Spring break serenade

Gaston Rochin (right) sings along with a trio of mariachis at the Friendly Dolphin. (Credit: Carlos Chavez/azcentral.com)

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Tuesday night, we met Gaston Rochin, the owner of the Friendly Dolphin. He's deep into middle age and has been successful, dressing conspicuously, like a man who reads men's fashion magazines: tan suede jacket, dark jeans, coordinating tan suede sneakers. He opened the restaurant 25 years ago with just seven tables and "a dream in my soul."

Yes. He talks like that.

"Nobody was coming for four months, I did not get a glass of water for nobody," he said. Then, he turned the whole thing around by offering two beers for the price of one to those who purchased a meal. Now he owns one of Rocky Point's destination restaurants for spring breakers and other tourists.

We chatted about the effects the economy is having on tourism here, whether or not the spring breakers were really going to show up and about his worries that Americans will assume that ALL of Mexico is unsafe.

When my dinner arrived, he abruptly stood and joined the trio of mariachis, saying he was going to serenade me because I was "the princess of Rocky Point." (I do not remember running for such a position, or being born into it, but what do I know?)

I speak no Spanish, but I got an idea of what he said—and I'm happy to report, we're getting married tomorrow. Kidding. I have no idea what the song was about, but that's probably for the better, because I fear that men have proposed marriage with less passion, less gusto, less determination than with which Rochin delivered that song.

I have never been sung to, loudly, and well, at close proximity, over tacos. I did my best to make eye contact and to not blush too much. (It was really intense, even if it was in the middle of a crowded, well-lit dining room and the whole thing was being audio-recorded and photographed by our shooter.)

Later, he told me the song was "Como Un Madrigal," and that it was, as guessed, a love song. Then one of his friends Joaquin, an English teacher who moonlights as a strolling guitarist, joined us. The two men improvised a few songs, sang some standards and then sat down again to talk about Sinatra, the Beatles, Rochin's past as an amateur actor (of course) and as a singer in a school choir (double of course) and how Rochin runs the best restaurant in Rocky Point (triple of course.)

Then they asked me for a song.

And I obliged, slicing more confidently than you might think through "I Will" by the Beatles. It's a short, sweet classic, and I can hit all the notes. I believe one cannot go wrong cribbing from Paul McCartney.

It was the least I could do, especially after Rochin told me that my eyes stole the sparkle from the stars. And that I was the flower in his desert. (I can only assume he uses the same lines on his wife—he was wearing a ring—but I thanked him each time he said them, nonetheless.)

I can only guess at how many other women have had similar nights upstairs at the Friendly Dolphin. Let me know if this has happened to you. ;)