Lunch in a river outside Puerto Vallarta
By Lucy Beebe Tobias
Our bright yellow 4×4 grinds higher up into the Sierra Madre Mountains. The high peaks rise like jagged green jewels above Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico.
Under a canvas canopy cover I cling to my vinyl seat, inhale sharp mountain air and wonder about lunch.
Already my appetite is wetted by mini food stops.
First, a small Panaderia where freshly made buns, stuffed with either chocolate or vanilla, get baked in an oven build onto a large rock.
Continuing up the mountain to the baker’s home, his wife makes blue corn tortillas from scratch, filling them with homemade cheese and salsa. Later, we are told, our lunch will be in a river. Eyebrows rise. Our guide, Armando Cruz, grins and says no more.
Lunch. In a river. Really?
Lunch in a river at Villa Azalea, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Photo by Lucy Beebe Tobias
The canopy truck rolls to a stop at Villa Azalea, an elegant inn and organic farm high in a breathtaking mountain setting.
A complete outdoor kitchen sits next to a gently flowing river. Guests can take a cooking class for $95 each and pick their food choices from the garden. Eat at tables under shade trees or in the river.
Today the crew for our Vallarta Advenures “Hidden Mexico” day trip are the chefs. They have cooked us a buffet of authentic Mexican food including the best refried beans I’ve ever had.
Before cruising the buffet table, I take off my shoes. Then, with a full plate of food I wade in ankle deep water over to a canopy-covered picnic table firmly embedded in the riverbed and sit down.
Every bite tastes exquisite to me. I have written about Puerto Vallarta food and art at my blog but this meal takes me to a whole new zip code.
The river flows by. Little fish nibble at my feet. Place and food blend together to take lunch from ordinary to extraordinary.
And here are memorable food finds and special places three more travel writers have to share:
Travel journalist Doreen Pendgracs is on a quest – searching for the best chocolate in the world. She has many examples including this sweet blend of place and food in St. Lucia.
St. Lucia: a chocolate lover’s paradise
By Doreen Pendgracs
If you want to become truly immersed in the world of fine chocolate, visit the island of St. Lucia, where you’ll discover several excellent resorts devoted to chocolate culture. One of my favorites is Hotel Chocolat Boucan, a small resort of 14 deluxe rooms overlooking the mesmerizing Petit Piton on the southern end of this decadent Caribbean island.
Whether it’s “Cacao Cuisine” (a full menu created around the wonders of cocoa), the “Cocoa Juvenate” spa treatments that wrap and pamper you with cocoa-based products, or the “Tree to Bean” and “Bean to Bar” tours of the Rabot Estate plantation where cacao is grown and harvested, British chocolatier Hotel Chocolat makes sure all your chocolate dreams come true when you visit their Boucan Hotel & Restaurant.
The cocoa-infused gazpacho at Boucan is the best I’ve ever had. Photo by Doreen Pendgracs
Boucan is a boutique property built on the historic 140-acre Rabot Estate, where cacao has been grown since 1745, making it the island’s longest-producing cacao plantation. For the past 260 years, cacao has been grown and exported to various countries, which have been making delicious chocolate from it and selling it abroad.
That is now changing, as Hotel Chocolat is building a chocolate production plant on its Rabot Estate, where chocolate can be made right from the fermented, dried, and roasted beans in the award-winning Hotel Chocolat tradition.
The “Cacao Cuisine” found at Boucan is a fusion-style of cooking into which cacao/cocoa is used as a seasoning or flavour enhancement. It is never over-bearing, and provides a cocoa/chocolate essence to the menu as opposed to a more poignant style of chocolate cooking you might experience in chocolate molé sauce popular in Mexican cuisine and various other Latin cultures.
At Boucan, crushed cocoa nibs are always on the table as a seasoning alongside the salt and pepper. I was pleased at how the pure cocoa gently enhanced our food, and impressed by the quality of the cuisine we enjoyed during our three-day stay. The full menu is online to tempt your taste buds. Every item we sampled was extraordinary.
To read the full story and others devoted to chocolate travel, visit the author at http://diversionswithdoreen.com Doreen Pendgracs is author of Chocolatour: A Quest for the World’s Best Chocolate.
Travel journalist Glen Abbott hits the open road in a Harley-Davidson and has a saddlebag full of road tales. While riding in southwest New Mexico Glen finds:
The best damn green chile cheeseburger in America: Sparky’s, in Hatch, New Mexico
By Glen Abbott
If you ride motorcycles, no doubt you’re in hog heaven when the rubber hits the (open) road. But even if you don’t ride, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “Live to Ride, Ride to Live.”
As a longtime motorcyclist myself, I can tell you that “Live to Ride, Ride to Eat” might be a more descriptive phrase.
One of the great joys of any road trip is discovering a memorable roadside dive. Whether it’s ribs, a bowl of chili, or maybe a cheeseburger, the list of road food favorites is seemingly endless (although in retrospect, that list does seem to favor various iterations of smoked, grilled, or fried meats).
