**** Mariscos Los Koras is now Mariscos Altata
While on one of my "drives" I was headed for the I-805 North onramp on Market Street, when this fairly large shop caught my eye.
Instead of getting directly on the freeway, a drove a bit further and made a u-turn. The place looked promising for a few reasons; first there were five vehicles in the parking lot, which means, in addition to any "prop" cars (the cars of the employees parked out front to make the place look busy), there were at least a few customers. Significant because this was 9am on a Sunday morning. And the Coat of Arms of Nayarit, one of the Coastal States of Mexico that borders the Pacific that is well known for their seafood.
A few days later, the Missus famished, and the heat getting to me (it really doesn't take much for us San Diegans), we made our way down to 43rd and Market.
The interior is packed with tables and chairs, and is very…..green, to reflect the ocean theme I guess. The young man who greeted us at the door with a big smile, wasted no time in getting us some chips.
And a nice, slightly picante, smokey, salsa.
And the inevitable standard of most Mariscos operations, a basket of saltines…….
The chips were a good thing, because it took us quite a while to navigate the menu.
I decided to start with the Aguachile Tostada, which arrived in a few minutes.
This was nice and refreshing, with a good bit of heat to it. The shrimp still retained a nice toothsome, meaty texture, without the gumminess of "over-cooked" (by citrus) camarones. I was surprised at the amount of spice that came off this. The Missus also enjoyed this as well.
The Missus "started" with the Vuelve a la Vida, the mixed seafood coctele:
When the chalice arrived, the first thing we noticed was the lack of any tomato in the cocktail. This was a first for us, as I've always had tomato water/ juice/ clamato in versions of this previously. Maybe uber Food Blogger Masa Assassin can clarify that for us. The liquid was pleasantly citrus-y, with the flavor of seafood in the background. The fruits of the sea residing in this goblet were very fresh. The Missus and I both thought the scallops and shrimp stood out. And I enjoyed the huge freshly shucked oyster. Still, the Missus missed the presence of tomato, which leads me to our next question. The young man brought out a bottle of ketchup with our plates….were we supposed to put that in the coctele? At first I thought they were just using the ketchup bottle for their own sauce, but I squeezed out a bit onto my spoon and tasted it…. it was ketchup.
I also ordered a Marlin Taco:
The taco had been deep fried, a la pescadillos, and reached the table sizzling. The taco had reached a level of sinful greasiness, that would qualify this as a guilty pleasure. The smoked marlin had a nice, not too over-powering flavor. And though this was not on the scale of Mariscos German, it was still good.
In case your thinking that the Missus was done….well She wasn't. She also ordered the Filete Los Koras:
The fish was cooked to perfection, moist without being overcooked. I loved the sauce, a green concoction with a nutty, garlicky flavor. Also of note were the beans, which had a strong smoked flavor that I enjoyed. This was our favorite of the day. The Missus wiped almost everything out, and I finished up the sauce and the beans. We had cleaned everything up, to the amazement of the young man serving us.
As we walked out, we saw three guys destroying a whole grilled fish and fixins' (Sarandeado?)…. I don't think too many folks leave here hungry…..
Mariscos Los Koras
4297 Market St
San Diego, CA 92102