Connie’s Seafood Market & Restaurant

2525 Airline Drive

Drink enough michelada (beer + lime juice + hot sauce mixture) and any fried food tastes good. So, the only time you truly know that Connie’s knows its food is just before the first gulp of their incredible michelada. Not even the fun, loud and sometimes annoying mariachi band touring the restaurant will distract from the michelada.

The michelada: Cold beer mug, rimmed with salt, holding what looks like two or three tablespoons of hot sauce and lime at the bottom. Pour cerveza over the sauce and you’ll find yourself addicted. Fortunately, on your way out, you can buy a bottle of the special Connie’s michelada mixture (sans lime) to bring home and impress friends.

Not everything on the menu should be tried. Avoid the ketchup tasting seafood cocktail, the bland gulf coast oysters, and the fish fiet. Though the michelada can block out how bad these items taste, you might not have gulped down enough before its therapeutic effects take hold.

Instead, go for the golden-brown fried shrimp (order by the pound). Or, try the whole fish prepared any way you want including the very buttery and rich scampi preparation. You can choose from red fish, red snapper, catfish and tilapia. For the grilled preparation, splurge on the red snapper. For the fried preparation, go with something hardy and that won’t dry out too fast—like the catfish.

Whatever you order, make sure you have their chicken or pork fried rice. It comes prepared exactly the same way a Chinese restaurant prepares fried rice, with soy sauce and bean sprouts. For some reason, this Mexican seafood restaurant serves better fried rice than most Chinese restaurants.

When seafood inspirations hit and budgets are restricted, there might not be a better place for ocean food—provided you order the michelada.