Cooking
The Baja fish taco at Nick's Crispy Tacos is a revelation. Never mind north of the border, it's possibly the best fish taco anywhere. Only one of several delicious tacos available, the Baja fish taco is easily the most popular of the 1000 tacos a day that Nick's sells. What makes a taco worthy of such high praise? As with any great food, it has to do with the ingredients, the technique in preparing it and the actual person who prepared or conceived of it.
The ingredients are simple: a generous piece of fresh fish, often mahi-mahi or local albacore, fried crispy on the outside and tender on the inside in a beer batter, a roasted tomato salsa, some shredded red onion and cabbage, a dribble of delectable lime mayonnaise dressing and a sprig of cilantro, all wrapped in fresh corn tortillas. While some fish tacos use thresher shark, Nick a devoted surfer believes in the saying, "if you don't eat me, I won't eat you".
What makes this taco so special really comes down to Nick Fasanella, proprietor of Nick's Crispy Tacos. Fasanella is not your average taqueria proprietor. He is not Mexican. He didn't grow up eating tacos. He's not even from the West Coast where taquerias are so prevalent. He is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and has worked at several highly rated, James Beard awarded top-notch restaurants such as The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia and Chef Allen's in South Florida.
But perhaps it's Fasanella's out of the ordinary background that makes this taco so out of the ordinary. A chef by trade, after working in various restaurants, he spent six years cooking for private clients on yachts, all the while sailing around the world. He made it to Mexico by accident when a storm re-routed the boat he was sailing on and he quickly fell in love with the food. Visiting San Francisco he became aware of the popularity of taquerias and decided owning his own taqueria was going to be his next career move.
When asked about the recipe, Nick says, "it's really no big secret, being a chef, you know how you want something to taste". It's also worth noting he uses the best sustainable ingredients he can get his hands on, and prepares everything to order. What's next for Nick? Bringing fresh, relatively inexpensive, delicious taqueria-style Mexican food to the East Coast is his dream. And a dream we whole-heartedly support.
Best Fish Taco North of The Border goes to Nick Fasanella
Nick's Crispy Tacos
1500 Broadway @ Polk, San Francisco CA
415.409.8226
- Alaska Diary Day One
Welcome to Cordova, a remote Alaskan town Southeast of Anchorage. The population is around 2,000 people (though it swells to around double that in the Summer during salmon season). The life of the town is tied to the Copper River. Salmon fishing is not...
- Taco Crawl In Fruitvale
For several years now I'd been hearing about the taco trucks of Fruitvale, a section of Oakland known for having a large Latino population. After reading endless reports on Yelp, Chowhound and an article in the East Bay Express by John Birdsall,...
- 100 Things To Eat (in San Francisco)
Have you seen the 100 Things to Try Before You Die list over at 7x7? It's a terrific to do list. I've done about half. 2. Coffee-rubbed pork shoulder at Range 3. Carnitas taco at La Taqueria 6. Burger with fries at Slow Club 7. Shaking beef...
- Tacos Dorado
I used to think I knew what tacos were. Back in the old days they were bright yellow crunchy crisp pre-formed shells made of corn filled with ground beef, some spices shredded iceberg lettuce, chopped tomato and a shred of cheddar. That was all I knew....
- Mexican Food Lover
What is it about Mexico? What makes the food taste better there? This past weekend Lee's mom cooked dinner and made a delicious shrimp in garlic butter. She said it was what she cooked on her last trip to Mexico and it did indeed remind me of eating...
Cooking
Best Fish Taco North of the Border
The Baja fish taco at Nick's Crispy Tacos is a revelation. Never mind north of the border, it's possibly the best fish taco anywhere. Only one of several delicious tacos available, the Baja fish taco is easily the most popular of the 1000 tacos a day that Nick's sells. What makes a taco worthy of such high praise? As with any great food, it has to do with the ingredients, the technique in preparing it and the actual person who prepared or conceived of it.
The ingredients are simple: a generous piece of fresh fish, often mahi-mahi or local albacore, fried crispy on the outside and tender on the inside in a beer batter, a roasted tomato salsa, some shredded red onion and cabbage, a dribble of delectable lime mayonnaise dressing and a sprig of cilantro, all wrapped in fresh corn tortillas. While some fish tacos use thresher shark, Nick a devoted surfer believes in the saying, "if you don't eat me, I won't eat you".
What makes this taco so special really comes down to Nick Fasanella, proprietor of Nick's Crispy Tacos. Fasanella is not your average taqueria proprietor. He is not Mexican. He didn't grow up eating tacos. He's not even from the West Coast where taquerias are so prevalent. He is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and has worked at several highly rated, James Beard awarded top-notch restaurants such as The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia and Chef Allen's in South Florida.
But perhaps it's Fasanella's out of the ordinary background that makes this taco so out of the ordinary. A chef by trade, after working in various restaurants, he spent six years cooking for private clients on yachts, all the while sailing around the world. He made it to Mexico by accident when a storm re-routed the boat he was sailing on and he quickly fell in love with the food. Visiting San Francisco he became aware of the popularity of taquerias and decided owning his own taqueria was going to be his next career move.
When asked about the recipe, Nick says, "it's really no big secret, being a chef, you know how you want something to taste". It's also worth noting he uses the best sustainable ingredients he can get his hands on, and prepares everything to order. What's next for Nick? Bringing fresh, relatively inexpensive, delicious taqueria-style Mexican food to the East Coast is his dream. And a dream we whole-heartedly support.
Best Fish Taco North of The Border goes to Nick Fasanella
Nick's Crispy Tacos
1500 Broadway @ Polk, San Francisco CA
415.409.8226
For more about the Independent Food Festival & Awards, please visit TasteEverything.org
- Alaska Diary Day One
Welcome to Cordova, a remote Alaskan town Southeast of Anchorage. The population is around 2,000 people (though it swells to around double that in the Summer during salmon season). The life of the town is tied to the Copper River. Salmon fishing is not...
- Taco Crawl In Fruitvale
For several years now I'd been hearing about the taco trucks of Fruitvale, a section of Oakland known for having a large Latino population. After reading endless reports on Yelp, Chowhound and an article in the East Bay Express by John Birdsall,...
- 100 Things To Eat (in San Francisco)
Have you seen the 100 Things to Try Before You Die list over at 7x7? It's a terrific to do list. I've done about half. 2. Coffee-rubbed pork shoulder at Range 3. Carnitas taco at La Taqueria 6. Burger with fries at Slow Club 7. Shaking beef...
- Tacos Dorado
I used to think I knew what tacos were. Back in the old days they were bright yellow crunchy crisp pre-formed shells made of corn filled with ground beef, some spices shredded iceberg lettuce, chopped tomato and a shred of cheddar. That was all I knew....
- Mexican Food Lover
What is it about Mexico? What makes the food taste better there? This past weekend Lee's mom cooked dinner and made a delicious shrimp in garlic butter. She said it was what she cooked on her last trip to Mexico and it did indeed remind me of eating...