Casa de Los Mariscos Delivers Tasty Seafood

Local favorite delivers some seafood dishes a little better than others

 For 17 years, The Casa de Los Mariscos in Weslaco has provided what Mid-Valley residents want from the ocean. Located just off Texas Boulevard on Pike street, the eatery offers a pocket of economic vitality in a downtown that badly needs it, while the city’s development frenetically continues along the highway. With Mexico playing Argentina on Saturday, the Casa de Los Mariscos was only half-full, with about seventy people in the restaurant’s three rooms. Large families, a couple of moms with babies in high chairs, and small groups of friends hunkered down around starched linen-covered tables, demonstrating far more interest in their food than in soccer. A dozen uniformed waiters bustled among them, maintaining an atmosphere that is professional, if not almost fancy. But their lingering in the kitchen was probably a sign that the true soccer fans were in the back of the house watching tube.
    May’s specials were still listed on the menus: sopa de mariscos ($7.49), 12 oysters on the half shell ($7.99), jumbo fried shrimp ($9.99), shrimp and fajita ($8.49) or a whole fried snapper ($11.99).
    I ordered the sopa de marisco (seafood soup) and the snapper. A friend went with the fried shrimp. Both meals were preceded by a generous serving of caldo, a full eight-ounce cup of milky seafood broth swimming with fish and shrimp. With small pieces of octopus and squid, and a little chili for zest, the soup was exquisite. My snapper was less so. Perhaps it was my fault for requesting it al mojo de ajo —sautéed in garlic and butter — when the menu listed breaded or fried as the specials of the day. When you order something off the menu, you don’t always get what you hope for.
   What came to the table were two whole, red snappers nestled in an aluminum foil boat — a style of delivery that unfortunately was necessary to contain the loads of butter the fish had been drenched in.   
    The jumbo fried shrimp were better. Large, lightly dipped in batter, and piping hot, the shrimp were fresh if not inspired. Thick-cut French fries accompanying both plates could have been hotter. Both plates came with South Texas standards —rice, white bread and a small salad, topped with the usual, but unimaginative, shreds of yellow cheese. There’s plenty of reasons why La Casa de Mariscos has such a strong following, with dishes like their soup and fried shrimp prepared to perfection. But with an unpredictable delivery, and a wait staff that seems to emphasize the word wait (at least on this World Cup day), the local buzz about La Casa place is a little bit like fishermen stories of the one that got away.