Showing posts with label tostada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tostada. Show all posts

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Holbox: LA's Best Yucatan-style Mexican Seafood

Holbox is not that new anymore in LA, but just in case some of you are still not familiar with it, I'm letting you know that it's the place to get the best Yucatan-style seafood in LA. Holbox is a stall inside Mercado La Paloma in Downtown LA (which also houses Chichen Itza). Despite the casual environment, Holbox puts out the highest quality seafood at reasonable prices.

Among the many great things to try there is the pulpo (octopus) taco. The Spanish octopus is braised then fried and served on a handmade corn tortilla and squid ink sofrito ($12)
Holbox LA
The texture of the octopus is perfect and the flavors are spot on. Definitely order this.

Kumiai oysters from Guerrero Negro Lago in Baja California.
Holbox LA

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

La Guerrerense (Ensenada): Sea Urchin and More Tostada Cart

During the Baja FAM Media Trip, I was most excited about La Guerrerense in Ensenada. It was all due to Glutster's teaser messages about uni tostada!

Sabina Bandera has operated this street cart in the same location for the past 33 years. Talk about an established business. We parked our big bus around the corner and rushed to the little cart.
On a board next to the cart, they have posted various articles about them including one stating that La Guerrerense is chef Benito Molina(of Silvestre, Muelle 3, and La Manzanilla)'s favorite lunch spot.

The crispy corn tostadas can be topped with various seafood offerings. Since the 25 or so of us are here on a strict food marathon schedule (with spatial limitation in the stomach), Sabina tops each tostada with two toppings of our choosings.

For my first one I went with uni/sea urchin(erizo) and sea cucumber ceviche.
The uni was heaven in my mouth. The flavors, the texture contrast with the crispy tostada, the spice. O-M-G. This was worth every word of the hype.
The sea cucumber was also delicious, with a very chewy texture. Compared to the creamy sea urchin, this had a milder flavor with the limes and onions - not really to say that the flavor was mild at all.

Next I had the fish pate and cod (bacalao)
Another amazing creation here. The creamy pate is one of my favorites here while the spicier bacalao was many people's favorite.

Street Gourmet LA scored himself some pismo clams in the shell which looked mighty delicious so I scored a photo of it. Here's the pismo clams, almeja preparada(prepared clam), with a light cocktail sauce on one side and a lime and salsa huichol on the other side (thank you Street Gourmet LA for the info!)

After putting one of the various salsa offered, of course things got a bit spicy, so when Glutster told me that they had a good barley drink, I spared no time in getting me a cup.
Cold and creamy barley milk. This was sweet and refreshing and totally saved me from crying from spiciness.

Since some of the others claimed that the sea snail (caracol) was one of their favorites, I was feeling rather bummed for not having tried it. But lucky me, Sabina was passing out a plate of sea snails for us to sample!
I'm so glad I tried this - I would've regretted not having tried something this good. The sea snail was fresh, with a chewy but "meatier" texture compared to the rest, and a very nice flavor coming from both the snail itself. and the spicy sauce drenching it.

If you're ever in Ensenada, La Guerrerense is not to be missed!

La Guerrerense
Corner of Calle Primera/Alvarado
Ensenada, Baja, Mexico

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