Oct. 16--Old Town's Buzz Bait Taqueria is a fish taco specialist with, curiously, ties to deep-dish pizza: The concept is a collaboration between sushi restaurant Kamehachi and local pizza chain Lou Malnati's.
My relationship with deep dish pizza remains complicated, one that has evolved from an outright ugh, I hate this to a detente. That said, Kamehachi is Chicago's best-known sushi bar and a company with considerable seafood sourcing prowess, and that's what Buzz Bait is about: The menu, featuring Baja-style battered fish, crispy shrimp paired with avocado and cans of Modelo Especial, looks like it was lifted from an oceanside taco shack north of San Diego.
Some flavor pairings are muddled -- I didn't care for the cloyingly sweet BBQ salmon taco -- but others present interesting combinations. Blackened mahi mahi is glazed with a peanut sauce reminiscent of Malaysian satay. In the poke taco, the pink cubes of tuna are bright and tender with the creamy guacamole.
But there's a reason why I scooped these onto a tortilla chip instead of eating the tortilla as served. Unlike the ones I've encountered down the Southern California coast, the tacos at Buzz Bait are large enough to be unwieldy. At $8-10 for orders of two, these might be better served in a smaller, handheld-friendly size, three to an order.
Still, dividing the same amount of food into three smaller tacos wouldn't solve the problem that in the end, it's too much. Everything here feels thick, from the cut of the cabbage to the Sapporo batter on the Alaskan cod. Flour tortillas feel extra dense, to the point where they almost hold their shape when folded over. There are no set rules when it comes to fish tacos, but generally speaking, Baja taquerias favor corn tortillas -- their softer texture plays into the lightness of the fish.
A feeling of heaviness set in after only two tacos; at a Baja joint, I can down at least six. I resorted to using a fork and knife.
But of course. It was obvious from the start. This is the deep-dish pizza of fish tacos.
kpang@tribpub.com
Twitter @pang
Buzz Bait Taqueria
1529 N. Wells St.
312-664-2899
buzzbaitchicago.com
Open 4-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m Sunday
