Dining at Restaurant La Bocatoma, fresh fish near 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 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.

Left: From Highway 85, the sign says it's only 2 km, but in reality, it's a lot more than that. Right: We're at the restaurant, and we see the sign, but Jerry is wandering the dirt road looking for the restaurant. What?

Yes, Restaurant 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.

Left: La Bocatoma lies under a thatched palapa. Right: La Bocatoma's dining room is open to the gentle elements of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains.

Restaurant 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 smallmouth bass, and a bunch of crawdads. Another very interesting feature about 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.

Left: Here's the back side of La Bocatoma's kitchen, as our guy is ready to get down to business in netting our dinner from the tanks and the pond behind the restaurant. Right: Our dinner, literally, in this man's hands.

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!

Left: Maudy is in the process of cooking our crawdads in the kitchen of Restaurant La Bocatoma. Right: Here she's seen slicing veggies, while the fish cooks on the burners behind her.

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!

Left: 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. Right: Maudy tends a pot of crawdads.

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.

Photos: Maudy serves our meal. Rodolfo enjoys his coke but looks on as Maudy places a plate of grilled jalapeño peppers on the table.

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.

How much does an unforgettable dining experience cost at Restaurant La Bocatoma? Exactly MEX $374.00, and we left MEX $400.00 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 La Bocatoma an absolute bargain.

Left: What a feast! Right: Jerry takes the photo of the author and Rodolfo doing what we do best, eating a gigantic fish dinner at Restaurant La Bocatoma.

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

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