We love to search out new local restaurants to try. Over the past few weeks, I have seen several Facebook posts with special offers from a restaurant named Lapa Lapa. The restaurant is just north of downtown on the corner of Zaragoza and 20th of November and has its own parking lot at the back. Beth and I went to try some of the items on their lunch and dinner menu. It has a large indoor dining room, and the NFL was playing on their big screen television.

Our server, Paco came over and introduced himself and gave us the menu, which has a large selection of appetizers, ceviche, sashimi, aguachiles, tostadas, tacos, a great selection of seafood items – fish, shrimp, tuna, surf and turf – as well as non-seafood options – pasta, hamburgers, ribs, fajitas, steaks and more. Paco brought us some tortilla chips and a tuna cream dip and took our drink orders. We ordered some guacamole to start. I wanted to try a few different things and ordered the tuna sashimi and a shrimp cocktail. Beth ordered the chicken fajitas with flour tortillas.

The guacamole came in a stone bowl and was a great combination of avocado, tomato and onion with tortilla chips and chicharron. A small bowl of spicy salsa was also provided if we wanted to give it some kick. It was very good. My platter of tuna sashimi was very large with about a dozen pieces of tuna with cucumbers, onions and a little spice in the sauce. The shrimp cocktail was full of small shrimp mixed with tomatoes, onions and cucumber – hot sauce was offered if I wanted to spice it up. It was served in a large margarita glass and was delicious. In fact, I took about half of each home and had them for dinner.

Beth’s chicken fajitas were served in a unique tray with a lit sterno can below it and had a great combination of chicken and vegetables. It was also served with rice and refried beans. She filled up the flour tortillas with the chicken, vegetables and guacamole and enjoyed several very much. At the end of the meal, Paco brought us each a small shot glass of mezcal with jamaica that was sweet and refreshing. He said that it was great in helping with digestion after a meal.