Ron Bechtol
The shrimp tower at Aguachile is worth its hefty price of over $22.
Octopus is at the top of the menu at Aguachile Seafood in San Antonio.
If you’re a fan of whole octopus, you’ll have to shell out more than $70 for each of the five varieties offered at the Mexican seafood restaurant. That’s certainly a local price record for a cuisine that many people think of as tacos.
Octopus are also controversial. Their growing popularity in the US has led to proposals to set up octopus farms. This has sparked opposition from those who argue that the cephalopod is such an intelligent and charismatic creature that it deserves special protection. Farms are already banned in Washington state, and the movement is gaining momentum nationwide.
However, when the octopus is cut up, as in the delicious seafood mix that fills Aguachiles Caldo de Mariscos, it’s easier to plead ignorance and simply enjoy the tender pieces.
The soup’s rusty broth also contains squid rings, chunks of abalone, scallops, meaty mussels and shrimp. The flavor intensifies even more at low tide. Consider the caldo a harbinger of the abundance to come on the menu.
Even a simple tostada de camaron cocido at Aguachile, flanked by chile-dusted cucumbers and avocado slices, seems over the top. Whole shrimp, dressed with spicy mayonnaise, crown a bed of chopped shellfish, which in turn sits on two deliciously crispy tostadas enclosing a layer of simple mayonnaise.
Everything is too big to pick up and too hard to cut with a fork to eat easily. Still, the mess is worth it in the end. Don’t worry about finishing it if you order too much. Guilty as charged.
A michelada, served in a heavy schooner with a heavily crusted rim, seems appropriate at this point. It’s accompanied by a bottle of beer of your choice—in this case, Pacifico—dipped headfirst into the spicy brew. Pulling it out without making an extra mess is half the fun, and there’s some beer left over to top it up when the level drops. There’s also a Tajin-crusted stick stuck in the glass to increase the spice level as needed. You can and should do this while enjoying occasional musical interludes from wandering troubadours.
It is purely a matter of luck whether a seafood dish Toweror tower, is worth the $22-plus it costs. I say yes—at least this one time. It’s basically repackaged shrimp aguachile packed into a cylindrical shape and molded out on the plate. Surrounded by a moat of salsa verde—roja and negra are other options—it’s both impressive and fun, not to mention highly Instagrammable.
The geologically layered cooked shrimp rise above a mixture of chopped onions and cucumbers that hides some raw shrimp “cooked” by the aguachile’s lime. You’ll probably want to use the house-packaged tostadas as spoons to deconstruct the dish.
The molcas and molcajetes near Aguachile are impressive.
The difference between molcas and molcajetes at Aguachile seems to be size and price. The former start at nearly $20 and the latter, which serves four people, tops out at $40. At $19.65, the molcacampechana is a reasonable introduction to the category.
Supported by more jagged cucumbers, the seafood mix contains cooked and chili-marinated shrimp, squid, abalone and surimi, the colored fish that U.S. marketers call “crab.”
Fortunately, the fake crab dissolves into pieces in the salsa negra – an umami-rich Sinaloa sauce made from soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Jugo Maggi and chilies. picosa enough, the salsa helped make it a favorite when spooned onto several of the toasted tortillas.
Other offerings at Aguachile include tacos, tortas, fried seafood, and even fajitas and burritos. Oh, and hamburger with everything from beef to chicken to shrimp as the centerpiece.
Personally, given the price of most seafood, I would prefer a more stripped down menu, but the owners clearly know their market. As the evening progressed and the noise level increased, the place slowly filled up with families.
Fortunately, it was a friendly sound.
Aguachile Seafood
2123 Culebra Road | (210) 276-0302 | Sunday to Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m. | $9–$70
Best bets: Caldos, Tostadas, Seafood Towers, Molcajetes
The facts: Aguachile lacks the obvious decorative charm of a family- and tourist-friendly restaurant like Mi Tierra, but it makes up for it with a similar noise level and an almost too-extensive seafood-heavy menu. Although it’s expensive compared to less ambitious Mexican restaurants, visually impressive offerings like layered seafood towers and brimming bowls of seafood chowder justify the price. The heavy stone molcajetes filled with everything from abalone to octopus are also worth their weight. For those who care more about the food than the form, plates are available, some of which feature house-cured fish.
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