El Camaron Loco

There are very few dishes on El Camaron Loco's menu that don't include shrimp. You'll find the pudgy pink specimens in the enchiladas and chiles rellenos; plunged into soups sharpened with lime; sauced with poblano chiles; tangling with jalapenos and folded into housemade corn tortillas; paved with melted cheese; or sharing space on a huge platter crowded with octopus, crab legs and fresh oysters. But if you look around the dining room of this Mexican seafood shack on Federal (our favorite of the three metro locations), almost everyone is tucking into a huge goblet of shrimp cocktail. Swamped with a landmine of shellfish bobbing in a soupy tomato broth livened with cilantro leaves and onions, it comes to your table crowned with half crescents of avocado and accoutrements (lime wedges, ketchup and more than a half-dozen bottled hot sauces) that you can mix and match to amplify the flavor. The server also delivers a bag of Saltines and tostada chips, which you can use to scoop up the tasty little crustaceans.