Review of Tacos El BomBon, Bahia de Los Angeles, Mexico...

When most gringo tourists pay a visit to a small town like Bahia de Los Angeles, they look for a restaurant that reminds them of the good ol' comfort food they enjoy back home, north of the border. There are a couple of restaurants in town that appear to be within the comfort zone of most Americans or Canadians, but since my time was limited, I didn't have the opportunity to pay them a visit. If you've read many of my web pages, you'll note that my preference runs toward, small, unique, family owned and operated restaurants or street vendors, and Tacos El BomBon fits that description in every way.

Photo: Located along main street, just south of the city park, Tacos El BomBon, consists of little more than a plywood shack, set on the hard-packed decomposed granite surface, yet the mother and daughter team serve delicious tacos.

Tacos El BomBon is a very small restaurant, located on the unnamed main street in town, located along the main street in town, just south of the city park, not far from the little steam locomotive that's on display. BomBon is owned and operated by the wife of the town mechanic, and the restaurant is located in the family's front yard! BomBon is open during the late afternoon and evenings, and Mom and daughter run the place, working in tandem. The restaurant could be called "modest," as it sports a compact kitchen, which seems to be quite basic, but judging from the taste of their delicious fish tacos, it has everything needed to cook delicious food, including a propane-fired stove, with griddle, a unique wall-mounted microwave oven, sink, and plenty of work space behind the order counter. Don't even think about a dining room, as there isn't one, but diners can escape the elements by sitting at a round, plastic table, under a makeshift wooden canopy, in front of the restaurant's order counter.

Photo: Daughter, to the left of the photo, and Mom, to the right, are caught on my digital camera, working in the small kitchen of Tacos El BomBon.

Tacos El BomBon doesn't have a menu, not even a printed menu in the kitchen, as everything is word of mouth. Like many other small restaurants in Mexico, BomBon serves whatever they have available, and it varies according to season. Since they're within walking distance of the Sea of Cortez, they always have a variety of seafood, which is one of the things that makes "LA Bay" famous, and they usually have carne asada, which is a wildly popular taco ingredient in Baja California, and Mexico in general. So all you do is you walk up to the counter, and ask them what they have on hand, and go from there. It might not be a bad idea to ask the price as well, but prices of tacos seem to be pretty well fixed at the AMEX $10.00 mark, as that seems to be the going rate around the taquerias in town.

I asked for a fish taco, but the mother said that they were currently out of fish, period! ... and all they had on hand was carne asada and lengua. I couldn't believe what I heard, a taqueria in Bahia de Los Angeles not able to deliver a fish taco! Wow! Well, after I recovered from the shock of not being able to enjoy a fish taco, I ordered two tacos de lengua (tongue), for MEX $10.00 each, so I ordered two of them, "con todo," and sat down at the wiggly plastic table to watch the mother and daughter prepare my meal. As they were preparing my meal, I asked the lady if they serve menudo on weekends, and she enthusiastically replied that they open early on Saturday and Sunday, and always serve homemade menudo. Hmmmm, maybe I'll enjoy menudo on my next trip?

Photo: Mom puts lengua on the griddle, for my delicious taco de lengua.

The time was around 5, on a warm, Thursday evening, and daughter was helping mom work the restaurant. Daughter's role seems to be the salsa maker, as she busied herself chopping vegetables and making guacamole, while mom put corn tortillas on the griddle, and scooped lengua out of a bowl that was marinating, and stored in the refrigerator, and placed the lengua on the griddle to cook.

Each taco consists of a generous portion of marinated, cooked lengua, stuffed inside of a thick, medium-size corn tortilla, that's heated on the griddle so its warm, soft, chewy, and very pliable, yet it won't crack. Your choice of condiments includes shredded cabbage, diced white onions, and creamy guacamole, which you apply from bowls of the condiments, that are set on the counter. During the time of my visit, the aforementioned condiments were all that they offered, so I assume that they were out of the other standard condiments that one expects to find a small taqueria. But I was in taco heaven, so I loaded up my tacos with the offered condiments, and when I took my first bite, I was instantly transported to taco heaven.

Photo: Two tacos con lengua, con todo, with optional guacamole applied, for a delicious dining experience.

The lengua is juicy, tasteful and cooked to perfection, and the corn tortilla is thick, warm, and will bend around the meat and not break. The condiments are fresh and delicious. You don't find tacos like these served in the United States... as they're delicious, fresh and reflect the local flavor of the small town of Bahia de Los Angeles.

Tacos El BomBon is highly recommended by your author, a fan of delicious tacos (tongue) de lengua.

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