Quick Bite: Mariscos La Costa, Oakland
The open-air former burger stand feels like an urban approximation of a seafood cocktel palapa on the Jalisco/Nayarit coast. Forget the crash of waves: Lunch here is likely to be accompanied by the sound of subwoofer-jacked bass tracks rattling license plates in the perpetually jammed parking lot. Tostada de ceviche camaron y pulpo—a rustic mess of shrimp and chewy octopus on a crisp fried tortilla—is just as lively. Those purple tentacles are everywhere: in the spiced-up, thinned-down tomato juice cocktail (topped with avocado and a raw oyster) called agua chile, and in Campechana, a slurpable cocktel with raw shrimp and a blast of lime and oregano. Take a pass on anything containing crab. Like the bootleg DVDs hawked by the guy bussing tables, it’s fake. —John Birdsall
Mariscos La Costa. 3625 International Blvd. (at 36th Ave.), Oakland. 510-533-9566.
on April 3, 2009 on 1:19 pm
oh I just love this place.