Traveling through southwestern New Mexico a couple of years ago, nearly everywhere I went people told me I HAD to visit Sparky’s restaurant in the town of Hatch, speaking in near-reverential tones about the green chile cheeseburger there.
Not for nothin’, Hatch is known as the Chile Capital of the World (note that in New Mexico, the word for those spicy peppers is spelled the traditional Spanish way, with an “e” at the end – Chile, rather than Chili).
From fields peppered (pun intended) with chile plants, to the pungent aroma of roasting chiles emanating from the many processing facilities, it’s a town that lives, eats, and breathes chile peppers.
Cruising through town, I knew I’d arrived in the right place when I spotted a collection of fiberglass figures – classic 50s roadside kitsch – outside a small building.
Sparky’s, Hatch, New Mexico with Glen’s motorcycle out front. Photo by Glen Abbott
The place was packed even though it was well past lunch hour. Making my way to the counter, I ordered the house special – a green chile cheeseburger, of course – with fries.
Biting into my cheeseburger, I felt a shaft of light shining down from the heavens upon me, amidst the sounds of a holy chorus. I might be “mis-remembering” that part (hey, it almost worked for Brian Williams), but it was THAT good – a juicy beef patty topped with roasted green chiles and a slice of melted cheese on a fresh bun.
Speaking with manager Michelle Archer afterwards, I learned the restaurant’s unholy secret: “Our beef is 70-something percent, like the highest fat content that we can get. Which is really good for you, I’m sure,” Michelle laughed.
If you find yourself in New Mexico, you owe it to yourself to make the pilgrimage to Sparky’s. Besides, green chile kills off excess calories and cholesterol, doesn’t it? I may have read that somewhere on the Internet, if I’m not mis-remembering again.
If you go:
Sparky’s Burgers, BBQ, and Espresso
115 Franklin St.
Hatch, NM
(575) 267-4222
Hours: Thursday through Sunday: 10:30 am – 7:00 pm
Closed Monday through Wednesday
Glen Abbott writes about motorcycle touring and travel for a variety of print and online clients. Check out his website: www.TravelinGringo.com
Travel journalist Jacqueline Harmon Butler has a delicious way of combining flirting with food. She practices both here:
Find Great Food: The Venetian adventure
By Jacqueline Harmon Butler
The friendly and very handsome owner was nowhere to be seen when my friends and I arrived at the Ai Barbcani Ristorante. The last time I had visited his elegant Venetian restaurant he had flirted outrageously with me and awakened my appetite with savory tidbits of delicious cicchetti (Venetian appetizers) and cool, sparkling glasses of Prosecco. He had wooed me with fragrant house made lamponi (raspberry) liquor at the end of my meal making me promise to return.
I inquired about Aldo, and asked if the restaurant had changed ownership. The maestro di explained in heavily accented English that my friend, his partner, was working somewhere else. He then asked rather boldly, if I didn’t like him as much.
Giving me a leering smile as he leaned close and let his eyes drift down to my cleavage. Amused, I said I didn’t even know him and that we hadn’t been introduced. With a brilliant smile he bowed and introduced himself to my friends and me. “I am Paolo and I am very pleased to meet you.”
It was as if someone had said “let the games begin.” He gave us an incredible amount of time and effort to assure our dinner was flawless. It was one of those memorable evenings, the food was delicious, and the wine perfect.
The Zuppa Di Cozze, succulent mussels simmered in a broth of white wine, garlic and herbs, smelled fresh and tasted of the sea. After consuming all our mussels we used pieces of crunchy country style bread to sop up the flavorful broth.
This was followed by Gonocci Con Seppie – a surprising dish blackened with the ink of Cuttlefish.
Our main dish was a superb Branzino in Umido, similar to sea bass, simmered with herbs and lemon. Paolo placed the steaming platter containing the fish on a wheeled cart right next to our table. With the talent of a master surgeon, he delicately carved the tender fish open, removed the bones and then slid silvery pieces onto our plates. The fish seemed to melt in our mouths.
For dessert we enjoyed a traditional Tiramisu made with savoiardi cookies (similar to Lady Fingers) soaked with rum and espresso then layered with house made mascarpone cream cheese and dusted all over with a dark and very flavorful cocoa.
This was our last night in town and as we walked back to our hotel under the stars we stopped in the Piazza San Marco for a nightcap at the Florian Café. The house band was playing a romantic tune and my friends got up and began to dance, their arms wrapped around each other, a look of pure rapture on their faces.
I smiled and thought, yes, Venezia has once again made a conquest. My friends had fallen under the spell of La Serenissma, Venezia Queen of the Sea had captured their hearts and they would return.
Visit the author at JacquelineHarmonButler.com and FoodFlirtOnline.WordPress.com
Note: Saturday Morning Magazine blog writer Lucy Beebe Tobias along with story contributors Doreen Pendracs, Glen Abbott and Jacqueline Harmon Butler are all members of North American Travel Journalists Association.
©2015 Lucy Beebe Tobias, Glen Abbott, Jacqueline Harmon Butler, Doreen Pendgracs.
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