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| VALLARTA’S GOOD TASTES |
| Next, it's beach time! |
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Wonderful chefs in their multi-starred restaurants have put Puerto Vallarta on the culinary map. Thanks to their skills with flavors and their growing interest in organic ingredients, Vallarta has become a fashionable foodies’ paradise, an eating destination. Not only for the restaurants, however.For a true Mexican taste experience, there’s no need to make reservations, just check out the streets or hit the beach. You’ll find a whole parallel universe of food vendors in stands, on bicycles, pushing carts and on foot, waiting to serve you.
Follow the crowds. Local people know where the best food is. Want more choices? Ask a waiting taxi driver, a traffic cop or a shopkeeper.
Hygiene is important. Is there a tub of soapy water for washing hands? Are the food and money handled by two different people? If not, does the money handler wash before returning to making food? Look to see if the vendor is putting a fresh plastic bag over the plate each time food is served on it. Plastic saves time and money and ensures no one else has used it.
Can you watch your order being made? Are there plenty of paper napkins? Various salsas and condiments in covered bowls? A plate of fresh cut limes? If not, ask for some, “limon, por favor.” Lime juice is naturally anti-bacterial. Squeeze some on your taco.
Now that you know what to look for, begin your explorations at a five-star taco stand. Yes, it’s true. The Insider’s Guide to Puerto Vallarta online, has rated about a dozen taco stands with one to five stars.
El Moreno, in old town, on Madero at the corner of Constitución, is a brilliant place to begin. They’ve been in business for 26 years and are a five-star stand. Chef Sandra Alicia makes the tacos in front of you and fills them with you choice of meat or cheese. Everything is made fresh, as you watch.
To drink, there’s the marvellously refreshing jamaica (huh-MY-ih-kuh), one of the appropriately named agua fresca, (fresh fruit water). Jamaica is made from dried hibiscus petals that have been steeped, like tea. It is raspberry colored and sweet-tart.
Alternatively, there’s the other agua fresca favourite, horchata (or-CHAT-ah), a milky rice-based drink with sugar and cinnamon. More complicated to make than jamaica, it’s equally popular.
It’s time to try a fish taco. Sounds a little weird? Try one at Marisma Taqueria, a five-star stand about five blocks east on Naranjo between Venustiano Carranza and Basilio Badillo not far from the market.
Equally good is the four-star Mariscos Mismaloya, serving fish for 30 years. It’s on Aquiles Serdan across from Rizo’s supermarket. Chef Adelida Perez Rodriguez offers fish tacos, shrimp tacos, fish salads and soup.
Holding it up for approval, she has an elegantly cut filet so fresh it is almost transparent. Lightly breading it and quickly frying it, it’s instantly wrapped in a soft taco and served. On the counter are bowls of accompaniments and condiments. From behind the counter, however, she pulls out a bowl of fabulous fiery red sauce that looks like achiote and oil and vinegar. There’s more to it, but it’s a secret recipe.
Moving toward the beach on Francisca Rodriguez just below Olas Altas on the way to the pier, there’s another taco stand with people everywhere. Sitting on chairs on the sidewalk, on a wall behind the chairs and just standing around, people… all eating. It’s El Cuñado, (Brother-in-law Taqueria), a four-star family enterprise that’s been serving customers for 32 years. Chef José Ramon Arbey Gamiño, his brother Esteban Eduardo Gamiño and cousin Miguel Angel Peña keep the crowd well fed and obviously happy. The most popular choice here is a taco de adobo (ah-DOH-bah-doh), grilled marinated pork. The chef’s favourite, however, is always quesadillas, he says.
For a true Mexican taste experience, there’s no need to make reservations, just check out the streets or hit the beach.
Next, it’s beach time!
Like a greeter, a man comes up with a pole across his shoulders, a round gourd hangs from one end and a box of ice from the other. In his hand, he carries a tote bag full of cups, fruit and other things. He is the tubero, the Tuba man!
Tuba is a creamy, white sweet wine, lightly alcoholic (that grows more so as the hours pass), made from a combination of coconut milk and palm sap. When served, it’s poured over clean chipped ice, then chopped nuts and little chunks of apple are added.
While you’re relaxing on the beach, the food vendors come to you. One has mangos on a stick, dusted with chile powder. Another brings elote (ay-LOH-tay), roast corn on the cob with mayonnaise to slather on it and chile powder to perk up its flavor.
Then there are men with fresh grilled prawns like kabobs on sticks, fresh mahi-mahi or some other white fish, and fresh oysters.
Try Mariscos Vicky for fresh-from-the-grill seafood and oysters. A few tables and chairs and the grill are on the beach, beside the arched pedestrian bridge between the Playa los Arcos Hotel and Langostino’s.
Later in the afternoon, take time for a walk and an Aztec treat, tejuino (teh-hWEENO).
At the north end of the malecón, on Avenida Mexico, past the supermarket is a big Pemex station. At the corner of the station there’s the man with his cart announcing “tejuino.” It’s a cold, thick, lime-flavored drink made of fermented corn and lime juice to which lime sherbet is added. An ancient response to the hot sun.
Walking back toward the malecón, at Parque Hidalgo, keep an eye out for Raspados Carmen Tucan. It’s a vendor’s cart that became a shop that sells another ethnic treat, raspados (rah-SPAH-dohs) with 25 flavours. Basically, they are snow cones, shaved ice with flavoured syrups made from natural fruits. Carmen Tucan’s meet the highest hygienic standards.
For dinner, prepare for a major eating experience, Tacos al Pastor. (pah-STOHR). These tacos are stuffed with thin slices of deeply marinated pork, layered on a vertical spit called a trompo, and topped by peeled fresh pineapple. The meat grills slowly over hot coals, like a Greek gyro.
This manner of grilling was brought to Mexico by Lebanese immigrants in the 19th century.
Marinades are individual and usually secret. The pork marinates for several days and then cooks slowly—over coals, not with gas—which is what produces the luscious smoky flavour.
Two places are well worth trying. One is Pancho’s Takos (not a misspelling) on Basilio Badillo just past the corner with Olas Altas. The other, Pepe’s Tacos, is on Honduras across from the Pemex Station where you find the tejuino man. Pancho’s Takos is fairly small with about a dozen tables. No sign out front, just that wonderfully fragrant spit of slowly cooking orange-red pork with its pineapple crown.
Not far away, at Pepe’s Tacos, three trompos out front twist slowly over the coals wafting wonderful smells across nearby neighbourhoods. The restaurant is large and so are the crowds that often have to take turns at tables. With a long menu and full bar, patrons don’t want to leave, exhausting the energetic young waiters.
In the event that hunger strikes in the evening and tacos aren’t your choice, there is a surprise. Until the early hours, on the corner of Olas Altas and Rodolfo Gomez, there is an amazingly good hot dog stand. The cart reads D’Mikes. In general, you should avoid anything as potentially dubious as hot dogs, but not D’Mikes, they are an inviting exception.
Exhilarating eating experiences! Culinary celebrations! These popular street chefs join the famous local restaurant chefs in making Puerto Vallarta Mexico’s foremost epicurean destination.
