El Sinaloense Fish Taco

Northern Baja is the birthplace of the fried fish taco as we know it, but that doesn’t mean Baja California Sur is unfamiliar with the concept. In Ensenada, they double-fry angelito (angel shark) or cazon (dogfish) in manteca (lard), which of course yields great results. In Todos Santos, they use different fish, and different cooking methods. I’ve repeatedly enjoyed jurel (yellowtail) and cabrilla (spotted grouper) battered and fried (once) in vegetable oil. El Paraguito makes a very good version with crispy batons of cabrilla, but I actually preferred the fish taco at El Sinaloense, a Sinaloan style seafood stand on the road into town.

For seven years, José Ibarra Grimaldi and Mary Navarro have presided over an open-air establishment with a palapa-like roof, plastic furniture, well-manicured dirt floor, Mexican flags, and photos and paintings of Mazatlan. Their twisted logo consists of a lobster in a toque serving a plate of shrimp and fish with fork and knife at the ready. Their yellowtail tacos are prepared either a la plancha (griddled on a flat-top) or capeados (coated in batter). My Taco de Pescado Capeados (20 pesos ~ $1.25) featured a juicy yellowtail fillet with a thin, crispy coat served on a corn tortilla I dressed with shredded cabbage, crema and mild salsa. I gladly would have eaten a school of yellowtail tacos, but that would have cut into R&R time.

Address: Calle del Huerto, Todos Santos, BCS, Mexico