Rubio's Baja Grill

The greatly self-celebrated history of Rubio's Baja Grill starts with San Diego State student Ralph Rubio going to San Felipe for spring break in the mid 70's.

In San Felipe, "baja grills" were common along the streets at the time, selling fish tacos. Ralph Rubio fell in love with one of these vendor's style. He tried to convince the cook, Carlos, to come back to the states and open a restaurant with him, but Carlos was unmoved. He did give Ralph Rubio his recipe, however.

Ralph Rubio then returned to San Diego and played with the recipe, until a few years later, in 1983, when he was forced to abandon his surfer lifestyle and become a responsible citizen. He took over a tiny stand in San Diego, and started his first "Rubio's", selling the fish tacos.

Rubio's rapidly became a favorite in the area, and became a chain spanning the length of California, even extending as far east as Arizona. The menu has expanded to include steak and chicken, as well as shrimp and lobster tacos and burritos.

All of the historical information presented above has been assembled from various Rubio's promotional materials, and therefore should be taken as advertisement at best. However, from personal experience, I can say that as a fish hater, I find Rubio's fish tacos to be amazingly edible. Of course, having an ice chest at the front of the counter with a selection of beers prominently displayed makes exploring new foods much more comfortable.