One Fish Taco at a Time in La Paz

There’s no place like Baja Sur’s coastal gem for seafood

Words and photos by Susan Able | Edible DC

Sometimes the best vacations are the ones you didn’t expect. This was completely true of a long weekend spent in La Paz to find explore local foodways.

La Paz, the capital city of Baja California Sur (BCS), is a delightful surprise about two hours north from the resorts of Cabo San Lucas. If you are looking for an authentic Baja California Sur experience, there may be no place better than heading to La Paz, on the Sea of Cortez. It’s stays off the beaten tourist path for those who head to the resorts of Cabo San Lucas, but for ecotourists, foodies and those who crave really understanding a country, La Paz is a delight. But La Paz, about two hours north on a fully modern highway from the resorts of Cabos San Lucas, is a delight.

The highway from the airport is completely modern, but its dusty. Welcome to BCS, you’re in the desert. Take note that cows may be on the road—or at the airport. When I arrived, a small herd was roaming the airport parking. As you drive north to La Paz, you’ll note that the cowboy vibe is still strong, because ranching is still a large part of the BCS economy. The approach to the La Paz outer limits takes you through some urban sprawl of this fast growing city and lots of OXXO stores (Latin America’s version of the 7/11 convenience store), but as you grow closer to the Sea of Cortez, you’ll enter the charming central core of La Paz.

The town was founded in 1811, and its center is a mosaic of historic buildings, winding streets, town squares and amazing publicly funded artist murals. But you’ll find the real heartbeat of La Paz public life along the malecón, the city’s three-mile-long esplanade along the waterfront. Lining the malecón are not only large sculptures that speak to the city’s history and marine life, but dozens of café’s, restaurants, bars, ice cream shops and palapas on the beach—all things needed to enjoy a day in this waterfront city.

With a long history of fishing as a primary source of food and income for its citizens, its not a surprise to be presented with a wide variety of the freshest seafood, which has made La Paz famous.

My challenge? To take on the fish taco, which was made famous in Baja, from street food versions to sit-down restaurants.

There are many debates about what town in Baja actually “invented” the fish taco, but rest assured, regardless of the first, La Paz’s fish tacos are among the best to be found. Locals swear by eating fish tacos for breakfast or lunch, (Ivan Felix, my guide from the tourism bureau explained that La Paz natives find fish “too heavy” for evening meals) and there is fierce debate about favorites.

The Fish Taco (Tacos de pescado) 101: The tortilla should be corn. The fish is fried (usually) and can be any fresh local catch such as grouper, dorado (mahi mahi), sea bass—really any kind of fresh white fish. It is literally the catch of the day depending on what local fishermen bring in. The toppings are sometimes found in a topping bar for the customer to apply, otherwise served “with” but it is shredded lightly pickled cabbage (red or green), a pico de gallo or salsa, creamy citrusy mayonaisse in a drizzle. A lime. Hot sauce? Up to you.

Guaranteed to please are three top places to whet your fish taco appetite. And if you speak Spanish, even a little, now would be your time to dust it off. And if you don’t, I got along just fine just using my translator app. Ordering tacos is easy.

Super Tacos de B.C.S. Hnos. Gonzalez

A simple street truck with a smattering of tables and a couple of counters, this is a favorite of locals. It’s surprisingly inexpensive, expect the cold drinks to cost about as much as you taco. There may be just a bit of a wait, but you can get your drink and stake a claim to a table. The tacos are served up on warm corn tortillas, which was a plus for me. The fish (dorado that day, often whitefish) was crisp and generously served up in a beer batter. There is a condiments/toppings bar, with pickled cabbage, onions, salsas and some very delicious and differently seasoned crema toppings. To quote one local reviewer, “The classic good taste of the tacos de La Paz.” A wedge of lime comes with. Plenty of napkins and hand sanitizer, used before and needed after for cleanup. An ice cold Topo Chico finished me off.

A fish taco is about $2. We ordered lunch for 5 people, with sodas for about $21.

