I first encountered these extraordinary little creations in Ensenada during a road trip down the Baja coast in the 1970s, and I simply couldn't stop eating them. The fish is dipped in a light, crispy beer batter — the kind that shatters into a thousand golden flakes, and then nestled into a warm corn tortilla with shredded cabbage for crunch, a drizzle of crema, and a squeeze of lime that makes everything sing. The simplicity is deceptive, because each component must be perfect. The fish must be pristine, the batter gossamer-light, and the salsa made minutes before serving.

If you've ever stood on a street corner in Mexico City at midnight, watching a taquero shave glistening pork off a vertical spit while a chunk of pineapple caramelizes on top, you understand why al pastor is one of the greatest things humans have ever invented. It's Lebanese shawarma meets Mexican ingenuity, a beautiful collision of cultures on a tiny corn tortilla. The char on the meat, the sweet hit of pineapple, raw onion, cilantro, a squeeze of lime. That's it. That's perfection. Don't overthink it.