Fish Tacos

[gerald]

I noticed keith talents comments about fish tacos in the opening and closings topic, i must say great rules for fish tacos, where are the best fish tacos you have ever had. Personally a cantina in cabo that only restaurant people would eat in.

[jamiemaw]

I noticed keith talents comments about fish tacos in the opening and closings topic,  i must say great rules for fish tacos, where are the best fish tacos you have ever had.  Personally a cantina in cabo that only restaurant people would eat in.

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Hi Gerald,

The best I've had recently were at Christmas time in the market in Zihuatanejo: mystery white fish (shark? dorado? who cares) and a terrific sauce as convincing as us five minutes after last call. Shrimp tacos at Palmilla in Los Cabos were excellent too, if a bit civilized. You're right, the downtown cantinas are more autentico with the whiffs of diesel fuel and danger mixed in. There are useful ones at SoBo too--in Tofino.

But what do all these places have in common? Well, they're not exactly at the end of the block, are thay? And maybe I've missed something, but they never seemed to make the menu at Go Fish despite having been touted. Maybe this summer?

There's a new cantina opening shortly at First and Yew (next door plus one to Adesso) called Burrito Bros. that--according to the carpenter that I pestered the other night--will be serving fish tacos. Here's hoping.

But I hope that you're doing market research. As Kolachy proprietors, soup Nazis, cheesesteak guys, and you and Noah have discovered: Do one thing (with options)really well all day and night and after a while you can make more than a living.

The only problem I can foresee is that you'd have to change your name to Geraldo.

Edited May 12, 2005 by jamiemaw (log)

[inanimate]

call me unsophisticated and simple, but i actually like taco del mar's fish tacos and burritos.

the salmon and halibut fish tacos I had at cactus club on the other hand (it was a free lunch) were really nothing I need to experience again.

[Vancouver]

Perhaps someone should suggest fish tacos to the owner at Go Fish? Seems like the perfect location and product line extension, no?

Cheers!

[*Deborah*]

Yeah, I'd take a Taco del Mar fish taco over the other available fast food any day of the week. I haven't had any others, but I liked it. Of course my childhood love was the Filet-O-Fish, and it may just be a throwback for me...

[jamiemaw]

Perhaps someone should suggest fish tacos to the owner at Go Fish?  Seems like the perfect location and product line extension, no?

Cheers!

←

Thay were being touted last year when the restaurant opened, Vancouver, but never (as far as I know) actually showed up. Maybe if each of us--politely of course--asks . . .

[Vancouver]

Or if we start a petition!

Or better yet, what if each of us writes about it in Vancouver Magazine. Oh wait....

[shelora]

Yes, I mentioned fish tacos many times at Go Fish, but no one knew anything about it. So simple to pull off. I'll sign that petition.

I also tried the ones at Cactus Club - iodine flavour to the fish, too much fruit salsa - not a fan of fruit salsas.

I make great fish tacos.

s

[Brenda]

The Fish tacos at Penny's Palapa (on a barge right on the water off downtown Nanaimo) are pretty good. A little chipotle in the sauce and salad on the side. They should be open by now (usually May to October as it's al fresco dining.

Think I'll head down and try it out soon.

[merlin]

Funny Brenda, I was thinking the same thing last evening while sipping some wine and reading the May/June issue of EAT which made its way across the Rockies to me earlier in the week.

Part of the article on Nanaimo mentioned Penny's Palapa which I remember seeing when we were in the area last fall. We could see it from the balcony of our room in the Coast Bastion.

We may stay there again en route to Tofino after Thanksgiving and will check to see if Penny's is still open.

[Sam Salmon]

Tacos del Mar is vile-VILE!!!!

[Brenda]

Funny Brenda, I was thinking the same thing last evening while sipping some wine and reading the May/June issue of EAT which made its way across the Rockies to me earlier in the week.

Part of the article on Nanaimo mentioned Penny's Palapa which I remember seeing when we were in the area last fall.  We could see it from the balcony of our room in the Coast Bastion.

We may stay there again en route to Tofino after Thanksgiving and will check to see if Penny's is still open.

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Yes, do - on a sunny day, it's a great place for lunch - the staff are a little disorganized but pleasant

[gerald]

I have to confess, the fish tacos at taco del mar are okay up to the fish part, i am not a fan of breaded fish sticks (although give my kids some fishsticks and they will be your friends forever). Jamie Maw made the best statement about the white fish of undiscernable type, to me that is the best type of fish taco. More importantly cut into chunks pan seared. I'm sure go fish would do it right if they did it.

