Near Bonfyre Grill, the Mexican restaurant Migrants closed and was replaced with another Mexican restaurant called La Playita Tacos y Mariscos, and the food is an upgrade.
With “mariscos” (seafood) in the name of the restaurant, its menu has more seafood items than a typical taco joint. For example, there’s a section dedicated to ceviche dishes, and many of the appetizers and botanas (snacks) are seafood dishes.
The Coctel de Camarón y Pulpo ($21.95) is a shrimp and octopus cocktail, and I liked it a lot. Both the shrimp and octopus were tender and plentiful. They’re joined by chunks of avocado plus diced tomatoes and cilantro. The cocktail sauce was thin and reminded me of a Michelada with its spices.
I got the same shrimp and octopus in the Torre de Mariscos ($28.95) seafood tower, which was beautifully presented. The top layer had prawns, followed by imitation crab meat, avocado, octopus, sliced red onions, shrimp, more avocado, more octopus, more onions and more crab meat. The prawns were outstanding, as they were coated in a mole-like house sauce that was absolutely delicious. Everything in this dish was fresh and delicious.
Despite its name, the restaurant doesn’t have a large variety of tacos. All of them are served in sets of three alongside rice and refried beans. Since I already tried a bunch of seafood, I ordered the tacos campechanos ($14.95). Both the steak and chorizo were tasty, but the flour tortilla was a little tough (you also can choose corn tortilla). The tacos were slightly larger than typical street tacos.
Other menu items include molcajetes, fajitas, enchiladas and several entrees like mojarras fried whole tilapia ($19.95).
Many Mexican restaurants have a special lunch menu. Here, you’ll find items such as the enchiladas verdes ($8.99) and the half chimichangas ($9.99). I got Zanka’s burrito ($8.99), which was filled with ground beef, diced carrots and diced potatoes, making for a hearty meal. It was covered with cheese and mole sauce, although there was very little of the latter.
La Playita Tacos y Mariscos is open every day for lunch and dinner.
Tags: Mexican, south side
