Fish Tacos
The concept of the fish taco has yet to catch on in
New England, even now in the days of the unraveling regionalization of American
cuisine. A few forward-thinking restaurants and some national chains offer
watered-down renditions around here, but the idea of fish-in-a-taco to most
people this side of the Rockies is, well, disgusting. I too was once a skeptic.
Only the admirable persistence and irresistible enthusiasm of my brother was
enough to bring me to my first wary bite. Now I am a convert, but I am also
three thousand miles from the nearest fish taco joint.
Let me say right off the bat that fish
tacos are just about the antithesis of the Old El Paso style ground beef and
cheese product we all know and love. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy
beef tacos as much as the next person, but more for the challenge of eating them
than anything else, what with those uselessly brittle shells that let fall
chunks of salsa, beans, and the aforementioned spicy concoction before you can
shove them in your mouth. It’s just that fish tacos are something
completely different. They are fresh and light - lively even - spritzed with
lime and clean with crisp shredded cabbage. They evoke life in sunny San Diego,
which is appropriate, since they are considered the city’s signature dish.
Born on the Baja Peninsula, where the
freshest seafood is cheap and bountiful, fish tacos were discovered and
popularized by the surfing community. In the early 80’s, one enamored
surfer in particular was shown the ropes by his beach-side taco slinger and went
on to open a fish taco shop of his own - called Rubio's in Mission Bay. It was
an instant success. Today there are nearly 150 Rubio’s in Southern
California specializing in Baja-style fast food fish tacos. I ate my first fish
taco at a Rubio’s. It was good, but the truly superlative fish taco
experience is at the beach, and involves getting messy on a picnic table with
the salt spray of the sea in your
face.
Until you’re next in San
Diego, you can approximate the experience at home with some good fresh
ingredients and a cold beer. This is what we did for dinner last night, one of
the first Summery evenings of the year. I fried up beer-battered strips of
buttery cod (a more authentic choice of fish would have been snapper or shark,
but we are in Providence after all). These went still sizzling into a soft corn
tortilla, with a squirt of hot sauce, a handful of shredded red cabbage, chopped
tomatoes, and a dollop of crema mexicana (OK - sour cream, mayo and ketchup, but
close enough). The whole pile was doused generously with lime juice before
being hastily and sloppily munched.
In
one bite there is an immediate burst of steaming hot fish, soothed by creamy
sauce, cooled with the crunch of cabbage, and perked up by the tang of lime.
The taco oozes fish and sauce and cabbage onto the plate, where it is collected
and gobbled down with fingers between sips of beer. I heard summer
calling.
Posted: Fri - April 23, 2004 at 04:01 PM