nothing compared to the ones I had at a place called Taquiera el Venido (or something like that) a few days later.

It was a total hole in the wall, but one of the best meals I've ever had. We had a great taco sampler which included pork, carne asada and fish tacos. Truly incredible.

At home we like to use tilapia, seasoned with cajun spices and served up with chopped tomatoes and shredded cabbage. We usually pan fry it or do it in a grill pan and then break it up as it finishes.

Another fish taco we do is to grill tuna steaks seasoned with cumin and then slice them into strips. We serve them in tortillas with a sauce made from sour cream, horseradish, chopped red onion and lemon juice. Then you top it with spinach leaves and mandarin orange segments. Good stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by hungovergourmet

I'd never had fish tacos until my girlfriend (now my wife) and I went to Cabo San Lucas a few years ago.

The REAL question, hungovergourmet, is did you run into Sammy Hagar while in Cabo?



Inquiring minds want to know.

Two places here in Atlanta are my favorites for fish tacos - the spare, toney, but cheap Taqueria Del Sol (NW Atlanta and Decatur), and the more comfy, down-home, equally cheap Taqueria Los Hermanos in Tucker. Both places have a changing list of tacos, the fish are a constant. And they both have some nice rich shrimp-corn chowder (slightly sweeter at the latter).

There are a number of Mexican seafood joints in town (maresquerias?) but I know nothing of them - they don't even seem to be open when I go by. Anyone have a line on a recommendable one around here?

The two times that I have had fish tacos, I have been disapointed. The problem is that, unless the fish has strong flavor, it gets lost among the tastes of the other common ingredients in a taco. Last night, for example, I had tacos made with rockfish (striped bass) at the Austin Grill, a decent Tex-Mex restaurant in downtown Washington, D.C. Now, I like rockfish, but for all the flavor it contributed to the tacos, it might just as well have not been there at all. Give me a simply-prepared fillet, with some lemon slices, over a fish taco any day.

quote:

Originally posted by Ballpark Roadtripper

I'm going to be in California in 3 weeks for my annual baseball roadtrip (LA Dodgers- Lancaster Jethawks- Lake Elsinore Storm- San Diego Padres). The only place I've ever had a fish taco in my life is the Grand Central Market in LA.

Where are the best non-chains in LA for fish tacos?
Where are the best non-chains in SD for fish tacos?

Don't automatically rule-out California's Rubio's
chain for delicious fish tacos.


http://www.rubios.com/

quote:

Originally posted by i95

Originally posted by hungovergourmet

I'd never had fish tacos until my girlfriend (now my wife) and I went to Cabo San Lucas a few years ago.

The REAL question, hungovergourmet, is did you run into Sammy Hagar while in Cabo?

Unfortunately I did not. Would've enjoyed tossing back a few with Mr. Van Hagar. It's a small miracle I even got into the country, but that's another story for another time, another place. (Or you can read it over at hungovergourmet.com. Just select 'Tales of Cabo San Lucas' on the home page.)

Some people like them grilled but I prefer fried,maybe because I am from the South .But they have to be beer battered,its just better!

Here is a recipe that I use and the tacos are delicious. These are supposed to be authenic but do not know for sure. All I know is that we love them.

This is the recipe:
Fish Tacos

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup beer

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 lime, juiced
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 teaspoon minced capers
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

oil for frying
1 pound cod fillets, cut into
2 to 3 ounce portions (you can use any mild white fish)
1 (12 ounce) package corn tortillas
1/2 medium head cabbage,
finely shredded

Directions
1 To make beer batter: In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Blend egg and beer, then quickly stir into the flour mixture (don't worry about a few lumps).
2 To make white sauce: In a medium bowl, mix together
yogurt and mayonnaise. Gradually stir in fresh lime juice
until consistency is slightly runny. Season with jalapeno,
capers, oregano, cumin, dill, and cayenne.
3 Heat oil in deep-fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4 Dust fish pieces lightly with flour. Dip into beer
batter, and fry until crisp and golden brown. Drain on paper
towels. Lightly fry tortillas; not too crisp. To serve, place
fried fish in a tortilla, and top with shredded cabbage, and
white sauce.


