There’s something about spring in Tucson that makes desert dwellers long for ocean breezes and the simple pleasure of eating seafood fresh from the ocean.
Tucsonans by the hundreds — maybe even by the thousands — flock to San Diego and Rocky Point to sit on the patios of beachfront restaurants that serve all manner of fresh seafood delights.
We won’t be making those trips just yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy all our coastal favorites. Here are five seafood classics we can get in Tucson that remind us of traveling to the ocean.
Crispy’s Fish and Chips is known for its fish fry but also has hush puppies, cornbites and fried pickles.
736 E. Fort Lowell Road, 622-5111; crispysfishnchips.com
- Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily
- When you’re in the mood for fish and chips: Nothing says fish fry more than crispy, golden brown, flaky cod served with a side of coleslaw and fries. The folks at Crispy’s have been rocking the fish and chips since opening day in early 2015 when the father-son team of Mario and Amer Duqmaq dropped anchor at the old Daggwood Café and started frying up dry-battered cod and fries.
The menu, under new owners Hector Lorona and Raphael Lara, who bought the restaurant two years ago, has expanded to include catfish, which Lorona said is really popular in Tucson. Crispy’s takes its lead from traditional Southern style fried catfish that is dredged in cornmeal. Also on the menu, hush puppies, cornbites — deep-fried cream of corn — and fried pickles.
The distinctive neon sign at Kingfisher Bar and Grill, 2564 E. Grant Road, the place to go when you’re in the mood for oysters.
2564 E. Grant Road, 323-7739; kingfishertucson.com
- Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays
- When you’re in the mood for oysters: They bring in farm-raised oysters from the Gulf of Mexico, Baja and the Pacific Northwest several times a week to keep up with demand that runs between 200 and 500 a day. In pre-COVID times, demand was higher when people were allowed to sit at the bar and order them during happy hour. Surprisingly, chef-owner Jeff Azersky said, customers have been ordering oysters to go since the pandemic protocols and restrictions have been in place. Kingfisher, which Azersky owns and runs with fellow chef Jim “Murph” Murphy, has been doing oysters justice since they opened 27 years ago. Azersky recalls taking a road trip to Oregon and Washington State with his wife before they opened the restaurant to seek out oyster purveyors.
“I like the Pacific Northwest oysters, cold water, kinda briny oysters,” he said. “Maryland and Delaware oysters tend to be softer, sweeter in flavor and texture. The interesting thing about oysters is there are so many different varieties of oysters particularly in the Northwest. They can be markedly different.”
Which is why Kingfisher has a number of suppliers and serves a variety of oysters including one of Azerksy’s favorites, Kumiai farmed in a cold water lagoon on the Baja California Peninsula. Kingfisher serves its oysters mostly raw on the half-shell, which is the way Azersky prefers them.
“You just take in the liquor … and slide them into your mouth, sit for a moment and swallow it,” he said.
Pure Poke and Prep will open a second location in Oro Valley by the end of the year.
6501 E. Grant Road, 829-7669; purepokeprep.com
- Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily
- When you’re in the mood for Hawaiian poke: Having launched seven months ago amid a sometimes-unforgiving pandemic with its supply chain disruptions, capacity restrictions and the like, Pure Poke & Prep’s owner Greystone LaPoint is looking forward to better days ahead.
“I am really excited to get back to normalcy,” said LaPoint, a veteran of the food service industry. “To have a traditional Friday night in a restaurant with a dining room full of people, I didn’t realize that was something I would miss.”
Despite the circumstances, LaPoint said Pure Poke has been running smoothly, with a growing number of customers coming in for generous bowls of cubed tuna, salmon and other protein sources from the sea bathed in the restaurant’s menu of signature marinades.
LaPoint said his top selling flavors have been the Momo Mayo, which he describes as a super amped-up, extra spicy, extra rich mayo sauce and Kahuku, a traditional poke marinade with sesame oil, sweet soy and fresh ginger, that pays homage to poke’s Hawaiian origins and LaPoint’s first exposure to the island treat.
Scoops of tuna and salmon are splayed out on beds of rice, noodles or greens, with the customer’s choice of toppings ready to complement the dish; everything from green onions to ginger to sweet potatoes.
“My culinary compadres were skeptical about sweet potatoes in a poke bowl, but I was pretty confident that they would work,” LaPoint said.
LaPoint said he is ready to see what Pure Poke can do on full throttle.
“Right now, we are growing at a nice steady pace,” he said.
The Fundido Marisquero, a mix of parmesan, feta and mozzarella on mariscos al Josper, can be found at El Berraco, 2960 N. First Ave., in Tucson, Ariz.
