By the Secret Diner –
From my last review, did you figure out which brewery Mrs. Secret Diner and I visited? We were at Bright Spark Brewing, 4561 Market Street., Ventura. Do give them a try. Tell them The Secret Diner sent you.
Now for my latest review – can you figure out where we ate dinner?
On a recent Saturday morning, Mrs. Diner and I sipped coffee and contemplated our next secret mission. We started naming breakfast spots, batting them back and forth. We’d slept in, though, the morning waning; eggs and toast would be no match for these hungers. Something heartier and perhaps fried was in order.
We refreshed our coffee and took steaming cups out onto the balcony. Sea salt was in the air, the sun warm, winds calm. Remember that taco shack, by the beach we like? Down the block from the brewery? I think there is a Thai place, too. Yes! We always say we are going to try it, and we haven’t yet. Let’s go.
Firsts are significant. Everyone remembers their first kiss. First impressions stick. I no longer smoke, but when I did, I coveted the first drag of the first cigarette of the day. The first sip of coffee in the morning is the best sip. Firsts’ stick to our memory, nostalgia the glue.
Our first beach day upon moving to California was spent on a wedge of sand between two rock jetties at the end of a spoke coming off the 101. It’s taken me a while to put that article “the” in front of freeway names. Perhaps, I’m starting to assimilate. At any rate, that beach day stands as a key formative experience of our California experiment. We have a favorite bar in that neighborhood. I may be making this up, but on that first visit, I remember a dolphin leaping, silhouetted against the setting sun. When family visits, we take them to this beach, a way of saying, look, we are OK. And now, we have a favorite taco shack there.
Parking can be scarce near this place especially on a sunny Saturday, but we scored a spot on the street. It may be my parallel parking skills that finally wooed Mrs. Diner. A family of four dismounted their bikes and entered the small restaurant ahead of us. The dining room is tiny, and the six of us nearly filled it.
The decor inside is nautical, but hardly cliche. I expected Quint, from Jaws, to step out from the kitchen and recommend the chowder. There are three, four-top tables and one, two-top in the main dining room. On a covered porch, there is a bank of mismatched bar stools against a narrow bar looking out onto the alley. Mrs. Diner and I sat at this bar.
We didn’t need to consult the menu board above the counter as we’d eagerly pursued the choices online before arriving. We ordered a lot:
* Chips and Salsa (made to order!)
* One papa taco
* One scallop garlic taco
* One hardshell, beef taco
* Crispy soft shell crab and chips
* Rice and beans
* To drink, we chose hydration over hair-of-the-dog. Horchata. Squirt soda.
It’s difficult to choose the star dish. We won’t ever return without ordering the scallop taco. On our server’s recommendation, we went with the flour tortilla. The crab was briny and crisp. Dipped in their house-made sauce, it was a perfect bite. Perhaps, like us, you’ve never considered potato as a taco option. If so, you are sleeping on this delight – a seasoned mash with cabbage and tomato. Try it with their crisp, parmesan shell.
We were given small containers of a variety of salsas – varying degrees of heat. The orange and red were hottest and my favorite. Mrs. Diner doused her tacos with the green.
We ate every morsel, not a crumb survived, then wadded up a pile of used napkins, placed them in empty food baskets, and bussed our table. On the way out we thanked the staff and promised to return.
We walked down the block and sat on a concrete wall by the beach. We took off our shoes and buried our toes in the sand. Who would have ever thought, Mrs. Diner said, that we would be living here now. A busker strummed an out of tune guitar. A few folks gathered to listen, dropped wrinkled bills in his case. Waves built and tumbled. We waited for a dolphin who never leaped.
In each issue of the Ventura Breeze newspaper, Mrs. Secret Diner and I review a local eatery – can you guess where we ate these delicious tacos? Put on your detective cap and check the next review, when all will be revealed!
