El Pescador

I don’t think that we are alone on this – whenever we have out of town guests visiting, we basically have a go-to list of things to do and places to eat; pretty much the “don’t miss” spots in San Diego.  And as far as food goes, we always make sure to make time for El Pescador – in our opinion, the best seafood in San Diego (and believe me, we have personally taste-tested just about everything).

For some, the drive feels like a bit of a hike from downtown (20 minutes with no traffic), but don’t let that deter you, La Jolla is the perfect backdrop for a nice morning or afternoon (although my recommendation is to go earlier than later in order to avoid the horrible 5 South traffic on your way home).  Stroll by the sea, watch the seals, breathe in that fresh (and stinky) ocean air, stroll along Girard avenue (stop in Warwicks if you love paper and pens as much as I do), work up a good hunger, and then go feast on a delicious fish lunch or dinner.

El Pescador is both a seafood market in addition to a restaurant, so if you prefer, you can easily pick up any fresh fish that fancies you and bring it home.  But since you have made the drive, you might as well enjoy the fruits of their labors and have a bite to eat while you are there.  Or how about a happy compromise – eat some there, and take some home?  That really gives you the best of both worlds.

Although I would gladly suggest anything on the menu, we definitely have favorites now.  So we basically order our favorites along with a special of the day to mix it up, and that gives us a seriously fishy lunch. (But in a good way fishy.  Not like, oh, that’s fishy.  Like, ohhhhhh, that’s fishy.  You know what I mean?)

We most recently stopped by with my in-laws, and per usual, we stuffed ourselves pretty well.  We started off with their always super fresh and amazing sashimi plate and poke bowl.  The sashimi plate changes daily based off of what sushi grade fish they get in, and on the day we were there, we lucked out with some delicious salmon and tuna belly.

Oh, and of course some clam chowder, which you can never go wrong with.  Not too heavy, not too light, and always very clamy.  (Add a little bit of fresh ground pepper for that extra kick too!)

So after our delicious and satisfying sashimi and clam chowder, we were all so stuffed that we decided not to order anything else.  The End.  (Insert roaring laughter.)  Obviously by now you know me, and that was definitely not the end of our lunch, merely just the beginning.

Round two was a fish smörgåsbord of crispy grilled shrimp, an octopus sandwich, steamed mussels and clams, and the oh-so-beloved and most favoritest of all, the grilled calamari steak sandwich.  That is the one thing you must always order.  Always.  It is mind blowing amazing (especially with a good helping of fresh lemon juice on top).  You have never really had calamari until you have had this sandwich.

As you can imagine, we were stuffed.  But deliciously stuffed.  Yes, we definitely like to feast when we go to El Pescador.  However, in our defense, we did drive all the way from downtown, so it really made sense to try a bit of everything, right?  And, it’s all fish, so it’s kind of a light lunch, right again?  Well, whether you like to feast or just share a plate, trust me, El Pescador will definitely deliver and not leave you the least bit wanting.  And there is nothing fishy about that.