On our recent visit to El Triunfo, we discovered that none of the restaurants were open for dinner. So, we decided to drive into La Paz to have a great dinner. After searching social media for the best new restaurants, we made a reservation at Quemadero (Burning Fire) on the malecon in La Paz. Entering the restaurant and arriving at the hostess desk, we could see that it was beautiful. Behind the hostess was a large outdoor dining room with a huge fire place in the back. At the front was a display of six different bottles of Clase Azul tequila. The hostess asked if we would like a table with a view of La Paz bay, or outside or inside seating. There is also a private dining room, which had a large group at the table. We chose to sit inside and were led to the air-conditioned bar area. It had high-top tables all along the left wall with a large bar at the back of the room. There was normal-height table, where we were seated. The table cloth was embroidered with all types of sayings in Spanish – very interesting. The first thing that we noticed was the lighting on the ceiling, which the bartender told us was designed to mimic the rays jumping in the bay.

Our server, Julio provided us with the food, wine and cocktail menus and asked us if we would like still or sparkling water. Beth chose sparkling and I requested “agua de la casa.” Julio gave us a number of suggestions from the menu and told us that several of the dishes had portions large enough to share.

We chose to share the roasted bay lettuce salad with anchovy dressing as our appetizer course. When Julio brought it to the table, it was clearly big enough to share – there were four large portions of lettuce with croutons and anchovy dressing. He asked if he could serve us and did and amazing job of using the spoon and fork in one hand to place half of the salad on each of our plates – placing the croutons and dressing perfectly. While the presentation of the salad was beautiful, the flavors were even better. The anchovy dressing was excellent.

For our main course, we decided to share the Shrimp Zarandeado. This was five very large butterflied shrimp in the shell accompanied by a plantain purée. The purée balanced the little big of spice in the grilled shrimp perfectly. Not being used to removing shrimp of this size from the shell was a little bit of a challenge but the flavor was tremendous. The portion was more than enough for two people.

When we were asked if we wanted to try a dessert, we both declined because we were full and very sated by the appetizer and main course.

Our experience at Quemadero was one of the best dinners that we have had in Baja. The atmosphere was very comfortable, with classic rock playing at the right level through the speakers. The service was excellent. And as described, the food was exceptional. The fact that Julio pointed out in advance that the portions were large enough to share, meant that we were full and didn’t have to take anything away. The added bonus was that the check was only $1,160 pesos (about $63 US). The restaurant was well worth the one-hour drive each way from El Triunfo.