La Paz: Fish Tacos Before Noon, Clams After

La Paz argues about fish tacos the way other cities argue about football, and this open-air patio on Márquez de León is usually where the argument ends. Order at the register, take a number, then work the salsa bar like you mean it. The battered fish is the baseline. The smoked marlin is the reason you come back.

Named for the ballpark near the original stand, El Estadio runs on a system: pay up front, pass your ticket to the cook, then build the taco at the toppings bar. The tacos are huge, and they hand you two tortillas for a reason. Paceños eat fish in the morning, so get here before the lunch rush clears it out.

A street truck with a few tables and a couple of counters, feeding La Paz for more than twenty years. The batter is light and crisp, the tortillas are corn, and the toppings bar carries a lineup of seasoned cremas worth trying one by one. Nothing here costs much more than the cold drink next to it.

Far from the Malecón and done by half past noon, Don Rafa is a breakfast fish taco stand in the truest La Paz sense. The fish comes out of the fryer crisp and well seasoned, the condiment bar does the rest, and the bill barely registers. Go early. It's built for the neighborhood, not for visitors.

The name is a joke; the fish is not. Walk a block inland from the waterfront and you get mural-covered walls, classic rock on the screens, and a kitchen that treats the day's catch with respect. The fish tacos hold their own in a town full of them, but the move is to order past them: smoked marlin, shrimp albóndigas, octopus.

The almeja chocolata is Baja Sur's signature shellfish, named for the color of its shell and nothing else. Here they're opened to order at plastic tables on an Esterito sidewalk, enormous and very fresh. Ask what came in today, start with one dozen (two is a mistake people make), and bring your own cold beer. They encourage it.

This is where La Paz goes when the plan is seafood and a lot of it. The room is big and noisy, there's often live music, and the plates land heaped. The molcajete is the showpiece, the taco gobernador is the sleeper. Service runs on its own clock, so order a round and settle in.