Restaurante La Bocatoma - Gomez Farias, Tamulipas

Let's see, what qualities do you value in a restaurant? If you value: a) Fresh, fresh, did I say, beyond fresh... fish, b) Fantastic scenery, c) A hard to find, and a hard to get to location, and finally, d) Fresh fish? If you answered "yes" to the aforementioned questions, then I have the perfect restaurant for you, as Restaurant De Mariscos, La Bocatoma, located north of the small town of Gómez-Farías, meets all of the aforementioned qualifications.

Photo: From Mexico Federal Highway 85, the sign says the distance to the restaurant is only 2 km, but in reality, it's a lot more than that. Perhaps they're using "country kilometers?"

Photo: We're at the restaurant - or are we? - and we see the sign, but Jerry is wandering the dirt road looking for the restaurant. It's well hidden in the lush semi-tropical forest that thrives in this part of the country, due to the abundant rainfall. Actually, the restaurant is located in the distance, the opposite way Jerry is walking.

Yes, Restaurante La Bocatoma is hard to find, as they're located off Highway 85, about 50 km south of Cd. Victoria, and the restaurant is accessed via a dirt road. La Bocatoma is located in a resort area are on the banks of the Río Frío, and its surrounded by campgrounds and cabins. The sign from the highway says its only 2 km to La Bocatoma, but that's taking the expression of a "country mile" to the extreme, as the distance from the highway to Bocatoma, along the dirt road has got to be at least 5 km, but if you're in search of a meal of the freshest fish that you can acquire on planet Earth, then your journey will be rewarded.

Restaurant La Bocatoma is located under a thatched-roofed palapa, on a bluff overlooking the beautiful Río Frío. It has a large, open dining room in one end, and a wannabe bar and kitchen in at the far end of the building. As we approached the building, the place appeared to be closed, as there were no customers and the palapa seemed totally deserted. I forgot to mentioned that there was a huge fiesta taking place at one of the ranches, and it seemed that all of Bocatoma's customers had forsaken the restaurant in order to attend the festivities. Anyway, we walked around the building and were greeted by a guy who enthusiastically let us know that they were opened for business. He also called into the kitchen and out came a young lady, who would prove to be our cook and waitress.

Photo: La Bocatoma lies under a thatched palapa. As the climate in this part of the state of Tamaulipas is semi-tropical, dining outside is a pleasure, and the shady roof will protect you from the sometimes hot sun, and the heavy downpours of rain. It's early Friday evening, September 26, 2006, and Rodolfo, Jerry and I are the only customers at Restaurante La Bocatoma.

Photo: La Bocatoma's dining room is open to the gentle elements of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains.

Photo: Rodolfo and one of the maintenance guys inspect the crawdad tanks, located in back of the restaurant. Yes, the seafood is as fresh as it gets, as you pick out your fish from the tanks, or the lake.

Photo: These guys were swimming in one of the tanks, but we passed on them for dinner, as they're Koi. I've never eaten koi before, but they're goldfish, or colored carp, so they'd definitely work for a meal. We instead chose to enjoy small mouth bass and crawdads.

Photo: Our fish catcher guy is holding one of the fresh crawdads that we'll be enjoying for tonight's dinner. Seafood doesn't get any fresher than this! Note the size of this crawdad, as it's the size of a small lobster. All of the crawdads we enjoyed for dinner were large like this one.

Restaurante La Bocatoma features the freshest fish that I've ever had the pleasure to eat at a restaurant. Unlike other restaurants, you will not see a freezer, and you'll find very little cold storage. How do they do it? The guy takes you behind the restaurant, where there are several tanks full of live fish, lobsters and crawdads. You pick the fish you want, agree on a price, and the guy scoops the fish out of the tank with a net, and carries the fish to the kitchen where it is immediately killed, cleaned and cooked. This was an entirely new format for me! In our case, we chose a couple of fish that appeared to be small mouth bass, and a bunch of crawdads, with a couple of fresh water lobsters thrown in for good measure.

Another very interesting feature about Restaurante La Bocatoma is that they do not have electricity. All the drinks are kept in an ice chest, the vegetables are purchased fresh daily from local vendors, and the fish is kept live in tanks behind the restaurant. Since we were the only customers that evening, they didn't bother to drag out the kerosene lamps they usually use for illumination; instead, the staff rigged up a 12-volt light bulb to an auto battery to provide light for us to eat our meal. The kitchen was dark, and it appeared to be illuminated only by the propane burners. Truly, a fascinating operation.

Photo: Here's the back side of La Bocatoma's kitchen, as the kitchen helper guy, also the fish catcher, is ready to get down to business in netting our dinner from the tanks and the pond behind the restaurant. You know you're going to enjoy fresh fish for dinner!

Photo: A portion of our dinner, literally, in this man's hands. We picked out the fish we liked, and he scooped them out of the pond with a net, and brought them into the kitchen to be killed, filleted, and deep fried for our dinner.

Naturally Jerry and I had to explore the kitchen and watch Maudy, our cook and waitress, hard at work. She had several propane burners going, cooking fish, fries, and rice in pots and saucepans. She would stir the pots a bit, and turn around and face the table behind her, where she was slicing tomatoes, onions and limes. I asked her where La Bocatoma got the vegetables and she told me that they grew some of them, but mostly they had local produce guys drop off vegetable every day before the restaurant opened. Talk about fresh food!

Photo: The kitchen is separated from the dining room by a large, open room, that seems to be used, while the restaurant is busy, as a place to prepare salsa. The restaurant wasn't busy tonight, so our chef, Maudy, was able to fry fish, cut up vegetables, and do everything else by herself. My friend Jerry is busy taking photos, just like I am...

