1. San Pedro Fish Market and Restaurant. Steamed live Dungeness crabs served with mallets. Deep-fried carp. Beer sold from an ice-filled bin. And shrimp “fajitas” fried hard with garlic, peppers and onions, which you eat while you watch big freighters ease their way into the harbor. What more could you want? Berth 78, 1190 Nagoya Way, San Pedro; (310) 832-4251.

2. El Mercado. If you are a fan of Charles Ives, you may appreciate the cacophony furnished by the three mariachi bands — playing simultaneously on the three top-floor stages of this complex — as much as you do the endless bottles of cold Bohemia. 3425 E. First St.; (323) 268-3451.

3. Border Grill. Admittedly, the opportunities for chaos are fewer on the cruise-deck level of a half-billion-dollar shopping mall than they might be in a place ankle-deep in invertebrate debris, but the rock shrimp with toasted chiles are pretty fine, and the Negro Modelo just keeps on coming. 260 E. Colorado Blvd., No. 203, Pasadena, (626) 844-8988; 1445 Fourth St., Santa Monica, (310) 451-1655.

4. Cha Cha Cha. Shrimp in spicy black sauce, tropical tuneage, and about a million Red Stripes in a groovy urban palapa. 656 N. Virgil Ave.; (323) 664-7723.

5. Dal Rae. Pinky rings optional. But probably very much appreciated. 9023 Washington Blvd., Pico Rivera; (562) 949-2444.

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