If you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you'll know that I have a deep affinity for fish tacos, something that my brother and sister-in-law turned me on to about 20 years ago after they had moved back to the Midwest from San Diego. San Diego has been the epicenter for fish tacos in the U.S. and while we were there earlier this summer we decided we had to have some good fish tacos. Some in-depth research pointed us toward the Pacific Beach Fish Shop.
Fish tacos originated in the 1950's in the Baja California port cities of Ensenada and San Felipe, Mexico. Both cities lay claim to coming up with the first fish tacos, but neither can prove which had the first fish taco shop in their towns. In 1974, a young San Diego State freshman by the name of Ralph Rubio went down to San Felipe for spring break and fell in love with the fish taco stands they found near the beach. It became an annual ritual for Rubio and his friends to head down to San Felipe and eat nothing but fish tacos.
Just before graduation, Rubio was sitting at one of his favorite fish taco stands and he came up with a great idea - bring fish tacos to San Diego! There was nothing like it back home and he went to his dad with his idea. His father convinced him that he had no idea how to run a restaurant, but he came up with deal for his son - learn the restaurant business for a few years and Rubio's father would help him with his new business venture.
After working in restaurant management for four years, Rubio felt that he was ready for his fish taco venture. He and his father found an old Orange Julius location in the Mission Beach area of San Diego, cleaned it up and repainted the outside. In 1983, the first Rubio's fast-casual restaurant opened selling fish tacos. Still going strong today as a regional chain, Rubio's has served 200 million fish tacos since they first opened. Rubio's opened the door to the concept of fish taco cuisine along the west coast.
So you can imagine that there are a lot of places to get a fish taco in the San Diego area. In 2010, three partners - Billy Ramirez, Doug Sondomowicz and Eric Leitstein - came together to open the Pacific Beach Fish Shop in San Diego's Pacific Beach neighborhood. All three were involved in other restaurants - Ramirez and Sondomowicz also owned The Duck Dive and Pacific Beach Shore Club in Pacific Beach, and Leitstein also owned the Pacific Beach AleHouse (currently closed as they rebuild from a February fire) and the Union Kitchen and Tap with locations in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter and up in Encinitas. (We had drinks at the Union Kitchen in San Diego.) Ramirez is the operating managing partner for the Pacific Beach Fish Shop. There is also a Fish Shop in Hermosa Beach, CA, and in 2014 the group opened a Fish Shop location in Encinitas.
It was around 2 p.m. when we pulled into the Pacific Beach Fish Shop along Garnet Ave. (see map) It was tough to miss the small building with a 17 foot blue marlin hanging out front. We went inside the small building to order. Even though it was after the noon time rush, there was still a line of people at the counter ordering fish tacos.
The Pacific Beach Fish Shop is truly a fish shop - they have fresh fish in the glass-enclosed counter that people can buy to take home. You don't get seafood this fresh in Iowa, that's for sure.
The menu for the restaurant is on a board behind the counter. There's a three-step process in ordering fish tacos at the Pacific Beach Fish Shop - first of all, you order the type of fish you want. They feature rare-seared ahi tuna, albacore tuna, mahi mahi, locally caught halibut, red snapper, swordfish, yellow tail - about any type of fresh seafood you can think of including lobster, diver scallops and shrimp.
Secondly, you order the marinade that you want on your fish. Now, marinade is sort of a misnomer because it's more like a seasoning that they put on the fish. They have blackening seasoning, a teriyaki sauce, a garlic butter or lemon butter marinade, a chipotle glaze, regular ol' salt and pepper, and something called Fish House seasoning that looked like it may have been a little more spicy than the blackened seasoning with chili powder mixed in. Or if you don't want any of that stuff, you can get your fish plain.
The third part of the order is whether you want your fish fried with a light batter or grilled. We always prefer grilled over battered/breaded fish. We've had some fish tacos where the fish tasted like they were frozen fish sticks shredded into the taco. But we had some fish tacos during our trip to Southern California that were lightly breaded and very tasty.
Because of all the decisions you have to make, it can take a long time for a Fish Shop newby to figure out what they want to eat. A number of people were sort of standing outside the line looking at the menu trying to figure out what they were going to get. Cindy and I were along with that group. A young guy with an English accent came up to us and asked if we were in line to order. Cindy said, "Oh, gosh, no. Not yet. There's too much to figure out!"
The young guy said, "This is my favorite place to eat in San Diego. I come here all the time."
Cindy asked him, "So, what do you like to order when you come here."
The British guy sort of smiled and said, "Listen to me. I'm from England. I get the fish and chips every time." We both kind of laughed as we let him past us to go order up his food.
The Pacific Beach Fish Shop also has an impressive selection of locally brewed bottled beers and beers on tap. One of our favorites is the Ballast Point Sculpin IPA and they had that on tap.
After ordering, we had our choice of places to sit. The inside was nearly empty and it featured a number of nondescript tables with padded bench seats. It was small and somewhat cozy. But it was a nice day outside and we wanted to eat on the patio.
We ended up sitting outside under the canopy at a long communal table. In the shade, it was a tad coolish. In the sun, it was really broiling. So, we were sort of in the shade and in the sun depending upon whether we were getting too warm or too cool.
The Fish Shop's signature taco is the locally award winning TKO - a grilled mahi mahi taco seasoned with the Fish Shop's seasoning and topped with a tropical salsa. We both got one of those to try. And I got a seared ahi tuna tuna taco with blackened seasoning on it. Cindy's second taco was a locally caught halibut with the lemon butter marinade. A lime wedge came with each taco and we both got fresh avocado slices to go along with tacos we'd ordered.
For good measure, we also got a half-dozen oysters on the half-shell. They were a tad fishy and a little gritty - too fishy and gritty for Cindy's liking. She had a couple before she decided she didn't want anymore.
But the fish tacos were far from being fishy-tasting. They were simply wonderful. The TKO taco had a big bold spicy flavor on the fish with a cooling taste of the tropical salsa with chunks of mango on the backside taste to keep the flavor even. Fresh cilantro and a smattering of shredded cheese and a healthy dose of shredded cabbage rounded out the offerings on the corn tortilla shell. It was fabulous.
The seared ahi tuna taco with the blackened seasoning was also excellent. The fresh taste of the fish came out tremendously with the somewhat spicy blackened seasoning - not as spicy as the Fish House seasoning, I thought. The pico de gallo, shredded cheese and cabbage and the fresh chunk of avocado were all complementary in taste with the seared ahi tuna. I was sitting there thinking, "Good god, I can make these at home!" But I'll guarantee you the ahi tuna wouldn't be as fresh.
Cindy thoroughly enjoyed her halibut taco with the lemon butter marinade. She suggested doing a lemon butter sauce the next time we made homemade fish tacos.
Between the vast selections of fresh fish, the different marinades/seasonings that they offer and the fact that you can get the fish fried or grilled - depending upon your tastes - helped make the experience we had at Pacific Beach Fish Shop one of the more memorable meals during our Southern California visit. We even contemplated going back for a quick lunch on the day we left San Diego to go back home, but decided against it considering how popular the Pacific Beach Fish House is and we didn't want to miss our flight. I'm sure the locals all have their favorite fish tacos, but we were certain we couldn't find many better than the ones they have at the Pacific Beach Fish House.
Comments