Joe's Taco Lounge

photo - Yelp, Ann S.

Joe's Taco Lounge, Lunch, Mill Valley
May 28, 2016

P:
GRILLED CHICKEN  w/ spicy chipotle salsa, lettuce, cilantro & onions
AGUA FRESCA, strawberry

J:
MARINATED GRILLED FISH  Pacific snapper w/ salsa fresca, habanero mayo, cabbage & lime


Notes:
We decided to spend a day wandering around Mill Valley, and came across this taco joint on our way into town.  "Fish Tacos" was painted on the front window, and that was enough for me.*  Joe's is a curious little place with bottles of hot sauce and religious paraphernalia lining the walls, little faux-crystal chandeliers, colorful plasticized table cloths and a horseshoe-shaped bar in the center where the cashier greets all who enter.

There was only one choice for fish tacos, and I took it.  They were surprisingly good.  I love fish tacos, but for some reason I haven't found any in California worth talking about, until these.  The grilled fish was heavily seasoned, moist and flaky topped with just enough chopped cabbage and finished with salsa and a nice drizzle of spicy mayo.  We're talkin' taco harmony - hot and cold, tender and crunchy, light yet filling.  Okay, this wasn't the best fish taco I've ever had, but it's pretty good for what I've had in California, so far.

Patrick was less pleased.  The grilled chicken was heavy on the char and overbearing.  The salsa was watery and caused the tortillas to fall apart in his hands.  The chipotle salsa was nice, but couldn't save the day given everything else.

It's hard to say whether we'd go back since we don't find ourselves in Mill Valley very often.  but if we did, and I had a fish taco craving, this would be the place (and Patrick would happily order something different).


*Fish tacos were a thing in Austin, or at least, that was where I first heard of them; and I thought it sounded like one of the worst ideas, ever.  To me, tacos were crispy shells with seasoned ground beef; taco night at our house when I was a kid was a special time, and that's all I knew - crispy shells and seasoned ground beef.  And fish, well that was something you ate fried or broiled and with steamed broccoli.  It took me years before I would even try a fish taco.  But once I did (I think with the very same friend who got me to try cilantro - which I also love), I was hooked.  Grilled (not fried), seasoned fish in soft corn tortillas with some sort of crispy cabbage slaw and spicy condiment - there are endless options, and I like it all kinds of ways.  It is one of my absolute favorite things.  I feel like I say that often, but it's always true when I do.