Boca Santa

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Boca Santa is a Mexican restaurant located in the Bedford-Stuveysant neighborhood of Brooklyn. It is owned and operated by one Houstonian, Natalie Hernandez. The restaurant opened in the Summer of 2019 and has been featured in local magazines. Though this is her first time running a restaurant, Nati had previously been head chef at another restaurant and began selling her own food at a Brooklyn bar called Doris in the same neighborhood.

The front of Boca Santa is colored top half white and the bottom half blue. Large windows show you the ambient lighting and smiling faces enjoying the food and aguas frescas (fresh waters). There is a single neon sign in the window that tells you what to expect.

TACOS.

The restaurant space is filled with potted plants and, just like all New York spaces, is a little ‘cozy.’ There are about six tables and a few barstools, which are normally filled with customers.

Nati is concerned with making her restaurant feel like “My Mexico.” A Virgen Maria (Virgin Mary) statuette stands in an upper corner of the restaurant, looking down on her children. The Virgen is an important figure in the Roman Catholic Church. This statuette is an important detail in the decoration of Boca Santa.

“I’ve never liked cooking for myself,” Nati said, “since I was younger I’ve always enjoyed cooking for people.”

While the restaurant opens at 5:30 in the afternoon, preparation starts much earlier. The tortillas are made up to two days in advance and reheated on a stove before serving. The guacamole and salsa are made the day of; fresh toppings must be cut the day of as well. around 2 pm, Nati, begins making the tortillas while her sous-chef pre-cooks some of the fillings for that night’s menu.

We watched Nati take a large ball of dough and roll it into balls the size of mushroom caps, then after a couple swipes of a rolling pin, they’re plopped onto a hot stove. “I’m actually a big fan of corn,” Nati says, “because it adds to the flavor of the dish.”

As each flattened mushroom cap was dropped onto the stove, Nati imparted on us some old Mexican wisdom; once your tortillas puff up, you’re ready to get married.

Nati gave a taste of some fresh flour tortillas. Warm, soft, tear-able. They give a sense of home and emotional comfort, especially after seeing the hands that made them, then having one fresh off of the stove transferred to your own outstretched hands.

The importance of the tortilla in Mexican food can’t be understated. There are many types of corn, white, blue and yellow, and other foods can be blended and mixed into the dough. Most Mexican food comes with tortilla, like many other foods come with various breads. Flour tortillas are more commonly used for quesadillas or Quecas. They are often larger and taste better with melting cheeses. Though all tortillas are not all made for the same occasion, they all share the load of holding together Mexican cuisine.

Coming to Boca Santa is a cultural experience. It is that of Natalie Hernandez where she welcomes you into her kitchen and passes you a product of her labor of love which, biting into it, you love it too.

The menu at Boca Santa will change seasonally. As of yet, they are still in the first season and no-one can wait to see what comes next.

In short, Boca Santa is a place where people can go for a taste of Mexico. Of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, where Nati’s mother and oldest sister were born. Chorizo, queso, calavaza, and of course… tortillas.

Update: Due to COVID -19 Boca Santa has closed its doors in November of 2020. In 2021, Nati is living in her mother's hometown, San Miguel de Allende, staying close to family and always finding new inspiration for her food.