As far as cactus club goes, come on, fruit salsa, they have decent food but really. I was serving fish with fruit salsa in 95 at fortes.

fish tacos simple,

white fish pan seared, a little crispy outside, shredded cabbage, white sauce, and a smoky salsa. yum yum yum, gotta get me some.

[gerald]

When eating those one must have a tecate nearby. (I would have suggested corona but that is too taco del marish)

[janevm]

SOBA in Tofino - the catering truck that gained so much fame last year in many magazines including EnRoute. they make a mean fish taco, and the truck is now parked in the Tofino Botanical Gardens I believe.

[Viola da gamba]

Best fish tacos - a little roadside place beside the golf course (and stealing water & electricity from the hookup for the lawnmowers!!) just south of Kihei in Maui. Amazing. Worst fish tacos - my mum's attempt to recreate that taste 3 months later in Nanaimo. Blech.

Another vote for Penny's in Nanaimo as a pretty good second to Maui ...

[jamiemaw]

Perhaps someone should suggest fish tacos to the owner at Go Fish?  Seems like the perfect location and product line extension, no?

←

They were being touted last year when the restaurant opened, Vancouver, but never (as far as I know) actually showed up. Maybe if each of us--politely of course--asks . . .

←

Prayers, petitions, plaintive positings answered--I had a couple of swell fish (salmon) tacos at Go Fish! yesterday. Delicious. Now, if they'd execute them with deep-fried halibut bits and some chipotle . . .

[Vancouver]

This sounds like a positive development. Shall we donate a bottle of good chipotle sauce for the condiment rack at least?

Cheers!

[cnspriggs]

Hang on. I was just at Go Fish yesterday (July 16) and I swear there were fish taco available. I didn't order them so can't report but I think they were on the specials board. Can anyone confirm?

[jamiemaw]

Hang on. I was just at Go Fish yesterday (July 16) and I swear there were fish taco available. I didn't order them so can't report but I think they were on the specials board. Can anyone confirm?

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See posts just upthread.

[jamiemaw]

For those of you interested, I'm in relentless pursuit of fish taco greatness tomorrow in The Globe 7 section.

Your obedient servant,

Jamie

[shelora]

For those of you interested, I'm in relentless pursuit of fish taco greatness tomorrow in The Globe 7 section.

Your obedient servant,

Jamie

I have a table available in August. Fish tacos, baja-style. Corn tortillas with three different salsas, fresh crema, shredded cabbage and radishes.

s

[gerald]

Just polished off a couple of fish tacos at banana cafe, the flavour is good the salsa is great but they can't seem to get that crispy finish on the fish, i think they use electric or they bake them. Also, they do not use shredded cabbage, which i love because of the crunch quotient.

[Daddy-A]

For those of you interested, I'm in relentless pursuit of fish taco greatness tomorrow in The Globe 7 section.

Your obedient servant,

Jamie

I have a table available in August. Fish tacos, baja-style. Corn tortillas with three different salsas, fresh crema, shredded cabbage and radishes.

s

What's your October looking like. I'm not likely to be over on the Rock until then.

On another note ... are the tacos still on at Go Fish? I have an opening for lunch tomorrow ... 1:30ish. PM if interested.

A.

[jamiemaw]

Director's Cut: the unexpurgated version of today's Globe piece in the 7 section:

In Search Of The Elusive Taco Pescado

Jamie Maw hunts down the perfect summer food

For every Vancouver chef who has become a media darling (mea gulpa)—David Hawksworth, Rob Feenie, Rob Clark, Pino Posteraro, Vikram Vij, John Bishop and the rest of the first division—there are a thousand other cooks who toil for thee. For the most part in utter anonymity. Although our city is often judged by the work of these few icons, our real worth as a gastronomic destination lies in our diversity, in the wealthy mosaic of our banh mi, garlic squid, kolachy, pho, curries (in all their many wondrous incarnations), piroshki, laksa and ramen.

So why, I ask you, is it damn near impossible to find a fish taco—that simple but supremely satisfying Mexican street food—in a city this size? They’re certainly profitable items of culinary merchandise: a soft tortilla grasping a little braised or fried white fish, cabbage and crema—that delightful Mexican soured cream licked with poblano and other mysteries. Philistines add salsa and cilantro. The cost of a taco surely lies not in its ingredients but in its labour of love, as my fruitless chase around the city would soon prove.

