Adolfo’s Mexican Food

989 S. Pacific Coast Highway

Laguna Beach, CA 92651

(949) 497-2023

You know you’ve come to a good Mexican joint when you walk in and not only is there a line to order, but the gal taking orders is speaking Spanish with every third person in front of you.

Such is the case at Adolfos in Laguna Beach. Now granted, parking can be nightmare since Adolfo’s is on PCH, but let’s be honest, parking anywhere in Laguna is a nightmare, so you may have to do a few laps to find a spot, but oh will you be happy you did.

Inside the deep and narrow restaurant is a flurry of colorful signs, local business posters, and a plethora of hippies, businessmen, and day laborers all chowing down.

On to the taco…

Adolfo’s recipes seem to go along with an old acronym I learned in writing school, KISS or “keep it simple, stupid.”  The taco comes on a doubled up corn tortilla. Fresh seasoned and grilled fish, cheese, and tad of lettuce. If you like, you can add salsa, pico, onions, and cilantro to taste because they have a fresh salsa bar available.  I also noticed they carry my favorite hot sauce, Gringo Bandito, which I seem to be seeing more and more often in Orange County these days. I however chose to eat the taco in its purist form, the way it came.  

No special secret sauce slopped all over the dish, no over-saturation of seasoning. My meal came with refried beans and mexican rice, and I was undoubtedly pleased.  The fish didn’t taste fishy at all, and though some juices dripped out of the back of my taco, it wasn’t a grease soaked meal like many places can be known to do. I left feeling happy, hearty and full. I cleaned my plate in fact, as did pretty much everyone around me. 

It was a piping hot meal for under 10 bucks, and I can’t emphasize this enough, when you see Mexicans ordering at a Mexican restaurant, you know your going to have a good meal.

 

The never-ending quest,  however, continues…

Fred’s Mexican Cafe

 300 Pacific Coast Hwy Ste 201.

Huntington Beach, CA 92648.

 (714)374-TACO.

 

 Fred’s is an upstairs restaurant that overlooks the Huntington Beach pier on the corner of Main Street and PCH.   It’s seen predominantly as a tourist trap so naturally I was a skeptic as to how the food was going to be.                                                                                                                                                                                                      The first thing you notice when you step inside this place is the set up of the place. It’s very picturesque in regard to what you would imagine a little beach front bar to be. Colorful walls, a huge bar in the middle, attractive waitresses. Nice. This is one of those places that converts into a full on bar at night, much like most of the downtown area joints, though the full menu is served until a ripe midnight.                                                                                                                                                                                                  Anyway, on to the taco! I chose to come out on a Tuesday evening, and as anyone in Southern California knows, that means TACO TUESDAY!    Naturally I got my fish taco, but I decided to delve into the world of steak and chicken as well. Hey, we all know you have to get a grip of tacos when your out on this day…  Anyway, the place was bustling and it did take a few minutes for my food to come, I can understand this because the kitchen, which contains a viewing window, appeared to be rather small for the size of the restaurant. The kitchen staff was cranking those bad out though, I’ll bet time flies for those guys back there, they looked BUSY.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               My taco came and it was nice and hearty looking. A flour tortilla with a descent slice of grilled fish, cabbage, pico de gallo and this creamy tomatillo sauce.  I must say, the taco was delicious. In fact, all of the tacos were delicious. The steak was rare, just like I like, and the chicken was… well chicken is chicken, and it’s hard to mess up.  Three tacos and I was stuffed. The fish was grilled perfectly so it had a delicate crunch on the outside, almost blackened I’d say and the creamy sauce really made the taco.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  As of right now, I feel that Fred’s has the tastiest grilled taco, and previously reviewed Normita’s takes the trophy of best fried taco…                                                                                                                                                                                                               The never-ending quest, however, continues…                        

Fiesta Grill in Huntington Beach

Fiesta Grill 

418 17th St.

Huntington Beach, CA

92648                                                             

                                                      

(714) 969-7689                                                             

   This is a nice little family owned restaurant. This place is run by some seriously hard working folks. (They are there seven days a week. The same employees. Now that’s dedication.)   Judging by the sign, one would figure that this place has a pretty damn tasty fish taco. Looks like it’s their claim to fame.  One nice feature of Fiesta Grill is that no matter what you order, they give you complimentary chips and homemade salsa.   My father used to judge Mexican restaurants by the way their salsa tasted. This place fairs quite well in that department. Not too chunky so that its straight pico de gallo, and it carries a nice little bite about it as well.                                                                                                                                                                                                     On to the taco….    First thing I must say is if you like cheese, you’re going to love this place. I chose a grilled fish taco though they do carry both grilled and fried. The hearty taco came on a traditional double layer of corn tortillas and contained about as much cheese as fish! Not a negative thing at all. The heat from the freshly cooked fish nicely melts the cheese into a warm and chewy delight.  The fish itself is standard Mahi Mahi with not a whole lot of seasoning on it. (No salty aftertaste as if they were trying to cover a fishy taste.) It came with a sprinkle of cabbage as well as lettuce and did have a very light sauce as well.  If you’re a purist and like your grilled fish tacos au natural, then this is the place for you. Simple ingredients, fresh fish served piping hot, good homemade salsa, and staff that will remember your face if you come in more than once.  All in all a good experience…   I’ll review the fried taco on a later date.  So check back soon!                                       The never-ending quest, however, continues…..                                           

Chronic Taco in Orange County

                          Chronic Tacos is located all over Orange County.  (check www.eatchronictacos.com for a location near you)  This is an up and coming chain of good old fashioned tacos with weed references to keep the surfer dudes coming back.  They actually opened one of their locations on 4/20 in 2007.  The walls are shlocked in surf/snow/skate/energy drink/new clothing company that will probably go under in 6 months stickers, and there’s always good, make you wanna bob your head music jammin in all of the locations that I’ve been to.  Verylively and colorful inside all of these taco shops, and they even have a big sports bar location called Chronic Cantina in Triangle Square across from Sutra.                                                                                                                                                                                                    On to the taco…. Chronic gives you the choice beer battered and fried, or simply grilled fish. This is definitelya nice thing because lets face it, sometimes you just want a greasy gut bomb and other times you want to pretend like eating out is healthy.  The fried fish taco is very tasty, and one cool feature at these joints is that you get to build your own taco. Don’t like lettuce? Go for cabbage. Want a heapload of cilantro? No problem. Their fish sauce is quite tasty as well, like a tangy sour cream almost, and you can add it to anything on the menu, be it seafood or not.  Another thing I noticed at most of these locations is that they have this local hot sauce on the tables called Gringo Bandito. It’s a nice variation from the standard issue Tapatio that everyone carries (Chronic included) I’ve been noticing it at a lot of the taco shops I frequent in the area.  Anyway, all in all Chronic makes for a good, hearty, affordable taco, plus you can get black beans OR refrieds which is a rare occurrence in many OC spots.  Give it a try, if it turns out to be something you don’t like, it’s probably because you had them put the wrong ingredients on your taco.                                                            The never-ending quest, however, continues… 

Las Barcas in Huntington Beach

 Las Barcas Gourmet Mexican Food 21032 Beach Blvd. Huntington Beach, CA 92648 (714) 536-2616