From the sparkle of sunlight on a resaca to moonlight bathing the Gulf, waterside dining adds a special magic to a meal. Along the Arroyo Colorado, resacas, the Laguna Madre, the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico, Valley restaurants find that good food served with a water view result in a happy clientele.

The Riverside Club may be the granddaddy of waterside restaurants and remains the region’s only riverfront eating place. When Johnny Hart bought the place 30 years ago, he became the third owner of the popular destination tucked between La Lomita Mission and Chimney Park in south Mission.

“Being on the water and right on the border where they can look into Mexico appeals to a lot of people,” he said. The view, combined with icy pitchers of beer and house specials like pork tenderloin, fried shrimp baskets and fried green beans, attracts Winter Texans and local residents in a 70:30 mix.

“We try our best to make Winter Texans welcome,” Hart said.  Live music six afternoons a week helps. So do the one- and two-hour Rio Grande cruises on the Riverside Dreamer, a pontoon boat that Hart added 20 years ago. The river cruise brings in birders, local people and tourists.

Seated around a long table on the shaded patio, a convivial group of Minnesotans wintering in Mission figured they have been coming to the Riverside Club for 10 years. Two newcomers said they have visited the restaurant twice in 10 days. The draw? “Cold beer, nice weather and watching Border Patrol boats cruise past.” Those who crave German music, bratwurst and schnitzel visit the Riverside Club on Saturday afternoons.

The riverside location resulted in the club being badly damaged during the 2010 summer flooding. Hart spent six months rebuilding about 50 percent of his operation and managed to open for the 2011 Winter Texan season.

Downstream  

The Wharf on the Arroyo Colorado is a casual weekend destination for outdoorsmen who tie up their boats at the Arroyo City restaurant’s docks. Manager Marco Salazar, following in the footsteps of his parents and grandfather, presides over the eatery which has been around for more than 30 years, although the present building is only seven years old.

“Our menu has over 100 items, from seafood and Mexican food to hamburgers,” Salazar said. His customers are fishermen and families escaping from the urban scene. Restaurant guests can fish for free from the Wharf’s four docks; others pay $7 for three hours.

Resaca-side

In Brownsville, it’s surprising that the resacas meandering through the city have so few restaurants on their banks.

Customers love waterfront decks and patios, said Joe Kenney, the owner of Cobbleheads on Resaca de la Palma.

“Anywhere USA, water is a natural attraction: sitting and watching it move, watching rain dance off of it. It’s relaxing no matter how stressful your day has been,” he observed. Kenney started the current resurgence in resaca –side dining when he bought and renovated the dilapidated Trudy’s Piano Bar next to what was then a weed-clogged resaca 18 years ago.

“You’ve got to have great service and great food, but water does give you is a uniqueness. In this business, you’ve got to have an edge,” Kenney said. Cobbleheads’ menu features shrimp caught by local trawlers. And no one has more authentic Philly Cheese Steaks than Kenney, a Philadelphia native who has developed seven variations of the original.

Across the resaca, Alicia Lopez said the water view creates a romantic setting at Madeira. “The view is one of the reasons people come here. The first is for the food and the second is service.” The well-maintained resaca doesn’t have mosquitos, she added.

Around the Island

The Friedman family- father and brothers- between them own four waterfront restaurants: Pirate’s Landing, Sea Ranch, Pier 19 and Laguna Bob. Scott Friedman, owner of Pirate’s Landing, said the waterside locations turn the restaurants into destinations. “It’s the attraction, what you come here to see — the Laguna Madre.” Besides views of the sparkling bay and a menu of tasty dishes, his restaurant boasts the longest fishing pier in Texas (open round the clock in the summer) and rollicking entertainment aboard the Black Dragon pirate ship. Providing guests extra reasons to come – and to come back – is important, according to Friedman. If he had an inland restaurant, the visual focus would probably be a courtyard.

Pier 19, located on the original causeway, is the only restaurant perched over the Laguna Madre. Surrounded by the bay, diners can select a meal from the menu or bring in their catch from Pier 19’s fishing charter and have it prepared for them.

Sea4ever Roof top Bar and Grill, atop the new Schlitterbahn Resort, provides a spectacular fifth floor view of the Gulf of Mexico, jetties and the Laguna Madre.  “It seemed like a natural when we purchased the old Holiday Inn Sun Spree,” said Mike Bigelow, director of marketing and sales for Schlitterbahn.  “Jeff Henry, one of our owners, said the roof was a wasted space. There’s no way we wouldn’t have spent the money to make it into a place for guests to enjoy. “

Sea4ever currently serves tapas only on weekends. In mid-May, the full service menu will be available.  In the meantime, visitors are welcome to take the elevator up to enjoy the view. They might run into Bigelow there.  “That’s where I spend most of my time, working on my laptop. The view of the water clears the mind.”

Over a 20 year span, Parrot Eyes has had three waterside locations, starting with a taco stand on the Isla Blanca Park jetties. In 1986, it opened as a bar and grill on the Laguna Madre, developing that location into a mecca for watersports. By renting wave runners and boats, offering parasailing and fishing charters, owner Ron Guillot gave visitors additional reasons to stop a while. When Parrot Eyes relocated to the Parrot Eyes Channel, Guillot kept the same mix of sunsets over the bay, outside dining, boat slips and water sports.

The sounds and sights of surf is what brings customers to the decks at Clayton’s, to the hotel restaurants on the Gulf and to the numerous bar-and-grills along the bay. A good restaurant can’t go wrong if they just add a water view to their menu.

For more information, contact Riverside Club: 638-1545; The Wharf: 748-0737; Cobbleheads: 546-6224; Madeira: 504-3100; Pirate’s Landing: 943-3663; Sea4Ever: 772-7873; Parrot Eyes: 761-9457; Clayton’s: 572-3278.

March cover story by Eileen Mattei