When considering what food Ensenada is most known for, it’s a toss-up between its famous fish tacos and its loaded seafood tostadas, aka tostadas de mariscos. These are things of beauties: a crispy-fried tortilla topped with all manner of fresh, often raw, local seafood. Yes, tostadas de ceviche. Creamy sea urchin and clam. Scallop with sea snail. Octopus, shrimp, mussel, fish, pata de mula (black clam)—you name it, you can find it atop a tostada.
These are popular in some seafood restaurants, but you can most famously eat this, and eat it very well, on the street in Ensenada.
Where: Thanks in part to its appearance on No Reservations—during which Anthony Bourdain called it “shockingly good” and “Le Bernardin-quality seafood in the street”—La Guerrerense Carreta (Av Adolfo López Mateos 917, Ensenada, map) is the most well-known spot for this. It lives up to its hype. This family-owned mariscos cart, started back in 1960 by Alberto Oviedo and his wife, Celia Carranza, has incredible fresh seafood available as tostadas, ceviches, cocteles, and more; it’s also famed for its many creative salsas. La Guerrerense won multiple awards for its tostadas over the years, including at the LA Street Food Fest and Singapore’s World Street Food Congress.
The founders’ son, the late Eduardo Oviedo, and his wife, Sabina Bandera, took over the business eventually, but it’s Doña Sabina who’s credited with taking La Guerrerense to the next level (and developing those salsas, growing some of the chiles herself). Incredibly, she learned everything about seafood from her in-laws; she hails from Guerrero and worked in agriculture previously (source). She and her sons still work at the cart, as well as at the brick-and-mortar restaurant across the street that opened in 2016, called Sabina.
Helpfully, this cart has its menu clearly displayed in both Spanish and English. It is cash only.
When: The cart is open Wed-Mon, 10:30am-5pm. Look for the crowd—it’s always there—but know that the line moves fast.
Order: You truly can’t go wrong here (view the menu here). We loved the shrimp ceviche and the octopus ceviche tostadas, and the ceviche de pescado (which was tuna) two ways: Baja-style, with soy sauce in the marinade, and Guerrerense, which uses orange juice instead. All were delicious, and just the perfect combination of crunchy texture and citrusy fresh seafood flavor. All of these simple, sencilla, tostadas cost 40-45 pesos apiece and involve seafood spread pretty flat atop the tostada. You can (and should) ask for avocado on top—it’s free, but you won’t get it on these basic tostadas unless you request it.
On the advice of staff, we also tried the award-winning Singapur (pictured), aka ensalada de jaiba con camaron, pulpo y callo (crab salad with shrimp, octopus, and scallops). This was likewise wonderful, if harder to eat, with its generous hunks of scallop on top, drizzled with chile sauce. The special tostadas are extra loaded (and cost 160 pesos), so you may need to eat some of the toppings off first.
For any tostada, make good use of the garnishes and salsa station—there are so many options all made by Doña Sabina herself, from habanero chile with lime or mango to chiles with various nuts … be warned they all run pretty hot! (You can purchase jars as well for 130 pesos.) We loved the salsa de chile seco con limón (dried chiles with lime) with the mild green avocado sauce.
Also available are cocteles with various seafood and conchas, clams and oysters served singly in their shells. If you tip the staff (and you should!), everyone will cheer a little!
Alternatively: You could try the same family’s Michelin-rated restaurant steps away, Sabina (Av Adolfo López Mateos 917, map), where the menu includes the same seafood tostadas and cocteles and adds tacos, pozoles, chilaquiles, and more. El Gϋero is another longtime (est. 1981) favorite cart on the same street (Alvarado near Hwy 1, map); look for the blue-and-yellow sign and uniforms (and the crowd of eaters!). They also sell seafood tostadas, although we tried (and enjoyed) a coctel clasico (with shrimp, octopus, and clam) and some chocolata clams with the works (avocado, tomato, cucumber).
