FAMILY FARE: MARISCOS MIGUEL : Hooked on Fish : The ambience is simple, but the Mexican seafood is exquisitely prepared and seasoned.

Everyone seems to know about La Super Rica, the taqueria on Milpas Street in Santa Barbara where Julia Child likes to eat. A much better-kept secret is Mariscos Miguel, and a lot of people would like to keep it that way. Not me.

Located up on the Mesa, in the only remodeled stretch of Cliff Drive, Mariscos Miguel is small and modest to the point of funkiness. Plastic-covered pink tablecloths and Santa Fe prints on the wall can’t disguise the coffee-shop origins of the place. The long, low counter and tables with vinyl booths must have seen thousands of cups of coffee.

The owner, Miguel Gonzales, has cooked for some of Santa Barbara’s finest restaurants, including El Encanto, but now serves up the kind of food he himself likes best: wonderful Mexican dishes, especially seafood.

Often you’ll see him waiting on tables. He has a sweet face with a worried look that makes you want to take him home to your mother--except that his own mother is right there in the kitchen.

A word of warning: Don’t fill up on the endless supply of crisp tortilla chips. I ate a whole basketful trying to decide whether I preferred the red salsa with its subtle blend of herbs or the green salsa, which was tart and slightly lemony. A third salsa is hot enough to make tears slide down your face.

The first dish I fell in love with at Mariscos Miguel was tostadas de ceviche (an appetizer or perfect light lunch at $3). Pieces of fish, marinated in citrus juice, with chunks of tomato, cilantro and cabbage were just tart enough to make the crisp tostada seem sweet.

Another great appetizer was shrimp quesadillas --tiny shrimp sauteed in onions and herbs, tucked into corn tortillas and fried. Chunky fresh salsa and sauteed whole green onions came on the side.

The menu offers tamales, chile s rellenos , sopas, enchiladas and a nice homey, tender bistec in tomato-chili sauce, but it’s the seafood dishes that make this restaurant a special treat. Pescado alla Gonzalez was a fish-on-fish dish: fresh halibut sauteed with tiny shrimp and served in an exquisite lemony salsa de una butter. Mahi mahi, crisp on one side and tender on the other, came with a cilantro-butter sauce, as well as homemade tomato salsa and a fabulous fruit salsa concocted from julienne slices of melon, papaya, jicama and perhaps mint. I loved it.

Tacos Mariscos Miguel was another dish with an inspired blend of flavors resulting from a fairly simple combination of fish, peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, wonderful herbs, chopped cabbage and fresh tortillas. The tamales we had were homemade, thick and moist, with tiny bits of shredded chicken and chilies. The sweet pineapple tamale would have made a better dessert than the flan.

Breakfasts at Mariscos Miguel include American dishes--pancakes, French toast, omelets. But I would go for the chile verde omelet. It’s filled with cheese and covered with a succulent green chili sauce.

* WHERE AND WHEN: Mariscos Miguel, 1812 Cliff Drive, Unit C, Santa Barbara, (805) 687-7783. Breakfast and lunch 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Dinner 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Monday. Wine and beer. Cash only. Dinner for two, food only, $11 to $32.