Open 8:30 am to 4 pm, every day but Tuesday. There are other locations, but the address for this location is: Gomez Fariaz, Viosca y Cerrada Palma, 23098 La Paz.

Tacos De Pescado El Estadio

Another favorite of La Paz natives or Choyeros, this location of El Estadio Tacos has a small shaded dining area with about a dozen tables. Order, get a number, take a seat and quickly you will be called up. The fish of the day was fresh grouper at El Estadio (although ask if they have yellowtail), and I also ordered by first taco made with lightly deep fried, locally caught shrimp. Both were outstanding, with shredded cabbage and lettuce, some shredded carrot, and a citrus creme mayoniaise drizzle. I added hot sauce. It was not for the faint hearted. Five of us ate tacos and had soft drinks for about $20 USD.

Open every day, from 8 am to 2 pm. There are two locations, the address here: Guillermo Prieto 1320, Zona Central

Taco Fish La Paz

Taco Fish is a top taco destination in La Paz, and an actual “sit down” restaurant, more than a taqueria, in an open air, covered patio with a bar and an expanded menu with lot of choices of seafood, fish tacos, empanadas and ceviche options. Order at the register, take a table number and the food is delivered to you. My dining partners and I sampled the more extensive menu, (the fish taco was nicely fried variety of sea bass), but we also ordered some ceviche on a crispy tostada, tried fish taco with sea bass (so good) and the best? A smoked marlin taco and a smoked marlin quesadilla, that had a light cheese as the base. New addiction. One of the best things in the non-seafood category? A fresh strawberry horchata. Another new addiction. Lunch for five people, plus a tip was about $25 USD.

Open 8:30 am to 4 pm, closed on Mondays. Address: Gral Manuel Márquez de León S/N, Zona Central

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Ready to go?

La Paz has an international airport about six miles from the central town, and the San Jose Cabo airport is about two hours away. Car rentals are available widely.

Hotel options?

If you are looking for a boutique hotel, try Baja Club Hotel, by Grupo Habita, which is located on the Malecón in a former colonial-era mansion. Think stylish and chic rooms, with a swimming pool, spa and very good restaurant under a pergola next to a reflecting pool. Rooms are about $300 USD per night.

A lovely, more budget-friendly option is the Hotel Catedral, located in the historic center district across from Our Cathedral Lady of La Paz, the hotel features a year-round rooftop outdoor pool and sun terrace with great views, a restaurant and bar. Rooms are about $115 USD per night.

Let a Perfect Breakfast at The Pancake Underground Lead You to Strasburg, Virginia

By Madeline Weinfield

It was one of the last warmish weekends of 2020, and to escape our small apartment in DC, my fiancé and I decamped for a camping weekend in woods of West Virginia.

We emerged from our tent our first morning eager for breakfast, and as we were more glampers than campers in our breakfast mind-set, we drove to find it. As we drove along Route 11 and  crossed over the Virginia state line, we turned in to the postage-stamp-size town of Strasburg, pulling over at the beacon of a sign that read simply: The Pancake Underground.

There are few things that hold as much satisfying promise as that of a perfect breakfast. The sweetness of syrup streams adorning a stack of fluffy yet crisp pancakes, the tang of a savory omelet or breakfast bowl, presented harmoniously with a mug of rich, fragrant coffee. That kind of morning joy can be rare to find, but there in Strasburg—population 6,600—we found it.

The Pancake Underground is owned and operated by Shenan Hahn and Christopher Kemp, Virginia natives who met while living in Portland, Oregon. Their mutual love of creative breakfasts (and their combined 20+ years working in the restaurant industry) led them to open a breakfast-only food truck—the first iteration of The Pancake Underground—out of a converted 1957 Jewel travel-trailer camper. After two years in the food-truck-mad city (theirs was just one in Portland’s sea of 700 registered food trucks), they set their sights on home. They hauled the camper 3,000 miles to the Shenandoah Valley (from which Shenan gets her name), with plans to live on and care for a tract of 20 acres that has been in Shenan’s family for decades and to give their sweet and savory breakfast creations a second chapter in a brick-and-mortar establishment.

