In Search of the Perfect Fish Taco, Santa Ana Delivers

REVIEW: From a seafood truck to a surprising juice bar, three spots serve crisp, beer-battered fish tacos done right.

Fish tacos at Taco Nazo in Santa Ana. Photo by Edwin Goei, Culture OC

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I was in the Cayman Islands when I ate the best fish taco of my life. It was made with lionfish, an invasive species that’s also poisonous — but one that happens to be quite tasty when it’s covered in beer batter, fried crisp and tucked into a warm flour tortilla with a heap of coleslaw.

But even back home, I’ll choose a fish taco over any other taco. To me, when a fish taco is done right, no al pastor, carne asada or even the impossibly silky suadero can come close. The reason is simple: Nearly every other taco relies on chopped, shredded or ground meat. But a proper fish taco? The protein is whole.

This means it has to be cooked to order — dipped by hand, dropped into hot oil one piece at a time. So when I have a fish taco, I know I’m eating the freshest taco possible. And because the fish is just seconds from the boiling grease, the tortilla isn’t just a tortilla; it’s also an oven mitt that protects my fingers from getting burned.

More important than the tortilla is the batter. It brings the essential components of richness, texture and flavor. And that’s not just my opinion. In a 2020 interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune, Ralph Rubio of Rubio’s Coastal Grill — the chain that popularized the fish taco on this side of the border — put it plainly. 

“The flavor’s in the batter,” he told the paper. “We use pollock, a mild white fish, to complement the batter.”

This is why, among all the other variations — charbroiled, blackened or grilled — the classic, beer-battered Ensenada-style fried fish taco is the one I’ll always choose. 

I haven’t yet made the pilgrimage to Ensenada, but I don’t feel I need to. When I want a great fish taco, I go to Santa Ana where the following three spots have become my recent standbys. They include the newest outpost of a well-known L.A. chain, a Mexican seafood truck and a juice bar that surprised me with one of the best fried fish tacos around.

So without further ado, let’s dive in!

Taco Nazo in Santa Ana. PHOTO 1: Fish tacos. PHOTO 2: The packed dining room. PHOTO 3: A wall of photos showcasing Gilberto and Maria Romero, the founders of Taco Nazo. Photos by Edwin Goei, Culture OC

TACO NAZO

Where: 1766 E McFadden Ave., Santa Ana

Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

Online: taconazo.com/santa-ana

There was once a place near a carwash in Chino Hills called El Taconazo. It’s long gone now, but it gave me my seminal fish taco experience that forever set the benchmark of what I think a good fish taco should be. 

I still remember it well. When I ordered a fish taco, the cook went to work. He took strips of raw white-fleshed fish, dunked it in a yellow-tinted batter and then tossed it in sputtering hot oil inside an indented well of a vessel whose outer circumference was flat for drainage. When the fish was golden and glistening, he lifted it out of the grease and placed it on a warmed tortilla. Then a flurry of cabbage, a squirt of white sauce and pico de gallo went on top. 

The final product was a revelation. Simultaneously hot and cold, soft and crunchy, piquant and rich, it was a balanced dance of temperatures, textures and flavors. I was in love. But then, for reasons I do not know, El Taconazo of Chino Hills abruptly closed.

It may not have ever been affiliated with the Taco Nazo chain that started in La Puente in 1978, but after the Chino Hills store shuttered, I went to seek out other places that had that name. I settled for one in Bellflower, which turned out to be an official Taco Nazo franchise. Luckily, the fish tacos were just as good as what I had in Chino Hills — just shy of being too greasy, dripping in crema inside a pliant and fluffy corn tortilla. And every order included a free side of deep fried chiles called “toreados,” which were dusted in spices.

In truth, I could’ve gone to the Taco Nazo branch in La Habra, the first official Orange County location. But last month, Taco Nazo finally opened in Santa Ana, too.

The new Taco Nazo occupies a building that had been a Burger King for a long time and briefly a Miguel’s Jr. last year. The dining room still seemed to retain the sterile corporate feel of what came before. And when someone drops a few bucks in their tip jar, the uniformed workers shout their gratitude together in perfect unison. 

And the tacos? They’re massive. The fish filets were the size of oars — easily the meatiest and most generous on this list. But more importantly, the crunchy, golden batter was superb. The flavor was so intense that I would guess garlic, chicken bouillon and mustard were stirred in as ingredients.

But at $4.49 a taco, was it more expensive than I remember paying back then in Chino Hills? Yes, but that was decades ago. Also I remember those tacos being half the size of this. Back then, I needed two tacos to fill me up. These? If I’m not particularly hungry, one would be enough. But of course, with fish tacos, one is never enough.

