Saturday, September 14, 2013

An Almejas and Ceviche Stand in Ensenada

Almeja en Concha

I kept exploring Ensenada on foot today (one just needs to walk north of that rowdy Papas & Beer place to get away from the touristy area into the real local area instead), and noticed some lady sitting at this stall on the northwest corner of Floresta and Juarez, eating some kind of seafood out of a giant clamshell. I sat down and asked for what the lady had, which was a local Pismo clam served in the shell, or almeja en concha, if I heard it correctly.

The dude thereby took out one of these big clams and opened it up, draining the juice and slicing up the clam before garnishing. And yes, that is a ketchup bottle that you see in the photo. I almost tried to get him to stop when I saw him take out the bottle, but figured that if that was the way locals did it, then I might as well try it that way too. To my surprise, the ketchup actually made it taste good without completely overpowering the fresh and firm clam underneath. I gobbled this thing down in seconds and was happily on my way. Gotta love fresh seafood.

No comments: