Las Olas has served Baja-style Mexican food on Encinitas's Cardiff-by-the-Sea Restaurant Row since 1981, anchoring the South Coast Highway 101 stretch that overlooks San Elijo Lagoon. The kitchen built its reputation on the beer-battered Alaskan cod fish taco — corn tortilla, yogurt salsa, cabbage — a preparation the executive chef has refined since joining the operation in 1991, establishing Las Olas as the fish-taco anchor on a Restaurant Row corridor that also includes Cicciotti's Trattoria Italiana. Beyond tacos, the menu reaches into Puerto Nuevo-style lobster, flame-broiled chile rellenos, and chilitos — batter-fried jalapeños with melted cheese — drawing from coastal Mexican traditions south of Tijuana. The palapa-style cantina bar anchors a tequila program and custom-blended margaritas, adding a full-bar dimension to the Cardiff-by-the-Sea restaurants scene that extends south toward Cardiff State Beach and sit-down operations like Best Pizza & Brew. Seafood enchilada platters combine shrimp and scallops under a single roasted-chile sauce, and the Puerto Nuevo lobster preparation splits a whole tail with drawn butter, rice, and beans in the Baja port-town tradition.