Gypsy Jan
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How Fish Tacos Crossed The Border
From KPBS
By Adrian Florido
"SAN FELIPE, Baja California, Mex. - In the 1970s, Ralph Rubio and a bunch of college friends from San Diego State University took a camping trip to
a small Baja California beach town called San Felipe.
In the 1970s, Ralph Rubio and friends from San Diego State University went camping in a small Baja California beach town. This is event would become
the catalyst for popularizing the fish taco.
They ate fish tacos morning, noon and night. And one day, Rubio approached a man working at one of his favorite taco stands.
"His name was Carlos, an older gentleman. I asked him what goes in the beer batter," Rubio said. "He told me oregano, mustard, garlic salt, black
pepper, salt. I wrote down the ingredients and I carried it around with me for years."
When Rubio decided to open his first restaurant near a San Diego beach a few years later, that recipe, after some experimenting with ingredient
proportions, would be the gold mine that's allowed the Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill to become a 195-restaurant chain.
Rubio's was not the first San Diego restaurant to serve a fish taco, but it's generally credited with popularizing it and turning it into one of the
region's favorite fast foods.
On a recent morning, a Rubio's employee dropped a few strips of battered fish into a deep fryer, then wrapped it in a corn tortilla and topped it with
cabbage, tomato, onion and cream sauce.
Rubio said as the restaurant chain's menu and recipes have evolved to more than 50 items since 1983, but the fish taco is the one item that hasn't
changed.
"We kept it as authentic as possible," he said.
It's hard to imagine that San Felipe - a scorching, dusty speck of a town perched on the coast of the Sea of Cortez about four hours south of San
Diego - could have been the inspiration for the fish taco's explosion north of the border.
But stroll the boardwalk and allow Alejandra Sanchez to lure you into El Guero seafood restaurant, and any doubt melts away with the first bite.
Sanchez said she'd never heard of Rubio's or its story, but said many Americans visit the restaurant, and after tasting the tacos, ask for the batter
recipe.
"We give it to them," she said. "And sometimes they come back and I ask how they turned out. Some of them say delicious, others, not so good. They
didn't get the proportions right."
Cook Gloria Camacho said she gives her batter recipe out too, but never the exact recipe. It's a business, after all.
"We're glad they were able to take something good from San Felipe to the other side of the border. It helps promote us, and make us famous," Sanchez
said.
Back in San Diego, Geoff Northrop was certainly happy about that as well. He was eating two fish tacos at Rubio's after a morning swim.
"And it's good for you!" he said, between bites. "It's not high cholesterol, like hamburgers."
Indeed, recently fish tacos have been marketed as health food. Rubio said that as health consciousness continues to becomes a more important part of
Americans' food consumption habits, that's a message they plan to bank on.
"It's just a delicious, fresh light way to eat, which is what American consumers are gravitating to. So it's a good thing," Rubio said."
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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spikemd
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I can't wait to taste some authentic fish tacos in San Felipe and Gonzaga bay in two weeks. I definitely like Rubios, but they are commercial.
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bajagrouper
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"And it's good for you!" he said, between bites. "It's not high cholesterol, like hamburgers."
Indeed, recently fish tacos have been marketed as health food. Rubio said that as health consciousness continues to becomes a more important part of
Americans' food consumption habits, that's a message they plan to bank on."
Lets see, small piece of fish dipped in beer batter and deep fried and served on a corn tortilla...sounds real healthy to me,LOL
look at Rubios website and see how healthy they are:
http://www.rubios.com/nutrition/
300 calories each,150 cal.from fat,17 grams of fat and over 450MG of salt...
[Edited on 10-18-2013 by bajagrouper]
I hear the whales song
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Barry A.
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My absolute first "Fish Taco" was at RUBIO'S in the huge shopping mall in Mission Valley (San Diego) many many years ago-----------and I had been
travelling in Baja CA since the early '50's-----who knew??? 
Barry
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CortezBlue
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That was an ad placed by a PR company to promote Rubio's. I agree, with Barry, I am sure that there have been many small Mexican restaurants in So
Cal and AZ that sold authentic fish tacos before Rubio was born.
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55steve
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I'm sure Rubio's and many other gringo fish taco joints are using Asian farm raised tilapia (yuck) for their standard fish taco.
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Barry A.
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| Quote: | Originally posted by 55steve
I'm sure Rubio's and many other gringo fish taco joints are using Asian farm raised tilapia (yuck) for their standard fish taco.
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All I know, or really care about, is that they are yummy!!!! north or south of the Border.
Barry
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David K
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Why are you sure? Ever been to Wahoo's?
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DENNIS
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It's the lard. It ain't the fish, or the batter...not even the corn tortilla or the watered down mayo. It's the lard in which they're cooked.
Lard makes them YUMMY.
Does anyone believe Rubio's cooks with lard?
"YOU CAN'T LITTER ALUMINUM"
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