La Calaca Loca Taqueria
5199 Telegraph Ave. [Map]
Oakland, CA 94609
Ph: (510) 601-8226
Hours: Sun-Mon, 11am-8pm; Tue-Fri, 11am-9pm; Sat, 9am-9pm; Sun, 9am-8pm

Cholita Linda fried fish taco (Kim Westerman)

Cholita Linda began as a stand at local farmers' markets, serving only a few taco choices and some aguas frescas, and is now also a brick-and-mortar Mexican/Cuban restaurant in Temescal that serves one of the best fried fish tacos in town. While the fish is tilapia, it’s a huge chunk, lightly battered and flash-fried, tucked into a La Finca tortilla and smothered in slaw and topped off with cilantro and crema. The sauce of choice is a salsa roja, a creamy, tomato-based chile sauce that is the secret recipe of the owner’s mother. For good measure, there’s habanero sauce on the table.

Cholita Linda
4923 Telegraph Ave. [Map]
Oakland, CA 94609
Ph: (510) 594-7610
Hours: Mon-Sat, 11am-10pm; Closed Sun
Price range: $ fish tacos ($3.50)
Facebook: Cholita Linda
Twitter: @EatCholitaLinda
Instagram: cholita_linda

The East Bay’s best fried fish taco at Cosecha in Old Oakland (Kim Westerman)

Cosecha Café, in Old Oakland’s Swan’s Marketplace, only serves fish tacos on Tuesdays and Thursdays at lunch and Monday through Thursday at dinner, but it’s worth the wait at lunch for mid-week taco bliss to stand in line for the best fried fish tacos around. Made from local cod, beer-battered and fried, tucked into a homemade corn tortilla with butter lettuce, pickled onion, and a mild, creamy chile sauce, this is the best overall fried fish taco I found. The homemade tortilla and pickled onion tipped the scale.

Cosecha Café
907 Washington St. [Map]
Oakland, CA 94607
Ph: (510) 452-5900
Hours: Mon-Wed, 11am-3:30pm and 4:30-8:30pm; Thu-Fri, 11am-3:30pm and 5-9:30pm; Sat, 10:30am-3:30pm and 5-9:30pm; closed Sun
Price range: $$ 2 fish tacos with beans and avocado ($11.50)
Twitter: @cosechacafe
Instagram: cosechacafe

The Wood-Fired Fish Taco

The East Bay’s best fish taco: wood-grilled local cod at Comal in downtown Berkeley (Kim Westerman)

The best fish taco of all, in my not-so-humble estimation, is Comal’s wood-grilled local cod. The fish is delivered daily, and the grilled preparation infuses a bit of smokiness without obscuring the fish’s delicate, buttery flavor. I could eat the homemade tortillas by the stack. The fish tacos come two to an order and are topped with a mildly spicy slaw made from cabbage, carrot, radish, cilantro, and red bell pepper, topped with avocado aioli. Tart, house-pickled carrots and jalapenos come on the side. Put this plate next to the house margarita and you’ve got a perfect meal. Don’t forget to splash on a little homemade habanero salsa.

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