Several months in San Diego brought home to me what a fad fish tacos are right now. Every Mexican diner, food stand or restaurant claims to have the best fish tacos, or at least offers them as their signature taco. They always come with cole slaw, and the fish is usually breaded and then deep fried -- whether it's fresh or out of a frozen box. By the time it's been in the deep fryer, it doesn't much matter what kind of fish it is. Sadly, fresh fish isn't any longer really easy to obtain in San Diego.
I've been asking myself: why couldn't fish tacos have other taco ingredients? More appealing fish? Today at Milagros Food Company in Paia, on the east side of Maui, I found the fish taco of my dreams. Really fresh-tasting tortillas filled with generous portions of poached ahi tuna from the sea. Guacamole, shredded lettuce, and salsa were garnished with just a hint of shredded cheese. The standard side of rice and beans filled the other half of the plate -- but these were good ones. (Alice said it was her favorite kind of rice.)
I'm bored of photos of my daily order of Hawaiian fish, so no photo of this paragon of tacos, nor of the ono on a bun, the ono on a tortilla, or the quesadilla that the rest of us ate.
This sounds what I like in fish tacos, too - definitely NOT fried fish and just enough veggies to add some texture. I wouldn't like the cheese, I don't think.
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