Christopher Kemp and Shenan Hahn, proprietors of The Pancake Underground.

Moving back to Virginia and setting up shop in Strasburg also meant the opportunity to make a mark on a small community. As Shenan says, “We felt we could maybe make a bigger impact in a smaller town and—something we tried to do in Portland but weren’t really able to fully do—source our ingredients locally and support local farmers and local purveyors of other types. [In Virginia] we’re within an hour of most of our ingredients. We try to source as much as we can from the Shenandoah Valley.”

Their bacon, sausage, beef and scrapple—which Christopher describes as “the Appalachian version of head cheese”—are locally butchered by Crabill’s in Tom’s Brook, Virginia. Their salt comes from JQ Dickinson Salt Works, a working salt mine in Malden, West Virginia. Their coffee is roasted by Chestnut Ridge Coffee Roasters in Harrisonburg, Virginia, their sodas crafted by a former brewer in town, and their produce, when in season, comes from a variety of nearby farms.

Like many restaurant tales of 2020, theirs could have been a tragedy.

After three months meticulously renovating a small space right off the main road in which they planned to serve six tables with the food truck parked out front, the novel coronavirus hit. After months of halted starts, they opened with to-go breakfast kits, eventually adding outdoors dinning, serving their breakfast creations like chicken and waffles, country potato bowls with vegetarian sausage and vegan cheese options and, of course, pancakes (available with or without gluten) to locals and people from DC and Baltimore passing through for a day or weekend in the fresh air.

What began as false starts and changed plans turned into waits sometimes lasting up to two hours, a welcome demand they hustled to keep up with. Before long it was clear they had outgrown their space and they set their sights on a vacant venue in town that had once been home to Cristina’s, a local favorite that operated for 20 years before shutting its doors.

Asked if she and Christopher see themselves as helping to reinvigorating the region, Shenan immediately demurs. “I don’t know as revitalizers so much as carrying on the tradition of people who have come before us who are no longer here. But the town is growing a bit in itself. Strasburg has always had a history of entrepreneurship and small locally owned businesses, which is a great environment.”

The Pancake Underground isn’t just unique in the fact that it’s one of the few places to eat in town, but that it serves breakfasts that offer vegetarians and vegans something worth traveling for. They plan to host local country and folk musicians, showcase local artists’ work on their walls and, when they get a beer and wine license, turn their outdoor patio into a pancake and beer garden.

When The Pancake Underground opens its doors (again) this summer on June 9, it’ll be a new dawn of this long pandemic year. And if they’ve learned and proved anything, there may not be a lot that has gone right or been easy, but a stack of pancakes makes it go down a little easier.

The Pancake Underground
219 W. King St.
Strasburg, VA 22657

If you go:

Strasburg
A stroll through Strasburg is short and sweet. Walk down Massanutten and King Streets and take in the murals created through a local and international artists exchange organized by Strasburg-based art group Staufferstadt Arts. Stop at Clementine Vintage (148 E. King St.) for antiques and local treasures. Try Nancy’s Coffee Bar (175 E. King St.) or Box Office Brewery (177 E. King St.) for an afternoon pick-me-up. The Strasburg Emporium (160 N. Massnutten St.) is an antiques maze worth looking through while the Strasburg Flea (110 N. Massanutten St.) and the King Street Flea (327 N. Massanutten St.) are lesser-known gems.

Farm Markets
The region is rich in farm markets, many of which offer U-pick and events throughout the summer. Strasburg’s Woodbine Farms & Market (5199 John Marshall Hwy.) sells local produce and baked goods as well as an impressive variety of locally made jams, preserves and barbecue sauces. Capon Crossing Farm, further afield in Wardensville, West Virginia, (12279 Carpers Pike), runs a “Bluegrass in the Barn” monthly summer series of music and dancing.

Get Outside
For tubing, canoeing, kayaking and rafting, head to Downriver Canoe Company in Bentonville (884 Indian Hollow Rd.). They offer trips ranging from an hour to two nights.

