Ensenada is Mexico’s seafood capital. One of the region’s most beloved tacos, the fish taco, can be found on every corner, but chefs are also well versed in the diverse regional seafood styles of Sinaloa, Sonora, and Nayarit. They revamp the barra fria (cold bar) using cultivated geoduck, abalone, and oysters, while offering refined versions of regional plates made with wild quail, lamb, spider crab, and a variety of fish. Meanwhile, seafood carts boast products worthy of Japan’s Tsukiji market, such as callo de hacha (pen shell clam), sea urchin, Pismo clam, and the rare chocolate clam, all prepared with vegetables and sauces, alongside heaping tostadas topped with a seafood tower’s worth of oceanic products. Many carts are run by steadfast, traditional cooks, like La Guerrerense’s Sabina Bandera, who has become one of the most famous street vendors on the planet.
Around 2000, the wealth of local seafood, produce, olive oil, and food-friendly wines from the nearby Valle de Guadalupe attracted chefs Benito Molina and Solange Muris to open their seminal Ensenada restaurant, Manzanilla. Their kitchen has helped popularize modern Baja cuisine here but also in Mexico City, Oaxaca, and beyond. Now, Ensenada’s upscale seafood producers, iconoclast chefs, and food carts influence contemporary Mexican seafood all over the world. Here’s where to eat in Mexico’s popular tourist port.
Bill Esparza is a James Beard award-winning freelance food and travel writer whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Roads & Kingdoms, Food & Wine, Los Angeles Magazine, CNN Parts Unknown, and GQ Mexico. He is a regular contributor to Eater and Eater LA.
Read More