When it comes to finding new places to eat in Mexico City, we’ve learned not to be too quick to judge a place by its looks. A very good example of this is Mariscos Frescos del Mar, a hole in the wall we had passed without noticing many times before. When a good friend recommended it, we couldn’t even place it on a map, though we know the street it’s on very well.
When we found the small seafood restaurant on the busy street of República de Uruguay in the downtown area, we thought we had the wrong place. The tables and chairs looked run-down; the small kitchen where a couple of big pots of stew were boiling looked a bit dingy – not all that inspiring when it comes to a place serving seafood.
Hesitantly, we sat down and looked over the menu. When we saw frog legs were on it, we realized that, in fact, this was the place our friend had recommended. Frog was more commonly found in restaurants in the D.F. some years ago but seems to have fallen out of favor more recently. We asked what the best item on the menu was, and were told by an older gentleman with a very kind face that everything was fresh and good, but what customers liked the most were the frog legs and breaded shrimp. He said that all the frogs come from Michoacán, where there’s a breeding center, and pointed out that the Plato Especial had both the frog and the shrimp, plus octopus cooked in its own ink and jaiba guisada, crab cooked in a tomato sauce. We ordered that dish to try a little bit of everything.
It only took one bite to realize why our friend had so unreservedly recommended this place. We had never tried frog legs before, and though we couldn’t compare its taste with anything we had eaten before – not even chicken, as many people say – we agreed that they were very good (they were breaded and deep-fried, which never hurts). However, our favorites were the octopus, which was perfectly seasoned and cooked, and the crab.
The plato especial whetted our appetite – and curiosity. We looked at the menu again and decided to get a scallop cocktail – served with fresh avocado and olive oil – and a caldo de jaiba, a kind of crab soup that is seasoned with chilis and spices. We learned that the guy behind the counter’s name was Salvador Ruela, Jr., the current owner. We were enjoying our dishes so much that he served us two seafood tostadas on the house – delicious!
Mariscos Frescos del Mar has been serving seafood and frog legs at the same location for more than 70 years. Salvador Ruela, the original founder, was originally from the state of Jalisco. He started the business in 1942, and the same recipes that he served his first customers are served today. Salvador Jr. told us that his father passed away earlier this year at the age of 102, but that he and his family keep his father’s recipes and way of doing business and will continue to do so as long as people keep coming back. The recipes and décor are not the only things that have remained unchanged over the years; the cooks and wait staff have stuck around too. Miguel, the cook who currently has been there the longest, started working there in the late 1970s.
They know a good thing when they see it. And now, so do we.
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