George Washington National Forrest is a short drive away. For hikes with great views, try Signal Knob and Buzzard Rock. Signal Knob is right outside Strasburg and you can see the peak from town.

Stay
Camp at Hawk Recreation Area near Capon Springs in West Virginia or try the Inn at Vaucluse Spring, a bed and breakfast in Stephens City (231 Vaucluse Spring Lane) or the Wayside Inn, a historic inn in Middleton (7783 Main St.).

Edible DC's Quick Guide To Miami

Fly South to Miami to Visit One of America’s Best Food Cities

By Tim Ebner

Miami may very well be the “it” food city in America right now, and for good reason — Magic City is on a roaring pace for restaurant openings, giving many people hope for a future where restaurants, shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic, can spring back to life quickly. Right now, the sense of energy in Miami’s dining capital is everywhere and it’s also alluring to chefs.

Yes, José Andrés and his team at The Bazaar have been a long-time fixture. But he’s also joined by more recent newcomers like Philadelphia’s Stephen Starr. And most recently, the Carbone crew from New York City.

The dining scene also looks a lot different than it did a few years ago. What was once reserved for curbside parking in Wynwood is now the most coveted streatery for al-fresco dining. Meanwhile, in the ultra-chic Design District, you’ll find sleek architecture, modern art and Michelin-star powered chefs waiting to serve you.

This energy extends even further south into Brickell, the financial district, home to some of the city’s trendiest hotels and waterfront dining (sorry South Beach). Of course, the allure of South Beach is always on — thanks in part to a few standbys and newcomers adding to this party-all-day-and-night atmosphere.

Finally, yes, we know, it’s hot in Miami ... especially if you’re planning to take a trip this summer. But with the restaurant scene so red hot, and airfare and hotel rates starting to cool off, we can’t imagine a better time to fly South. Here’s where you should eat, stay and play while you’re here.

The Bazaar by José Andrés

South Beach

Fresh off your flight from Washington, DC, you’re obligated to snag a seat (if you can) at The Bazaar by José Andrés. The main dining room features an opulent chandelier made from seashells, or opt for a table outside — the patio overlooks the SLS South Beach pool, and definitely go for a small sample of most of the menu. Dishes not to be missed are the José taco — Iberico ham stuffed with Ossetra caviar — and the tortilla de patata — a traditional Spanish tapa, served in a “new way.” For this dish, Chef de Cuisine Karla Hoyos serves up an egg cooked exactly to 63 degrees, and served in a jar with potato foam and crispy potato flakes. Mix together then slurp up all the savory goodness.

Le Jardinier

Design District

Fresh, bold, and flavorful — these are the three words that describe one of the latest additions to Miami’s Design District. Le Jardinier (French for the gardener) feels almost like a modern, tropical brasserie with plenty of outdoor garden space. The menu is rooted in classic French technique led by Chef Alain Verzeroli, a Michelin-starred chef who has created a menu, where seasonal fruits and vegetables play the primary role sometimes accompanied by sustainably raised seafood and meats. You should rely on the sommelier’s pick for a wine pairing — most bottles come from the bottle shop upstairs and are French wines, sourced from small producers with responsible farming practices.

La Mar

Brickell Key

Sitting on the patio of La Mar you feel as if you’re floating in a sea of ceviche that comes with a stunning view of the Miami skyline. This restaurant is situated inside the Mandarin Oriental Miami, on a tiny island named Key Brickell, in Miami Harbor. It's a destination to celebrate any type of occasion. Chef Diego Oka hails from Peru and takes dishes to intricate and detailed levels. One of his latest creations, yucca mochi, pays tributes to Nikkei cuisine, the Peruvian-Japanese style of cooking you’ll commonly find in Lima. His mochi comes plated with orange syrup and zest, then it’s topped with an assortment of fresh blueberries, making this one of the most delicious and sensory desserts in all of Miami.

