Opening a restaurant is a tough go. Keeping it open for eleven years is worthy of a celebration. Mario’s Mariscos Frescas Estilo Mazatlan marked that milestone a couple of weeks ago.

Mario’s is my favorite seafood restaurant in San Miguel de Allende. It’s one of my favorite restaurants overall in San Miguel. I thought about some of the many reasons why.

The smoked marlin. The first time I ever had it was at Mario’s. Now I have it every time I’m at Mario’s.

The huachinango. I remember when I first learned the word and stopped calling it red snapper. I may have ordered it sometimes just to say huachinango. It’s Mario’s “house” fish because it’s readily available and affordable and good. What makes it great is when Mario barbecues the whole huachinango over charcoal.

The rock lobster. I used to be a snobster. Raised on cold water lobsters, I turned my nose up at the warm water ones. Then Mario insisted I try a spiny rock lobster tail. And I did. And I did again. And I realized that the meat from Mazatlan lobsters was more sweet and more tender than Nova Scotian lobsters. I may have even apologized to Mario.

The shrimp grilled in its shell. Most restaurants buy frozen, pre-cleaned shrimp. Mario buys fresh, whole shrimp. The difference? The taste of the shell penetrates and beautifully accompanies the taste of the meat.

The tuna chicharron. I wasn’t sure what was inside these the first time I had them. Mario called them chicharron and they sure looked like deep-fried pork skin. Was that the color of pork belly inside? No, it was more orange than pink. One bite and, of course, this was tuna, yellowfin tuna. Fast frying chunks of tuna in a crunchy batter. What a wonderful idea.

The wild oysters. I’m a slurper. I eat oysters a lot. An awful lot. And I have an awful time finding the big ones, the wild ones. In fact, Mario’s is the only restaurant I’ve been at in the last ten years anywhere in the world that serves wild not farmed oysters.

The focus on freshness. Some seafood can handle the freezing process. Some can’t. At Mario’s, almost everything is fresh. At Mario’s Onceavo Aniversario, even the calamari fritters were fresh. I don’t even know of a place to buy fresh squid in San Miguel. Or anywhere close.

The jaiba. It’s not that difficult to find crab meat but it’s almost impossible to find what Mario calls pulpa de jaiba and I call blue crab meat. The reason it’s so rare is it takes so much labor to shell and clean them. Mario thinks it’s worth the effort.

The tartar sauce. It may not seem important but it is to me. Particularly when you’re dipping Mario’s crusty calamari in it. There’s no bottled sauce that’s more like mayo here. Mario makes his own tangy tartar.

The raw scallops. It’s not that uncommon to serve scallops raw in Mexico. You’ll find them in both ceviches and aguachiles. But I almost always find other restaurants’ offerings a little too citrusey. At Mario’s, the primary taste of his raw scallop dish is, quite simply, scallops.

The man himself. They’re a rare breed these days. The chef/owners who “work the room”. They greet you warmly at the door. They wait tables, all of the tables for part of the time. They dart in and out of the kitchen checking on the progress of your order. They beam with pride when they present their products. They often stop by your table but they never stay too long. In San Miguel de Allende, Mario is the master.

Mario’s Mariscos Frescos Estilo Mazatlan is located at Salida a Celaya #83A in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The restaurant is open from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm, seven days a week.