“I’ve been a professional chef for 44 years. My specialty is French food,” Mercado said. “My favorite food to eat is Cajun food, which is like a marriage of French and African cuisine.”
Mercado opened Cajun Fish Grill in 2024. He co-owns the business with his wife and two sons.
On the menu
The menu boasts Cajun cuisine staples including a variety of blackened fish filets, jambalaya, étouffée and more.
Top selling menu items are fried catfish, the fried shrimp po’ boy and the Tricky Fish, which is a grilled blackened catfish served over rice and topped with crawfish étouffée.
Mercado believes the combination of catfish sourced from Louisiana and his secret recipe for the cornmeal-based batter as being the reason their fried catfish holds the number one spot.
If customers would like something other than Cajun-seasoned seafood, a variety of options including grilled salmon, grouper, red snapper and more can be made with garlic butter. Non-seafood items include grilled or fried chicken and burgers.
Mercado creates recipes for all menu items.
“Everything is made from scratch,” Mercado said. “The tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, clam chowder, crawfish chowder, shrimp gumbo—everything is from scratch.”
What else?
Prior to Cajun Fish Grill, Mercado owned and operated a seafood restaurant in Las Vegas for seven years. He and his wife relocated to McKinney to be closer to their children and grandchildren.
Alan Mercado, one of Miguel Mercado’s sons, often runs the restaurant’s cash register. He said he noticed a recent uptick in customers driving cars with Florida license plates. The Floridians often voice surprise that Cajun Fish Grill sells grouper, which is more commonly served in Florida than Texas, he said.
The Mercados, who hope to relocate to a more visible location within five years, are grateful for their large number of repeat customers.
“There's a guy that always comes in—his name is Troy—he came on the first day we opened to try us out,” Alan Mercado said. “He's still coming and bringing friends and family. He always posts [on social media] and we appreciate him for that.”
- 2960 Eldorado Parkway, Ste. 5, McKinney
- www.cajunfishgrill.com
