Restaurant Review
19 Sep 2009

Tacos El Fenix – Ensenada

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12 p.m. It took a village to pull me away from La Guerrerense, but I grudgingly boarded the bus knowing that our next stop was for fish tacos.  Along with carne asada burritos, these more or less fueled my high school years in San Diego, so I was curious to compare and contrast the version I grew up with to the ones made in Ensenada.

I love how the boy in this photo is clearly indifferent to fish tacos, while his parents are eagerly awaiting their orders. Living in this delicious city, I’m certain that the little one will be a card-carrying foodie in no time.

The fish tacos at El Fenix are made of shark, which is a really big fish if you think about it. Each tender fillet is dredged in a tempura-like batter with mustard and spices and then fried in lard. The fillets are fried twice using a stainless steel comal. The first fry is to cook the fish, while the second one is to crisp up the batter seconds before serving.

The freshly fried fish was gently laid atop a warm corn tortilla. A plethora of garnishes including cabbage, crema, pico de gallo, and various salsas were available tableside to personalize our tacos to taste. What sets El Fenix’s fish taco apart from the Rubio’s of the world is the vibrantly crunchy batter. I was very impressed by the level of crispness achieved and the absence of extreme greasiness. Score one for lard.

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Tacos El Fenix
Corner of Espinosa and Juarez (Calle 5)
Zona Centro, Ensenada

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BAJA BITES: 2 Days, 3 Cities, 18 Meals
Introduction > 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10 > 11 > 12 > 13 > 14 > 15 > 16 > 17 > 18

Street Food
17 Sep 2009

La Guerrerense – Ensenada

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11 a.m. After a breakfast of pit roasted goat in Tijuana, the Baja culinary blitz crew was whisked seventy miles south to the coastal town of Ensenada. Following a quick visit with the tourism board, we were taken to the corner of First and Alvarado, the site of Sabina Bandera Gonzalez’s tostada stand.

La Guerrerense has been serving up the freshest seafood tostadas imaginable to local Mexicans and visiting beach bums for the past thirty-three years. Of the eighteen dining destinations I visited during my forty-eight hours in Baja, this bare bones seafood stall topped them all.

Growing up on public school lunches, I had the most dreadful introduction to tostadas. Thankfully, Ms. Sabina’s creations had nothing in common with the mushy pinto beans and wilted iceberg lettuce of yesteryear. My first tostada consisted of sea urchin on one side and sea cucumber on the other. The fruits of the sea were freshly caught and incredibly vibrant in color.

One bite of the tostada and I was completely enraptured in its deliciousness. The intensely briny flavors of the sea had me swooning and sighing. I’ll forever remember La Guerrerense as the place where I finally understood the complexity and goodness of sea urchin.

Even though the tostadas were flawless on their own, a selection of unique homemade salsas was available to dress them up. My favorite contained whole peanuts and dried chilies in a spicy oil.

I was tempted to order another sea urchin for my second tostada, but braved up and branched out to cod (bacalao) and sea snail. Both were fantastic, but with thoughts of sea urchin still dancing in my head, I couldn’t quite give this tostada my full attention.

Instead of a third tostada, I opted for a Pismo clam prepared two different ways. On one side was a clam cocktail, and on the other was a ceviche with ketchup and avocado slices. Freshly caught seafood served without fuss is one of the finest pleasures ever. A drink of cebada (barley, milk, cinnamon, and sugar) was on hand to keep us hydrated and to offer a sweet counterpoint.

La Guerrerense is open every day except Tuesday from 10 AM to 4 PM.

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La Guerrerense
Corner of 1st and Alvarado
Zona Centro, Ensenada
Phone: 646-174-2114

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BAJA BITES: 2 Days, 3 Cities, 18 Meals
Introduction > 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10 > 11 > 12 > 13 > 14 > 15 > 16 > 17 > 18

Restaurant Review
16 Sep 2009

Summer Rolls – Rosemead

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After sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for a solid half hour, it was clear that my dreams of kicking it with carnies and eating deep-fried White Castle burgers at the L.A. County Fair had to be reassessed. Of course I was looking forward to the smelly petting zoos and dizzying Tilt-a-Whirls, but wasting a beautiful summer afternoon idling on the freeway wasn’t in the cards, so I did what I had to do. “There will always be next year,” consoled The Astronomer.

With Plan A kicked to the curb, we moved on to Plan B—cruising for grub in the San Gabriel Valley. Twice in the past week, I’ve received recommendations for a Central Vietnamese restaurant in Rosemead named Nem Nướng Ninh Hòa. “It’s one of the best,” said Hong, one half of the Ravenous Couple. “It’s in my top three and I’ve been going here for years,” said Wesley, one half of the Two Hungry Pandas. After confirming the address with yet another Panda, we made our way to Nem Nướng Ninh Hòa in time for lunch.

The restaurant was operating at full capacity when we arrived. After placing our names on the waiting list and moseying around for fifteen minutes, we were seated at a table for four.

In between placing our orders and the food arriving, I felt a tap on my shoulder. “Are you The Gastronomer?” asked a friendly looking gentleman. “And you’re The Astronomer!” he said while pointing at Vernon. I can’t remember whether or not we actually confirmed our pseudonyms, but we did invite him and his friend to join us. Surely, it was the least we could do for the first readers to spot us out in public!

We started off with an order of banh beo ($5.49), a dish from the city of Hue. The twelve steamed rice cakes arrived in shallow porcelain dishes piled atop one another. Each cake was sprinkled with dried minced shrimp, smeared with scallion oil, and finished with a crisp “crouton” of rendered pork fat.

To eat, we spooned a bit of sweet fish sauce atop the warm banh beo and dug in with spoons. Once while visiting Hoi An, The Astronomer and I ate banh beo using flat wooden sticks! The steamed rice cakes were doughier and less pliable than the ones we enjoyed in Vietnam, which surprisingly bothered The Astronomer much more than me. I love how my boy’s become a Vietnamese food snob.

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