we had an HO dinner at Mariscos Submarino last night. We ordered a mess of food much of which, to my unrefined palate, tasted the same except for spiciness level. Having said that, I loved every single thing, thought the raw fish impeccably fresh, well cut, the grilled shrimp fabulous and there was a fun vibe to the room. the only thing better than the fish was breaking tostadas with my fellow HOers again.
thanks to @Dean for another great recommendation, @SteveR for the heavy lifting herding us towards a place/date and @DaveCook for figuring out the perfect ordering strategy. Hopefully when Dave has a break from his food adventures heâll have time to post photos.
best,
p.s. my wife called it five star cuisine in one star ambience at an incredible price point. For some reason the plastic utensils and sauce soaking through the paper plates bothered her, things I didnât even notice. Such is the nature of our marriage
âPerfect ordering strategyâ? Iâm not sure I deserve that much credit, since the flavors of much that we ordered (at my instigation) tended, after a few mouthfuls, to blend one into the other. But the camarones zarandeados were indeed fabulous, surpassed only by the company. More photos to come, by and by.
dave, no, I think thatâs just how their menu works. over time, if I can get my wife to set foot in the place again, Iâd guess weâll come to understand the subtle differences between the various dishes.
Sounds great! Didnt I read that the chefs opened another place in Greenpoint? Could that have affected the taste variety, or maybe they are just cooking from a wonderful but limited flavor palette? Anyway Iâm still waiting for my chance to visit this spot, hopefully later this summer.
I really liked this place. I went up to the counter with Dave and, while looking at their written menu, listened to him order quite a few different things that were supposedly prepared differently. However, other than the shrimp pictured above, the one beef taco & the one pulpo taco, the 2 different mixed seafood in green âsauceâ dishes, and the glass full of seafood in red âsauceâ, the other dishes tasted exactly the same to me except for what seafood was in them. I cant figure out how much more ânuancedâ my palate would need to be in order to discern much difference among most of these dishes. That was perfectly fine, as the seafood was the point not the really good marinade(s?) that âcookedâ it. I really want to see the pictures of these dishes as Iâm sure that will make clear what nuances they each contained. Bottom line: never have I had so many pieces of fresh tasty seafood (w/beers) and paid $40pp, including an over 25% tip.
I also really liked the place. I had no idea what I was eating except if it was shrimp. There was a pulpo taco? I think I may have missed that (maybe it was one of the mystery meat tostadas)? I could have lived without those, though honestly, Iâm not sure I tried both, and if I did, I took a teeny bite because there were six of us!
But all the seafood dishes (to me they did seem different, though I didnât know what they were then and certainly donât now) were mostly delish. The weird shrimp coctail (coctele?) eaten with a cracker like a saltine (but doesnât get soggy immediately) was a little on the sweet side to me, but I grew fonder of it as dinner went on, as it was balm after some of the spiciest dishes.
There was a big aquachile in a seriously huge molcajete that was green and not so spicy. Dave said that the fish in this would continue to âcook,â but I forgot to grab fish again from this pot to compare (so I have to go back, right?). There were two tostadas with green sauce (as @SteveR suggested), but Iâm not even sure it was exactly the same sauce on both. In any case the fish was different for sure (sorry again donât know what any of it was). But there was one with a beige sauce and little ribbons of fish (maybe there were some shrimp on it when it first arrived). Anyway, this may have been my favorite thing on the table.
I think Mrs. @vinouspleasureâs description is spot on! The bathroom was gross. The food seriously good. Thanks to all who made this happen.
an interesting point about not knowing the type if fish we were eating. at their price point, itâs probably not chilean sea bass and, had I known what they use, I might have turned my considerable nose up at the prospect of eating what was probably the cheapest fish available at market.
still, it was delicious and we havent gotten sick (yet)
It was literally a thick piece of octopus tentacle inside a soft taco shell. I had a small piece as it went by. Tender, fresh but nothing to write home (or here) about.
A Sicaria tostado, with ceviches of shrimp and fish, plus octopus, bathed in an aguachile. As I recall ths was the hottest dish we ordered (you might know that a sicario/a is a hired assassin).
Beneath the surface, this aguachile verde also featured shrimp (both raw and cooked), fish, and octopus, but generally cut broader and flatter that for the tostadas or the ceviche. I didnât fish out a sample for a photo.
The shrimp cocktail was on the sweet side â often they are prepared with orange juice, ideally recently squeezed, and best tempered with saltines â but the flavor of the cocktail liquid lacked the complexity of that at nearby La Esquina del CamarĂłn Mexicano. (Alas, La Esquina is closed for what I hope are brief renovations.)
The Chaparrita torre (âshorty towerâ) crowns fish, octupus, shrimp, and avocado with breaded shrimp. In retrospect, this is a dish that we might have split two ways, or three at a stretch, rather than splitting one tower six ways. Next time Iâd want a bite of that warm camarĂłn empanizado togther with the uncooked ingredients.
these look pretty delicious! I am wondering whether maybe bitter oranges, or other oranges on the tart side would work better in that coctel? from what you wrote about La Esquina, it seemed important to choose the right oranges.
That is indeed a photo by Dean, of the aguachile negro, from his earlier lunch with Kay and me. For some reason, even though the dish was untouched at this point, the liquid level is much lower and the seafood much more apparent than in the aguachile verde from our later group dinner.
