At least a couple of days every week, Ralph Rubio straps on an apron and steps into Rubio’s Restaurants’ test kitchen on Yarrow Drive to do what he believes he does best —- innovate.
Rubio didn’t invent the fish taco —- a beachside snack he discovered on a 1974 camping trip in San Felipe, Mexico —- but over the past 29 years he has continuously tweaked the recipe and built a brand that has made San Diego synonymous with the fish taco.
These days, the 56-year-old La Jolla entrepreneur is spending a lot of time in the kitchen as he works with the Carlsbad chain’s culinary team on a blizzard of new menu items that are, in his words, “lighter, brighter and fresher.”