Fruitless not because I was finally unsuccessful, but fruitless because a muy autentico taco is savoury, not sweet, and should not catapult mango, strawberry, or kiwi into the construct. The Cactus Club restaurants deliver a fruitified version that actually tastes rather refreshing, and suggests a glass of pinot gris. But that was not the nature of my exercise. Besides, a real taco suggests an icy Pacifico, its label the brilliant cadmium of a Mexican sunrise that in turn suggests it’s time for bed.

No, I judge all fish tacos by the taqueria at the end of our dusty street near Manzanillo. Rickety tables are set up early each morning, serving pulled pork tacos and later, when the fishermen have weighed in, the fish version. The tortillas are pressed by one woman, griddled by a second, stuffed and rolled by another. In short order the village is fed. With a pint of grapefruit juice it’s one American dollar; the tacos redolent of sea, spice, and the simple life.

But in Vancouver, a fish taco worthy of its name is harder to find than Siberian peach pie in February.

My first stop was a throwaway, a drive-by looting at Taco del Mar, a 150-unit American chain that promises to “Release Your Inner Baja.” Alright, I was raring to get my Bajas out. A pleasant young counterman took my order for the “FISH TACO—Our Specialty! Alaskan Cod! Plus Shredded Cabbage, Spicy White Sauce, Cheese & our own Salsa.” Seven minutes later my tacos arrived. Understuffed, they stretched semantics without stretching their foil wrappers, for the cod, rather than being exclamatory, was a flaccid, breaded fingerling that recalled Capt. Highliner. The cheese was anathema and the crema had the personality of Steven Harper, which is to say not very much personality at all. Depressed, I got my Bajas the hell out of there.

“The Best Mexican Food In Town” exclaims the banner over the door at Tacos Mexico Rico, at once managing to be correct while also damning itself with faint praise. A breeze of braised pork issues from the doorway, warming the endearingly sketchy 400-block of West Hastings. Addressing the owner and head chef, Ana Salazar, I ordered from the menu board over the open kitchen, a hazard of pans and roiling pots.

“Dos tacos pescado, por favor,” I asked, in Spanish so alarming it reminds my Mexican friends of a gallstone attack.

“We have no fish tacos, señor,” she said, with that ineffably gracious simpatico that suggested that while she shared my pain, she was going to have to cure it with something else.

She did. With knockout tacos al pastor, little tortillas heaped with tender pork deliciously braised with pasilla and guajillo peppers, garlic, cumin, vinegar and cloves. And then she upped the ante, with shredded pork carnitas as tender as the night. Delicious, but mission unaccomplished.

Newly arrived in my neighbourhood, Burritto Bros. Taco Co. promised “Baja Fish” tacos—fresh, crispy cod (I had no idea there were cod in the Baja) with salsa crema. It also promised an al fresco patio and keen pricing, just $6.99 for the “Taco Trio”. Pacifico at the ready, I dove in head first, lighting the first bundle with a fuse of sauce picante. But there was to be no explosion of flavour here; the tacos were good, but the ocean got lost in the breading. The crema carried only the solitary note of supermarket sour cream.

Food writing, like more conventional forms of oral sex, is not always as easy or as pleasurable as it looks. Especially when the writer is having a lamentable research week. But I was off for one last stab at taco greatness, having almost kissed it adios.

Since opening his Go Fish café beside Fisherman’s Wharf nine months ago, chef Gord Martin has promised fish tacos to augment the superb halibut and chips and oyster po’ boys that highlight his menu. They did not appear. I and others muttered threats.

But, last weekend, there they were, carefully chalked up on the specials board, but soon to be a regular item: “Salmon Tacos, $5, two for $9”. The substitution of salmon was upsetting, but I bit anyway. The tortilla wrapper, grilled with a coat of chilli oil, gave way to a crunch of well-made cole slaw of jicama and celery root, then the grilled salmon, sesame oil and toasted pumpkin seeds. Smoky chipotle mayonnaise and house-made snakebite salsa moistened, heated and invented complexity. These were delicious tacos, and if not authentic to my memories of Manzanillo, at least erased any thoughts of Steven Harper completely and forever.

Taco del Mar

680 West Broadway

(604) 675-9447

and locations citywide

Tacos Mexico Rico

102-440 West Hastings Street

604-688-7426

Burrito Bros. Taco Co.

2209 West 1st Avenue

604-736-8222

Go Fish

1505 West 1st Avenue

604-730-5040

Edited July 22, 2005 by jamiemaw (log)