Restaurant of the week:


I only knew it by the sign over the little blue building with the line out front. It reads, Mariscos, in big red letters painted over a shrimp who seems to be enjoying a day at the beach. The real name is either La Playita or Guillens Mariscos, but that was impossible to divine from the exterior, or extract from the guy at the counter. He was a bit impatient with my high school Spanish, and kept eyeing the growing line behind me.

There are two main categories of things on the menu - seafood cocktails including:

Octupus
Shrimp
Fish/Shrimp combo?

and Tacos/Burritos including:

Beef
Pork
Pork Skins
Brains
Beef Head
Chicken
Shrimp
Chorizo

I had two tacos, one shrimp, one pork. The pork taco was mostly meat with diced onion, chopped cilantro, and a bit of diced tomato - but not much. Everything seemed pretty fresh, and was wrapped in two corn tortillas. The burritos (ordered by my friend Seliot) differed from the tacos by being bigger, and having some rice and a little bit of beans added to the mix. Again, the burrito was mostly meat, not much in the way of filler. Each order was accompanied by a small portion of hot pickled veggies - carrots, radishes, a bit of onion and a jalapeno.

Ok ok you say how about the taste? Well, overall it was pretty darn good. Let me start by saying the tortillas were top tier and seemed pretty fresh. The pork was far better than the shrimp in my opinion. In fact, it was one of the best non sausage pig products I've had in quite a while. Tender, tasty and not greasy or gristly. The shrimp was a bit disappointing though, there wasn't quite enough of it and the taste was fairly bland. I addressed this minor shortcoming by dousing the taco with Tapatio sauce and bringing the taste to life.

Overall, it was pretty good. Cheap, tasty, quick. Not the best ever, but I'll work it into my rotation.

La Playita
3306 Lincoln Blvd
(310) 452-0090