On a little stretch of asphalt literally right and the end (or beginning) of Santa Monica Blvd. lies heaven.
I grew up in New York and London, so while I knew my way around street meat, the notion of anything taco related was fairly foreign to me. I also never understood the point of Taco Bell, so I was in pretty virgin territory when I moved to LA and went to my first b-day party at El Coyote. 16 years later, I feel like I know my way around some of the best lengua and buche in the city, but a lingering dismissal remained regarding the fish taco. Yes I have tried some of the trucks in El Monte and been to BFT in Ensenada multiple times, but everything almost always comes out so heavy and laden that I just haven't gotten it.
Enter Ricky's Fish Tacos. Saturday and Sunday afternoons, Sunset Junction, bliss. Why is he only there weekend afternoons, Gutrbal? Because, and get this, Ricky's main job is designing floral arrangements at a store. Don't believe me? Check out his FTD apron in the pics below (courtesy of Charlie).
Seriously, this guy is off the charts. He starts off by pulling some marinated basa, a Vietnamese catfish, out of a ziploc bag and gently placing it in the oil. Halfway through the cooking, he'll puncture the already batter-developed fish so that the oil cooks the fish from the inside too. After carefully removing and draining the fish he places it on a tortilla, tops it with some cabbage, pico de gallo, perfect temperature hot sauce and crema mexicana and you're good to go. Although all his ingredients are fresh the real battle that Ricky fights is making a fish taco that is delicious but most importantly, not heavy. Aside from the temperature of the oil and the delicacy he employs cooking the fish, I really have no idea how the guy is able to make something so taty that ultimately feels so very light.
Go. Especially before the guy becomes corrupted by the Silverlake trendies who have no taste for food (or anything else for that matter) by insisting that the best food on the planet comes out of the cesspool that is the kitchen of Fred 62. I've gone two weekends in a row and already he's selling out before 4 PM. And at $2.50 a pop you can eat one meal for $10 and be good for the entire Sunday.
Ricky's Fish Tacos
4006 Santa Monica Blvd. (look for the cart with the rainbow umbrella on it in from of the T-Mobile store)
Twitter: @rickysfishtacos
Seriously, this guy is off the charts. He starts off by pulling some marinated basa, a Vietnamese catfish, out of a ziploc bag and gently placing it in the oil. Halfway through the cooking, he'll puncture the already batter-developed fish so that the oil cooks the fish from the inside too. After carefully removing and draining the fish he places it on a tortilla, tops it with some cabbage, pico de gallo, perfect temperature hot sauce and crema mexicana and you're good to go. Although all his ingredients are fresh the real battle that Ricky fights is making a fish taco that is delicious but most importantly, not heavy. Aside from the temperature of the oil and the delicacy he employs cooking the fish, I really have no idea how the guy is able to make something so taty that ultimately feels so very light.
Go. Especially before the guy becomes corrupted by the Silverlake trendies who have no taste for food (or anything else for that matter) by insisting that the best food on the planet comes out of the cesspool that is the kitchen of Fred 62. I've gone two weekends in a row and already he's selling out before 4 PM. And at $2.50 a pop you can eat one meal for $10 and be good for the entire Sunday.
Ricky's Fish Tacos
4006 Santa Monica Blvd. (look for the cart with the rainbow umbrella on it in from of the T-Mobile store)
Twitter: @rickysfishtacos
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