Photo: Maudy is in the process of deep frying our crawdads in the kitchen of Restaurante La Bocatoma. After the crawdads were killed, she rolled them in flour and deep fried them in a pan of hot oil. The crawdads are not "gutted" like regular fish, as you eat everything. Maudy was the only staff member in the kitchen, and she did all of the cooking and the serving.

Photo: Here she's seen slicing tomatoes and limes, while the fish cooks on the burners behind her. Our amazing dinner tonight included a full plate of sliced tomatoes, with limes for garnish, as is the custom in Mexico.

We sat down at our table, and the food started coming. And coming... and coming, and coming. First, she brought out a plate, which included diced tomatoes, sliced onions and sliced limes, followed by a huge plate of fried crawdads, and a plate of rice, and a plate of fries. This in itself, was a meal, and we basically thought that this was going to be our meal. But wait... Maudy brought out another gigantic platter, with our two bass arranged, side-by-side, with their heads intact, fried to a perfect, golden brown. The platter also contained more sliced tomatoes, sliced limes, more rice, and more fries! Tikes! To our utter amazement, she then brought out more rice, fries, fried fish fillets, and whole, fried jalapeno peppers. I have never seen a meal like this!

Photo: The romantic glow of the 12-volt automotive light, with power provided from the auto battery to the right, provides the perfect ambiance to our meal. There is no commercial electricity at the restaurant, and after dark, illumination is provided by kerosene lanterns, or in the case of tonight, 12-volt lights, powered by automotive batteries. All drinks are kept in ice chests, all produce is brought fresh daily, and the fresh fish live in the tanks and in the pond in back of the restaurant. Who needs electricity?

Photo: Maudy stirs a pan of fries, that are deep frying on the propane-fired grill. You don't see a kitchen like this in restaurants north of the border, but I think that it has charm and atmosphere.

How many times can you just walk into a restaurant kitchen in a United States restaurant? Rarely, thanks to insurance reasons. Things are a little more "laid back" in Mexico...

Photo: Maudy tends a pot of crawdads. The kitchen relies entirely on propane, and does not have electricity. The crawdads were flowered, battered, and deep fried in a large cast iron frying pan full of hot oil.

The presentation was "rustic," in keeping with the surroundings, and very attractive, and if you're fond of fried fish, then the fish served at Restaurant La Bocatoma will put you into your own private Nirvana. I can say that the fish was fresh, very, very fresh, and it was cooked just right, with a golden, crunchy crust on the outside, and tender, juicy meat on the inside. The crawdads were a piece of work to get the meat out of, but when you're dining in a place like this, nobody is in a hurry, and if it takes a little time and effort to get the meat out of a crawdad, well then, ¡Qué será será! The rice and fries made impressive side dishes, as did the plates of sliced tomatoes and onions. The limes were handy to squeeze the juice onto the fish for added flavor, and the grilled jalapeño peppers added the perfect touch.

Photo: Maudy serves our meal. Rodolfo enjoys his Coca Cola and looks on as Maudy places a plate of fried bass, rice, fries and garnishes in front of me. The meal was served family style, and we just shared and enjoyed everything that was placed on our table.

Photo: Out comes a plate of grilled jalapeno peppers, which are a customary side dish to nearly any dinner in the state of Tamaulipas.

Chef/cook/waitress Maudy, was very busy, and very business-like, and really didn't seem to be interested in conversation. But I can say that I admire her endurance, as by the time we finished our meal, it was dark, as we had been dining by the glow of the 12-volt light powered by a automotive battery. The kitchen appeared to be almost dark, but I'll take the liberty to assume that she probably lit one of the many kerosene lanterns in order to provide illumination for her to perform her kitchen cleanup chores.

Photo: Deep fried crawdads, sliced tomatoes, rice and fries is only part of tonight's amazing dinner. Less than an hour ago, those crawdads were swimming in one of the ponds... we definitely enjoyed fresh seafood tonight! Due to the lack of refrigeration, fresh fish is a must, but it's also an enhancement to this fine restaurant.

Photo: My first plate of crawdad, fried bass, rice, fries, tomato, onion and lime. Delicious!

Photo: My second plate included more rice, fries, tomato, lime, along with MORE fried bass, and a jalapeno pepper or two. I quite taking photos after polishing off my second plate. Needless to say, we definitely got enough to eat tonight.

How much does an unforgettable dining experience cost at Restaurante La Bocatoma? Exactly MEX $374.00, and we left Mexican $100.00 bill for a tip. Total cost of an unforgettable meal, including cokes and tips, was less than $40.00 U.S. dollars for 3 hungry guys. When you factor in the quality of the food, the quantity, the rustic presentation and the totally, unforgettable dining experience, I'd rate dinner at Restaurante La Bocatoma an absolute bargain.

Photo: What a feast! Rice, tomatoes, onion, limes, crawdads, fries, bass, jalapeno peppers, along with every condiment that you could ever hope to enjoy. The only classic side-dish that was missing was corn tortillas, but the fries took their place. In case you're interested to know, fries are a staple in Tamaulipas, and in eastern Mexico in general.

Photo: Rodolfo and Jerry dig in to dinner, as I take just one more photo before my turn. Despite the GIGANTIC amount of food presented to us, we ate every bit of it, as this was some of the best food that I've ever eaten.

Photo: Jerry takes the photo of Rodolfo and I doing what we do best, eating a gigantic fish dinner at Restaurante La Bocatoma. You just have to love those large, deep fried crawdads that we're enjoying on this Friday evening.

If you love fresh fish, fresh vegetables and you are a fan of dining under very rustic conditions, then Restaurante La Bocatoma should be on your must-do list when you're visiting the southern region of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It's a dining experience that I'll never forget.

Restaurante La Bocatama II
Ejido La Bocatoma
Gómez Farías, Tamaulipas
Mexico