Arguably, the best and tastiest fish tacos in Northwest Florida can be found at Javier’s Mexican Grill, at 1414 Main Street in downtown Chipley, Florida.
National Fish Taco Day is annually celebrated on January 25, and we are getting prepped to enjoy all the yummy goodness they offer. Tacos are the Mexican version of a sandwich, made with a tortilla to wrap it. The idea of putting fish in a taco was once unusual outside of San Diego in the U.S. Today, one can find fish tacos on Mexican and non-Mexican restaurant menus worldwide. Fish tacos are delicious snack meals that can be enjoyed at any time of the day. On Fish Taco Day, many restaurants offer discounted or free fish tacos.
Fish tacos consist of lightly battered mild white fish that is deep-fried. It is then served in a corn tortilla. The tortilla is filled with shredded cabbage, sour cream or mayonnaise sauce, and salsa with lime. It has a long history as popular street food throughout Mexico’s Baja peninsula due to its closeness to the ocean. Legend has it that the owner of a local taco shop in the Pacific coastal beach town of San Felipe wrapped some battered fresh fish fillets in a warm, toasted tortilla, and topped it with spicy, creamy mayo sauce. And that was how fish tacos were born!
It is not certain who invented the fish taco in Mexico, but it was Ralph Rubio who did it in the U.S. Back in his college days, while on spring break from San Diego State University, he and his friends traveled to San Filipe in Baja. Rubio fell in love with the tasty fish tacos sold on the beach.
In 1983, with the help of his family, he opened the first Rubio’s Coastal Grill near the beach in San Diego. It was a small, walk-up taco stand in Mission Bay, and it first sold the famous beer-battered Original Fish Taco. Recognizing how much fish tacos mean to him, Rubio created National Fish Taco Day to coincide with the day his grill was first opened — January 25.
