The Mariscos of Chula Vista

We start off today in search of Mariscos in Chula Vista. Mariscos is the Spanish word for seafood. In the process we will walk from the H St Trolley Station in Chula Vista to the Palomar St Trolley Station. As usual we take the San Diego Trolley from downtown heading toward Tijuana. That would be the Blue Line. Don't take the Orange Line by mistake. This will be an excercise in photojournalism as much as anything else.

We get off in Chula Vista at the H St station and then head east on H St for a couple blocks. Before long we come to Broadway and on the northwest corner of H and Broadway we encounter our first Mariscos restaurant , the Agave Grill. For those who don't like Mexican food, there's a Jack in the Box next door.

On the southeast corner of H St and Broadway is  a major shopping center,the Chula Vista Shopping Center. We turn right onto Broadway and continue walking.

If you get thirsty along the way, you might consider stopping at the Lion's Den for a quick, cold one.

 

Pretty soon you come to Sofa City:

Zero $ down. You can't beat that! or if you're in the market for a wedding dress, they have some good ones for a very reasonable price at the Veterans Thrift Store. By the way click on any picture to see a larger version of it.

Pretty soon you'll cross L St. Just stay straight on Broadway and pretty soon the Mariscos willl be coming hot and heavy.

Next you'll come to La Nena Mexican Restaurant. Although they don't advertise Mariscos on the exterior, I'll bet they have them there in this very appealing building on the east side of Broadway. I like the exterior color scheme on this restaurant, But I wish that old blue van wasn't parked there!

The next restaurant is Karina's where the sub-title is Mexican Seafood Cuisine. Karina's has a very nice cabana area on the side where one can sit and lounge the affternoon away over a couple of beers. On the day I was there, there were a few Mexican men doing just that as shown in the next photo:

Now as you can see this man was clearly reaching out and waving to the camera. After I took the picture, he called me over and complained that I had taken his picture. I said I wasn't taking his picture. I was just taking pictures of the restaurant for my blog.  He didn't seem to know what a blog was so I said, "You know, the internet?" After all, if he hadn't wanted his picture taken, he could have just ducked his head. But instead he obviously is trying to assert his presence as much as he can. He insisted that what I was doing was "F**ked Up." I wondered if he was part of the Mexican Mafia or something. I took one more picture of the pretty poster on the side of the wall:

It sure would be nice to while away the afternoon here at Karina's putting away a few Coronas while rubbing elbows with the Mexican Mafia. A few days later Felix Arellano, the biggest drug kingpin in all of Mexico, was arrested in his boat while fishing in international waters off the coast of Baja California and brought back to San Diego. In his perp picture in the paper, he looked something like the guy in my picture. I fantasied that my spotting him and taking his picture had contributed to the FBI being able to track him down. It sure was about the biggest drug bust you could possibly make.

Next down the road is Baja Lobster where you can dance nightly. What more do you want? On Viernes (I think that's Thursday) they're having the group Atrevidos. It might be helpful to learn Spanish if you wanted to patronize this club.

Further down Broadway you'll pass the Bodega Market right next to Godfather Pizza where you can get all you want to eat for $6.49. No doggie bags though or they'll breaka you facea!

On the right you'll pass another major shopping center - Broadway Plaza - anchored by a Wal-Mart and a Big Lots. They even have a Starbucks. On the left you'll see a Ritmo Latin Store. I have no idea what type of merchandise they have there, but it looks like a nice store. I hope it's not affiliated with Gitmo.

Finally, we reach the corner of Palomar St where we hang a right to head back to the Palomar St Trolley Station. Before we do, we notice that on the northeast corner of the intersection, there's a Japanese fast food drive through by the name of Yoshanoya. Now that's something you don't see every day! This  may be the flagship location for Japanese fast food! On our way back to the trolley we notice on our right a Home Town Buffet within easy walking distance from the trolley. So if you're not in the mood for Mariscos, take the trolley some night to Home Town Buffet.

Finally, we reach the trolley station:

There's a Food for Less right across from the trolley station for those who want to take the trolley to do their shopping. Now that's very convenient.

We board the trolley going north bound for Old Town and get off downtown at 5th and C.