Three and then four of us got together for two meals - could be breakfast and lunch, if you’re me, and the first meal of the day is always breakfast, or two lunches, if you can’t quite wrap your head around tacos as a breakfast food, or maybe you already had breakfast.
@Saregama, @JenKalb and I convened at Mariscos El Submarino around noon to kick off the mini-crawl with aguachile and tacos. And an array of hot sauces, which we carefully assessed as we waited for our meal.
First to hit the table, the aguachile mixto, a lime-y, salty, spicy broth full of fish, shrimp and octopus. Through some kind of sorcery, the avocado morphed into cucumber, distressing @Saregama, who is not a cuke fan.
I thought this was a solid rendition, a little too salty, and the ratio was off - too much fish (and later, too much cucumber, still trying to figure that out).
I was more impressed with the tacos, El Gobernador (shrimp in a creamy cheese sauce, folded over and fried like a quesadilla) and The Craken (octopus and cheese, not a sea monster from Clash of the Titans). The first was very interesting, like something you’d be more likely to find at a TGI Fridays (this is not a dis) than at a Mexican restaurant in Queens. The latter was simply good.
And then a walk/ride on the Q32 to Tyang Gelay’s Grill, where we met up with @DaveCook for round two. The menu had many appealing options, but we eventually settled on Pampano Sarciado (a whole fish cloaked in tomato, onion and egg); Laing minus pork (taro leaves and coconut milk, basically); Tinolang Tahong (sauteed mussels on the menu, mussels in broth on the table, with chayote, spinach and hella ginger); barbecued pork and some goat thing, neither of which I am qualified to report on, so hopefully someone else will.
I didn’t love love anything (I will say the rice smelled amazing, even though it was just plain ol’ white rice). The mussels were pleasant, and the sauce on the fish was very nice. A good meal, not a great one.