Cancun Juice in Santa Ana. PHOTO 1: Fish tacos and a watermelon agua fresca. PHOTO 2: The Cactus Juice storefront. Photos by Edwin Goei, Culture OC

CANCUN JUICE

Where: 2302 S. Bristol St., Suite D, Santa Ana

Hours: 7:30 a.m.-9 p.m.

Online: cancunjuice.com

The Cancun Juice chain is not known for fish tacos, but it should be. The constant whir of blenders reveals that it is, first and foremost, a juice bar specializing in smoothies, agua frescas and licuados. At some point in its history, and for good reason, it also became famous for tortas. The tortas are indeed great. The first time you sink your teeth into their ginormous Cubana torta — stuffed with four kinds of meat, beans, melted cheese, chipomayo, avocream, lettuce, tomato, onion and jalapeno — is the last time you’ll ever consider going to Subway again.

But hiding in plain sight on Cancun Juice’s menu and priced at $4.25 is that fish taco. The fish is fried to order, cocooned in a crackly, flavorful batter and tucked inside a single fold of a corn tortilla. Then, from ingredients already on-hand for the tortas — lettuce, tomato, cotija cheese, the pink chipomayo and the jade-colored avocream — the kitchen staff create a product that is proverbially greater than the sum of its parts.

I should note that the fish used is not particularly meaty. In fact, the cuts are often pretty thin. But something magical happens when the crunch of the batter, the lettuce and the sauces coalesce in one bite. And that’s even before you squeeze some lime and douse it with the house salsas. 

Cancun Juice’s fish taco is not technically Ensenada style. But it’s just as addicting. When the first one is gone, you’ll immediately want another one.

So to save yourself the wait, order two at a time. Also don’t DoorDash them. These fish tacos must be consumed upon receipt. Otherwise they will steam to sogginess inside their aluminum foil wrapper. It would also not be unreasonable to wash the tacos down with one of the made-to-order agua frescas (I recommend the watermelon). Yes, the meal will end up costing more than Gray’s Papaya Recession Special in Manhattan, but I guarantee that it is the better lunch and juice combo by far. 

Mariscos Los Corales in Santa Ana. PHOTO 1: The taco pescado de Ensenada (showcasing battered fish) being eaten in a car as is done by many patrons of the food truck. PHOTO 2: The Taco Pescado Empanizado (showcasing breaded fish). PHOTO 3: The Mariscos Los Corales truck on Pine Street near Main Street showcases its extensive menu. Photos by Edwin Goei, Culture OC

MARISCOS LOS CORALES

Where: Near the Intersection of Main Street and Pine Street, Santa Ana

Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Online: mariscosloscoralesca.com

If you don't believe that one food truck can put out a seafood restaurant’s roster of dishes like cocteles, shrimp boils, aguachiles, soups, fried fish and oysters, then you need to come to the corner of Main and Pine streets in Santa Ana and witness it for yourself. The beach-themed lonchera is the mobile branch of the Mariscos Los Corales restaurants in Santa Ana and Fountain Valley, and it does it all. Only at the Aquarium of the Pacific will you encounter more species of sealife.

With three distinctly different fish tacos, the truck also offers more variety of the tortilla-swaddled specialty than any other spot on this list — and that’s before you even get to the shrimp options, including the Taco al Gobernador, a melty, cholesterol-heightening shrimp‑and‑cheese masterpiece that might be its most popular item.  

But at $4, the Taco Pescado de Ensenada is, of course, magnificent — a textbook example of the perfect fish taco. The batter is thin and light, fried to a golden brown crunch that’s matched by shredded cabbage. But the MVP is the duo of eggy mayonnaise based sauces so rich, Japanese Kewpie may be involved.

The second fish taco, also $4, is just as stellar, but perhaps just a touch healthier. Called Taco Pescado Empanizado, it’s breaded, not battered. And although the flavor and crunch is still present, carried by the seasoned breadcrumbs, the mayo richness is replaced by the zing of more pico de gallo. 

The third fish taco is nothing like the other two. To this day, I haven’t tried it, but it uses shredded smoked marlin that’s embedded in melted cheese, the entire folded tortilla griddled like the Taco al Gobernador. Still, no matter which taco you order — be it the three fish tacos or the kinds with shrimp — one must use the entire complimentary thimble of tomatillo salsa.

To say that this green condiment is spicy and sharp is insufficient. It jolts your palate as if you attached jumper cables to your tongue. Then the sweating starts. Thankfully, as you are likely eating your lunch in a parked car just like every Mariscos Los Corales customer, you can crank the A/C to full blast to cool yourself. No one will know you were close to dying from the burn. But soon, as the endorphins kick in, you’ll feel a little closer to heaven, too.