La Calle Doce opened on September 15, 1981, in a renovated house on West 12th Street in Oak Cliff. Oscar and Laura Sanchez ran it, and they served Mexican seafood at a time when most people in Dallas ordered a cheese enchilada plate and called it a night. That was 45 years ago last week. The house is still there. So is the fish soup.
The anniversary happens to fall on the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month, which gives anyone looking for an excuse a pretty good one.
Oscar had spent about 20 years working in other people’s kitchens before he opened his own. Laura grew up in Monterrey, where her father raised chickens, and over the years she became the one keeping the business on track. The family went on to open El Ranchito on Jefferson Boulevard, and in 1999 they added a second La Calle Doce on Skillman Street in Lakewood.
If you only go to one, go to the original at 415 W. 12th St. It’s an old Craftsman house with a handful of small dining rooms and a courtyard out back. Wherever they seat you, it feels a lot more like eating at somebody’s house than at a restaurant.
Most tables start with the ceviche. The menu calls it “Acapulco’s Pride,” fish and shrimp cooked in lime with tomato, onion and cilantro. It’s simple and very good.
The Vuelve a la Vida is the one to know about. It’s a seafood cocktail with oysters, shrimp, scallops and octopus in a spicy house sauce, and the name means “come back to life.” Order one the morning after a late night and see for yourself.
The aguachile de camarón comes with a spicy cucumber and jicama slaw. The campechana puts oysters and shrimp in the same glass. And if you want something hot off the grill, get the queso azteca, a piece of grilled panela cheese with a spicy tomatillo-avocado sauce and corn tortillas.
Every seafood entrée comes with a cup of sopa de pescado, a cod stew with tomato, onion, potato and cilantro in the style of Tampico. It arrives with the meal without anyone asking for it.
For the main course, the pescado a la parrilla is grilled catfish marinated in the house spices. The al mojo de ajo is snapper or shrimp cooked in garlic butter, and you’ll smell it coming from across the room. A la Veracruzana is snapper, shrimp or a whole fried tilapia with peppers, tomatoes, olives and baby corn. There’s also a chile relleno de mariscos stuffed with seafood in a creamy cheese sauce, and a parrillada de mariscos big enough to share.
My favorite line on the menu is under the camarón a la diabla. You choose your sauce by country. Mexicano gets you an extra-hot chipotle sauce. American gets you sweet-and-sour barbecue. I’ll leave that decision to you.
If someone at the table doesn’t eat seafood, they’ll be fine. There are enchiladas verdes, chicken flautas with avocado sauce, fajitas, and a list of numbered lunch plates. The tacos callejeros, four small tacos with beans, seared panela and beef fajita, are worth ordering even if you came for the fish.
For dessert, get Laura’s flan. It has her name on it for a reason.
A lot of seafood places have opened in Dallas since 1981, and plenty of them have closed. La Calle Doce stayed on 12th Street the whole time, while Bishop Arts grew into one of the busiest restaurant neighborhoods in the city a few blocks away. Forty-five years in the same old house, still bringing out that cup of soup, is a pretty good run.
La Calle Doce is at 415 W. 12th St. in Oak Cliff and 1925 Skillman St. in Lakewood. Both are open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The menu and location details are on the restaurant’s website. The restaurant suggests making a reservation.
