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On Location: Riviera Nayarit
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BY MIKE STEVENS
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| Fruit stands like this can be found throughout the Riviera Nayarit; the beach scene in Sayulita. |
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Stevens had been hearing the name Sayulita for a while, first from friends who surfed, then in stories in a few adventure magazines. Finally, his lawyer brother announced that he had discovered a surfer's Shangri-la in Mexico called Sayulita. That was too much for Mike—wasn't he supposed to be the travel expert in the family?
A SURF MISSED
Over the last three years, the buzz about Mexico's Riviera Nayarit, the stretch of Pacific coastline north of Puerto Vallarta, has slowly built to more of a roar (well, a laid-back roar). The hype left me a bit concerned. After all, I wanted to see the place before it became indistinguishable from the next resort-lined strip of coast. As it turns out, I needn't have worried. In Sayulita, I found a mellow surf town populated by a funky mix of expats, vacationing families from California and Oregon, and surf-rat locals with a humbling command of American slang.
Unfortunately, I couldn't stay long in Sayulita, and I spent most of my morning dropping into cool little shops and grabbing some yummy ceviche at a fish stand called Pescaderia Piolin (24 Av. Revolución). By the time I got to the beach, there wasn't enough time to surf. All the more reason to head back to Sayulita soon. Maybe I'll bring my big brother and show him around.
ON THE FOODIE TRAIL
The standout restaurant of my trip was chef Thierry Blouet's new Café des Artistes del Mar in the posh resort area of Punta de Mita. But there were other treats. On the drive up the coast, I stopped at an open-air fruit stand, one of dozens of stalls along the highway between Nuevo Vallarta and San Blas to the north. They're great places to pick up cheap souvenirs, teeth-sticking caramels and sweetened strips of tamarind. But this place had the best snack: an ice-cold coconut with a straw sticking out its freshly cleaved top. After you slurp out the milk, the vendor splits the coconut, carves out the fresh coconut meat, sprinkles it with chile and hands you a fork.
A SURPRISE IN SAN BLAS
The first stop in San Blas should be the main beach, Playa Borrego, where fish shacks offer hammocks to relax in, plates of grilled dorado for lunch and Pacifico beers by the bucket. But San Blas is also home to a hotel restaurant, El Delfin, that is way off the fast track and way better than you'd expect. Its chef, Betty Vázquez González, grew up in San Blas but trained at the Cordon Bleu in Paris.
While waiting for my meal at El Delfin, I took a few slow sips of Miramontes, an obscure, locally distilled tequila. It started off soft and fruity, but pricked my tongue with a peppery bite seconds after I swallowed. Then a creamy seafood soup arrived, a blend of octopus, dorado and oysters with coconut milk and two chiles (guajillo and chile de arbol). The result was silky, smoky and wonderful. A deliciously crisp sautéed slab of dorado resting on cubed tomatoes followed.
González also studied with the pastry chef from El Bulli, the renowned avant-garde restaurant in Catalonia, which might explain her superb yaca ice cream. The yaca's fruity tang leavened the dense sweet cream enough to actually make it feel like a healthy end to the meal. Sitting back, I began to mentally compose the email to my brother that would break the news of this amazing culinary gem (106 S. Paredes, San Blas; 011-52-323-285-0112).
NOTE: Information may have changed since publication. Please confirm key details before planning your trip.
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Published: November 1, 2009
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Photos: Shelly Strazis
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