74 THRAWER
The vertical monster, Darren Navarette
(sequence), risks serious bodily injury by
going psycho to fakie on the Vista YMCA
ramp. Now that he is riding vert again,
Jordan Richter (right) shows the finesse
that he was bom with-big frontside
ollie. Backyard pools and helmets?
Must be Andrew MacDonald (opposite
bottom-frontside blunt on his way to
first place in the Nude. Ricky Stiles
(below) waited a long time for them
to drain the Basic Pool and it paid off-
towering Andrecht in the deep end.
I flew into San Diego and was met by my fel-
low gourmands. They wanted to skate a bank,
but food comes first. My first fish taco meal
was at a hole-in-the-wall taqueria that featured
deep-fried fish sticks in a tortilla wrapper.
Disappointing. We skated the bank.
The next day, an excursion was planned
to Huntington Beach for Wahoo's fish tacos.
For breakfast, I walked to Los Dos Pedros.
Damn, another deep-fried fish stick, but these
at least had some flavor. On the way to
Wahoo's, the guys wanted to check out some
clover pool. I put my appetite in check and
went to Buddy Carr's bowl. It's kinda like the
clover at the Turf (RIP) but way better: bigger,
more open, no bogus coper rule, it's in a back-
yard that gets festive, and Bob the Gook
doesn't run the show. Burnside local
Sage was there, and I told him I was
in search for the ultimate fish taco.
He gave me a knowing wink and
said, "I'm always in search of the
perfect fish taco, That Sage knows
where it's at, plus he tore the shit
outta that bowl.
So anyway, we wind up at over
Wahoo's. It's down by the pier on
the trendy neon side of HB, but the
mahimahi tacos were elegant. A
meaty fish, mahimahi makes for the
perfect taco, and if you get the
meal deal, it includes fat portions of
rice and beans. A bottomless ico
tea to wash it down, and yer set.
We got word of a party at the Nude Bowl, so
I figured I'd give the inland fish tacos a taste.
Palm Springs is no where
near the ocean,
there were no fish tacos to be had, and Sonny
Bono was the mayor. Up at the Nude, it was
lights, cameras, beers and action! Skating and
drinking all night and past sunrise. Highlight:
an East Coaster named Bacon drinks a fifth of
vodka and cranks a padless frontside boneless
before passing out face down in the dirt. Says
Bacon, "It's all good."
Tijuana was next. Streets full of everyone try-
ing to sell you the same thing and calling you
"cabron" if you don't buy anything. All the bars
want to get you drunk and make you spend
money, and when you get drunk, you lose
your inhibitions, especially concerning food.
5-fer-$1 tacos were the call, but no fish in sight.
The style in TJ is to mix the raw meat with the
cooked meat before serving. I passed. Those
that didn't were guilty of backside bowl blasts
the next day, and I'm not talking airs. It rained,
so we couldn't skate the park.
Back in San Diego, a trip to Surf Taco was
called for. Better, but not the best, grouper ori
some kind of fish went into these. After fueling
up, a trip to the local YMCA to skate was next.
The goon wanted $10 to skate for one day.
Sorry, but I'm not down with that.
I'm down for skating the Thruster
Ramp for free with beers. I found
myself out of time, so we took a
quick trip to the South Beach Bar
and Grill for mahi and lobster tacos.
Pricey, but so good that we had to
hit the Alibi for beers to celebrate.
To make your own fish taco, get
all of your regular taco ingredients
(especially cilantro and lemon) and
grill up some fish. Try black tip
shark, mahimahi, squid or any of
your meatier fishos. Avoid fishier
fishes like salmon or trout. Oh yeah,
with fish tacos, you can sometimes
judge the quality by the smell.
75