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Clamato's: Seafood makes a standout

By Wendy Miller Contributing Restaurant Critic

A few years is a respectable, if tragically short, lifespan for any restaurant these days. Clamato's, near the corner of Versailles Road and Alexandria Drive, has already made it to five years. (A second ­location was briefly open in the spot at East Main Street and Ashland Avenue, formerly and currently occupied by Furlong's, but we won't count that.) The Mexican eatery's specialty remains mariscos, or seafood, and ­Clamato's longevity is probably best explained by this niche focus, and attention to detail, rather than simply delivering the city's three most familiar dimensions in mainstream ”Tex-Mex“: sugar, salt and fat.

For instance, unless you have a good excuse, it would be a shame not to start with Clamato's margaritas, surely some of Lexington's best: bright with lime, not too sweet and generous with tequila.

Of course, these are perfect with chips, but make sure the chips are hot and fresh; ask nicely, but send back any basket of cool and slightly stale ones. And, although the spicy house salsa also has great chunkiness and depth, it never hurts to ask for salsa picante, for extra zest and heat. By comparison, an accompanying order of guacamole ($3.75) seemed bland, needing more cilantro and lime.

Speaking of small courses, you could make a lunch out of soft tacos: carne al pastor, savory bits of grilled pork with lettuce and cheese ($1.50); and shredded (more like stewed) chicken ($1.50). Both would be improved, however, if those ubiquitous, cardboard-like flour tortillas were replaced by flavorful fragrant ones made of masa, the Mexican cornmeal dough.

Entrees include yellow rice and creamy frijoles. Spice-phobic vegetarians might enjoy the mild chiles rellenos ($8.50) in a ranchero sauce, and for salt-lovers, the diced pork verde ($6.75 at lunch) in a green sauce (much tempered when wrapped in a tortilla with lettuce) would do nicely.

But nothing tops Clamato's signature seafood, whether it's a platter of enchiladas Delmar ($8.99) stuffed with shrimp and scallops, or tender garlic shrimp ($11.75), butterflied and lightly breaded, with the perfect dose of garlic.

Just snacking? Don't miss the consistently wonderful seafood tostada: a crunchy corn tortilla with shrimp and octopus ($3.50) sprinkled with cilantro, minced white onion, diced tomato and a spritz of lime juice. It's light and close to perfection.

There is nothing wrong with an order of six grilled oysters ($7.25) either, napped in a rich, smoky and subtly layered chipotle sauce. (It comes with cheese, but that sounded gross, so we requested they leave it off.)

Finally, the fact that Clamato's succeeds with the Hispanic community of Cardinal Valley, versus exclusively with Lexington's dominant Gringoland, confers an extra seal of approval in my book.

Dinner for three, including those zesty margaritas, was about $66. Lunch for two with one margarita was $16.