We always put pica de gallo on top of the white sauce.

quote:

Originally posted by Vince Macek

Two places here in Atlanta are my favorites for fish tacos - the spare, toney, but cheap Taqueria Del Sol (NW Atlanta and Decatur), and the more comfy, down-home, equally cheap Taqueria Los Hermanos in Tucker. Both places have a changing list of tacos, the fish are a constant. And they both have some nice rich shrimp-corn chowder (slightly sweeter at the latter).

There are a number of Mexican seafood joints in town (maresquerias?) but I know nothing of them - they don't even seem to be open when I go by. Anyone have a line on a recommendable one around here?

Vince,
Pal, where are these at? I've gotta become more mobile! Fill me in addresswise and I'll report back.
The best taqueria I know of in N/W Atlanta is on Chattahoochee Avenue, just in toward town from Marietta Blvd. - not far from the Bolton Road/De Foors Ferry intersection and the filter plant... about 3 good blocks from the Dogwood Brewery. There's absolutely got to be the underground one of the century someplace down a side street in Clayton County or in Southside Atlanta - like on Stewart Avenue.
Have you been out to Lawrenceville to the Oaxacan Mexican place on South Clayton Street downtown? The AJC wrote it up glowingly. It's run by a family and not a corporation. It ought to be mentioned in this Thursday's paper, in the entertainment section.
Thanks for letting us/me know. Let me get started making the Athens/Atlanta trek again on a weekly basis, and I'll holler at you for lunch sometime. I'm sure I can take you to someplace you've never been, and doubtless you can do likewise.
Chompingly (At The Bit), Ort. Carlton in Athens.

I recently ate at Nuevo Laredo on Chattahoochee Avenue with a group from AtlantaCuisne. I had never had fish tacos and wanted to try them. Several said they were very good at Nuevo Laredo, so that is what I ordered. These were made with salmon, and I enjoyed them immensely. Two in our party ordered the lobster tacos for the first time, and they received excellent reports also.

Rubio's was great at one time... now they are OK with an emphasis on OK. That's what happens when the company sells their soul to WALL STREET. Yes Rubio's is a public company and needs to meet quarterly projections more than smiles on their customers faces. The food has become bland and many time darn dissapointing. Please do not eat at the Rubios at Linbergh Field (our airport) it is the worst and does no justice to what is left of the Rubio's charm.

Fin's, which was also good is gone, bought out by ground beef taco and burrito chain on steroids, Taco Del Mar.

Wahoo's is good, but I really recommend trying the fish taco's at the Brigantine restaurants here in San Diego. There are several of these locally based seafood restaurants. They are a full service restaunrant with a very good menu with higher priced entree's and Kobe Beef burgers. They also have full service bars and and that means also the bar and a cocktail lounge. On any day, since they perfected what Rubio';s sold his soul for, the fish taco is the best and it seems like that is what everybody orders for lucnh and half the dinners served. You can get the basic breaded taco or step up to grilled swordfish.

My office is about a block from a Rubio's and though I used to like the food in their original locations, I don't think they're anything special anymore. In fact I onoly go there about one a year whereas Brigantnce is about once a month.

The first fish taco I ever had was at El Indio and it was pretty good. Rubio"s may have gone downhill but its fish tacos are better than any alternative in Portland that I have tried,

The esteemed Mr. Chips and I, along with sons in tow, had lunch at Las Morenas in
Medford, Ore. yesterday. They were not Baja style but rather consisted of a very tasty and nicely breaded filet of some kind of whitefish, with their spicy salsa roja over same. Different, but wonderful. No cabbage.

There may still be a Fins in La Jolla

I'll be in Kauai next month and have been told about the Fish Tacos in Hanalei. Truthfully, I had never heard about Fish Tacos before planning this trip to Hawaii. I live in Minnesota where we dine on a LOT of fish, but we're not big on tacos either. So it was nice that some of the posters explained the FISH TACO. I am anxious to give them a try, some of the travel boards that aren't dedicated to food absolutely rave about them.

Now...can I confess that I've never had an oyster either?

I like this one near me.

http://www.zonafresca.com/menuprint.php

THanks for the recipe chezkatie! I have put it on my list of new things to cook. I have a bunch of catfish in my frezer though and I think I will try that. Oh, and maybe I'll use shiner boch beer. These will be Texas fish tacos.

All of the other ideas for fish tacos sound good to!
Joe