The story
On the Upper West Side, El Fish Marisqueria brings a clear focus: Mexican-inspired seafood. The restaurant earned a Michelin Recommended distinction for 2026, a nod to the precise cooking and thoughtful sourcing that define the kitchen.
The menu is the result of Chef Julian Medina’s travels to Ensenada, Mexico’s fishing capital. He visited fish and farmers’ markets there, finding ingredients to evolve both new and traditional dishes from the region. The cooking is direct: raw bar platters with oysters, clams, and lobster aguachile; tostadas topped with yellowfin tuna and black truffle salsa macha; a whole fried boneless black bass with garlic-chili sauce. The seafood focus is clear, but the kitchen also turns out a dry-aged prime NY strip fajita with sea urchin butter.
The space itself is 1,500 square feet, semi-divided by a brick arched wall. One side holds the 60-seat dining room and oyster bar; the other, a 15-seat cocktail bar. The design is coastal without being precious—calming blues and pale greens, mahogany and brass at the vintage bar, blue sea-inspired tiles and plants throughout. It feels like a place that knows exactly what it is.
Chef Medina and restaurateur Louis Skibar opened El Fish Marisqueria to bring this specific kind of Mexican seafood to the neighborhood. It works. The cooking is confident, the room is comfortable, and the recognition from Michelin confirms what regulars already know.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
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