KYU

Wynwood

Recently, nominated by the James Beard Foundation as one of the best new restaurants in America, KYU continues to turn up the heat, from the piping hot bowl of Thai fried rice president and mixed tableside in an oven-fire stone pot to infamous roasted cauliflower head served in a blended sauce of goats cheese, shishito peppers, and herb vinaigrette.

You might want to go all-in and order up the tasting menu. The kitchen calls the shots, but it usually involves their signature Korean fried chicken and wagyu smoked brisket — two dishes sure to induce the “meat sweats.” KYU’s strategy is also a scenic spot to take in Wynwood’s world-renowned street art, as well as the see-and-be-seen nature of this hip neighborhood.

BAKAN

Wynwood

It almost feels as if you’ve escaped to Tulum at this Mexican-style restaurant serving tacos and tostadas alongside an array of mezcals and margarita cocktails. One of the long-time favorites at BAKAN is the “Verde que te quiero verde” (translation: green, how I want you green). That drink, of course, is green, and mixes agave tequila with cilantro and lime juice. Another inventive cocktail is the “Matcha-rica” a refreshing summer-hued cocktail with encantadora matcha mezcal, passion fruit, and yuzu.

Sweet Beach

South Beach

Sunday Funday is taken to new limits at the backyard barbecue and drinks hangout brought to you by the team from Sweet Liberty Drinks & Supply Company — located just down the street in South Beach. The outdoor pop-up concept is called Sweet Beach and is located in a comfortable palm tree-lined courtyard — the Shelborne South Beach’s Oasis Garden. Find boozy and flavorful cocktails on the menu, like a watermelon margarita and Negroni frappe, that match perfectly with street-style food, including Mexican elote, New England-style lobster rolls served as mini-sliders, and a churrasco banh mi sandwich. This pop-up is open Thursday through Sunday.

La Cerveceria La Tropical

Wynwood

This is the most exciting brewery to open in Miami in 2021. La Cerveceria La Tropical comes from owner Manny Portuondo, who is the great-great-grandson of Federico Kohly the original founder of Cerveceria La Tropical, Cuba’s oldest brewery until his family was forced to flee the country in 1960. The original brewery in Cuba looks more like a wild jungle today — it has sat unoccupied for decades. Manny’s vision was to recreate the experience of La Tropical in its early glory days smack dab in the middle of Miami.

The experience is complete with live music, a tropical garden, cold and crisp beers, served straight from the tap, plus a menu of delicious Cuban cuisine, including the Frita Cubana, a beef and chorizo sandwich topped with shoestring fries and tomato marmalade on a brioche bun. Pair it with their session beer, the Nativo Key, with notes of mango, passion fruit, pineapple, lemon, and lime making it refreshingly easy to drink.

Kimpton EPIC Hotel

Miami Riverfront / Brickell

Looking for an epic, suite-style stay in the heart of downtown Miami? Kimpton’s EPIC Hotel offers oversized rooms, each with a private balcony. That’s in addition to two large pools that come with the option to reserve cabanas, and an outdoor restaurant and pop-up concept — new this summer from Executive Chef Alex Oliver.

His menu is a mix of Mediterranean-style dishes and large-format cocktails which you can order with a primetime view of the Miami riverfront and Brickell skyline. The 45-seat seasonal restaurant features dishes from Spain, Italy, and Greece. Bartender Benny Hernandez has put together punches that come served to share and feature seasonal ingredients that tie into the energetic climate of Miami summers.

The Shelborne South Beach Hotel

South Beach

Those looking for an ocean-side stay in South Beach should book this budget boutique situated on Collins Avenue, between some of the best-known eating and drinking this stretch of sand has to offer. The Shelborne South Beach Hotel is Art Deco-inspired opulence and has also been hard at work bringing in some of the local food and drink options from the surrounding neighborhood, including a new coffee pop-up, called Cafecito, from the beloved shop David’s Cafe. The cafe served Cuban cuisine for over 44 years, and the family-owned, small business now operates in the hotel’s lobby, providing a classic Miami experience throughout the summer. That’s in addition to the pop-up bar hosted by Sweet Liberty in Shelborne’s backyard.