Baja Fish Tacos

Baja Fish Tacos website

30242 Crown Valley Pkwy #B5, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677 (949) 495-1537

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Oh man. We definitely got lucky.

So we needed to take a trip to Walgreen's to find some urgently needed, last minute provisions. We soon found ourselves at our destination at about 12:30 in the afternoon when my wife asks me how hungry I'm getting. Usually when I get this kind of question, it's due to the fact that she's getting pretty hungry and she's trying to gauge when the next meal will be available by determining how hungry I am. Turns out she was in luck because my hunger level was at about an 8 on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being 'Famished'. She also pointed out at this time that across the street from the drug store, hidden in a quaint little strip mall, was a sign for a place called "Baja Fish Tacos", and me going out and getting fish tacos all the time has put her in the mood for such. She also pointed out that it was next to a Vons and that we had some shopping to do. (This was apparently intended to reinforce the urgency of the need for sustenance and to improve the chances of trying out a new fish taco with me. Fair enough.)

Upon entering, my immediate thought was, "Uh oh. Franchise. Oh well, lunch is lunch. I won't get my hopes up." As I get to the counter and check out the menu, I am happy to notice they offer blackened fish. (I've been leaning toward blackened lately.) So I order 4 of the blackened fish tacos to share with Heather and a quesadilla for the kids to share. I was given a plastic number to take to our table and we sat down. For the record, the plastic number did not help in making me feel any better about how to expect my tacos.

So after a brief wait, the tacos arrived, and I must admit the small size of the tacos also did nothing to make me feel that I was going to be eating a satisfying lunch on this day. Not to say they didn't look good. They looked fabulous. As you can see, for each taco there was a large piece of blackened Ono (Wahoo, but they didn't call it that here), smothered in finely shredded fresh green cabbage, a bit of what seemed to be freshly made pico de gallo, all on top of 2 warmed, fresh corn tortillas.

Upon first bite I knew that this place was a good find. These things were mind blowingly delicious. I was a little curious about the lack of lime though, but it seemed to be an ingredient in the pico anyway. I was also curious as to what the fish were blackened with. Personally, I think I detected cinnamon, but whatever it was, it worked. Heather mentioned how well the addition of a little Jack cheese worked with the tacos, and I shrugged for a moment at how preposterous that comment was, until I investigated a little and discovered myself that there was actually a small bit of the aforementioned ingredient on my tacos as well. It was barely noticeable and somehow a benefit to the flavor of this fish taco. I might have to reevaluate my opinions on cheese and fish. These 2 tacos were awesome.

Heather just then commented on the fact that they also have on the menu the option of ordering your fish taco "Ensenada Style", which is having the fish beer battered and baja sauce added in place of pico. (Baja sauce is sort of a spicy mayonnaise based concoction.) I had to order one. Who knows when I'd be around this neck of the woods again. (You know I will.)

These arrived pretty quickly and were just as fresh tasting and delicious as the last order. Another noticeable difference was the amount of fish on these things. There were about 5-6 pieces of cut beer battered fish on each one! That's a lot more fish than I usually encounter in a fish taco. Not to say it wasn't well received, we just gave the kids a piece or two out of the taco to make it more easily manageable. I did order just one taco to share with Heather, but apparently an order consists of a default 2 tacos. That's fine. Maybe I did order 2...who knows. I'm not complaining as these were some of the awesomest tacos to date since I've started this literary venture....So anyway, to sum this up: I have not yet invented a cute and catchy system to rate my discoveries, but if I had, these would be at the top end of that rating system.

Blackened Ono Taco (1) - $2.75
Ingredients: Blackened Ono, pico de gallo, shredded green cabbage, Jack cheese, 2 warmed and fresh corn tortillas

Ensenada Style Taco (1) - $2.75
Ingredients: Beer battered Ono, shredded green cabbage, Baja sauce, 2 warmed and fresh corn tortillas

I recommend this place. Check out the website up top to find out where the locations are, they're about 4.

Oh yeah. There were limes. Right behind the partition by our table was the salsa, lime and condiment bar...next time