El Siete Mares

On our third day in Los Angeles (I know, I'm bouncing all over the place), we arrived in a hung-over state (this was already becoming a habit) to a place where Dave likes to grab some fish tacos. And I know, just then, that me saying the phrase "fish tacos" made my husband snicker as he read this. And he's probably not even sorry.

The place is El Siete Mares ("the Seven Seas") on Sunset. We could have eaten outside at the taco stand next door, but we went inside. The place is really small, and there was only one other family there. They were spread across two booths, and we took a table near them, next to two biggish Mexican teenagers wearing basketball jerseys, who were each enjoying their second coctele -- a huge goblet with cold shrimp in a kind of ceviche sauce.

They gave us two salsas, plus chips. Both were very good, and one was very hot -- though we never quite figured out which one was giving us the heat. David and Chris both tried the variety of hot sauces that were available on the table, but I stopped entering this pee-pee contest years ago. I don't really enjoy the extreme heat, so I don't play. One of the basketballer teenagers and I both watched intently as David lifted the hottest of the sauces to his mouth on a chip. He didn't die, but he proclaimed it to be quite hot, indeed. And being the owner of -- at one count by me in 2002 -- 32 different bottles of habanero hot sauce, I assume he isn't kidding.

This was day three of the guacamole bender that I was on (the first day of which was at El Compadre, and the second day of which I have yet to blog about), so we had to order that. It came in the large mortar bowl that fresh guac usually comes in at a restaurant. It was very good! Better than that of El Compadre, I must admit... But I thought it was a bit strange that they stand some chips upright in the dip -- chips which are not as tasty as the ones you get with your salsa. Odd. (I also have a small prejudice against things which stand bolt upright on my plate, however, such as the time I received a leg of lamb that was standing at attention in a bowl before me. Different story.)

Anyway, the fish tacos hit the spot, and didn't have too much sauce on them. Just enough. They had shredded cabbage, and I really liked the batter they were fried in. Chris said they weren't his favorite ones that he'd ever had (meaning he liked the ones at Baja Fresh better), but I was very pleased. Perhaps it should be mentioned that I was also more hung-over.

I gorged myself so much on the guac, that I had to eat the contents of the tacos with a fork and leave the tortillas. Then, I took my leftovers home in the large bags I had under my eyes that day. Convenient.



David took that with his camera phone, which I'm beginning to think may be essential for a food blogger like me...

For more on El Siete Mares, here is another blogger's take, including the opinion that I've read elsewhere that they really should serve real crab instead of the pressed, fake kind. This blogger enjoyed the foods we had and enjoyed that day (the guac and the tacos), but he had some other beefs with the place. I would really recommend the place based on my experience there, however, and especially if you're ordering the things I had. It seems like a great place to eat outside, too.