2960 N. First Ave., 620-9828; el-berraco.com
- Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursdays, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays
- When you’re in the mood for Latin American fusion: You won’t find the brunt of El Berraco’s menu items at any other restaurant in town.
Owner Benjamin Galaz, together with his executive chef, Claudia López Búrquez, strived to create original seafood dishes for the restaurant that touched on cuisine from countries like Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica and Chile, but were distinctly their own.
Among the offerings is El Berraco’s octopus entree, grilled in a Josper charcoal oven with mesquite to give it that Southwest flavor.
La Catedral is a stacked sampler of scallops, octopus, tuna, shrimp and more, topped with fried octopus tentacles at El Berraco.
The restaurant’s signature dish is known as La Catedral (The Cathedral), a stacked sampler of scallops, shrimp, octopus, tuna, avocado, mango and pineapple.
“Each layer is a different flavor,” Galaz said. “People like to share this dish.”
El Berraco, which carries a nautical theme right down to the submarine schematics on the walls, is a far cry from Galaz’s other venture, the wildly popular BK Carne Asada & Hot Dogs with locations on North First Avenue and South 12th Avenue.
Galaz first launched El Berraco in 2016. A world traveler, he enjoyed seeing what new and interesting concepts he could find in the cities he visited.
“A lot of restaurants in Tucson that serve seafood have used the same recipes for 30, 40 years and never change them,” he said. “We wanted to offer something different.”
Galaz said El Berraco is just starting to get back on its feet. It stayed closed for seven months during the pandemic, and it has taken some time to retrain staff and get back into the swing of things.
He said the idea has always been to use the Tucson restaurant as a prototype.
“I want to open the next one in Miami,” he said. “When I started dreaming about this project, I knew I wanted to have it next to the beach. We also want to see locations in Scottsdale, Chicago, New York.”
Andre Jefferson of Dre’s Seafood and BBQ is known to whip up New Orleans-style seafood right here in the Old Pueblo.
Dre’s Seafood & BBQ
Food trailer, 477-1115; tucne.ws/1h47
- When you’re in the mood for a seafood boil: Andre Jefferson may have grown up in Tucson, but he cooks crab, shrimp and crawfish like he’s straight out of Southern Louisiana.
His food trailer, Dre’s Seafood & BBQ offers a rotating selection of New Orleans-style seafood dishes, among dedicated “Arizona barbecue” plates like brisket sandwiches and pulled pork quesadillas.
A Tucson native who grew up in the city’s food service industry, Jefferson first became interested in New Orleans after taking a trip there about five years ago.
Dre’s Seafood and BBQ serves up bags of boiled shrimp, crab and crawfish, cajun-spiced corn and butter red potatoes.
A true foodie, Jefferson went to sample some of its famous regional cuisine.
He based his visit on restaurants featured in the Guy Fieri Food Network series, “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”
“(Guy) likes to go to places that you’ve never heard of,” Jefferson said. “Places that aren’t commercially popular. That is where you get the good food.”
He modeled his seafood offerings after the food he tasted on that trip, putting an emphasis on the intense flavors of the region.
Boiled shrimp, crab and crawfish, accompanied by sausage, corn dressed in Cajun spices, and butter red potatoes, are available in individual sizes, all the way up to party trays, that can feed a family of eight.
Customers can pick their heat level, from mild garlic butter to Carolina Reaper.
“I want to make sure people taste all of the flavors,” Jefferson said. “I am heavy on seasoning. I want you to taste it and know I put love into it.
You can find Dre’s Seafood & BBQ at regular spots all over town, including Arizona Beer House on Tucson’s east side, Total Wine on North Oracle Road, and across from the Joel D. Valdez Main Library downtown. Jefferson also offers meals for pick-up. Keep tabs on the food trailer at tucne.ws/1h47.
The dining room is full nautical, with blue ambient light and several replica diving helmets at El Berraco, 2960 N. First Ave.
Cook Jeffery Barriga hands a customer their order at Crispy’s Fish and Chips, 736 E. Fort Lowell Road.
Kingfisher Bar & Grill prides itself on offering a variety of oysters from the Gulf of Mexico, Baja and the Pacific Northwest.
El Berraco, 2960 N. First Ave., in Tucson is owned by Benjamin Galaz, who also runs BK Carne Asada & Hot Dogs.
El Berraco looks to separate itself from the competition with unique menu items such as El Tombito — a marlin and cheese taco on a tortilla with la verde and ahogo de chipotle salsas.
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